Chirp-chirp-chirp-cheeeeee! Chirp-chirp-chirp-cheeeeee!

That’s the sound of my daily 5am wake-up call courtesy of the cute lil’ bird squatting in the laurel bush outside my bedroom window.

I don’t mind waking up early, but her morning song is more fire alarm reverberating in a metal building than a pleasant woodland melody.

On Monday, her song jolted me awake from a series of stress dreams in which I was either:

(A) running late,
(B) searching for something I couldn’t find,
(C) trying to convince someone to listen to me, or
(D) ALL OF THE ABOVE

Part of me was grateful for the wake-up call, and part of me was full of FURY — that special flavor of rage that overtakes you when startled out of a vulnerable state of slumber. Just me??

Anyway, it was Monday morning after a week off for my birthday. My first week off to rest and relax since December. This year has been mega challenging for me. We recently returned from almost three months on the East Coast, supporting my husband’s parents after a series of medical crises turned their lives upside down.

We drove across the country — a long, six-day journey from Oregon to Virginia — so our elderly dog could come with us.

The long days on the road gave me time to reflect on the privilege of being self-employed and working virtually. Jonathan and I have intentionally created a life liberated from the constraints of 9-to-5 employment, and here was an opportunity to put that privilege to good use.

It was an honor to support them, and it was exhausting.

So, my birthday week of rest and relaxation was much needed… but I put too much pressure on the week to recharge my depleted batteries.

I had a vision of waking up Monday morning feeling 100% recharged.

It seemed like a reasonable expectation…

I mean, my week was a total delight! I only did things I wanted to do, took it slow, did just enough socializing to warm my heart without wearing me out, and felt my spark slowly sputtering back to life. Success!

I *wanted* to be back at 100% on Monday morning because I’ve missed being fully immersed and connected to my work.

But alas, feeling recharged and raring to go was not in the cards for me this week. (That’s true metaphorically and literally. The oracle cards I pulled on Monday said to expect less spark and more lethargy this week! Annoying.)

To add insult to injury…

I’ve found myself fantasizing a lot lately about shutting down my businesses and getting a job working for someone else.

OH NO! DANGER SIGN!

To be clear, I think it’s totally healthy to have an escape fantasy.

Imagining a quiet life working at the library, baking croissants, or working with a dream team of humans doing work you love (but aren’t responsible for) is a good way to let off some steam when the pressure of running your business feels like too much.

But there is a tipping point when the escape fantasy stops letting off steam and starts pulling you deeper and deeper into the abyss — a scary place with no wifi signal where no one cares about your work and there’s NO HOPE FOR YOUR FUTUUUUUUREEEE!

Wowza. That got dark real quick.

I’m sharing this because I have a feeling you have your own version of The Abyss and know what it’s like to feel stuck in low power mode, even when all you want is to get back to your creative, motivated, passionate self.

Many of my friends and clients are feeling similarly.

>> “Nothing is working and I feel like a loser.”
>> “Why am I not getting more new clients? I’m starting to panic!”
>> “Is it even worth trying when the robots are taking over anyway?”

All valid feelings and questions. And this week, I’m in it with you.

Here’s the pep talk I’m giving myself this week…

If you’re also riding the struggle bus on your way to The Abyss this week, I hope these words resonate for you. And if you’re in a great place right now, GREAT. We need you to hold down the fort of hopefulness and possibility while we descend into the darkness for a minute. We’ll return the favor when we inevitably swap positions in a few weeks.

I’d really love to know where you’re at right now.

Hit reply and share which of the following is true for you:

1. I’m on the struggle bus, too.
2. I’m feeling great right now.

You can copy/paste whichever feels more true for you. It’ll take 3 seconds and make me feel REALLY GOOD. And don’t you want to make me feel good????????

I jest. But for real, let me know what’s up for you.

Life is better when we’re connected to each other.

P.S. I’m sending this newsletter without proofreading because I can’t be bothered today. Let my typos remind you that I am human and no robots were involved in the making of this email.

What does spirituality have to do with your business?

Absolutely nothing.

Or…

Absolutely everything.

You get to decide.

We’re taught that business is about making money — that profit is the sole indicator of our success. The people who teach us how to make money wrinkle their noses at anything that smells remotely “woo”, wafting it away like a stale fart hovering around your face while you’re stuck on an airplane.

