In the weeks leading up to this event, I was holding my breath. It all felt so surreal. Now, that it’s behind me, I’m still so full holding all the…

The joy.
The grief.
The laughter.
The tears.
The family and friends I hold dear in my heart and don’t see often enough.
The beauty of seeing Holli’s life honored so fully.
The ache of knowing someone I love is no longer here in the same way.

It’s all just a lot. It was fabulous and emotional.

Now, I’m at my home away from home, Virginia Beach, with two of my best friends(who also attended Holl'i’s celebration of life with me) to celebrate my birthday. And somehow, this trip has become both heart-wrenching and heart-warming.

We celebrated Holli’s life.
We celebrated my life.
We remembered.
We laughed.
We cried.
We sat with the weight of loss and the gift of still being here.

And now, I get to have a much-needed PAUSE and recovery at the beach.

A real pause.

Not just a quick break before jumping back into everything.
Not just a moment to catch my breath so I can keep producing.
Not just a “let me hurry up and rest so I can get back to being useful” kind of pause.

But the kind of pause where my soul can exhale.

The kind of pause where I can listen.

The kind of pause where I can ask myself, “Nicole, what are you carrying into this next year of your life, and what are you finally willing to release?”

One of the things I’ve taken away from the life of my dear friend Holli is this:

Live life to the absolute fullest in all your gloriousness.

Not halfway.
Not hidden.
Not delayed until everything is perfect.
Not muted because people may not understand.
Not postponed because the timing feels inconvenient.

Fully.
Honestly.
Gloriously.

So, as I head into my 49th year of life, I’m going after everything that’s in my heart to do that feels aligned with where I am and where I want to be. No postponing.

And one of those things is going all in with the women who are called to my circle, my coaching, my community, and this work.

It is time for me to open the premium side of The Pause for Solos.

Not because I simply want to create “more content.”

Because truthfully, I don’t! haha…I’m not a fan of writing more emails for the sake of writing more emails. I’m a fan creating space, environments, tools, and communities where women can be totally free to go after their dreams with reckless abandon in a way that honors their capacity and prioritizes their wellness.

I’m opening the premium side of The Pause for Solos because I know women are tired.

I know women are building beautiful powerful things while quietly carrying grief, pressure, caregiving responsibilities, emotional exhaustion, decision fatigue, spiritual questions, financial concerns, loneliness, and the invisible weight of trying to hold everything together.

I know what it feels like to have a dream in your heart and a nervous system that is asking you to slow down.

I know what it feels like to be called, creative, and capable, while still deeply in need of spaces where you do not have to perform and be “on” at all times.

And I know we need more than motivation. Motivation comes and goes.

We need rhythms.
We need community.
We need places to pause.
We need support that helps us build without breaking.

That is why The Pause for Solos Premium exists.

What is The Pause for Solos Premium?

The Pause for Solos Premium is a community for women solopreneurs who are tired of building alone.

In this community, we prioritize two main things:

Our wellness to prevent burnout.
Our relationships to prevent isolation, loneliness, and stagnation.

Because the truth is, building alone can be heavy.

You can love your work and still feel overwhelmed by it.
You can be gifted and still need support.
You can have clarity in one area and feel completely stuck in another.
You can be deeply called and still need a safe place to breathe, reset, and be reminded that you are not behind.

Premium is for the woman who knows she is building something meaningful, but she does not want to lose herself in the process.

It is for the woman who wants to care for her spirit, mind, and body while pursuing the dream in her heart.

It is for the woman who is ready to stop treating rest, reflection, regulation, and community like optional extras.

They are not extras.

They are part of the strategy.

What you’ll receive inside Premium

As a premium subscriber, you’ll receive access to spaces, practices, and resources designed to help you pause, reset, and continue building from a more grounded place.

Here’s what I’m creating for you:

Monthly PAUSE🔴 Sessions

These are guided virtual spaces where we will pause together through movement, reflection, journaling, grounding practices, breath work, and gentle reset moments.

These sessions are not about performing, pitching, or proving anything.

They are about creating room for your spirit, mind, and body to catch up with the life and work you are building. They are about providing space for receiving guidance, direction, and divine inspiration.

You’ll be invited to slow down, listen inward, reconnect with your capacity, and identify your next aligned step.

