Sometimes life just surprises you.

You’re rolling along, minding your own business, and unexpectedly, something shifts.

Suddenly you’re being challenged in ways you didn’t expect, and you’re being asked to hold more than you feel ready for.

I just had a week like this.

From family drama to hurt feelings to deeply challenged relationships.
There was a moment where I truly thought this week might break me.

I quit drinking almost 2 years ago, but the urge this week was strong.
Not because I wanted to drink but because I wanted to escape.
I wanted to stop feeling.

In the past, I would have chosen the escape.

Maybe not by drinking
but by eating all the junk food and quitting on the workouts.

I would have chosen to disconnect from myself and fall into victimhood, believing everything happening around me was the reason I couldn’t show up for myself.

This time…
I chose differently.

I chose not to abandon myself.
I did the workouts despite sometimes only getting a few hours of sleep.
I continued following my meal plans even when I deeply craved comfort food.
I showed up for my coaching clients even with swollen eyes from hours of crying.

I didn’t show up perfectly.
And it certainly wasn’t easy.

But I chose to show up because I no longer see those my self care as optional when life gets hard.

I see it as essential.

Here’s what I have come to understand:

Life is always going to life.

There will always be something.
Stress
Conflict
Uncertainty
Other people

For the longest time, I made those “somethings”…those circumstances…mean something about me.

I made them mean that I “couldn’t.”

I couldn’t keep showing up.
I couldn’t handle the stress.
I couldn’t stay the course.

But here is what I understand now:
It was never the circumstances.
It was the meaning I was choosing to give them.

When I believed I “couldn’t,” I didn’t.

I quit.
I started over.
I disappeared on myself.

I don’t believe that any more.

And because of that, I don’t leave myself when life gets hard.

That’s the difference.

Not new plan.
Not more discipline.

A different identity.
A different belief about myself.

If you are someone who who feels like you are constantly starting over…
Like life is constantly knocking you down and off track…

It’s not because you are not capable.

It’s because of what you have been believing about yourself in those moments.

And that’s something we can change.

Don’t be the first thing that you quit
Especially when you need yourself the most.

If this is something you’re struggling with, this is the work I do with my clients.
Learning how to stop quitting on themselves—no matter what life throws at them.

You don’t have to figure this out alone.

If this resonated with you and you’re tired of starting over, I’d love to talk with you.

I’d love to hear what this brought up for you!