Rewriting the Rules of Success

The Version of Success I Was Taught

The version of success I was taught looked like achievement layered on top of exhaustion.
It came dressed in productivity, packed calendars, and the quiet promise that if I just worked hard enough, I’d earn the right to rest. Success was about being needed, chosen, admired. It was measured in promotions, accolades, and income—and it almost always required sacrificing something softer: time, wellness, presence, ease.

I internalized that version early. I knew how to meet expectations, how to anticipate what others needed before they asked. I could handle pressure. I could shape-shift. I could excel. And I did—for a long time.

The Cost of Living That Way

But somewhere along the way, I noticed the cost.

• My body was always bracing.
  
  
• My mind was always busy.
  
  
• And my days, though full, didn’t feel especially meaningful.
  
  

I was checking boxes, not building a life.

The Shift: From Getting Ahead to Feeling Aligned

Eventually, I stopped asking how to get ahead and started asking how I wanted to feel.
I began to notice the disconnect between the work I was doing and the way I was living inside of it.

I wanted to feel grounded, not just accomplished.
I wanted to feel spacious, not just efficient.
I wanted to feel like myself, not just a version of me that looked good on paper.

That’s when everything began to shift—not in a flashy, dramatic way, but slowly, almost imperceptibly at first.
I started questioning the old metrics.
I started honoring what my body was asking for.
I stopped trying to prove I could do it all and started creating a life where I didn’t have to.

Success, to me, began to look different.

What Success Looks Like Now

Now, success looks like clarity.
Not just clarity about my offers or brand, but about my energy, my values, and the kind of presence I want to bring into every interaction.

• It looks like building space into my schedule so I can regulate between appointments.
  
  
• It looks like making decisions that feel aligned in my body, even if they don’t make perfect sense on a spreadsheet.
  
  
• It looks like letting my nervous system guide the pace of my business—not to slow everything down out of fear, but to speed up only when it feels truly resourced.
  
  

It’s honoring my creative cycles instead of forcing productivity.
It’s protecting my voice, even when it would be easier to stay quiet.
It’s visibility that doesn’t come from pushing, but from a deep place of being ready to be seen.

A Different Measure of Success

Success now is less about how I appear, and more about how I feel in my own skin at the end of the day.

• Can I exhale?
  
  
• Can I stand behind my choices?
  
  
• Can I look at how I showed up and feel proud of not just the outcome, but the way I moved toward it?
   

A Collective Shift

I see this shift happening everywhere.
I see it in the women I coach, in the clients I serve, in the creative entrepreneurs and wellness professionals who are no longer willing to sacrifice their health, their relationships, or their integrity just to fit into a mold that was never built for them.

They’re building businesses from the inside out.
They’re asking better questions.
They’re creating success that makes space for their full humanity.

New Definitions Emerging

And often, their definitions of success sound like this:

• “I want to make money doing what I love—without burning out.”
  
  
• “I want to serve deeply—but with boundaries that protect my peace.”
  
  
• “I want to feel proud of what I’m building—and still have time to live my life.”
  
  

These aren’t pipe dreams.
They’re new measures.
New metrics.
New maps.

They’re redefining what it means to grow. And they’re doing it with incredible courage.

My Everyday Success

Some days, my version of success looks like a spacious morning with time to journal before a showing.
Other days, it’s closing a deal with a client who felt truly seen and supported.
Some days, it’s knowing when to pause. When to say no. When to take a walk and let the next right action rise naturally.

Staying Rooted

Success, in this season, isn’t about scaling faster or being the busiest.

• It’s about staying rooted.
  
  
• It’s about showing up consistently without losing myself.
  
  
• It’s about building a business I can actually live inside—not one I have to escape from.
  
  

Trusting the Process

And it’s also about trust.

• Trusting that rest doesn’t mean I’m falling behind.
  
  
• Trusting that aligned clients will feel the difference when I’m regulated and clear.
  
  
• Trusting that it’s not just safe, but powerful, to lead from a place of softness.
  
  

Choosing Our Own Success

I don’t believe there’s one right way to define success.
But I do believe we each get to choose.

We get to decide what we value, what we’re building toward, and how we want to feel along the way.
We get to rewrite the rules.
And if we forget, we get to begin again.