09-09-2026

Hey friends 🩵

Last week, I wrote about how when the dreamer evolves, so does the dream.

Well, apparently the dream isn't the only thing evolving.

I've spent most of my life being someone who can handle a lot. Give me a problem and I'll figure it out. Put me in an impossible situation and I'll find a way through. That ability has served me incredibly well.

It's helped me raise children, homeschool, build businesses, survive inside of toxic relationships, move countries, start over more than once, publish books, and navigate some pretty uncertain chapters of my life.

But I'm noticing something about all that capability:

Just because I CAN carry something doesn't mean I still want to.

For years, one of my dreams was to work entirely for myself. I didn't want a boss, a Monday-through-Friday schedule, or just a two-day weekend that unceremoniously ended on Sunday with resistance to Monday already creeping in. Freedom meant being in charge of my own time.

And I created that.

I've coached, consulted, written books, created programs, recorded podcasts, written newsletters, marketed, sold, networked, and learned to do an absurd number of things because entrepreneurship required it.

I know I can do it.

And after 10 years of doing that, I’m just not sure I want my entire life to be a business anymore.

And here's the funny part: after spending years creating a life without a traditional job, I've found myself craving one.

Predictable hours. Predictable income. Knowing when I'm working and when I'm not. Being able to plan a yoga class, a trip, or simply my week without constantly thinking about where the next client or project is coming from.

Instead of feeling restrictive, that sounds pretty damn freeing right now.

Some things are allowed to simply be things I love.

This may be the biggest realization of all.

I can coach because I love coaching without requiring it to support my entire life. I can write because I love writing. I can record a podcast because human behavior fascinates me. I can keep learning, creating, traveling, exploring, and having new experiences without needing everything I enjoy to become a revenue stream.

Maybe freedom doesn't always mean having no structure.

Maybe sometimes freedom is having enough structure that everything else gets to breathe.

That doesn't mean the old dream was wrong. It fit the woman I was when I dreamed it.

I'm just not exactly her anymore.

There are versions of ourselves that get us through particular chapters. I needed the woman who could figure everything out, tolerate uncertainty, start over, make something out of nothing, and keep going without knowing exactly how everything would work out.

I love her. She got me here.

But I don't have to keep giving her the same job.

Capacity isn't obligation.

Being good at something doesn't mean I have to keep doing it. Being strong enough to carry something doesn't mean I need to keep carrying it.

Having once wanted something doesn't obligate me to want it forever.

So rather than asking myself what else I can accomplish or how I can make everything work, I'm asking a much simpler question:

What can I put down?

And maybe there's something in that question for you too.

Where are you continuing to carry a responsibility, role, expectation, goal, relationship, or even an identity simply because you know you can?

You don't have to put anything down today.

Just notice what comes up when you ask:

Do I still want to carry this?

With love,

📩 Email:[email protected]

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