Kintsugi Heroes
Paternal Leave Forced Him to Question Everything
Colin Parsons
Colin stopped bending himself to fit others' moulds and discovered that authenticity is the foundation for genuine connection.
Kintsugi Studio
Kintsugi Heroes
Colin Parsons
Colin stopped bending himself to fit others' moulds and discovered that authenticity is the foundation for genuine connection.
You don't have to be in crisis to call.
Colin Parsons spent nineteen years in banking before moving to Luxembourg for a relationship. When that move left him angry and frustrated in a new job, his girlfriend suggested he see a therapist. What followed was six years of weekly sessions that fundamentally changed how he saw himself. He learned to catch the harsh voice in his head, the one that called him stupid, and replace it with something gentler, something playful. That one word change, from stupid to silly, transformed how he moved through his day. It sounds small. It was everything.
When Colin stopped trying to bend himself to fit what employers wanted, better things happened. In an interview for a consultant role he didn't need, he showed up without desperation and was offered the job. He built a career as a Chief Happiness Officer, connecting genuinely with people rather than solving problems or handing out stress toys. But the real breaking point came when a relationship began while he was still married. The divorce that followed cost him friendships, created deep shame, and forced him to face years of people-pleasing and self-punishment. It took him two years to stop accepting the label others had given him and to stop punishing himself for being human.
Today Colin does something that feels natural to him: he brings people to life on camera. His LinkedIn Lives are unscripted conversations with people around the world. He doesn't charge for them. He simply asks genuine questions and listens, and something shifts in the people he talks to. They come alive. They share what matters. He discovered this gift by accident, but it flows directly from the person he has become: someone who knows himself well enough to be fully present with others. Authenticity, he understands now, is the foundation for real connection.
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