They dismiss the unseen and hyperfocus on variables they believe can be controlled. In their minds, control = certainty and certainty = safety.

Do these control tactics feel good to us? Not in the slightest.

Do we follow their advice anyway? Yep, because at the end of the day, we need money to survive in this world, and we’re scared that we won’t make any money unless we do it “the right way.”

Even though “the right way” slowly hollows us out, we shove our spiritual yearning to the side to do the soul-draining work of “building your business the right way”, which really means building your business separate from your intuition, nature, the unseen world, (insert whatever flavor of spirituality speaks to you here).

Our capitalist economy has strip-mined spirituality from our businesses by extracting the soul-nourishing connections that give our work purpose and meaning. What’s left is a plot of dried-out soil barely capable of producing enough to get by.

If your business is feeling a bit dried out — if you’ve lost your spark, your passion, or your connection to the deeper meaning that motivates you, this week’s message is for you.

I want to offer you a pathway to weave spirituality back into your business.

The word “weave” is important here. I’m not suggesting you abandon the business practices you rely on to make money. That would be reckless. I’m suggesting you continue doing what you’re doing while weaving spiritual connection into the tapestry of your work.

In this week’s Let’s Go Outside video, I share:

• My all-time favorite Rumi quote that inspired this journey
• Why your spiritual practice is your most important business strategy
• 1 simple suggestion to help you weave more grounded spirituality (or stinky “woo”, as the skeptics call it) into your money-making business

Here’s what I hope you’ll carry with you this week:​
​

• What you want also wants you. What you need is already moving in your direction. The only thing standing between you and it is the belief that you have to chase it down.
  ​
• The most rebellious thing a business owner can do in a capitalist economy is choose to pause, put your hands on the earth, and listen.​
  ​
• Your spiritual practices aren’t separate from your business practices. Sitting in patience, connecting with nature, seeking guidance from the unseen world — these are essential business skills.

How does this land for you?

What would change in your business if you stopped trying to force growth and success, and instead, let yourself sit, breathe, and open yourself to receiving what is truly meant for you?

Hint: Everything would change.

Reflection

1. Where in your business are you still running hard after what you think you want? What would it feel like to pause there and trust that what’s looking for you is also looking to find you?
   ​
2. What productivity conditioning have you inherited that makes patience feel dangerous or irresponsible? If you could shake that off, what becomes possible?
   ​
3. If you honored your spiritual practices as core business practices — sitting in patience, seeking guidance, listening to what wants you — how would your work change?

Ritual

Find a place outside where you can sit directly on the earth or grass.

Position your hands or feet on the ground and take five full breaths, feeling your connection to the land beneath you.

Then sit in silence for 10 minutes (or as long as feels right) without checking your phone or planning your next task.

Notice what arises — the sounds, sensations, and any quiet knowing that emerges.

Before you leave, place your hand on your heart and ask: What is looking for me right now?

Don’t force an answer; simply listen. Carry this question with you as you return to your work.

Brace yourself for a WILD idea…

What if being patient could help you achieve your goals faster (and with more ease) than being productive?

“Maegan, you’re being ridiculous! No one ever achieved a big goal in their business by sitting back and doing NOTHING.”

I respectfully disagree, imaginary internet friend.

The truth is, we’re BOMBARDED with messages telling us to be more productive every single day. We’ve been conditioned to believe that working hard is the only way to succeed as a business owner.

Ever heard the term “sweat equity”?

It’s the idea that you need to exert yourself to make your business grow — especially if you don’t have a mountain of money at your disposal to outsource all of the necessary tasks to someone else.

And because we’re ambitious individuals who really want (and often need) our businesses to succeed, we unconsciously play into the story that constant productivity is a requirement of being a good business owner.

In other words, we avoid patience like the plague because we’re afraid that being patient means we’re being lazy. We’re afraid that patience is a ruse we hide behind because we just don’t want to work.

Of course, this isn’t true!

As business owners, our livelihoods depend on our ability to take action, to sell our offerings, and deliver our services. We have to work, but that doesn’t mean that we have to be constantly pushing.

Knowing when to stop, when to pause, when to wait is a difficult but crucial skill to master if you want to be a deeply rested entrepreneur.

