08 Aug 2025

Season of Becoming: Lessons from Bubu Levu, Leadership, and Living Alone

Hey there, friends.

It’s been quite an interesting journey lately. If I’m honest, I’ve found myself in a season of deep reflection — leadership can be a lot sometimes. It stretches you, humbles you, and often demands you to carry weight in silence. Being in a space I’ve been so blessed with — alone, yet surrounded by the legacy of those before me — has made me more aware of the energies around me and the battles within my own mind.

There isn’t a day that passes where I don’t feel a deep sense of gratitude for my late Bubu Levu, the late Bubu Kavai Uluiburotu. May his soul rest in peace. His vision — the way he thought ahead, saw beyond his time, and laid down foundations — continues to inspire me even though I never got the chance to meet him or create memories with him growing up.

Still, I’ve gathered pieces of him through the stories shared by my late grandmother Adi Vaciseva Mulonavanua Komaitai Uluiburotu, and my late grandfather Mr. Marika Banuve Uluiburotu. I’ve learned more through quiet conversations with Venaisi Rugua Ledua — his only surviving sibling, now in Suva — and even more from the spontaneous storytelling that comes out during grog sessions around the tanoa in Kubulau. Whether it was during fieldwork or just casual catchups, these golden moments have become the channels through which I’ve come to understand how leadership looked in his time, and how it has evolved today.

These past couple of weeks have stirred something in me.

I’ve found myself asking big questions: Why am I doing this? Who am I doing this for?

After a weekend away in Nabouwalu with the Ministry of Youth & Sports Coordinator (Jiu) and her husband Neori, who works with community-based entrepreneurs through SPBD, they gave me some sense of HOPE! & also stratergising regarding small business owners & how to stay put & mortivated through in your own spaces. For some odd reason I came back feeling… unmotivated. Maybe I was overwhelmed. Maybe I was just caught in a wave of overthinking. Whatever it was, it knocked the wind out of me for a couple of days.

I couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t find my footing — and I noticed how easy it is, in moments like this, to spiral inward. Living alone teaches you that the real battles are often fought in silence. Sometimes I catch myself talking to myself, coaching myself through low moments, reminding myself that I cannot afford to stay stuck in those dark spaces.

But what I’m grateful for — always — is my resilience.

I’m learning that the moment I feel spiritually disconnected, everything else unravels. When I neglect my time alone with God, these overwhelming feelings creep in quickly. But as soon as I return to that quiet place — my anchor — clarity returns.

That’s where leadership kicks in.

It’s not always about big speeches, big projects, or being at the forefront. Sometimes leadership is quiet. It’s the courage to keep showing up for yourself. The decision to keep rising. The will to keep dreaming, even when you’re tired.

“It is the capacity to develop and improve yourself that distinguishes leaders from followers.”

— Bennis & Nanus.

That quote plays in my head often. And when I feel like I’m slipping, it pulls me back to purpose.

So yes, Luke — get yourself together.

Let your inner light shine. There is so much ahead. But to receive what’s ahead, I know I need to stay grounded and consistent.

Let’s bring Beyond Enterprise to life. Let’s bring Tipsy Gipsy to life — the envisioned club that’s been growing in my heart for years. Let’s pursue generational income and wealth, not just for the sake of having more, but to live a life with purpose. A life that builds for others.

I’m also grateful — truly — for the lives of those who have gone before us. They’ve done their part. Now it’s our time to rise, to fight, to find our place, to create change.

And though the world can be cruel, confusing, and at times heavy, I know I’m not alone in this journey. I know I’m not the only one navigating these seasons of becoming. If you're reading this and feel the same — know you’re seen. Know you’re not alone.

This post — this moment — speaks volumes of how desperate I am to live my best life. Not just for me. But for my vanua. For the next generation. For purpose.