You may (or may not) have noticed I’ve been a bit absent around here for the last few weeks. Truthfully? I’ve been a little overwhelmed. Actually… a lot overwhelmed. There has been a perfect storm of: too many moving parts too many ideas not enough hours in the day, and exhaustion quietly sneaking up on me from behind! I’ve been so busy trying to keep all the plates spinning that I stopped paying attention to the person spinning them. The ‘plates’ became my focus and keeping them all going just kept getting harder! I really gave it my best shot – until my body said STOP! Sound familiar? Here’s the awkward little lesson horses repeatedly try to teach us: You cannot sustainably care for everyone and everything else while quietly abandoning yourself. Eventually your body, brain and energy notices. And life starts gently (or not so gently) nudging us to pause. For someone who preaches the power of pause, I found it really difficult and uncomfortable to settle into the space of ‘non- doing’. It was so challenging to give myself permission to rest, breathe, and decide ‘What actually matters right now?’ And it was even more challenging to let some things go, for a while. For me, it’s been a reminder that sometimes the bravest thing we can do is stop pretending we’re fine when we’re actually running on fumes. And maybe there’s a lesson in that too: Overwhelm is information, not failure. Sometimes it means: - too many priorities - too may projects - too little support (probably because you didn’t ask for help!) - or simply… you’re tired. And tired people are allowed to rest. Anyway, I’m still here. Slightly frazzled. Still figuring things out. Still occasionally resembling an overcaffeinated pony in a plastic bag storm. But back. And grateful you’re here too. QUESTION: What has life been trying to teach you lately — even if you didn’t particularly ask for the lesson?