About North of You

This isn’t a blog about success.
It’s not a self-help manual.
And it’s definitely not a highlight reel.

This is a place for reflection.

For the last 40-odd years I’ve lived a life that, from the outside, probably looked fine. Work. Moves. Relationships. A bit of success here and there. Keep going. Keep functioning.

But underneath it, for a long time, I was in the valley.

Lost. Anxious. Depressed. Rejected. Trying to belong. Trying to be enough. Trying to survive things I didn’t have the words for at the time.

This space exists because I didn’t avoid the fire -
I walked through it.

Slowly. Messily. Often unwillingly.

Therapy. Breakdown. Loss. Betrayal. Loneliness. Years of questioning everything I thought I knew about myself, other people, and the stories we tell to keep going.

At some point - without even realising it - I stopped trying to escape the valley and started climbing the mountain.

Not the shiny “life goals” kind.
The internal one.

The mountain where you learn:

• what’s yours and what isn’t
• what’s real and what’s performance
• where you’ve been lying to yourself just to feel safe
• and how peace is something you build, not something you’re given

What this site is

This site is an ongoing record of that climb.

Reflections on:

• childhood
• identity
• work and purpose
• friendships and loss
• mental health
• illusions we live inside
• moments of clarity
• moments of doubt
• the quiet shifts that change everything

Some entries will be calm.
Some will be uncomfortable.
Some will be funny in a dark, northern way.
Some will just be me thinking out loud.

There’s no content calendar.
No teaching agenda.
No attempt to impress.

Just honesty, written as it comes.

What this isn’t

This isn’t advice.
I’m not telling you how to live.
I’m not selling answers.

If you’re looking for motivation hacks or five steps to happiness, you’re probably in the wrong place.

But if you’ve spent time in your own valley -
if you’ve walked through fire, lost people, shed old lives, or found yourself standing - somewhere new wondering what now - then you might recognise yourself here.

Why now

After years of noise, this feels like the right thing to do.

Not to prove anything.
Not to build a brand.
Not to fix anyone.

Just to leave a trail.

For myself.
And maybe for others who are quietly climbing too.

Welcome.