This weekend, I ran another marathon. Well… I should say I finished another marathon.

It was cold, it was raining, and from about halfway through, my legs gave in to severe cramps. It wasn’t the typical exhaustion or soreness experienced by marathoners, which one can mentally endure, but an entirely different kind of pain. One that forced me to slow down, walk for long stretches, and ultimately limp my way to the finish line. It was my worst time ever. Physically, I crossed that line broken and exhausted.

But somewhere during those long, painful kilometres, while limping through streets that felt endless, my mind drifted to the state of international education.

In many ways, our industry feels like it’s in a similar phase right now.

We’ve trained, prepared, built systems, teams, and dreams over years. We’ve helped students chase opportunities and supported families in making life-changing decisions. But lately, it feels like we’ve hit a wall.

Policy changes, market shifts, tighter visa rules, economic pressures… all hitting us like cold rain mid-race. What used to be a challenging but rewarding journey has started to feel like a slow, limping crawl.

Like any marathoner knows, there’s a critical point where you ask yourself: Do I keep going? Or do I step off the course?

And honestly… there does not seem to be a clear answer in sight right now.

There’s still passion. There’s still belief in the value of what we do. There’s still commitment to our students and clients who trusted us to help them reach their goals.

So for now, we keep going. Limping, struggling, questioning… but still moving forward. But like every runner battling through the hardest part of the race, the bigger question remains: How long can we sustain this? And at what cost?

Maybe spring will come. Maybe the finish line will appear sooner than expected.

Or maybe it’s time to rethink the course, but for now… one step at a time.

#InternationalEducation #StudyAbroad #EducationCrisis #EdTech #Resilience #WinterSeasonOfBusiness #KeepMovingForward #educli