But first, we have to release the fear that being patient means we’re not taking any action at all. That’s ridiculous. Patience does NOT mean we’re being passive, and it definitely doesn’t mean we’re being lazy.

In a well-balanced business, a period of patience typically follows a period of action. By pausing and being patient, we’re simply giving our actions time to take root. It’s this pause that allows your work to flourish!

I know it feels counterintuitive, but the truth is, pausing after taking action supports the sustainable growth of our goals.

Farmers and gardeners are masters of this rhythm — they plant, and then they wait. They don’t keep digging up the seeds to check on them. This week, I’m taking you out to a real plot of farmland to show you exactly what active patience looks like, and how to bring that same rhythm into your business.

Click here to watch the full video.

If I had to boil this down to three things:

• Patience and passivity are not the same thing. Patience is an active choice to trust the process after you’ve done the work. Passivity is opting out of the work altogether. Small business owners constantly confuse the two, and it costs them inner peace.
  ​
• The belief that you must always be doing in order to succeed is a feature of hustle culture, not a law of nature. Farmers plant, then wait. Growth requires both action and rest.
  ​
• Aligning your business with natural cycles is a legitimate path to success. It may be slower than the exploit-and-grind model, but it is more sustainable, more peaceful, and more aligned with who you actually want to be.
  ​

How does this land for you?

Is there a place in your business right now where you’d benefit from practicing a little more patience?

Hit reply and tell me what’s on your mind.

Did you know I was born one month premature??

Of course not! Why would you know that?! Unless you’re my mom, who occasionally reads these newsletters. Hi, Mom! Thanks for birthing me!

But it’s true!

I was born one month early, which I guess was technically the first time I exhibited a behavioral pattern commonly known as chronic impatience.

Oof, it’s true.

My whole life, I’ve felt like my heart and soul are years ahead of my body.

In junior high, I was impatient to get to high school. In high school, I was impatient to get to college. In college, I was impatient to get to graduate school. In graduate school, I was impatient to finish school so I could start my private practice and FINALLY LIVE MY LIFE.

Unsurprisingly, the feeling did not go away when I started private practice.

It’s morphed into impatience around projects and goals — a fluttery feeling in my chest that whispered things like, “You’re falling behind!” and “You should be past this part already!”

Impatience bullied me into pushing myself past my limits. It convinced me to swim against the current of the river instead of relaxing into ease and flow.

Impatience wired my nervous system to respond to urgency and tricked my brain into thinking I was lazy whenever I stopped trying to force my way to success.

For the past 10+ years, I’ve been getting to know this impatient part of me.

I’ve learned that she’s not all bad. She’s eager to grow, create, and consume every morsel life has to offer. She looks like Ms. Pac-Man, chomp-chomp-chomping her way through the world.

It makes sense that the #1 message I get from therapists, guides, intuitives, friends, partners, and baristas is, “Practice a little patience, Maegan.”

But you know how it feels when someone tells you to be more patient when all you want is to move forward?

REALLY FREAKING IRRITATING.

Alas, learning to recognize when I need to practice patience has been necessary work for me over the past few years.

And now, it’s the topic for this week’s Let’s Go Outside video! Join me (and a lovely Japanese maple tree) as we explore the answer to the question:

When it comes to my business, how do I know when to push and when to be patient?

As a business owner, patience can feel scary. Right now, especially with so much economic uncertainty, the urge to hustle harder is louder than ever. I feel it too. But I’ve had to remind myself that pushing harder doesn’t actually move the timeline up.

The thing we want will not bloom on demand.

The most powerful thing you can do in business is learn to distinguish between when to take action and when to wait for conditions to align in your favor. (← I say way more about this in the video.)

Here’s what I want you to walk away with this week:

• Most of what determines your success is outside your control. You can take all the right actions and still be waiting on conditions, timing, or circumstances that no amount of forcing will speed up.
• Over-efforting is a signal, not a strategy. When something feels like you’re swimming upstream, that resistance is worth examining. It might mean the timing isn’t right yet, not that you need to push harder.
• Patience and passivity are not the same thing. Choosing to wait for the right conditions is an active, intentional business decision, and knowing when to hold still is a skill most entrepreneurs never develop.

I know it’s scary to slow down.

But I promise, slowing down is not the same as falling behind.

