Trailblazers’ Stories: not-your-average Blog
Here you’ll find more than 450 full-lenght articles, most 4000 words+, about subjects that would interest people who are navigating huge life changes, challenges and crises and are starting the next chapters in their lives. Most articles feature the story of someone who had to cope with a life-altering crisis. Maybe you’ll find the story of someone who survived the exact same crisis as you are facing? You can use the search function below to find inspiring stories:
Here are the main themes:
1. Retreats – Stress Dissolvers & Direction Finders – The transformative power of retreat experiences for people navigating major life transitions, career pivots, and personal crossroads. Explore how stepping away creates space for clarity, renewal, and intentional next chapters.
2. Horses – Partners in Transformation – How equine-assisted learning can accelerate emotional healing, build self-awareness, and guide stressed professionals toward their next chapter with wisdom that only horses can provide.
3. Navigating Life Changes, Challenges & Crises – Practical strategies and emotional support for weathering life’s storms—from unexpected upheavals to planned transitions. Learn to navigate uncertainty with resilience and emotional adaptability during pivotal life moments.
4. Burnout & Stress Management in Transition – Understanding why life transitions amplify stress and burnout risk. Science-backed approaches to managing acute and chronic stress when you’re already navigating significant personal or professional change.
5. Life Purpose – The Foundation of New Beginnings – Discovering and reconnecting with your deeper purpose during times of change. Explore why clarity of purpose is essential when reinventing your life, career, or identity.
6. Emotional Intelligence, Empathy, Self-Awareness & Mindfulness – Developing the inner resources that make transitions smoother. Cultivate emotional maturity, self-compassion, and mindful practices that support you through life’s most challenging passages.
7. Reinvention and Reconstruction after a Major Life Change – Navigate relationship shifts, empty nests, health scares, career pivots, redundancies, retirement, relocation, professional success without fulfillment, and find clarity for your next chapter.
8. Grief, Loss & Legacy – Honouring what’s been lost while creating meaningful legacy. Process grief from death, relationship endings, or life chapter closures, and discover how loss can transform into purposeful living.
9. Nature, Sustainability & Slow and Solo Travel – Reconnecting with natural rhythms as an antidote to modern overwhelm. Embrace sustainable, intentional living that supports well-being during life transitions and beyond.
10. Writing, Reading & Storytelling – How words heal and transform during major life changes. Explore writing your story, reading for solace and inspiration, book reviews, and storytelling circles as powerful tools for processing transition.
Margaretha Montagu
You Don't Owe Anyone Your Story: Why Privacy Matters During Major Life Changes What This Is: Permission to protect your tender, transforming self from well-meaning interrogators, social media pressure, and the exhausting expectation that you owe everyone an explanation. This...
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Margaretha Montagu
A doctor's guide to using gratitude as a lifeline (not a bandaid) when navigating major life upheavals and unexpected crises What this is: A practical, research-informed exploration of how cultivating gratitude can become your anchor during life's most turbulent transitions—whether...
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Margaretha Montagu
What this is: A deep dive into Social Intelligence (SQ), the often-overlooked skill that determines whether your next chapter becomes a triumph or a struggle. This article explores why your ability to read people, build authentic connections, and navigate social...
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Margaretha Montagu
18 months ago, I wrote the post below (see extract). https://margarethamontagu.com/time-for-a-change/ At the time, I asked my faithful newsletter readers for advice, as I wanted to amalgamate all my different retreats into one signature retreat. They replied, "You do you."...
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Margaretha Montagu
Your brain is brilliant at making lightning-fast decisions, but sometimes it gets a bit too clever for its own good. Unconscious bias is the mental shortcut that whispers misleading stories in your ear, especially when you're navigating major life changes....
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Margaretha Montagu
Equine-assisted learning (EAL) is a powerful experiential approach that blends horse-human interaction with personal development, emotional intelligence, and therapeutic insight. I have been involved in this discipline for nearly 2 decades. Initially, there were few books on the subject, now...
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Margaretha Montagu
The counterintuitive mindfulness practice that's revolutionising how we handle stress, make decisions, and reclaim our sanity Micro-meditations are bite-sized mindfulness practices lasting anywhere from 30 seconds to five minutes that can be seamlessly woven into your workday. For time-strapped executives...
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Margaretha Montagu
Author: Victor DavichRating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 out of 5 stars)Read if: You're meditation-curious but allergic to incense, chanting, and books that assume you have unlimited free time and zero scepticism. The Backbone of the Book According to Victor Davich, you're exactly...
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Margaretha Montagu
Moving Forward When Everything’s Gone Sideways - one Conversation at a Time Imagine this: You're about to walk into a coffee shop to meet a friend after news that upended your world. You're raw, defensive, maybe a touch desperate for...
