The Moment Everything Fell Apart—And Why I’m Grateful for It

There was a time I thought success meant more.
More growth. More stores. More hustle. More to prove.

And I chased it with everything I had.
On paper, it looked like a dream. A new store in a beautiful town. The kind of expansion entrepreneurs get excited about. But behind the scenes? I was holding it together with late nights, crossed fingers, and a whole lot of pretending everything was fine.

I remember the moment it all cracked.
I was sitting on the floor of the store—surrounded by boxes—after making the decision to close the location I had poured my heart into. The kind of decision that feels like failure, no matter how much logic tells you it was the right one.

But here’s what I didn’t expect:
I felt… relief.

Not because I was happy about what happened—but because, in the quiet that followed, I could finally hear myself again. Not the noise of what I “should” be doing. Not the pressure to keep up or prove anything. Just me. Sitting in the aftermath. Honest. Tired. Still breathing.

And in that stillness, a new question showed up:
What do I really want?

Not what’s impressive. Not what’s expected. Not what looks good on Instagram.
What actually makes me feel alive? What brings me peace?
What kind of life am I trying to build—not just the business?

That’s where everything started to change.

I didn’t have a fancy plan or a perfect roadmap. I just started listening. I let the mess guide me back to what mattered. The scent of a candle. A handwritten note. A walk in the woods. The small, grounding things that reminded me of who I was before I got caught up in chasing more.

From that place, something new started to grow.
Something real. Intentional. Rooted in calm instead of chaos.

And while I’m not ready to tell you everything just yet… just know: it’s coming.
And if you’ve ever felt like you lost yourself in the middle of building your dream?
You’re not alone.
Sometimes falling apart is exactly what we need to come back home to ourselves.