Stop pushing! Start listening!
Permission to Pause: A Midlife Business Reset
Our bodies have a funny way of being the most honest business partners. When was the last time yours asked you to pause??
I used to ignore mine — until I realized there’s a way to work with it, not against it.
If you’ve ever felt your body screaming for a pause - while your brain keeps saying ‘just one more task’, maybe this is your sign to stop waiting for permission.
🌪 Two years ago, I could barely walk.
🌪 My body said: You’re done.
I learned the hard way that your body will whisper before it screams.
It started as that dull ache in my lower back - the kind that whispers at first, like a warning. I ignored it, of course.
I had a workshop to run that week, a few client calls lined up, and a to-do list that
looked like it belonged to three people.
So I pushed through.
Within days, I was flat on my back, staring at the ceiling, realizing I couldn’t even make it to the kitchen without wincing. My body had literally locked me out of my own life.
The chiropractor helped-for about 24 hours.
The pills numbed the pain-for maybe two.
The scans showed nothing-which somehow made it worse.
How do you fix something invisible?
And here’s the real kicker: being bedridden didn’t just mean physical pain.
It meant —no live workshops, no meetings, no income.
Every day in bed meant another day of my business standing still.
I’ve spent years building it, and suddenly, it was like someone hit pause on everything.
I remember crying one night out of sheer frustration - not from the pain,
but from the helplessness. When your business is built on you showing up and you physically can’t, it shakes your whole identity.
That same night, while scrolling through my phone (you know, that kind of doom scroll we all do when we can’t sleep), I stumbled upon a woman online.
No fancy website. No ‘Dr.’ before her name. Just a raw story about how her back
pain disappeared once she stopped suppressing years of emotional weight.
Normally, I would’ve kept scrolling. I’m a logical person-I like proof. But something about her energy hit different.
She wasn’t selling magic. She was just honest.
And…I had nothing left to loose.
So I followed her.
Watched her talk about
grief, resentment, guilt,
the kind of stuff
you tell yourself you’ve ‘handled’.
And didn’t even fully get it at first. But I started trying. Sitting with emotions I’d buried under productivity.
Noticing where my body tightened when I thought about failure or responsibility. Letting myself be coached, led into the unknown.
And then something changed.
The pain softened. My body felt lighter. Within a few weeks - the same pain that had me crawling to the bathroom -was gone.
Not “less frequent.” Gone.
No chiropractor could’ve done that for me. No pill either and believe me I've tried. It wasn’t my back that was breaking. It was me- carrying emotions I refused to feel, trying to keep everything running, pretending I was fine. That experience changed everything. It taught me that healing isn’t only about fixing - it’s about feeling.
And sometimes, the body will do what your voice refuses to -it’ll stop you, just to make you listen.
➡ Most women over 40 who rebuild their life or business after burnout don't need another hustle plan. They need someone who helps them listen to themselves again.
➡ That’s the shift - from pushing harder to building a business smarter, in alignment with your midlife rythm, not against it.
I used to think rest was weakness.
Now I know — it’s wisdom.
My body didn't betray me. It protected me from betraying myself.
Truth was - I had to give myself permission to release what was quietly poisoning me:
other people’s opinions, impossible expectations, constant self-pressure.
Truth was - I had to go digital so my business wouldn’t collapse along with my body, ever again.
From then on, I gave myself permission to:
Be overwhelmed
—and take a break.Be scared of outcomes
—but try anyway.Be daring enough
— to try something new.Care a lot less about other people’s noise
Rebuild life and business in midlife after burnout, so that it finally fits my rythm!
You have that permission too, you know?
Because that’s where real rebuilding begins-not when you find the next strategy,
but when you finally stop fighting yourself.
Our bodies have a funny way of being the most honest business partners. When was the last time yours asked you to pause??
Share in the comments, someone else might need your story today.
PS:
This is the kind of work we’ll dive into over the next few weeks - honest grounded and real.🎙️Every Sunday, we rebuild your mindset, business and life one raw, real strategy-packed episode at a time. Bring your coffee or tea, your doubt and your dream — your next breakthrough is an episode away.
We are not here to fix what’s broken, but to uncover what’s been waiting underneath.
Until next time,
Stay daring.
Stay awake.
Ivy 🌹