I have long seen life as a journey of experience and growth.
Some of us move through it without much reflection.
Some of us question, observe, and try to make sense of what happens.
And some of us are aware that something feels misaligned—but postpone the inner work because avoidance feels easier in the moment.
I first encountered the concept of coaching in 2008.
At the time, I was working as an HR manager, and across industries there was a growing conversation: leaders needed to move beyond traditional management approaches and develop coaching skills.
There used to be a lifestyle that was very trendy for a while; “Hygge.” Its books have been translated into Turkish, articles have been written about it, and it has become the recipe for answering the question “How to be happy?” I have greatly enjoyed making many elements of this philosophy a part of my life (even if I haven’t defined them under this title) and wanted to incorporate some of them into my life even more.
For a long time, the word polarity meant opposition to me.
A sense of conflict.
A forced choice between two sides.
And often, the tension of feeling that whatever I chose, I would be denying the other.
In my mid-thirties, as I began reflecting more deeply on myself, I started to see something different.
As we continue moving through pandemic times, clarity still feels elusive.
We often hear phrases like “we turned inward,” “we slowed down,” “we paused.” But from where I stand, the experience has been far more complex than that. As a close friend once said, “everyone says we need to slow down—but very few of us actually do.”
Since we moved much of our communication into remote and hybrid spaces, something fundamental has shifted—not just in how we work, but in how we relate.
Some of us have always preferred closeness: face-to-face conversations, physical presence, a handshake, even a hug. Others have long believed that a quick message or a short call is more than enough. “Why go into all the detail?” they would say.
