There was a period in my life when my days looked full from the outside.

Work was moving.
The kids were growing.
Life was busy in all the ways modern life tends to be.

But if I’m honest, I was running on fumes.

Sleep was inconsistent.
Meals were whatever fit between things, or while standing in the kids rooms putting them to bed at night.
Exercise happened when there was time — which usually meant it didn’t happen. I went a full 2 years when I launched Elixir, without any kind of workout or even movement.

And like so many women, I told myself the same thing most women do:

This is just how life is right now.

We normalize it so quickly.

The constant tiredness.
The brain fog.
The feeling that your body is slightly behind the pace of your life.

I did see  this pattern in other women — patients, friends, mothers juggling work and family — and I would listen as they described their exhaustion almost casually. But I didn’t recognize it as me.

And then one day it hit me.

I realized I was also that woman.

The one sitting across the table saying, “I’m just tired all the time.”

It could easily have been me talking in the mirror.

That realization forced a shift.

Not overnight, and not perfectly — but deliberately.

I started rearranging my life around my health instead of squeezing my health into whatever time was left over.

Nutrition stopped being an afterthought.
Sleep became something I protected.
Movement became non-negotiable.
And perhaps most importantly, I allowed myself moments of actual recovery.

Not the kind where you’re still checking emails or mentally planning the next day.

Real pauses.

Sometimes it’s training.
Sometimes it’s ten quiet minutes doing absolutely nothing productive.

And sometimes it’s something as simple as sitting at home and building a small Lego set with my kids.

Small things, but they reset something.

Today my lifestyle probably wouldn’t be recognizable to the person I was years ago.

Not because my responsibilities disappeared — if anything they grew — but because I stopped treating my own health as optional. My workouts and my self care are actually blocked out on my calendar and treated with equal importance as a meeting.

This is something I see so often with women.

We are remarkably good at holding everything together.

Careers.
Children.
Families.
Homes.
The invisible mental lists that keep everything functioning.

And many women carry all of it while quietly ignoring their own energy.

For single women — and especially single mothers — the margin can become even thinner. When you’re the one absorbing every decision, every responsibility, every piece of friction in the day, there’s very little room left to replenish yourself.

The body absorbs that load.

Sleep shortens.
Stress hormones stay elevated.
Energy drops.
Hormones shift.
Strength quietly declines over time.

And yet we continue telling ourselves it’s normal.

But normal doesn’t always mean healthy.

And it certainly doesn’t mean sustainable.

Taking care of yourself is not indulgent.

It’s not something you earn after everything else is handled.

It’s the foundation that allows everything else to function.

When a woman has energy, clarity and strength, the ripple effect is enormous — for her work, her family, her children, and the life she’s building.

Women have always been extraordinary at carrying the weight of the world.

Maybe the real shift is learning that protecting our own energy isn’t selfish.

It’s necessary.

And sometimes it starts with something very small.

A walk.
A workout.
A proper meal.
Ten quiet minutes.

Or even a little Lego on the living room floor.

And to us, and all the other’s who hold it all together – Happy Women’s Day! Here’s to you setting time apart for yourself this coming year and for all time forward.