Wellbeing Wednesday: Transforming Your Hiraeth

This week, my “Wellbeing Wednesday” looked a little different. I took my first proper day off since January 3rd and headed into the heart of London to see a dear friend perform in a West End show.

Even stepping out of my hotel and onto the tube, feeling the familiar hum of the city, the bustle of people and the life around me, I was hit by an overwhelming wave of Hiraeth.

For those unfamiliar with the beautiful Welsh word, Hiraeth is often translated as a deep longing for a home that no longer exists, or a bittersweet nostalgia for a time or place we can no longer reach. Standing in the West End, I felt a magnetic pull toward my “London life”, the version of me that existed before the school runs, before the therapy clinical hours, and before the multifaceted responsibilities that now define my days.

The Myth of the “Multiple Me”

In our modern lives, we often talk about ourselves in chapters. We compartmentalize:

The Pre-Mum Me.
The London Me.
The Newly Qualified Therapist Me.

But Hiraeth teaches us something vital about wellbeing: Integration. Feeling that pull to the past doesn’t mean I want to move back to London or reclaim that exact life. It isn’t a desire to retreat; it’s an invitation to consolidate and bring all these parts of myself into one. Proud of the life I’ve led, the portfolio career I still attempt to balance in any way I can and the mum I’ve become.

Consolidating the Soul

Wellbeing is found when we stop viewing our lives as a series of discarded versions of ourselves and start seeing them as a living archive.

I am not a different person than the woman who used to navigate those streets; I am the sum of her. The creativity and spontaneity of my London years are the very things that make me a more empathetic therapist and a more vibrant mother today. The “then” and the “now” should not be at war; but working in harmony.

When we feel Hiraeth, we shouldn’t push it away as “living in the past.” Instead, we should ask: “What essence of that version of me needs to be honored right now?”

Transforming the Longing

If you are feeling a pull toward a past chapter of your life this week, here are some ideads of how to use that energy for your current wellbeing:

Acknowledge the Continuum: Remind yourself that you haven’t “lost” that person. You have simply evolved.
Bridge the Gap with Music: Use a song or a score from that era of your life. Don’t listen with sadness, but with the recognition that those notes are still part of your internal melody. My songs are from shows that I have had the pleasure of working on, and a seminal song that rings true in my heart to this day I was lucky enough to record many years ago, with another great friend on the piano. It’s a song I hadn’t thought of for a while, but rang true in my heart all weekend. Originally by The Decemberists, it’s a song that resonates for me in so many ways. I hope it sings in your heart too.
Invite the Essence In: If you miss the “Creative You” of years ago, bring that creativity into your current work or parenting. You don’t need a “London life” to have a “London spirit”.

Watching my dear friend bring down the house in the most spectacular performance that I have ever seen from him, and watching an audience jump to their feet to applaud him, filled me with a vast amount of joy and pride and a desire to hold on to that, no matter what. But the most profound realisation I had while standing in the theatre was this: This is all part of my journey to being me. Every city lived in, every career pivot, and every stage of motherhood is a layer of a single, beautiful identity. I am not a collection of fragments; I am a whole person, and every “past me” is still right here, cheering on the “current me.”

Have you ever felt Hiraeth for a past version of yourself? How do you bring that energy into your life today?