It wasn’t burnout. It was my body asking me to come home.
The Whispers You’ve Been Ignoring
There’s a moment…quiet at first…
when your body starts whispering.
At first, it’s subtle.
You’re tired but wired.
Your clothes don’t fit quite right.
You wake up exhausted no matter how long you sleep.
The workouts you used to crush now feel impossible… or irrelevant.
The fire you once had? Dimmed.
You tell yourself it’s stress. Hormones. A “rough season.”
You push through… because that’s what you’ve always done.
But the whispers get louder.
Your joints ache.
Your nervous system is fried.
You can’t feel your edge anymore—not because it’s gone, but because you’re so far outside yourself, you wouldn’t recognize it if it screamed your name.
But even as your body begs you to slow down, you keep charging ahead.
Not because it’s working…
but because it’s familiar.
This isn’t just being tired.
It’s the moment you realize:
You’ve carried the mission… but abandoned the vessel.
When Strength Becomes a Shield
I know this moment well… because I’ve lived it. (And still do, sometimes.)
As an Enneagram 8, my relationship with strength has always been… complicated.
Strength made me feel safe.
Control made me feel capable.
Vulnerability felt like danger.
After a childhood of survival, trauma, and learning to rely only on myself, my body became the thing I used to prove I was untouchable.
I didn’t just build physical strength… I built emotional armor too.
And it worked… until it didn’t.
There’s a version of me the world applauded:
The strong one.
The unshakable one.
The woman who could carry it all.
And for a long time, I wore that identity like a badge… and honestly, I was proud of it.
I was the woman who worked out through pregnancies, who did 500 sit-ups a day, who powered through 36 hours of labor without flinching.
I could walk into any room and command it… on stage, in boardrooms, and in my home. I was strong.
But what I didn’t realize was that I had confused strength with survival.
I wasn’t just strong…
I was armored.
And while the world praised my power, my body was paying the price.
She was trying to tell a different story…
The Breakdown Before the Breakthrough
It started as quiet resistance: fatigue I couldn’t push through, mood shifts, weight that didn’t make sense.
Then came menopause.
A wrist replacement.
Hormonal chaos.
And suddenly, I couldn’t “push through” the way I used to.
I didn’t feel strong anymore.
I felt squishy. Disconnected. Sad…
And underneath it all, I realized something terrifying (in the middle of a keynote, nonetheless):
I had been using strength to avoid softness.
And now that softness was the one thing I was terrified to lose.
What If You Don’t Have to Choose?
Maybe you’ve felt it too.
You’re exhausted, but you keep showing up.
You’re praised for your power, but you’re secretly craving rest.
You’re leading others… but you’re disconnected from yourself.
You feel like an imposter in your own life and business.
And maybe, like me, you’ve started to wonder if reclaiming your strength means you have to give up the softness you’ve fought so hard for.
But I’m here to tell you:
You don’t have to choose.
You were built for both.
We’ve been conditioned to flex strength instead of actually feeling it.
To keep going. To hold it all. To prove we can.
But true power… undeniable, embodied, sustainable power… doesn’t come from pushing through.
It comes from partnership.
And that partnership begins with your body.
The Vessel Was Never the Problem
When I finally stopped resisting and got quiet enough to listen, I heard it:
“Your strength isn’t gone.
You’ve just been ignoring the vessel that carries it.”
So what does honoring the vessel actually feel like?
For me, it’s looked like:
– Walking… not to burn something off, but to drop in.
– Lifting… not to prove something, but to support my hormones, joints, and longevity.
– Eating… not to impress anyone, but to feel energized and anchored.
– Resting… not because I earned it, but because my body asked.
It’s not a plan. It’s a partnership.
None of this is about the mirror.
It’s about the mirror inside—the one that reflects whether you’re living from truth or just muscle memory.
Because that conditioning? It’s no joke.
This isn’t about aesthetics.
It’s about alignment.
Come Back to the Edge
Maybe you’ve been ignoring your own signals.
Maybe you’ve been walking through life on autopilot… looking the part, but barely hanging on.
I wonder what might happen if you stopped trying to “get back” to a version of yourself…
and instead started listening to the one you are now.
What would it feel like to give your body a voice again?
To move not out of punishment or performance, but devotion?
To stop managing your softness like a liability, and start treating it like the asset it is?
Because here’s the truth…
You were built to carry big things.
But you were never meant to carry them by abandoning yourself.
The next time you wonder where your power went, don’t look outward.
Look inward.
Feel downward.
Come back to the place where your edge actually lives.
Because this isn’t about getting “back in shape.”
It’s about coming back into integrity… with the one thing that’s never left your side.
Your body is not the obstacle to your edge.
It’s the access point.
And you, my friend, were built to carry it.
🔥 Ready to reconnect to the vessel that carries your edge?
🎙️ Listen to the full story on this week’s podcast episode
Built to Carry It – Reclaiming the Edge Beneath the Armor
Drop into the full conversation, insights, and my personal breakdown-to-breakthrough.
👉 Tap here to listen now.
💥 Want to go deeper? Book a private session with me.
If you know your body’s been whispering (or screaming) and you’re ready to lead from alignment—not exhaustion—I’d love to support you.
Together, we’ll unpack where you’ve abandoned the vessel and map a new way forward.
👉 Click here to book your session.
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