This time of year can stir so much inside us: pressure, comparison, old patterns, and the feeling that we should be further along or showing up "better."
Inside my coaching programs, I've been learning something that has completely shifted the way I move through seasons like this. It starts with one question: What am I withholding?
The truth is always in the exhale
The exhale is where the truth lives. It's where the stories soften, where the body comes back online, and where we stop withholding love, appreciation, honesty and our own tenderness.
Withholding is the quickest way we cut ourselves off from the very freedom we're craving.
What are you holding back?
Am I withholding love because it feels vulnerable?
Am I withholding appreciation because I'm waiting to "earn" more first?
Am I withholding my needs because I'm afraid they're too much?
Am I withholding my truth because I'm protecting someone else's feelings?
Every time we hold back, good or bad, we're not protecting anyone. We're actually tightening inside our own bodies.
What I'm learning
We fall back in love, with ourselves, our partners and our work, when we give space.
The suffering isn't in the feeling. It's in the story that says "this will be forever."
The soul only wants freedom.
Feelings are not facts, and they are meant to be felt.
When we stop fighting what is, God finally has room to breathe inside us.
Just for today
You're allowed an exhale. You're allowed to soften. You're allowed to stop holding everything and everyone together, to stop making yourself wrong, and to release judgment, expectation and control, even just for today.
That's the mantra that's been grounding me: Just for today. Just for this moment. Just enough space for truth to come through.
What if the thing you're resisting the most is the very place you're meant to trust?
Put yourself on the calendar first
One of the biggest truths I've learned, in my life and with every client I coach, is this: if it's not on the calendar, it doesn't happen. Not the rest, not the solo days, not the vacations, not the projects that would actually make your life easier. Life will always fill the space you give it.
So before next year fills itself, schedule:
Vacations
A day alone in your home
Time for the tasks that bring ease
Date nights
One-on-one time with the people you love
A monthly day just for your joy
This isn't indulgent. It's leadership. A woman who plans her nourishment leads her life from alignment, not burnout.
Ready to lean into support? Explore Private 1:1 Coaching + Mentorship or connect with me.
