Trusting the Quiet Results of Your Work
December 31, 2024
As a collective, the end of the year invites reflection and introspection. A time for looking back at the big picture and noticing the details, all intertwined to tell a story of a year. These moments can be insightful and provide a path forward in the days ahead. Yet, so much of the focus tends to be on the things that can be defined, held and observed.
While there is value in these measurable outcomes, the unseen and quiet impacts of our work can get overlooked.
What about the moments of transformation that unfold quietly, over time?
Why The Unseen Results Matter
In creative and healing work, the most profound impacts often happen beneath the surface and the changes aren’t immediately visible. The ripples of your work – the new understandings, emotional shifts, breakthroughs, happen in ways you may never directly witness.
For an energy healer, a client might leave a session feeling calm and refreshed. Weeks later, they may notice they're responding to stress differently, or experiencing more balanced relationships. All without consciously linking it back to the session.
A family photographer captures moments that feel special at the time, but years later, those photos become cherished memories. Whether it’s honoring a loved one who has passed or reflecting on a particular season of life, the significance of those images grows over time.
For an artist, a painting might quietly shape someone’s daily life, influencing their mood or evoking memories of a special time. The artist may never know the personal story their work tells to its owner, yet its impact lasts a lifetime.
Unlike traditional metrics of success, these changes of creative and healing work are felt in deeply personal ways. These quiet impacts speak to the depth and authenticity of what you do. The essence of your work echoes through time and space, far and beyond.
The Quiet Magic of Your Work
A Lesson from an Animal Communicator
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been taking an animal communication course, practicing two-way conversations with animals both living and in spirit. It’s been a healing and restorative experience, offering insights that often take time to fully surface.
One story shared by my mentor illustrates this beautifully. She once worked with a client whose dog communicated the image of fried chicken during a session. At the time, the client couldn’t make any connection to the image—it seemed meaningless. A year later, as she drove past a fast-food restaurant, everything made sense. Memories of a special day spent with her dog came rushing back, including a stop to pick up food at that very restaurant. Listening to the session recording afterward, she finally understood the significance of the image. It wasn’t just a memory; it was her dog’s way of sharing joy and connection.
This delay in understanding is something my mentor sees often. Insights or messages may not resonate immediately, but they unfold in their own time, revealing deeper meanings when the moment is right.
A Personal Healing Story
I’ve experienced something similar in my own personal journey. I live with an autoimmune disorder, IGA Nephropathy, which affects my kidneys. I went through a particularly dark time in 2021-2022. This stemmed from disheartening lab results, and working with a nephrologist whose approach left me spiraling into fear and hopelessness. For months, it felt as though a black cloud hovered over me.
That began to shift when I started seeing a naturopath who included counseling as part of her holistic plan. Together, we explored my fear—talking to it, understanding it, and gradually loosening its grip. But the transformation didn’t happen overnight.
About a year later, while standing at my kitchen sink watching a stunning January sunset, something clicked. A message came through my intuition: “The opposite of fear is acceptance and light.” In that moment, everything we’d worked on became clear. I realized I didn’t have to fight my disease. I could accept it as part of my life and learn to work with it, rather than against it. From then on, I began addressing the darkness directly, almost as if it were a person, and it started to lose its power.
These quiet shifts, both in the story of the dog and my own journey, remind me that the most profound results of our work often unfold slowly and unexpectedly. They may be invisible at first, but over time, they reveal their transformative power.
Trusting the Impact While Honoring the Grief
Trusting the quiet impacts of our work also means acknowledging the grief and disappointment that come with entrepreneurship. Not every offering is received as we hope, not every connection feels aligned, and not every project turns out the way we envisioned. These experiences are a natural part of being an entrepreneur, yet they often go unspoken.
Grieving these moments doesn't diminish the value of our work; it creates space to process what didn’t unfold as we hoped. Sometimes, it’s in these disappointments that we find our way back to ourselves. Trusting in our work means believing there is still meaning—even in the things that don’t work out. What feels like failure or wasted effort may actually be like rich compost in a garden, nurturing the soil for new ideas and growth to take root.
When giving yourself space to grieve, you honor both the highs and lows of your journey. You’re able to release what didn’t go as planned while staying open to the quiet, unseen ways your work might still be unfolding.
Reflection Questions
Gentle guidance to help you reflect on the goodness of your work:
In this year, did a client or customer provide feedback on something you had done for them but much later on?
Have you experienced a moment where something that felt like a failure or disappointment later revealed itself as valuable or meaningful? How did that shift your perspective?
What quiet transformations might have unfolded for your clients, collaborators, or yourself this year?
Is there an offering, connection, or project that didn’t go as planned? Have you given yourself the time and space to process these experiences?
How can you trust in the bigger picture (including yourself and your intuition), even if the results aren’t easily measurable?
Remember that the quiet magic you create is just as meaningful as the visible, immediate results. Trusting the impact of your work means holding space for what you can measure and those that unfold in their own time.
Give yourself permission to grieve what didn’t go as planned, honor what did go well and allow yourself to be open to new possibilities. Trust yourself, you know yourself. Your creative and healing work is significant, powerful and has an impact – even in ways you may never fully see. Trust in that.
~Angela
If something resonated with you, you’re welcome to leave a comment!
Hello and welcome. I’m Angela.
I support sensitive women solopreneurs as a thought partner, drawing on 10 years of experience as a public educator. I believe a sustainable business thrives when aligned with your natural rhythms and energy, allowing for a fulfilling life and time to create. My writings blend practical strategies with empathetic support. If you seek a business that honors your sensitivity, values, and quality of life, you’re in the right place. I am glad you are here.
