07/09/2026
My story is a fairly extreme example of what it means to be shaped by a world you didn't choose. I was born into a cult, where I learned very early about belonging, conformity, authority and who I was supposed to be.
I left that world, but eventually discovered something that has become fundamental to the work I do now: you can leave an environment, understand what happened there and even know exactly where a pattern came from, and still find yourself living it.
Because the things we learn don't only exist as ideas in our heads. They can show up in how we breathe and hold ourselves, in the instinct to brace or make ourselves smaller, and in those moments when we override what we know, even when the circumstances that taught us to respond like that are long gone.
Apparently, not every part of us gets the memo : it’s safe to be you.
And you don't need to have grown up in a cult to know what that feels like.
We are all shaped by something. Families, relationships, culture, religion, experiences, expectations, the things we had to do to belong or survive. We learn ways of behaving, coping, responding and relating to ourselves that can become so familiar we don't even realise we're still living by them.
Sometimes the clue is the pattern you understand perfectly well and still keep repeating. The place you override what you know. The way you brace for what might happen next. The rule you keep following even though nobody is standing there telling you to follow it anymore.
There can be quite a gap between understanding something and actually being free of it. It's a gap I've come to know rather well.
So, hello. I'm Fionn. This is a little of where I came from, and perhaps a little more about why I do what I do. 🤍
You are welcome here.
I’ve told you a little about me, so come and tell me a little about you in the comments
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