What relationships have a positive impact on you?
When I think about the relationships that have shaped me, what stands out isn’t a single defining person or moment, but the way different people have unlocked different parts of me over time. I didn’t become myself alone. Who I am was built gradually—through conversations, corrections, encouragement, and companionship.
Long-term friendships have played a significant role in that. I’ve had one friend since I was ten. We now live in different countries, but that friendship has held. At a school reunion last year I realised how many of those early connections have endured. There’s something steadying about people who knew you before you understood yourself.
Family sits close to the centre of that. Being one of five has meant growing up in a web of personalities, loyalties, and differences. Even scattered now across places and states, there’s a grounding strength in those relationships. They carry history. They know the early chapters. They remind me where I come from and provide continuity, the reference point I return to when life moves faster than memory.
Mentors have helped at critical points, especially when the way forward was unclear. They didn’t arrive with answers, but with better questions—the kind that make the next step possible. At home, my wife offers clarity of a different kind. She names what I’ve avoided or misread, and her honesty changes the way I see things. It’s not comfortable, but it’s kind.
In my work, predecessors have influenced me by offering encouragement rather than comparison. They didn’t guard their legacy; they shared it. That kind of welcome made confidence possible. And colleagues—through shared work and shared risk—have turned achievements into memories rather than metrics.
I am aware that I am shaped, steadied, corrected, and encouraged by others. These relationships have given me wisdom when I lacked clarity, honesty when I drifted from reality, legacy when I needed grounding, companionship when work became heavy, and continuity when identity felt uncertain.
Relationships have always been lifelong for me, not seasonal. They have endured across distance, time, and changing contexts. It means a lot to me that these people have stayed in the story, even when life shifts the setting.
The Afterword 
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