Something was off kilter. Deep inside there was a gnawing feeling that something wasn’t quite right, that neither of us was really living a life that was quite enough ‘ourselves’ to feel truly fulfilled.

Instead of looking outwards for solutions to quell the unease – we moved our focus inwards, somehow knowing that the most important  – if not all – the answers lay within.

The Sundial came about through a rapidly dawning need to feel more connection with the work we all put so much energy into. To start living in a way that inspired and amplified rather than suppressed our personalities, our passions, our  idiosyncrasies and our skills.

Mark was a partner in a wine business, not unhappy exactly but he certainly had many aspects of his personality that were not being utilised or expressed. He has this huge energy and is one of those people who is exceptional  at everything they do. He is an amazing chef, but also loves to make sure people are having a great time. One of his little know passions and talents is DJ’ing; a DJ at the original Liquid Room in Bussorah Street in the 90s, he is finely attuned into reading the mood of the room, all of which helps when running an outfit where arguably people skills are equally as important as cooking skills. 

For myself  I had been working in a decades-long career in brand strategy and human insights which had sent me around the globe and presented my family with a seemingly wonderful life, yet I was always on a plane or stressing about some absurdity or other, and did not have enough time with my then young sons, who were obviously needing more hands on time from me.  Importantly, the internal and external environments were also shifting. The values and long term vision of the brands I was helping my clients grow were increasingly out of alignment with the pressing human and ecological challenges that we are all facing.  

Meanwhile , it seemed, as the years went by, that more of my limited energy was being sucked into internal office politics rather than useful strategic work.  I was an intuitive and big picture problem solver and creator, but I wasn’t solving real big picture problems nor was I creating much that brought even a small sense of joy or usefulness, not to myself, my family nor to the wider world. 

As Mark and I both hurtled towards our second lives, we decided we wanted to create a project that would be inspiring and energising to ourselves, have some useful application in the world –  at least in some form –  and that would see us more  one ted to ourselves and to nature, present for our children; conscious that if were going to create this new life that at 50 something we probably needed to get on with it and give it a go, even if we crashed and burned.