What It Really Means to Lead From Within

For a long time, I believed that leadership meant always being visible.
Always showing up.
Always setting the example by doing — and often doing more than everyone else.

Somewhere along the way, I internalised the idea that leading well meant being constantly “on”: capable, productive, reliable, and available. That belief shaped how I worked, how I trained, and how I moved through the world.

What I didn’t recognise at the time was the cost.

That way of leading quietly carried me through repeated cycles of illness, burnout, and chronic pain. Each time, I would recover just enough to get back up, and then return to the same pattern, convinced that resilience meant pushing through. That discomfort was simply part of success.

The shift didn’t come from a book or a framework.
It came from a conversation.

A friend said something simple that stopped me in my tracks:
you can’t take care of others if you don’t take care of yourself first.

It sounds obvious. But for me, it was a complete reframe.

If you’re someone who leads, supports others, or holds a lot of responsibility, this pattern might feel familiar. Not because you’re doing anything wrong, but because many of us were taught that leadership requires self-sacrifice, not sustainability.

I realised that leadership doesn’t require me to do everything, be everywhere, or carry it all. I don’t have to lead by constant output. I can lead by listening to my body, to others, and to what’s actually needed in the moment.

For me, leading from within means allowing internal signals — energy, health, capacity, intuition, to guide how I show up, rather than overriding them in the name of performance.

That shift changed how I relate to my work, my body, and my role as a leader.

I still care deeply about showing up well — for my clients, my team, and the people I support.
The difference now is that I no longer believe leadership requires me to abandon myself in the process.

Learning to listen first — to my body, my energy, and what’s actually sustainable, has made me a better leader, not a weaker one.

That’s what leading from within looks like for me.