About 6 weeks ago, I got on a call with my therapist and he said, “You look like you ate a string of Christmas lights. You’re glowing from the inside out.”

I offered him a grin and teared up, because I felt it.

Like oil on a hot stove crackling as it gets hotter and hotter, I’d been feeling it.

Like the pilot light on a furnace gets sparked — it felt like I my energy had been reignited.

I was nourished. Fat. Like the chubby, squishy thighs of a baby feeding on liquid gold.

Rested. Clear. Grounded.

They weren’t just nice words, they were embodied wisdom.

After collapsing into 2023 and first fighting my bodies call to rest then giving in and honoring it — I was feeling like myself again.

Better really.

4-5 months before this moment I was crying for a different reason.

The guilt I felt over stepping back from relationships and commitments. Hasty imperfect asks for space. The wash of disappointment constantly flooding my body since I had spent the entire year doing the bare minimum.

And he told me this:

“Ashley, it’s a good thing that there isn’t enough of you to go around.”

He added:

“You did what there was to do. If a car is running out of gas, you don’t floor it and force it to push through. It’ll eventually stop. You pull over to a gas station and refill it. Just like that car, you pulled over. The people who love you and genuinely care for you will be happy to see you well.”

I exhaled and have kept exhaling.

Which brings me to my point:

I didn’t hit any of my career goals in 2023.

And still…

I left the year feeling mentally and emotionally stronger, energetically lighter, my vision is more clear, my creative expression is more free, I feel like I actually have the bandwidth and capacity to go out and re-engage the world.

In this episode I’m sharing:

• A permission slip for rest and an urging to answer the call for slowness.
• Why I don’t believe in New Year Resolutions
• And the 3 guideposts I’m leaning on as I set the tone for 2024.

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If you’re at a career crossroads and desire to make a change, DM me ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠HERE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for details on my 1:1 coaching container.