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Margaretha Montagu
Forget IQ and EQ. In the age of constant disruption, your Adaptability Quotient (AQ) is the only metric that guarantees you won't become a dinosaur in a digital age. Overview Natalie Fratto's TED Talk 3 Ways to measure your Adaptability...
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Margaretha Montagu
Article inspired by Alain de Botton's TED Talk I watch a lot of TED Talks, as you may have gathered. Sometimes the same one, again and again. I first watched this in 2009, it's still as topical now as it...
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Margaretha Montagu
. Wordweavers Story: The Digital Ghost I am a member of a writing group called the WordWeavers in the southwest of France. We meet once a month to share stories of 1000 words written in response to a prompt. August...
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Margaretha Montagu
How to Leave Behind What You've Built Without Losing Who You Are What this is: A compassionate exploration of the terror, grief, and unexpected liberation that comes when successful people consider stepping away from their empires, careers, or identities they've...
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Margaretha Montagu
Flash-Non-Fiction: 3-minute read You hit your forties, and suddenly that career ladder you've been dutifully ascending starts giving off serious "is this thing up to code?" energy. The view is... adequate. The title sounds important at dinner parties. The paycheck...
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Margaretha Montagu
How admitting "I don't know" can transform your relationships What this is: A practical exploration of intellectual humility, the art of knowing what you don't know, and why the happiest people are those brave enough to admit their blind spots....
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Margaretha Montagu
When life gets overwhelming, do you reach for the phone to call a friend? Make tea for everyone, even though you're the one falling apart? Organise a girls' night out? That's not weakness—that's your nervous system's brilliant survival strategy in...
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Margaretha Montagu
Reclaim Your Power and Peace by Celebrating the Courage It Takes to Forgive What this is: A deep dive into the overlooked final stage of forgiveness: the bit where you actually pat yourself on the back for completing one of...
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Margaretha Montagu
A Love Letter to Failures and Other Magnificent Mess-Ups What's This About? Right, let's cut through the motivational fluff. This isn't another tedious sermon about "embracing failure". This is about why your most spectacular messes might actually be the secret...
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Margaretha Montagu
One of my favourite (and best!) stories in this one! Ever found yourself nodding enthusiastically at someone's opinion about the "best" holiday destination whilst internally screaming that you'd rather spend a fortnight in your garden shed? Congratulations, you've been fitting...
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Margaretha Montagu
Got made redundant? Join the club nobody wanted to join. This article is your antidote to panic, despair, and the terrifying urge to apply for 127 jobs before breakfast. Inside: one executive's spectacular unravelling (and rebuilding), five takeaways that make...
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Margaretha Montagu
This isn't another breathless "AI is coming for your job" sermon. Instead, it's a warm-hearted exploration of why successful leaders in the 2030s will be those who grasp AI's brilliant capabilities and its unexpected limitations. Through the cautionary tale of...
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Margaretha Montagu
What This Article Is About (In 20 Seconds): You're accomplished, successful, probably brilliant at what you do. So why does figuring out your next career move feel like trying to assemble IKEA furniture in the dark? This article explores why...
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Margaretha Montagu
Author: Alice MillerRating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.5 out of 5 stars)Read if: You've ever felt like your whole childhood was a performance The Backbone of the Book Alice Miller's "The Drama of the Gifted Child" operates on a delicious bait-and-switch. You pick...
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Margaretha Montagu
At a Glance: You know that peculiar knot in your stomach that appears around 4pm on Sunday? The one that whispers, "Monday's coming," with all the menace of a Dementor in a business suit? You're not imagining it, you're not...
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Margaretha Montagu
What this is: A deep dive into the provocative question about whether kindness represents the ultimate expression of emotional intelligence, exploring why the most successful executives, entrepreneurs, and professionals are discovering that their greatest leadership asset isn't ruthlessness, it's radical...
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Margaretha Montagu
Discover How Quieting the Noise and Turning Inward Can Transform Your Relationships What this is: A deep dive into James Clear's wisdom on why understanding yourself matters more than broadcasting yourself, especially for high-achievers who've mastered the art of performance...
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Margaretha Montagu
What this is: A frank, compassionate exploration of why the popular advice to "declutter your life" during major transitions can backfire spectacularly, leaving you grieving not just your circumstances but also the irreplaceable pieces of yourself you discarded in haste....
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Margaretha Montagu
This post challenges the conventional approach to boundaries—the idea that they're defensive walls meant to keep people out. Instead, I introduce a powerful reframe: healthy boundaries are doors you control, not walls you hide behind. This shift transforms boundaries from...
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Margaretha Montagu
Most people think purpose is a destination—a job title or career path they need to "find." This post challenges that notion by reframing purpose as a verb (an action) rather than a noun (an identity). When you identify your purpose...
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Margaretha Montagu
We've been having the wrong conversation about what causes burnout. The story goes like this: We're all working too hard. We're glorifying the grind. We need to set boundaries, take more vacations, and learn to say no. Hustle culture is...
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