The Power of Being Underestimated: Walking the Road Less Travelled
My dad would often joke – “If there are two options, you always choose the wrong one first.”
Maybe he was right. Or maybe it wasn’t wrong – just different.
From the early days, when I was considered “furthest from the labour market,” to now, as I work alongside a growing community of people around the world, creating lasting change through trauma-informed support, I have always been drawn to the road less travelled – the one with more questions than answers, more brambles than smooth pavement, but also more freedom to create, connect, and challenge the status quo.
There’s a moment in every changemaker’s journey – a fork in the road – where the path you’ve been walking suddenly splits. One side is wide and well-trodden, packed with people moving in steady, predictable lines. The other is quieter, a little overgrown, with no clear signs or guarantees.
Most people choose the crowded path. It’s familiar, accepted, safe. They move together, reassured by the numbers around them, confident that the road ahead has been mapped out by those who came before.
But some of us – the ones who see the world a little differently, who carry stories that can’t be neatly folded into the expected narrative – find ourselves drawn to the quieter trail.
It’s not an easy choice. The first few steps can feel like a free fall, untethered from the comforting weight of the familiar. Doubts cling like brambles, and the whisper of past voices can echo in the silence: “Who are you to choose this path?” “What makes you think you’re different?”
But then, something shifts. The trees part, and you see the light breaking through the branches. You start to notice the wild, beautiful things growing along this untamed trail – ideas, connections, and possibilities that couldn’t survive in the trampled soil of the mainstream.
Connecting with like minded people, reminds me that there is a growing tribe of unconventional thinkers who see the value in difference, who celebrate the outliers and the changemakers. They are the ones who light my path when the weight of dismissal becomes too heavy, reminding me that we are not alone.
So, if you’ve ever felt the quiet sting of being underestimated – if you’ve been told, subtly or otherwise, that your voice is too raw, your approach too unconventional – take heart. There is power in being misunderstood. There is strength in being dismissed. And there is profound impact in being the one who keeps creating, connecting, and believing when the world looks the other way.
Because in the end, it’s the underestimated, the trailblazers who change the world.
Take the Road Less Travelled – Join STAND
Choosing to STAND is not the easy path. It asks you to break cycles, confront uncomfortable truths, and reclaim your voice in a world that too often dismisses those who speak from lived experience.
But that’s exactly why it matters.
If you’re ready to walk the path less travelled, to stand for what you believe in, and to make a lasting impact, I invite you to join me for the STAND: Parents as Protectors program.
It’s not just a course. It’s a movement – a call to those who refuse to be silenced or side-lined, who believe that prevention is possible, and who are ready to make a difference.
Take the first step. Join us.
Register Your Interest –
STAND for Prevention.
STAND for Change.
STAND together.