Next week, we’ll talk about how to stay active and intentional while you wait. This has been medicine for me as I’ve recovered from my own chronic impatience syndrome. Stay tuned!

For now, see if you can identify ONE project, goal, or dream that might benefit from your patience. Something you’re really stressed about or “working hard” on right now that simply isn’t ready to bloom.

Use the ritual and reflection suggestions below to work with it this week.

Reflection

1. Where in your business are you working hard at something that simply isn’t moving? What does that resistance feel like in your body?
   ​
2. Is the effort you’re putting in actually moving the needle, or are you staying busy to avoid the discomfort of waiting?
   ​
3. What would you do differently this week if you trusted that the right conditions were already on their way?
   ​
4. What would it mean for your business if patience were a strategy, not a weakness to be overcome?

Ritual

The Holding Object Ritual

Choose the one thing in your business that needs more patience right now. Then find an object to represent it.

Forage outside, find something around your home, or make something simple with your hands.

Place it somewhere visible — your desk, your altar, a windowsill.

This object is now holding that goal for you. You don’t have to carry it constantly. You don’t have to act on it today.

Each time you notice the object, let it remind you: you are still tending to this dream.

Attention is its own form of care. You are not abandoning it. You are trusting it to bloom when the conditions are ready.

Welcome back to another week of work.

How’s your energy today?

If you’re anything like my clients and me, your energy has been all over the place. One day, you’re feeling energized and productive, and the next, you arrive at work dead on arrival.

The most challenging part is that it feels impossible to predict when you’ll be raring to go and when you’ll feel like playing hooky to binge-watch Heated Rivalry for the third time.

So how do you run a business when your energy feels totally unpredictable?

Nature has the answer.

This week, I’m taking you outside to learn from the source.

Ready? Let’s go!

If you’ve been riding an energy rollercoaster lately — totally lit up and creative one day, exhausted and checked out the next — this episode is for you.​

This week, we’re looking to the chaotic threshold between winter and spring as a reminder that variability isn’t a flaw, it’s just how living things operate.

Here’s what nature is teaching us this week:

• Why the belief that your energy should be predictable is BS
• What seasonal thresholds teach us about creative cycles in business
• How to honor your fluctuating energy without making it a problem

RITUAL

Step 1. Check in with yourself

Before opening your laptop or looking at your to-do list, pause and ask yourself: where is my energy today? Don’t try to change it. Just name it. Expansive? Contracted? Somewhere in between?

Step 2. Look outside

Find a window or step outside for a moment. Notice what nature is doing today. Is it sunny, windy, cloudy, raining? Notice if there are parallels between what’s happening outside and what’s happening inside of you.

Step 3. Name your inner season

Ask yourself: “Am I feeling Spring energy or Winter energy today?” Write it down in one sentence. Something like: “Today I am in Winter mode — slow, quiet, and turning inward.”

Step 4. Adjust your expectations

Based on your season, name one thing you will do today and one thing you will let go of. Honor what’s real rather than what you think should be true.

REFLECTION

• When your energy dips this week, what’s your first instinct — to push through, or to honor your need for rest?
  ​
• When it comes to your business, in what ways are you expecting consistent output, steady motivation, and predictable creativity? Are those expectations working for you?
  ​
• When you’re in a high-energy, expansive Spring day, how do you care for yourself so you don’t burn through your reserves before the next contraction comes?

Happy Monday from foggy rural Virginia!

I’m entering week four of my stint on the East Coast. While I miss my bed and living walking distance from good espresso, there are many things about rural life that really speak to me, like…

 Waking up to birdsong instead of blaring car horns
​🪾 Being surrounded by trees instead of buildings
​ Driving through rolling hills instead of traffic jams

And in a spark of synchronicity, it’s provided the perfect landscape for me to finally start the new series I’ve been dreaming about for months…

Let’s Go Outside is a video series for entrepreneurs who are tired of sourcing all their wisdom from Google searches and endless Instagram scrolling. Instead of looking to the internet for answers, we’re going outside to learn directly from nature.

After all, nature has been running sustainable, resilient systems for millions of years. I think it’s time we paid attention!

I’m sharing my first video down below, plus companion ritual and reflection questions you can use this week to ground your business and your spirit.

Without further ado, let’s go outside!

Let’s Go Outside!

