Mentor Note #146

Mentor Note:

"The longer I live, the less interested I am in becoming someone new and the more interested I am in being fully myself." - Sally Polihronas

Lets Dive in...

Hello Reader,

I turned 50 yesterday, crazy, I saw my card and thought, wow, I feel like I’m younger. It’s like the soul has an age because I always feel like I’m in my 20-30’s.

Even saying I turned 50 feels a little surreal, not because of the number itself, but because of what I thought this age might feel like when I was younger compared to what it actually feels like now. I’m thinking of that Instagram post with the golden girls at to complete with the hair in rollers 😂

For a long time I imagined 50 as a kind of arrival point, as though I would get here and suddenly feel certain, settled, maybe even finished in some way.

But what I actually feel is something very different.

I feel more myself than I have in a very long time.

Not in a louder or more confident way, but in a quieter, more grounded way, like I no longer need to rush toward who I think I should be, or measure myself against versions of myself that no longer exist.

When I look back over my life, I don’t see a straight line of becoming more of something.

I see movement.

I see seasons of expansion and contraction, moments of certainty followed by complete unknowing, times where I felt deeply aligned and times where I felt completely lost, and somehow all of it still brought me back to myself.

Perhaps that’s what experience really does.

It doesn’t just teach you how to live.

It slowly teaches you how to return.

And I think that’s what I’m noticing most at this point in my life.

The desire is no longer to become someone entirely new, but to strip away everything that isn’t me, everything that was built out of expectation, fear, performance, or trying to fit into spaces that were never quite right.

Because underneath all of that, there has always been a steadier version of me.

Not perfect, or finished, just real.

And I think most of us, if we’re honest, spend the early parts of our lives trying to become someone, and the later parts of our lives learning how to come back to who we already are.

That return feels less like achievement and more like relief.

Like exhaling after holding your breath for longer than you realised.

And maybe that’s what this birthday has given me.

Not answers or certainty because who knows what’s next, but a deeper willingness to live from that place of return.

The Takeaway

The longer I live, the less interested I am in becoming someone new and the more interested I am in being fully myself.

Something to Try

Think about the version of you you’ve been trying to become.

Then gently ask yourself:

What if I’m not meant to become someone else, but to return to who I already am?

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I appreciate you!

Until next week,

Much love,

Sally xx

*Private Mentoring is paused until mid July 2026, I'm currently in a season of creativity and preparation.

“Mentor Notes is designed to inspire reflection, growth, and action in your creative life" - Sally Polihronas

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