When life gets heavier, do your systems hold up?

Hey Sunshine—

I missed you last week! I was knee-deep in moving into the most glorious new office, and I cannot wait to show you around. My mom has prayed over every room in this place, and I just know the Lord is going to do something incredible here.

But now that the boxes are (mostly) unpacked and the coffee is brewing, I’m back—and I’ve got something important to share with you.

I used to think I had my goal-setting game down.

✔️ Morning routine? Built.
✔️ Calendar? Color-coded and airtight.
✔️ Juggling all the things? And catching most of them—

until I didn’t.
And for a while? It worked.
Until it didn’t.

Then came solopreneurship—where I was therapist, accountant, admin assistant, social media manager, and “person who remembers to order toilet paper” all in one.

Then came hormonal changes, getting off birth control, a puppy with a sensitive stomach, and a calendar that laughed in the face of my old routines.

That’s when I realized:

Some of my best systems were never built to carry a heavier weight.

The moment life turned up the heat, they melted.

And here’s the slightly spicy part (but this is a safe space, yeah?):

I love a good productivity hack—you know this.
But a lot of the so-called "time management tips" out there?
🚫 Assume life moves in straight lines.
🚫 Ignore the emotional weight of why we fall off track.
🚫 Prioritize rigid systems over actual sustainability.

And that’s the problem—
systems aren’t what hold life together. Rhythms are.

So I had to build my rhythm differently. And after trial, error, and some aggressively highlighted planners, I distilled it down to three non-negotiables—rooted in the FLORA framework:

📌 Capacity-Based Planning – Because motivation fluctuates, but feelings and listening to my body give me better data. When I stopped forcing myself to push through and started working with my actual energy, focus, and nervous system, everything shifted.

📌 Rhythm Recovery Strategies – Life will derail you, but observing biomarkers (hello, Oura Ring) and tuning into relationships—both with myself and others—helped me recover faster. Burnout isn't just about doing too much; it’s about doing too much while disconnected from what sustains you.

📌 The Self-Trust System – The real game-changer? Taking aligned action that actually moves the needle instead of spinning my wheels. When I started tracking what truly made a difference (not just what looked productive), I rebuilt confidence in my ability to follow through—without relying on perfection.

Want to see how this plays out in real life? Let’s go.
Enrollment for Reclaiming Rhythm is live! 

Because systems break.
Life shifts.
But when you have rhythm—you know how to move with it.

Praying for you & your rhythm,

Steph