Deborah Baron

Citation: Baron D, O’Shea NG, Lightfoot A, Kuo C, Lippman S, Gómez-Olivé FX, et al. (2026) “My childhood affected my ability to be resilient in both good and bad ways”: A mixed methods examination on the links between adverse childhood experiences, resilience, and transactional sex among young South African women. PLoS One 21(1): e0341216.

Deborah Baron, I Coach Emerging Leaders · Follow Published in Less Stress More Success · 4 min read · -- Photo by The Jopwell Collection on Unsplash I sat in the meeting wondering if I could say what was on my mind. It seemed like a good idea but what if they didn’t like it? Or worse, what if I was stating the obvious? Or I offend someone? How would I know that what I was thinking was worth sharing? Did they really want to hear from me? This has changed. Now I trust my wisdom when it shows up.

My mind isn’t focused and my body is tense. I have a sensation that tells me there is so much more to do, that I might not be doing the most important thing first, and that I don’t have the clarity I would like to get it all done. I don’t like this feeling, and yet I know, underneath and before it, it isn’t a problem. I have trouble concentrating to write this, to share this feeling and this understanding with you. To let myself be present.