0.0 Introducing: a window into the process of letting go
The start of an open series of WhatsApp voicenote exchanges, openly exploring the process of stepping back from a company I started.
This post is the first in what will become a series over the next 6 months or so, opening up a live, ongoing conversation between myself and Sarah Weiler (Knowing When to Quit podcast, bio below) as we explore the intricacies of working towards stepping back from a company I started, Huddlecraft.
Our collaboration came about because I had been listening to Sarah’s podcast as part of landing the decision that the time was coming for me to step back. We had a chat and we cooked up the idea to share this process of letting go, not only retrospectively, but in a more raw form, in real time, as it’s happening.
It feels vulnerable, but also fun, and we’re curious to see how this format might inform my process, Sarah’s interests - and your own processes of transition and letting go. Today we’ve shared just the start of our conversation, but with more than six months until I step back at the end of March 2024, there’s plenty more to come.
There is also plenty more to say about the decision to step back from Huddlecraft, and about the direction Huddlecraft will move in next. I’ve written a full post about this, which you can find here.
But for now, enjoy, and let us know what you think!
Introducing our intentions for Snakeskin
Zahra: “People rarely talk about endings, but even rarer than that, people rarely open up the messy middle of the process toward an ending.”
Sarah: “There’s a lot of permission to grieve when we die. Do we have permission to grieve non-human endings?”
Letting the inner circle know about my decision to step back
Sarah: “I wonder how that felt and what the response has been?”
Zahra: “Every time I tell someone it becomes more real. Like something appearing out the mist and coming into focus.”
Preparing to host 2 open sessions to share more about these changes with the Huddlecraft community
Zahra: “I had my first email today from someone saying they were worried about me leaving Huddlecraft.”
Sarah: “I always think that when we put something like this out, the responses show individual’s relationship with endings and change more than anything else.”
More about Sarah:
Sarah Weiler is a coach, musical facilitator and creative entrepreneur, who loves helping people explore whether it's time to quit. She is a TEDx Speaker, host of the podcast Knowing When to Quit, and creator of the Quitting Quadrant® framework. More recently she's been supporting people to design Beautiful Endings for their creative projects, which inspired this collaboration with Zahra. She writes about living an authentic, multi-passionate life on her Carousel Substack. IG - @sarahweilersarah
This is soooo creative and so vulnerable! Thanks, Zahra and Sarah, for talking out loud about this challenging process.
Deep gratitude to you, Zahra, for modeling a different way of leading in the workspace. Choosing to share your process and allow us a peak inside your world as you navigate multiple major transitions is both vulnerable and brave. It is a much needed breath of fresh air in this moment where perfectionism, patriarchy, and capitalism deny us access to being a multi-faceted human being on a daily basis. Thank you for inviting your community to show up and witness you along this journey. 🦋