Facing reality in the doctor’s office
Sunday musings: What my daughter’s upcoming autism assessment is teaching me about grief, leadership, and the courage to walk with truth
I sat in the doctor’s office on Wednesday as reality caught up with me, and I realised how unprepared I still was.
For months, I believed I was ready because I had already accepted that my daughter is neurodiverse, diagnosed with Global Developmental Delay last year.
I told myself that I had no issues with labels, that words could not change the love I hold for her every day
Yet booking her autism assessment for October made everything feel heavier, and the doctor’s words carved themselves into my chest. She explained what the process would mean, how schools might respond, and that the diagnosis would follow her for life.
Even if Mallory learns to speak, even if she thrives, her medical record will always carry that single word, autism. I nodded, asked questions, and took notes as though composure could shield me from the quiet grief swelling inside my heart.
Because she is my light, and what breaks me is the weight of systems that will define her before she defines herself.
The thought that her future may be reduced to thresholds, IQ scores, or mainstream boxes that do not see her completely
Yet walking out of the hospital, I also felt a strange calm as she held my hand tightly with a quiet certainty.
She does not know what the word autism means; all she knows is that she is loved, fully and without conditions.
That is what leadership has taught me, too, because frameworks, KPIs, and performance labels cannot capture the fullness of human truth
The real work is showing up with presence, honesty, and acceptance, even when the path forward feels uncertain and unbearably heavy
It takes courage to face reality as it is, not as we wish it to be, and still keep walking
I do not have all the answers, but I know authenticity in leadership means stepping into uncertainty with truth and love intact
When has facing reality reshaped the way you lead?