OFFLINE WISDOM FROM THE NATURAL WORLD

What if slowing down is exactly what your business needs right now?

In this debut episode of Let’s Go Outside, I’m taking you into the Winter woods to explore one of the most misunderstood dynamics in business ownership: the difference between contraction and constriction.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why a slow season in your business might be exactly what you need
• How to tell whether you’re in a healthy contraction or a fear-based state of constriction (← VERY IMPORTANT!)
• How to nurture the stirrings of new growth as you move into Spring

Ritual & Reflection

SPIRITUAL STRATEGIES TO GROUND YOUR WORK

Anyone else feeling like this lately?

We’re getting pummeled from all directions.

Business revenue down, illnesses that won’t quit, unpredictable winter storms, rising costs of everything, fascist takeovers and horrific attacks…

You know that feeling when you’re swimming in the ocean, and you go out just a smidge too far? You can’t touch the bottom. The waves are getting bigger. Each time you come up for air, bam, another wave drags you under.

That’s exactly how I’m feeling.

Now, before I continue, let me just say:

Dear reader, I hope this email doesn’t apply to you!

I hope your business is solid, your heart is open, and you’re feeling so hopeful about the future. If that’s true, please, take your light and shine it as far and wide as possible. We need you.

Buuut…

If being pummeled by dodgeballs and drowning under ocean waves resonates with you on a somatic level, this is for you.

Yes, the waves are relentless right now.

Each time you think you’re standing on solid ground — which is when you do things like make plans, start new projects and collaborations, put energy into growing your business — you get dragged under by more bad news.

I am right there with you, friend.

There’s a part of me that wants to crawl under my blankets and hide. But I’m not going to do that. Life is calling me forward. She is calling us all forward — towards a better world, a brighter future.

I want to share how I’m moving forward in ways that honor my physical and emotional capacity in the hopes that it helps you move forward, too.

How to Keep Moving Forward
​(without bypassing what is hard)

Step 1. Release the need to know the answer.

Questions I’ve asked myself in the past 48 hours:

• Why is this happening?
• What can I do about it?
• What is going to happen next?
• When will things get better?

My default coping mechanism is to try to make it all make sense. If I just have the right story, told in the right way, I’ll see the thruline and know exactly what to do next.

That strategy has worked out for me approximately zero times.

I’m exhausting myself trying to answer unanswerable questions in an attempt to feel safe. Why? Because uncertainty is scary! Especially when you’re a business owner carrying the financial burden for your family. Our survival instincts are kicking in, for better or for worse.

But the reality is, we don’t know the answers to these questions.

Instead of stress-spiraling into a pit of existential doom, I suggest we let go of the need to know the answers and redirect our energy toward something more helpful…

Step 2. Regulate yourself and find your steady center.

Ahh, yes. Nervous system regulation, my old friend.

You can’t control what’s happening in the world, but you can tend to your personal nervous system. You can calm yourself down. Pull yourself out of fight-or-flight. Root down into the earth.

The best thing we can do right now (as business owners and people on the planet) is to stay regulated, rooted, and centered.

When’s the last time you felt connected to your center?

You know you’ve found your center when you feel an internal steadiness that makes you unshakeable. You’re calm, clear, and capable of responding (not reacting) to whatever life throws your way.

 I listen to this Aretha song when I need help connecting to my center.​

We can’t stop the world from spinning, but we can stop ourselves from spinning. That’s what the world needs right now — more adults with rock steady centers leading with love and kindness.

Once you’re back in your steady center, you can…

Step 3. Clarify and commit to sharing ONE thing.

When life gets chaotic, I default to one of these coping mechanisms:

1. Go into overdrive and try to solve every problem
2. Collapse into bed to reread the Sarah J Maas catalogue

These are my “Hey, you’re not in your steady center!” red flag behaviors.

They might feel good in the moment, but neither behavior is sustainable in the long term. What I really need is to align my physical and energetic capacity with the ways I’m feeling called to be of service in the moment.

Here’s an example:

When life threw me a major curveball in January, I knew I needed to end the Sabbatical School launch early (while celebrating the 11 incredible students who enrolled during the early-bird period!) and refocus my energy on offering my free Clear Your Cache workshop instead.

