Yesterday morning, I woke with no real desire to get out of bed.
The forecast promised a rain-soaked California day — no sunshine, just clouds and drizzle — and my to-do list felt heavier than usual. A time zone change, coupled with a long travel day, had my body pleading for permission to move slowly.
For a moment, I considered declaring a truce with my task list and simply letting the morning unfold.
Then, as I lifted the blinds, I was met with something unexpected — warm, golden light spilling into the room and the shimmer of the ocean in the distance. The storm I’d anticipated had softened into beauty.
As the founder of a wellness startup, my projects will always outnumber the hours in the day. The familiar pull of “work first, rest later” surfaced automatically. But that morning, something else felt stronger: the call of the ocean.
In that moment, I decided to practice what I teach.
Instead of beginning with productivity, I chose to begin with presence.
I grabbed my Seahawks hat, slipped on my flip-flops, and drove to the beach. Music up. To-do list down. With each step along the shoreline, the lingering guilt of a slow start melted away, replaced by calm, clarity, and a surprising spark of creativity.
Somewhere between the rhythm of the waves and the warmth of the sun, solutions to three business challenges — ones that had been stuck in my mind for weeks — suddenly became clear.
It reminded me of a simple truth: when we stop forcing ourselves to do what we think we should do, we create space for what we could create.
Sometimes, the most productive thing we can do is pause, breathe, and listen to what our body needs first.
