Episode Details

I can’t remember a time where people didn’t confide in me. Every time, it felt like an honor. I was super young when I first noticed the pattern, which began before I was aged five, in New Zealand, and has continued to this day, even inspiring my later-in-life career as a communications coach.

My first memories of people sharing their all with me come from visiting my dad’s farm a year after his divorce from my mum.

There I quickly bonded with dad’s new wife, Jane, a gorgeous Kenyan British woman with long blonde hair, a kind face, and knowledge of herbs and healing, long before natural medicine was “cool.”

This was 1974 New Zealand. It was on our rambling walks outside over the hills and gulleys and our horse rides together that I learned what was on her mind. In those moments, away from the farm and the kitchen, she emptied her bucket. And I learned all kinds of things I didn’t yet know about adults and how they think.

You can read along to this essay on Substack here. 

Your show host, Debbi Gardiner McCullough, is a communications coach for Fortune 100/500 leaders, a former reporter for the Guardian, the Economist, and the FT of London. Book her for coaching, training or ICF mentoring here.   Join her active listening and communications workshops on Maven here and here.