Have you heard the saying, “there’s always a breakdown before a breakthrough”?

The first time I heard this, it blew my mind. It made me feel like I wasn’t alone. Like I was exactly where I needed to be.

As I looked back and all the amazing times I experienced a breakthrough whether it was personal growth, in my relationships, in my business it often happened after something extremely challenging.

This truth helped me to see my struggles and my challenges as blessings in disguise. It was proof that I could do hard things, that I could make it through anything.

When I’m in the middle of a breakthrough it’s easy to forget about the hardships it took to get me there.

When I’m in the thick of the hard stuff, it feels like I’ll never get past it.

Isn’t it funny how we look at life through our present circumstances. Sometimes we don’t allow ourselves to see the big picture.

When I take time to reflect, I’m able to see how the hard stuff is part of the process.

In the words of Trent Shelton, “we talk ourselves out of our greatness because all we can see are our limitations, our failures and setbacks.”

My friend, we forget that those failures, limitations and setbacks are what made us who we are today. They are our signs of resilience, perseverance and triumph!

You are a warrior my friend. And I want to remind you of that today.

My kind of break down…
I want to talk to you about another “break” down. The first quarter of 2021 has felt like a break from working with clients, hustling and trying to figure out what to do next. Not today that I wasn’t thinking about my business, I was thinking about it A LOT! I just knew I wanted to do things differently.

Can I tell you a secret? I thought I’d come away from this “break” with so much clarity, knowing exactly what to do and how to do it.

Instead, I’m just as clueless as when I started. Call me crazy, but I needed to share this, and let you know that I’m 100 percent okay with it.

Breaks look different for everyone. Here’s what it looked like for me, and a few lessons I learned.

✨ Rest, just rest. I’ve always been someone who likes to DO! I work with my hands, I enjoy active rest. This time gave me the opportunity to indulge in rest and learn to not feel guilty about it. I grew up with the belief that if I sat down to rest I was being lazy. I’m learning every day that rest is a vital part of living. Our bodies and our minds require rest to recharge and rejuvenate.

✨ Quality time and self care. I made time for myself, to do what my heart led me to do, and to be with anyone who needed my support – people God put in my path. During this time of rest I was reminded that there are several ways to give back. I always thought the only way I could give back was through monetary or material gifts. I’ve learned that I like to give my time and my words, and that they are just as important as any other type of gift.

✨ Family. My family is everything to me. Everything I do includes them. And it’s okay to do things just for me.

✨ Seek within. Almost every question I have, I hold the answer to. There are so many things I want to do, and it’s up to me to make them happen. Clarity is not something I find only once, it’s something I seek daily. Today may look different from tomorrow, but I keep seeking, I keep being, and I keep doing what works for me. It’s all a part of the process. I’m a planner at heart, and if I don’t do anything with those plans, I lose out. I serve no one, not even myself.

✨ Believe. Everything starts with belief in ourselves! I’m still working on this, and I pray everyday I will see myself through God’s eyes and the eyes of those who are my biggest cheerleaders.

✨Grace. I was reminded to give myself grace and to not judge myself for things I was or wasn’t doing. I allowed myself to be, to dance, to act a fool – in the funnest way possible. To fall off social media and come back when I wanted to. I was reminded not to worry about what others think. I was reminded to not make up my mind about what others thought of me. And if I ever had a question about anything to just communicate it. People are more understanding than I think.

Man. There are so many lessons, new and repeated. I am grateful for the time I took off. This is my break before my breakthrough. It was a challenge, but most of all it was healing, restorative, and it helped me release many of my limiting beliefs about what I thought being a mom, entrepreneur, and wife, friend, daughter, sister needed to be. I was not expecting a lot of this.

If anything I feel more empowered to map out my future, to lead imperfectly, and to create my own, new definition of success this season of my life.

Through it all I hope to inspire you, celebrate you and lift you up.

Thank you for reading all the way through, especially as this is more of a personal update.

I will have some fun resources coming up for how to be seen by your dream clients to grow your businesses, your community and your confidence. Stay tuned.

For now, I hope you find the rest you need and embrace it for all it is.