Hi there, Hannah here :)

First, a HUGE welcome to those of you who joined the Virtual Excellence Academy during our Sept/Oct intake. I’m so excited to walk with you on this journey! 🎉

For those who missed this intake, the VEA waitlist is now open for our next one, and I also have some exciting upcoming events and ways we can hang out, learn and work together, which I’ll share with you shortly.

But for now, I’ve woken up today in a new country. Or rather, an old country. My country of birth, the United Kingdom.

After a grueling trip here, I was out for the count for 10 hours, very unusual for my hyperactive brain that usually does “just fine” on 5–6. I went to sleep grumpy, exhausted to the core, and woke up with a deep sense of peace and arrival.

I went to make myself breakfast and thought, ohhh, I haven’t had good British beans in a while, so I opened my food delivery app and ordered a pretty large home delivery from Tesco.

I went about my business, put the toaster on, scrambled up some tofu, and before I finished, the doorbell!

My delivery was at the door; the driver was already gone. Just a bag sat there, full. Lightning speed and not an item missing!

Where I live in Mexico, they could never.

What a delight.

As I wolfed down my food, I looked out the garden window. Heavy grey skies hugged the brown-tiled rooftops with fog. Quintessential England, I thought.

And while it’s not typically “good” weather, it’s a kind of melancholic nostalgia, you know the kind. The kind you actually enjoy savoring, if even just for a moment.
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A squirrel hopped and clambered along the fence line, hardened, I imagine, to the chill in the air. You’d never see those in Mexico, not where I live, at least.
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​What a delight.

Dishes pile in the sink because I have a bad habit of using every available kitchen item when I cook even the simplest of meals, just as I have a habit of scrubbing my hands between touching every item.

While I wash, I continue to witness the now two squirrels dance in the fog. A neighborhood cat shows up, looking for his second, perhaps third, meal of the day.

I notice the hot water!

It pours out with near immediacy. An endless flow. Good pressure.

It could never, not where I live.

What a delight!

And delightful as it all is… the simple pleasures… I am reminded:

In Mexico, I am often delighted by the opportunity to try new foods, new vegetables, new surprise concoctions born of the inherent lack of diversity at times. I am often delighted by the exchange with the delivery rider, who often jokes around and helps me bring my shopping in from time to time.

In Mexico, I wake to glorious rays of sunshine that cast even more glorious shapes and shadows through the walls of my home. The jagged, sometimes crumbling, always colorful and unique patterns of homes jutting into the crisp blue sky.

The hummingbirds that float outside my sunroom window. The birds of paradise that paint my garden with vibrance. And the potential privilege of spotting an eagle circling high above, it too preparing its breakfast.

In Mexico, my hot water takes its sweet time, as do many things here, including the humans, myself included. Living in a polychronic culture is best suited to how I operate.

Because of this, I am more mindful about how many items in my kitchen I use. I am more mindful about the number of times I give in to the compulsion to wash my hands at every instance.

I am more grateful to have the water, for its coming is something I must be patient to receive.

And this is what, after 20 years of near-continuous travel, I have come to know: I am happy anywhere. Nowhere is better than another, at least not the places I choose to frequent.

There are delights, setbacks, setbacks that can feel delightful, and delightful things that can be setbacks too.

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When convenience trumps the experience of learning to do something for yourself, I think it can prove a disadvantage. Equally, I’ve lived in places where the systems are so loose, the instructions so absent, that you can find yourself thinking, surely somebody is supposed to be helping me here?

Neither extreme is necessarily better.

One thing that has irked me about the UK, while I find it all very delightful, is how much the systems here sometimes seem to speak to us like children.

Britain does love a memorable little instruction: See it. Say it. Sorted. At the airport yesterday: No excuse for abuse. There are warnings for the warnings, signs telling us what to notice, what not to do, what to fear and how to behave.

And yes, many of these things are important. Of course they are.

But I wonder about the cumulative effect of having so much of life interpreted for us. At what point does protecting people from making bad decisions also deprive us of the opportunity to practice making good ones?

Some of the greatest entrepreneurs I know are British. Hey, I’m British. But sometimes I wonder whether there’s a little less space here to wander off the marked path, assess things for ourselves and think: I’ll figure it out.

Elsewhere, I’ve experienced almost the opposite. Systems so loose that figuring it out yourself isn’t encouraged; it’s required. And that comes with its own frustrations, inequalities and very real disadvantages. Sometimes you don’t want a lesson in resourcefulness, you just want the bloody thing to work.

But perhaps somewhere between being told exactly what to do and being left entirely to your own devices is the sweet spot: enough support to catch us when we need it, enough space to discover what we’re capable of when nobody does.

Perhaps that’s part of why I’ve spent so much of my life elsewhere.

And being able to notice these differences at all is a great privilege, one that has come with even greater learnings. Twenty years of moving between places has taught me that there is rarely one right way to live. You get to see what one culture gains from the very thing another has chosen to sacrifice, and vice versa.

Things that once seemed strange become sensible. Things you once took for granted become strange.

No place has all the answers. But every place has something to teach you.

All of this to say something really quite simple.

I talk about business a lot, naturally, but sometimes, it’s really damn good to wake up and let yourself be delighted by the everyday occurrences, senses, the just being, of wherever you are in this exact moment.

That’s personal agency. That’s stopping to smell the flowers instead of sailing ahead on autopilot.

Learning how to feel independently is a skill in a world that force-feeds us drivel and tells us how to feel and what to value

Which is another thing I’ve been pondering, as I caught myself just yesterday on my flight comparing myself to younger, hotter women on Instagram instead of being content with my years of experience, proudly detailed around my eyes.

Take a moment to put your phone or laptop down right now.

Take a look around.

What do you see, smell, hear, taste, sense?

What ground do you stand or sit upon?

What is brilliant? What is quirky? What is delightful in its own special way?

That’s all from me. For now.

Hannah

EVENTS YOU SHOULD HAVE ON YOUR RADAR:

🌍 ExodUS Summit 2026 | October 9–12, online (For Black Women)

ExodUS Summit is an online conference for Black women who want to leave the US. Immigration attorneys and residency facilitators from 11 countries, including Portugal, Mexico, Ghana, and Costa Rica, will show you how to move there legally, and Black women already living abroad will share what life, costs, and healthcare really look like. By the end, you'll have chosen your new country and know exactly what to do next.

👉 Get your ticket here​

✈️ She Sees the World Summit | October 12–18, free & online

I'm speaking at this free 7-day summit for women founders who want to move abroad powered by a portable, profitable business! Join 30 other speakers and me as we share the stories and strategies that got us out the door, plus live sessions throughout the week to get your move in motion. My session, Build a Freelance Business That Travels, will show you how to turn the skills you already have into a business that goes wherever you do.

👉 Grab your free ticket here​