I didn’t have the capacity to see the launch through to the end, but that didn’t mean I needed to crawl under my blankets and hide. I found my steady center and asked for guidance on what I could offer now. Voila!

This is what I want to invite you to do now.

After you shake off the need to know the answers to any/all questions on your mind, regulate your nervous system, and reconnect to your steady center, ask yourself:

• What is one thing I feel called to share right now?
• Who do I feel called to share it with?
• How can I honor my capacity in the process?

It’s best to keep this one thing very, very simple.

Here are some options:

• I feel called to share love and peace.
• I feel called to share trust and patience.
• I feel called to share energy for action.
• I feel called to share space to rage and grieve.
• I feel called to share kindness and compassion.

Clear Your Cache was created from my clarity that I felt called to share regulation and energy for action. This email was created from my clarity to share trust and love.

Once you know the frequency you’re holding in your body, you can use your mind to think of a way to share it with ease.

We can trust this moment.

We can trust each other.

We can continue sharing what we’re meant to share — even if we have to scale back our offerings, adjust our well-intentioned business plans, or put a pin in the big dreams we don’t have the capacity to bring forward just yet.

So tell me, what do YOU feel called to share right now?

Hit reply and share it with me. I would be honored to receive it.

Don’t have time to read today? No problem.
Skip the email and listen to this 12-minute podcast episode instead.

I spent the weekend binge-watching Maid — a ten-episode series about a young woman named Alex clawing her way out of poverty, domestic violence, and a family lineage of untreated mental illness.

Alex’s life was hard. The kind of hard I’m grateful I’ve never experienced.

The truth is: I’m extremely privileged.

Even in my most stressful moments, I’ve always had a roof over my head, fresh food, and easy access to healthcare. With a little planning, I’ve been able to say yes to nearly every educational or coaching opportunity I’ve felt called toward. As a thin, upper-middle-class, able-bodied white woman, I face very few barriers to getting what I need, when I need it — and being treated with respect along the way.

Yes. I am extremely privileged.

And I waste way too much time feeling guilty about it.

That guilt shows up like this:

• Working more hours than are actually necessary…
  ​because having too much free time makes me uncomfortable.
• Refusing to pay for support…
  ​because why do I deserve help when so many people have none?
• Holding myself back in my business…
  ​because wanting more feels selfish when others are struggling.

This is true for so many of the women I work with.

We carry privilege and a hypersensitive empathy for the suffering of others. We don’t know how to hold both truths at once. So we spend our lives breaking our backs trying to make it “even.”

But how many people are we really helping when we’re walking around with broken backs?

We’re punishing ourselves for having privilege.

We feel guilty that — unlike Alex — we don’t have to search the sidewalk for spare change to put enough gas in the car to get to the job that doesn’t even cover childcare.

We hate that other people are suffering.

We hate not knowing how to fix it.

Over time, that guilt festers. It distorts our reality (“You can’t afford to pay for support!”) and contorts our bodies (“Get back to work! You need to do MORE!”). We become obedient cogs in the machine that’s harming all of us.

But the truth is this:

Your privilege isn’t a problem. It’s power.

When wielded consciously, your privilege can empower your mind and strengthen your body, enabling you to disrupt the machine altogether.

Because when you say…

• I’m taking some time off to recharge my batteries.
• I’m hiring support, so I’m not so exhausted and stressed out.
• I’m going to go bigger with my business so I can have more impact.

… you’re not just helping yourself. You’re putting a plan in motion that disrupts the status quo and makes the world a better place for all of us.

You can use your privilege to contribute to large-scale transformation.

And it starts by saying yes to yourself.

That can be hard for your inner martyr — the part of you that believes you’re not really doing good unless you’re suffering alongside the people you’re trying to serve. But we don’t need to suffer to be of service!

In fact, quite the opposite.

The more resourced you are, the more good you can do.

When you do the inner work to expand your tolerance for ease and abundance, you have more psychological and financial capacity to use your privilege well.

And yeah, that inner work is uncomfortable.

But not nearly as uncomfortable as Alex’s life.

I wish I could give my privilege to Alex — but I can’t. It’s mine.

And your privilege belongs to you.

You can ignore it, or you can cash it in for a chance to help transform the system. I’m not saying that will happen overnight. But the choices you make with your privilege today will shape the future.

And it’s okay if those choices make your life better, too.

