I used to find motivational speakers like Tony Robbins really helpful to listen to in the early part of my career. I wasn’t expecting some overnight transformation or quick fix, but there was something about the confidence and directness in the way he delivered his message that really resonated with me.
One idea that’s stuck with me over the years is his way of talking about winter — and what it means to begin something in a time of hardship. Winter, he describes, is about being born into struggle. It’s cold, uncertain, and often lonely. But it’s also where resilience is built. If you can learn how to survive and grow in winter, you’re in a much stronger place when spring finally comes.
That idea has come back to me time and again, especially when I think about the generation I’m part of.
We entered working life just in time for the global financial crisis. All the talk was about the credit crunch and a shrinking economy.
Then came years of austerity, Brexit, and deepening global destabilisation.
Just as you might have found your footing, a pandemic arrived — the first of its scale since the Spanish flu. And now, even as we try to move forward, it feels like there’s always another crisis around the corner — geopolitical tension, economic uncertainty, the climate emergency. The world feels more fragile, more unpredictable, and less secure than the one we were told to prepare for.
But rather than feeling crushed by all of that, I find myself seeing the positive. We were born in winter — and we’ve learned how to live in it.
There’s a strength that comes from starting out in difficult times. We’ve had to be more adaptable, more resilient, and more creative with the paths we take. And while it would be nice to believe that things will settle down soon, the truth is we might just be living through a new kind of normal — one where change is constant, and certainty is rare.
Spring may come. But even if it doesn’t, we’ve learned how to survive in the cold.
3D5G 