A few weeks back, I did an online retreat with my friend and brilliant guide Tracy Litt—and she asked a question that really stayed with me:
“What are you currently trying to hold?”
It was simple… and pointed.
And as I turned inward, I realized just how much I’d been energetically holding up:
Success.
Forward momentum.
My clients’ success.
Money.
What’s happening in the world.
Responsibility for others.
Even my image (yikes).
When I wrote down each of these items, I could feel the heaviness of each one—the weight and tension on my shoulders, the worry in my gut, the noise in my mind.
And as I explored letting go, I felt a softening and an opening—remembering that I am exactly where I am meant to be at this time.
And in that moment, trust replaced the tension.
I brought this same question into one of my mastermind circles this week, and I watched a visible softening unfold as each woman explored her own version of holding.
It takes practice to tune into this softening. And since that retreat, I’ve found myself returning to the practice more frequently—and feeling the expansiveness that comes with it.
Here’s what that’s looked like in my world lately:
- CEO time on my summer deck creating and focusing on projects that light me up
- Deep presence with clients (my favorite place to be fully attuned)
- Morning walks without a podcast or earbuds—just birdsong and breeze
- Quiet, reflective time with my horses, who show me exactly where I’m at energetically
- A weekend of family wedding celebrations—dance floors, paddleboats, and pure joy
In all these moments, the practice of simply being has invited a sense of spaciousness—a softening, a loosening of the grip, and a return to presence.
When we let go of needing to control it all—our bodies tell us.
Our nervous systems ease.
We stop overthinking and comparing.
We stop bracing.
We return to presence, joy, expansion.
And from that grounded presence… we begin to see more clearly the world around us—what’s shifting, what’s needed, and how we’re being called to show up.
A few days ago, I recorded an Extraordinary Women Radio episode with futurist Cecily Sommers (airing in two weeks—don’t miss it!). Our conversation brought even more clarity to what I’ve been feeling lately—that in the face of change, we instinctively try to hold more… control more… do more.
But the real invitation is to do the opposite.
To pause.
To soften.
To root back into who we are.
We talked about how we navigate change—not by bracing, but by being.
How we stay grounded in our own wisdom.
And how we ask the essential question:
“How can I be relevant?”
Cecily offered such a grounded perspective—one that mirrors something I’ve always believed: that in times of uncertainty or chaos, the first step isn’t to do more, it’s to come back to yourself.
Check in with yourself first.
Not the headlines. Not the noise.
You.
How’s your energy?
What are you holding?
What needs to soften?
When we pause long enough to ask those questions, we reconnect with our gifts—our medicine for these times. The truth of who we are and why we’re here becomes clearer.
And then from that grounded place, we can ask:
How can I meet this moment?
What does my community need?
What wants to be expressed through me now?
That’s the heart of true leadership. Not performance. Not perfection.
But presence.
So this is what I invite you to consider this week:
✨ What are you trying to hold?
✨ Where can you soften your grip?
✨ And what might open up if you did?