You don’t need to feel guilty about that.

Remember, guilt keeps us busy.

And busy people don’t have the capacity to change anything.

If you want to be an agent of change, you have to step off the hamster wheel that keeps you trapped in stress, exhaustion, and overwhelm.

Which is why I’m so passionate about time off.

Taking space for yourself is the first step to harnessing your privilege for good. It allows you to see exactly what you need to heal, what you need to change, and what you need to create in order to live a more easeful life.

That’s what I want for all of us — more ease.

When you step away from the daily grind, you reconnect with the bigger picture. And when you allow yourself to consciously leverage your privilege in service of that vision, your ability to help others expands tenfold.

This is the big mission behind Sabbatical School.​

To help entrepreneurs create space to tend to themselves, clarify their visions, and find the courage to bust through glass ceilings, kick “the man” in the balls, and help create a world where everyone is taken care of.

That’s what a sabbatical is all about — intentional space for healing, dreaming, recharging, and creating radical change.

Right now, Alex doesn’t have the resources to initiate change. She doesn’t have the option to find more ease. And she definitely doesn’t have the luxury to take more time off.

But you do.

If you’re ready, I would truly love to have you in Sabbatical School.​

Early-bird enrollment closes tonight.

If money feels tight, join before midnight to save up to $500 with the early-bird rate. I genuinely want this to be accessible for you.

I know it’s scary. And I know you can do it.

Let’s use our privilege for good — for others and for ourselves.

5 Concrete Changes You’ll See in Your Life and Business After Your Mini-Sabbatical

(Listen Time: 12 Minutes)

Listen Here.

Let’s get down to brass tacks.

Your brain has you convinced that YOU cannot take a sabbatical.

Other people, maybe, but not you. You don’t have the time, the money, the privilege, or the (insert your reason here) needed to take time for yourself.

I get it. I told myself all of those stories, too. For years. Until a frightening encounter with burnout left me no other choice but to do it.

(Sometimes we leap and sometimes we’re pushed, you know?)

I didn’t even know it was a sabbatical at the time. It just felt like survival. My husband wasn’t working, my business was struggling, and my body felt like it was one strong breeze away from disintegrating in the wind.

On the other side of my four-week emergency break, I felt totally transformed. And I realized, “Whoa — I think I just took a sabbatical.”

Here’s what I’ve learned:

Sabbaticals initiate change.

More specifically, sabbaticals initiate the right kind of change — the kind that pays off long after you return to work.

It’s a strategy to help you clarify what you really want and how to get it.

And with my help, your sabbatical will create the conditions for real, tangible transformation in your life and business.

I see these same results time and again in my own sabbatical practice and in the many clients I have guided and coached through the process.

And when you commit to taking a sabbatical in 2026, I fully expect you to see these results too:

We’re starting with inner changes and moving to external changes.

Regulate Your Nervous System

​(and make better business decisions)

With a month away, you’ll finally have the space to fully downshift out of the near-constant activated state you currently exist in.

A sabbatical gives you a chance to reset your system and feel calm, grounded, present — even after you return to work.

And from this place of steadiness, you’ll reenter your business with the gifts of clearer thinking, more effective communication, and better decision-making at your side.

Recharge Your Batteries

​(so work stops feeling so hard)

Depending on how depleted your energy levels are as you begin your sabbatical, you may spend the first couple of weeks in deep rest mode.

But once you’ve returned to a solid baseline state, you can begin recharging in more meaningful ways.

You’ll surprise yourself with what pops into your head. With what you really want to spend your time on. There will be moments of delight, and rabbit holes of curiosity, and maybe even long stretches of time when all you do is admire the trees as they dance in the wind.

You might even start to feel excitement about your work again — and see this energy ripple into everything that comes next.

Discover Your Alignment

​(and stop leaking energy)

When you step away from your to-do list — like really, truly step away — you start to notice what feels life-giving and what feels draining.

You discover who you are at this moment in your life and are able to start defining what alignment looks like for this season of your life and work.

After your sabbatical, we’ll work together to help you turn that alignment into actionable changes, so that the life and business you step into upon your return feel transformed.

Cultivate Your Next Big Idea

​(and start creating space for what’s next)

Maybe something new is trying to come through for you, right at this very moment, but your life feels too noisy to hear what it is.

