Learning to Share Again

By Eva Judge

I didn’t realise how hard it had become to open up. For a long time, I thought I was just being careful professional and measured. But the truth is, I’d been burned.

Years ago, I had a really difficult experience with business partners, the kind that leaves more than just a bad memory. It left scar tissue and not the kind that fades over time, the kind that quietly shapes how you show up in the world.

After that, I stopped sharing, not completely, but deeply. I trusted my husband, I could talk to him, but beyond that, I kept things surface-level, where the conversations were safe and controlled and for a while, that worked.

The Discomfort I Didn’t Expect

When I joined EO, I didn’t expect that to be challenged. I thought I was joining for connection, ideas, maybe some business growth and those things are there through my forum and events but what I didn’t expect was how confronting it would ‘feel’.

My first year in EO, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

Forum felt uncomfortable, challenging and even in some ways exposing. There’s something about sitting in a room where people are sharing openly, really openly, that forces you to look at yourself. I realised I wasn’t doing that, not fully, I was holding back and I knew it.

What Have I Got to Lose?

I remember the moment I asked myself a simple question, “What have I really got to lose?”

That didn’t mean I suddenly started sharing everything, there are still things I’ll never talk about and that’s okay. That’s not what this is about.

But it did mean starting to share what actually mattered, not just what happened, but how it felt and that was the shift. Because for me, the biggest transformation hasn’t been in what I say…it’s been in what I allow myself to feel out loud.

The Power of Going Deep

What I’ve come to realise is that EO only really works if you’re willing to go deep. The people who get the most out of it, the ones who stay are the ones who do go deep.

The ones who don’t? They skim the surface, they go to events, they network, they look for opportunities… but they never really connect and without that connection, something is missing.

Because what forum gives you, when you allow it, is a release. A space where you don’t have to filter yourself, where you can share the hard things, but also the proud things. The things you can’t say anywhere else without being misunderstood.

Finding My Voice Again

Something else has changed too. I’ve started to find my voice, not just in forum, but outside of it.

For years, I’ve struggled with speaking. I overthink it. I rehearse. I stress about how I sound, what I say, whether I’ve said it the “right” way. But recently, something unexpected happened.

I was asked to give a speech at an orphanage that we support, completely unplanned. No preparation, no script, it was literally I was handed a microphone and it was the best speech I’ve ever given.

I didn’t think, I didn’t filter, I just spoke from emotion and from truth. When I finished, people were crying. That wasn’t the intention, but it showed me something I hadn’t fully seen before.

When you allow yourself to feel… and you allow yourself to share that honestly…people connect.

The Thing I Was Missing

Looking back, I can see it clearly now. For years, I thought I was protecting myself by staying guarded. But what I was really doing… was disconnecting, from others, from the deeper conversations and from parts of myself I didn’t want to show.

EO didn’t force me to change that, but it created a space where I could.

I could slowly rebuild trust, I could test what it felt like to open up again and best of all I realised that not everyone is going to hurt me. Maybe that’s the real transformation.

This hasn’t been a loud transformation, it hasn’t been a single moment, it’s been gradual and at times uncomfortable. But today, I can say something I couldn’t have said a few years ago: I’m learning to share again and in doing that… I’m starting to feel more like myself than I have in a long time.