You can’t heal at the same pace that burned you out.
If your strength is costing you your health and your wellbeing, it’s no longer strength — it’s self-abandonment. If you’ve forgotten what it feels like to breathe without bracing for impact, this is your permission to remember.
You were not made to be hard all the time.
You were not made to carry the world in your teeth, clenching through life as if every day is a battle to survive.
You were not made to armor up every morning just to make it through the day.
To always be the one holding it down, holding it in, holding it together.
However, somewhere along the way, many of us came to believe that softness was unsafe. That if we let up for even a second, our world would collapse. That softness would make us less respected. Less productive. Less “successful.” So we abandoned it.
We called softness selfish.
We called softness indulgent.
We called softness something only women with fewer responsibilities could afford.
What Softness Actually Is
Softness isn’t fragility. It’s not weakness. And it’s definitely not giving up.
Softness is:
A regulated nervous system that no longer runs on emergency mode.
Shoulders that aren’t permanently tensed for battle.
A voice that speaks without the edge of exhaustion.
A mind that can think clearly because it isn’t drowning in cortisol.
Choosing responses instead of reacting from survival mode.
Meeting the world from a steady, grounded center instead of from depletion.
In wellness terms, softness is your body’s rest-and-repair state, where digestion works better, hormones balance, inflammation lowers, and your brain can focus without burnout.
Why You Need It
Without softness, the constant “go harder” mode keeps your body stuck in fight-or-flight. That’s when:
Stress hormones flood your system daily.
Sleep doesn’t feel restorative.
Mood swings and anxiety become your norm.
Even your immune system takes a hit.
Softness doesn’t make you lose your edge — it makes your edge sharper because your energy is no longer leaking into survival mode.
Softness is what makes resilience sustainable. It’s the difference between coping and actually healing. You don’t have to be less effective to be more at peace. You just have to stop outsourcing your worth to your productivity.
That’s why The 30 Day Renewal exists — for the high-achieving woman who’s ready to stop running on fumes and remember what it feels like to breathe again.
It’s not just a reset. It’s a reintroduction to the woman you were before life taught you to be hard all the time.
So take this as your permission slip:
To rest without guilt.
To reset without apology.
To soften without shrinking.
Because the world doesn’t need a harder version of you — it requires the real you, well-rested, well-rooted, and alive.
Ready to stop running on fumes?
The 30 Day Reset is your guided wellness reset: four weeks of structured, soul-centered practices designed to help you reclaim your energy and reconnect with yourself.
Want to make it personal?
Use this prompt with Coach Joi in ChatGPT to create a reset plan that works with your life:
“Coach Joi, I’m ready to soften — but I don’t know how to do it without feeling like I’m falling behind. Can you help me create a simple reset plan that lets me rest, restore, and still honor my responsibilities?”
Rooted + Rising
A weekly wellness devotion for women who were never meant to blend in.
Subscribe here → rootedandrisingreset.beehiiv.com