Big ideas need space to emerge, and your sabbatical gives you that space.

And while I can’t promise you’ll end this short sabbatical with a fully fleshed out idea for a new book, offer, or direction for your business during your sabbatical, I do feel confident that something will become clear during that time — and it will unlock the door to the next chapter of your life.

These combined changes will lead to financial return on investment.

Now, let’s be realistic, you’re not going to come back from time away and immediately make more money.

But you will come back recharged, focused, and clear about what you want to do next in your business.

You’ll have a new plan and the energy to implement it. That’s magic.

If this feels like the exhale you’ve been needing — but also like something you want to do responsibly — Sabbatical School will show you how.​

This is where we turn the idea of time off into an actual plan that supports your nervous system and your bottom line.

I want to help you design time off that pays you back — not just emotionally, but practically and financially, too.

Early bird discounts expire at midnight on Monday.

Let’s start planning your sabbatical.

Yesterday, I received this message from a subscriber:

“I would LOVE a sabbatical and the idea of taking one thrills me. But I don’t have a rich husband. The only thing holding me back is money.”

Honestly?

It confirms what I already know to be true:

The #1 reason people don’t take a sabbatical isn’t lack of desire — it’s the assumption they can’t afford it.

You know you need a break.

But a month-long sabbatical feels like a fantasy reserved for other people — tenured professors, trust fund kids, CEOs with rockstar teams…

…or, apparently, solopreneurs with rich husbands.

If you don’t fit into one of those categories, you’ve probably assumed a sabbatical just isn’t in the cards for you.

But you know what they say about assuming.

The truth is: you need a sabbatical — and it’s more financially doable than you think.

Over the next few days, I’m going to prove it to you.

How I’m breaking this down:

I know money stuff can be overwhelming — so I’m going to make this as easy and digestible as possible.

Instead of cramming everything into one long email, I’m walking you through this in three short, focused steps over the next few days:

• Today: Free resources to help you discern whether you can afford a sabbatical (please don’t skip these — they’re foundational)
  ​
• Tomorrow: A behind-the-scenes look at how Sabbatical School supports your financial planning with practical, easy-to-use tools
  ​
• The following day: My personal financial story — because I want to fully dismantle the myth that you need a rich husband (or some other magical safety net) to make this possible

Today’s focus is simply this:

Is a sabbatical financially possible for you?

Before I tell you more about Sabbatical School, I want you to explore this question for yourself — with real numbers, not fear-based assumptions.

That’s exactly what these resources are designed to help you do.

Let’s get to it…

“Can I even afford it?”​

5 Creative Ways to Fund Your Sabbatical as a Solopreneur

Click here to listen. ​(18-minute audio lesson)

In this Sabbatical School podcast episode, I walk you through a grounded, no-fluff way to look at your actual financial reality — so you can discern if a sabbatical could be possible for you with the right planning and support.

You’ll learn how to:

• Get honest about where you fall on the financial spectrum (without shame or magical thinking) so you know if this is something you should consider or not
• Calculate your bare minimum funding number — the amount of money you need to save to pay yourself while you’re on sabbatical
• Explore five creative ways solopreneurs actually fund sabbaticals (spoiler: it’s rarely “having a rich husband”)
• Understand why your first sabbatical doesn’t have to be perfectly funded to be deeply worthwhile

I also share the story of my first emergency sabbatical — the messy, imperfect one that taught me why financial clarity turns a sabbatical from a risky fantasy into a sustainable practice.

If money is the thing standing between you and the break you need, this episode is for you.

Click here to listen to 5 Creative Ways to Fund Your Sabbatical.​

When you finish listening…

Because I really want you to see how doable this can be, I recommend spending a few minutes with the Find Your Sabbatical Funds: Financial Strategy Worksheet.

I made this worksheet as a companion to the podcast episode to help you move from conceptual understanding to personal, practical application.

Several people have asked why I’m giving so much away for free.

The answer is simple:

I know you can’t consent to joining me for this sabbatical journey unless you trust that this is possible for you.

So I’m giving you the resources to move beyond scarcity fears and limiting beliefs about what you can afford — and what you deserve — so you can decide whether this is a leap you’re willing to take.

Listen to this episode
Use this worksheet

And if you feel the door of possibility opening for you…

Join me in Sabbatical School!