The Permission Slip I Had to Write Myself

For 27 years I did not slow down.

I showed up, I pushed through, I managed teams, raised two kids, kept the house running, carried the mental load, and kept going no matter what was happening underneath the surface. Slowing down was not something I did, it was not even something I thought about. Then everything seemed to happen at once.

A long career that I had poured everything into came to an end, but the year leading up to that was anything but quiet. I was working full time, managing a team of twelve people, enrolled in two certification programs simultaneously, all while watching my dad's Alzheimer's progress in ways that were heartbreaking to witness. I had also been quietly dealing with mold illness for longer than I realized, which had been slowly wearing down my health in the background without me fully understanding why I felt so depleted. Losing my dad three months ago was the thing that finally made everything stop.

By the time I got to this summer, my body and my heart were both telling me the same thing… I was exhausted

This summer I finally had to write myself a permission slip. Permission to slow down, to not have it all figured out yet, to take this season at whatever pace my body and my heart actually need, instead of the pace I think I should be moving at, and its way harder than it sounds.

What Slowing Down Actually Looks Like

For me, slowing down does not mean doing nothing, It means doing things differently. It means building this business quietly and intentionally rather than frantically, it means prioritizing my health, my family, and my own recovery while I lay the foundation for what comes next. It means letting this season look different from every other season of my life and making peace with that instead of fighting it.

From the outside it might not look like much. But from the inside it feels like the most intentional thing I have ever done.

I am not rushing this, I’m not forcing it, I’m letting this business grow organically, at a pace that feels sustainable and true, because I have learned the hard way what happens when you push through things that actually need time and space to heal.

What I Would Tell a Client Going Through the Same Thing

Here is the thing about being a health coach who is also human. Sometimes the advice you would give a client is the exact advice you need to give yourself.

If a woman came to me right now and told me she was grieving a parent, leaving a long career, navigating a major life transition, and trying to build something new all at the same time, I would not tell her to hustle harder. I would not tell her to push through or figure it out faster or compare herself to where she thought she would be by now.

I would tell her to slow down. I would tell her that her nervous system has been through something significant and that it needs time to recover. I would tell her that grief does not follow a timeline and that building something meaningful cannot be rushed without consequences. I would tell her that taking care of herself right now, the workouts, the nourishing food, the rest, the quiet mornings, that IS the work. That is the foundation everything else gets built on.

And then I would remind her that some of the most important things in life cannot be forced into growing faster than they are ready to grow.

So that is what I am telling myself too.

You Do Not Have to Rush Your Next Chapter Either

If you are reading this and you are in your own version of the in-between, I want you to know that the pressure you are feeling to be further along is not a sign that you are failing. It is a sign that you care deeply about where you are going.

But caring deeply does not mean moving recklessly.

If you are grieving, give yourself time to grieve. If you are burned out, give yourself time to recover. If you are in the middle of a big transition, give yourself permission to move through it at a pace that actually feels human instead of one that looks impressive from the outside.

The next chapter is coming. You do not have to sprint to get there.

And if you are carrying something heavy right now and want to talk through what support might look like, I would love to connect. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do in the middle of a big transition is let someone sit with you in it. Book a free discovery call here.

If you have been following along with this series from the beginning, you can catch up here: Why I Left a 27 Year Career to Become a Health Coach at 43, Why So Many Women Feel the Urge to Reinvent Themselves After 40, and The Messy Middle: What Reinventing Yourself Actually Looks Like Day to Day.