This is certainly the time of year where life can feel like it’s bursting at the seams. If you’ve been thinking lately, “I actually didn’t know life could get THIS busy,” you’re not alone!

Whether you have kids or not, the “school's out” vibes are here and for those of us who continue working and your day to day schedule doesn’t open up, it can make this sudden flood of summertime energy feel even more overwhelming.

Of course, when life feels fuller than full, taking space for yourself and filling your own cup can feel nearly impossible.

Have you ever told yourself you should be further down the path by now?

I certainly have!

I remember sitting on the beach many years ago, having a lovely day on vacation and a group text thread started to blow up. Congratulations began pouring in and I saw that my friend had just gotten engaged! And all of a sudden a strange thing happened. My stomach dropped and I felt a rush of emotions. Instead of feeling happy for them, I actually felt devastated for myself.

There comes a time in every high achiever’s career path when they say, "I’m done working so hard and I just want to coast."

Maybe you’ve been there or maybe you’re there now…

Wondering how to win the lottery

Or asking around who’s got a trust fund to share

Or maybe you’re fantasizing about selling it all, buying a one way and moving far far away.

Recently one of my clients shared that a few months ago she spontaneously signed up for a conversation with her CEO who opened up several slots to talk to employees at all levels of the organization. She thought it sounded fun and was excited to get some facetime with the CEO!

Suddenly, the night before this conversation was scheduled, she messaged me as a blast of fear and overwhelm came rushing in.

Haven’t we ALL been there?

This past week I've been absolutely feeling this Spring energy all around. It reminded me that I simply LOVE May for so many reasons. I know it's been a while, so I wanted to return by sharing this piece of art with you!

Please share with me, what do you love about May?

Happy Winter Solstice! ❄️🕯️

Today is the day when we step into the energy that is Winter in the Northern Hemisphere.

I have to admit something to you, I used to absolutely hate Winter with a passion! The constant cold and chill up my spine.The tightness I always felt in my body.The slippery driveways and sidewalks and shoveling.Not going outside without wearing what felt like my whole wardrobe.What's been your relationship with Winter? 

This past week has been the week of GRATITUDE circling around the holiday of Thanksgiving. I imagine your email inbox has been like mine and swinging between all the deals deals deals and expressions of gratitude.

When we think about gratitude, it's often easy to say what we're thankful for in our world around us. This quickly can become an honoring of things that people have done for us, things we appreciate about others or a list of things that we have either built or received.

I don't know about you, but I often had a hard time consistently dedicating time for myself and eventually got tired of filling up my cup alone!

A year ago, I got curious to see if there were other women who also wanted a held and dedicated space, and I quickly found the answer to be a great big...YES!

So I created a space called The Drop In and have led it for a full year within Level, a community of women tackling the racial wealth gap by investing in black women. It's been an honor to share this weekly space for this beautiful group.

Have you wanted to create a consistent space to carve out for yourself?

For years and years I wrote over and over on my to do list to meditate and journal daily, but you know what so often happened….life!

I often felt like life was getting busier and there was absolutely no time to do any of those things for ME!

I always had some form of an excuse as to why I couldn’t make the time…

Imagine for a moment…

Waking up on Monday morning and instead of feeling like you’re jumping to answer emails, getting yourself (and everyone else) ready for the day, feeling frazzled and already behind, you take a big deep breath. Because you know, there is a small block of time waiting for you on your calendar that you’ve already carved out. A block of dedicated time to fill up your cup, before you swoop into the week.

Even though it’s around Halloween, we’re not talking about goblins and ghosts. We’re talking The Sunday Scaries! 👻

So what is this weekly dread really all about?

When you’re anxiously anticipating Monday morning, holding your breath, clenching your fists and hoping you just make it through another day, you’re probably feeling all the pressure that comes with being a high achiever and wanting to show up “on your game” day after day.

There's very real inherent value in dedicating time for yourself! I'm not talking about a little a minute or two in between doing things for everyone else. I'm talking about real space and time that has no other reason than to nourish YOU!

When we create spaces that are deeply intentional, we can then lead our lives from a grounded, intuitive, and self assured place, creating more purposeful action aligned with who we REALLY are!

There are MANY very real reasons and seasons of your life when you're simply not in a place to focus on you. And, I'm not talking about those conscious moments of pause, but I am naming the many excuses that that mask themselves as reasons.

Now that we’ve gotten some of those out of the way, I’ll say it.

We’re conditioned as women, especially highly successful women, to choose supporting others, not to put time and resources into yourself.

You’ve probably been told some version of this story, putting yourself first is selfish!

That giving, giving, giving is not just the smart decision, it’s also the right way to be and a way to your own happiness!

Most of us learned at a very young age that creating success and happiness depends on pleasing, serving and giving to others.

Giving to your company.
Giving to your friends.
Giving to your partner.
And if you have kids, absolutely giving to them too!

These past few years, I’ve partnered on this journey with many beautiful women who've felt the call and took the leap! I find it so helpful to hear other people's stories with things like this and hope you do too.

These are the magical peeks into their vulnerable and personal stories and every single person I’ve worked with has their version of a story to share.

It’s simply what happens when you say yes to yourself in this way. That’s the power of sacred coaching!

I believe we’re not here to feel overwhelmed, guilty, pressured and stressed so often. And yet that’s what so many passionate high achievers feel day in and day out.

This way of being is built into our systems to do more, create more and chase success. But let me tell you, as a high achiever myself, living in this way day after day takes a big toll on our lives!

There’s a better way!

A way that feels sustainable, meaningful, and beautifully intentional.

Calling the women who are wondering, is there MORE for me in this life?

When you have a moment in between the busyness, you’ve felt whispers of this question. You’ve felt it loudly sometimes but have NO IDEA what to do with it and so you go ahead and dismiss it.

You look around at your life and see so many of the things that you wanted and worked so freakin’ hard for.

And yet you wonder, is there MORE for me?

How many times have you said something along these lines this past week, “I can’t, I’m way too busy!”

Yup, Summer is the time of year that we often feel so freakin’ busy! It’s more of a “hurry up and have fun” kind of busy.

Every single season has an energy underneath it that we can tap into. We can either align with that energy to feel more ease, or we can resist it, which often results in feeling more overwhelmed, frustrated or like we’re pushing a boulder uphill!

I’m here to say hello. Hello again!

Recently, I’ve been feeling into the flow of how to best serve through my business. Last year one of my words for the year was “flow” and I fully felt that. Some of the ways I honored that were deliberate and others weren't as much. With that, I went with the flow of where my energy wanted to be and that was in pouring into my clients and loving up on them in fun and exciting ways!

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jennifer Schwartz and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jennifer, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking

Taking risks is about getting out on the skinny branch of life, doing the things that feel most hard and allowing yourself to grow out of your comfort zone. Risks are also the things that make life worth living…let me explain!

The term “risk” we associate most with decision making from our headspace, weighing pros and cons and taking analytical action.