Exhausted, I plopped back on the bed and sensed my nurse lean in and whisper, “Rest a bit now.” Although I wanted to, I also wanted to hurry the process – I was working so hard to bring my baby into the world! But she was right. I had to rest between the contractions so I’d have the strength to meet the next one.

Lately, I’ve been remembering that moment – sensing that many of us are in a kind of labor now. Not birthing a child, but pregnant with a hope: that something beautiful is going to be born in our world — a new way of living, seeing, or simply being. And it’s hard work. Trying work. Messy work.

Soul Exhaustion

The world feels noisy, harsh, unsettled, and many of us — especially we women “of a certain age” — feel soul-tired. We’ve done what we thought we were supposed to do, what we believed would lead to the life we’d imagined as younger women. But life has had its twists, hasn’t it? And sometimes it doesn’t feel much like we’d hoped. As a yet-unwritten chapter begins, a quiet question may be nagging: Who am I now? What’s next? How do I move through all this?

Maybe, like me, you’ve been doing everything you can to hold it all together — to keep “the dream” alive, even when you’re really just duct-taping parts of life that are meant to fall apart (oh, NO!). You find yourself exhausted. Depleted. Empty. I’ve fought that exhaustion too, resisted the need to pause and be still. But my soul knows better. It whispers, “Rest between the contractions.”

There are moments, of course, when this pause feels like a breakdown or an ending. But that’s just the mind — conditioned by a world that is, itself, in transition. The deeper truth is that something new is forming, even if we can’t yet see its shape.

A pause for stillness and refilling

On Saturday, November 8th, I’ll be offering a Soul Soak — 20–30 minutes to rest, replenish, and reconnect with that quiet place inside that already knows what’s being born. If your spirit could use some time to relax and receive, I’d love for you to join me. If you’re new and want to learn more about Soul Soaks, click [here].