Holding the Shape Without Folding

Integrity is this big, fat, loaded word.

Like any word, so easy to say. So much harder to live.

If there is a value I hold closest, it is integrity.

Digging into the meaning it carries, from its etymological roots, meaning oneness, wholeness, I hold integrity to mean holding the shape without folding.

I hold my values and principles, especially when things get hard. 

This is the test, is it not? 

Easy to be in integrity when life is all happy camp and smooth. Harder to hold integrity when things precious to us are threatened. I will not judge some of those moments when the risk is life or death. I know I will lie if my life is held to ransom by actors who lie as a trade and seek to harm my loved ones or me. There is always context to consider.

If you are wealthy, have a massive audience and platform, and are given the opportunity to hold to integrity that will cost you income, no life-or-death decisions, what do you do? This is the tell: the words spoken, or sung about, are lived. No dissonance. 

Musicians Finneas, Beoga, Lukas Graham and Aaron Rowe, lower in the music hierarchy than Ed Sheeran, chose integrity. 

Published September 16th 2026. Photo taken September 16th 2026