What was the hardest personal goal you’ve set for yourself?
It began with an idea.
A flicker really — a connection I started to notice between my interest in creative writing and my practice as a preacher. Both, I realised, were about shaping meaning, holding attention, and opening space for discovery. I thought a doctorate might help me explore that connection more deeply. It sounded exciting, even elegant in theory.
So I began — full of energy, ideas, and enthusiasm. I ran workshops based on my ideas that were well received. I led continuing education programs for people with far more experience than me, and the feedback was good. For a while, it all felt exciting.
Then came the gravity.
Working full-time while studying part-time was one thing. Leading a large and complex building project at work was another. The combination was exhausting. When my supervisor had to withdraw for personal reasons, I wondered what to do next. But a new supervisor stepped in — one who saw my difference as a strength, who encouraged me to think in ways I hadn’t before. Still, even with his kindness, the hardest battle was inside my own mind.
Imposter syndrome crept in like an uninvited guest who never left. I was sure I’d been admitted by mistake. That everyone else knew something I didn’t. I took a leave of absence when the weight grew too heavy — work, study, life pressures, all pressing in. It felt like failure, but it was necessary rest.
And then, slowly, I began again.
One paragraph. One insight. One supervision meeting at a time.
I revised a chapter that didn’t quite fit. I pushed through doubt and deadlines. And one day — after years of balancing, revising, and reimagining — it was done.
When I finally submitted my thesis, the sense of completion was profound. It wasn’t just about earning a degree. It was about reclaiming confidence, resilience, and trust in the process of slow growth.
That doctorate didn’t just qualify me for something — it formed me for the next twenty-five years of my working life.
And like all good stories, it brought me back to where I started — writing, speaking, creating — but with a deeper knowing: that the hardest goals are often the ones that return us to ourselves.
The Afterword 
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