What Would Become Possible if You Stopped Stopping?

You’re either all the way on,
completely off,
or somewhere in the middle, revving up the momentum you lost from the last time you decided to stop.

You’ve chosen greatness because greatness is who you are.

And yeah—sometimes the journey gets tough and uncomfortable and like day fading into night, you want a break. You move from actively making your mark on the world back into yourself and the quiet stillness of an ordinary human life.

You choose stillness because stillness is who you are too.

The thing is though: Stillness will never be enough on its own. That’s because the other part of yourself—the part that’s here to lead and create an impact—will eventually miss the light and whisper in your ear to start again.

If you know this pattern as intimately as the color of your eyes, you’re not alone. I do too.

If you were to zoom out and take a look at my relationship with showing up, it’s been one of emotional chaos and inconsistency—like the line that ferociously zigs and zags its way across a graph.

There have been numerous times where I’ve slowed down/stopped altogether. I’ll fall off the grid for days/weeks/months at a time. I’ll stop writing. I’ll stop sharing. I’ll stop showing up.

Every time I do, it feels like heaven for a little while, until—it doesn’t. That’s because using stillness to hide sucks. Everything you worked so hard to build begins to disintegrate {not completely, but enough to notice}. And then, when greatness beckons again, the energy you gained depletes from what it takes to create inertia to start again. ​​​​​​​

​​​​​​​Lately, I’ve been wondering: What do you miss out on when you operate in one extreme or the other? Is it possible to have both? What would it look like to bring presence to each part of yourself through every part of your journey?

There’s no doubt that you have important work to do. You’re here to create, to lead, to make an impact. Yet, when you live in one extreme or the other, you miss out on practicing the consistency it takes to make this work extend as far and as deep as possible.

Knowing you, that’s not something you can live with.

So while it’s ideal to promise yourself you’ll never “stop” again, that leaves little room for human error. What if instead of making that promise, you chose to experiment with creating a new relationship with showing up?

Places to start might include:

→ Using structure to honor your desire to show up AND be still. Some of these structures for me include writing four mornings per week, taking one uncomfortable action per day, and taking Sundays completely off.
→ When you find yourself bumping up against resistance to following your structure, practice coming from a place of commitment to what you said you wanted or utilize your support systems.
→ Find ways to bring more joy, fun, and lightness to your work and your journey.

Now go get messy and honor the beauty that is both the greatness and the stillness within you <3

With light, love, & presence,
-Kayla

Words & Wisdom

Enter your information below to receive Kayla’s blog posts.