Opening
The holiday season can magnify both togetherness and absence. Invitations, memories, and expectations gather around us, yet the most restorative form of connection may begin with a quiet choice to notice what we need and what we can offer.
The idea
Nathalie Grand is a therapist and resilience expert, and Wayne Greenway is a career management consultant and the founder of Career Aviators. Together they created Journey to Joy, a seasonal workshop built around connection, resilience, and practical emotional skills. Their framework starts by separating solitude from loneliness.
Nathalie said:
“Solitude is a chosen way to be alone.”
Solitude can support mindfulness, flow, and restoration. The experience becomes different when we feel cut off from meaningful connection and do not feel able to change it. That distinction is important because it makes room for different social needs.
We do not all need a crowded room. We do need a sense of choice, care, and belonging. Wayne and Nathalie also described resilience as multifaceted. Sleep is a foundation because tiredness reduces the energy available to meet emotions and challenges.
Emotion labelling gives an experience a name rather than forcing it underground. Gratitude and mindfulness can help us notice what is still sustaining us. Their workshop combines useful content with a light spirit and repeated opportunities to meet other people. The social rhythm is part of the intervention.
People leave with practices they can carry beyond the season, but they also have the experience of looking forward to the next session. That anticipation can itself become a small thread of connection. Their approach does not promise constant happiness.
It offers a way to make room for joy, sadness, rest, and relationship at the same time. This is particularly valuable during a season when social expectations can become louder than our own inner signals.
What I took from it
I have lived far from extended family for much of my parenting life, and Christmas has sometimes made that distance vivid. Moving countries in 2021 brought new rituals but also the responsibility of creating them from scratch.
I learned something similar during four months in an ecovillage with around 13 community meals each week. Joy was not a mood we waited for. It emerged through repeated, ordinary opportunities to be with people.
Three things to try this week
- Protect one reliable sleep rhythm this week. Treat rest as preparation for connection rather than a reward after everything else is finished.
- Name one emotion you are carrying and share it with a trusted person without immediately trying to solve it.
- Write three things you are grateful for and one intention for the day. Then make one small action that expresses that intention to another person.
Listen and go deeper
Listen to the episode on Buzzsprout and explore the guest’s work at Nathalie Grand and Wayne Greenway.
Close
Resilience becomes more available when we design for both inner restoration and shared presence. The Relational Design Method helps leaders build those conditions at work and beyond. Explore the certification, then ask what rhythm would help joy become more reachable. Explore the certification, then ask yourself what you will practise next.