Premium reflections and deeper teachings

Premium subscribers will receive deeper reflections around holistic wellness, burnout prevention, nervous system regulation, sustainable dream building, self-leadership, emotional capacity, and creating rhythms that support the woman behind the work. These recorded reflections will be called Power Pause Moments and sort of like our own community podcast.

These will be the kinds of pieces that help you pause and ask better questions.

Not “How can I do more?”

But questions like:

What do I actually have capacity for right now?
Where am I building from urgency instead of alignment?
What part of me needs care before I take the next step?
What rhythm would help me sustain this dream instead of resent it?

Community connection

One of the core reasons I’m opening Premium is because isolation is real for women solopreneurs.

So many women are building powerful things by themselves, but that does not mean they were meant to build in isolation. I was chatting with one of my besties the other day and talk about both of our businesses just flowed naturally in and out of the conversation. When we were ending the call, she told me that she felt so much clearer and confident in her direction just from our sharing with each other. This is what I want for my premium subscribers. The Pause for Solos Chat and our LIVE PAUSE sessions, will be the foundation of our community cultivation.

Inside Premium, we will practice pausing in community with the goal being to establish honest connection.

The kind of connection that reminds you that you are not the only one navigating the tension between purpose, wellness, faith, life, business, and becoming.

I Need Community

Why Now?

Holli’s celebration of life reminded me that life is not something to keep postponing.

It’s time to fulfill buried dreams. It’s time to be the leading lady of your life and shine in whatever ways you were meant to.

I fully recognize that the next step does not need to wait until I feel completely ready. Sometimes we honor the lives of those we love by living our own lives more fully. And for me, living more fully in this season means serving more fully.

It means creating the spaces I know women need.

It means no holding back the work that has been forming in me through my own pauses, grief, healing, leadership journey, coaching work, creative process, faith, and lived experience.

It means saying yes to the women who are called to pause, shift, renew, and rise into the next version of their lives without abandoning themselves along the way.

My invitation to you

If you are a woman solopreneur who is tired of building alone…

If you know you need more intentional rhythms of pause…

If you are craving community that honors both your wellness and your work…

If you are ready to build in a way that does not require you to disconnect from yourself…

I want to invite you to become a premium subscriber of The Pause for Solos.

This is for the woman who wants to pursue her dream, but not at the expense of her spirit, mind, body, relationships, or peace.

This is for the woman who is ready to be supported as she builds.

This is for the woman who knows that pausing is not a delay.

It is how we return to ourselves.

It is how we hear more clearly.

It is how we build with wisdom.

It is how we become women who can carry what we’ve been praying for.

If that sounds like the kind of space you need, I’d love to welcome you inside The Pause for Solos Premium.

The Pause for Solos Premium

Thank you for being here. Thank you for allowing me to share this moment of my life, my grief, my birthday reflection, and this next step with you.

As I step into 49, I’m carrying this with me:

Live fully.
Pause deeply.
Love well.
Build honestly.
And do not postpone what God has placed in your heart for the “perfect” timing.

Remember to Nurture the Wholeness Within

With gratitude,
Nicole

P.S. If your answer is “not right now,” that is okay too. I’m simply making the invitation. Whether you remain a free subscriber or step into Premium, I’m grateful you’re here and truly hope you are able to establish rhythms and patterns that allow you to build and create in sustainable ways.

The comments were tearing this person apart and one therapist commented, “delete this mess immediately”. Harsh, but I totally understood her sentiment.

I read a few more of the comments, but kept my thoughts to myself because I learned a long time ago not to expend too much energy in the social media arguments lol But I do feel this is an important conversation for my audience.

Before I dive deeply into this topic, I just wanted to welcome my new subscribers! I’ve noticed several new names flooding in the last two weeks. I’m honored to have you and hope you find value in what I share with you.

Back to the story!

As I read through the comments on this thread about journaling, I saw that people seemed to be really offended at the idea that someone would sell the idea there one way to journal that you need to know in order for it to work!

I absolutely love journaling. Journaling has literally saved my life time and time again over the years. I first started journaling back in middle school when I was dealing with feeling different, feeling left out, and some challenging race/identity issues. I was in middle school 37 years ago. It was a different world. I had all the time and patience in the world to sit there and pour my little middle school heart out on pen and paper. I kept up the habit consistently for years. I still have stacks and stacks of journals dating back to the mid to late 90s.

As I got older, life got fuller, and responsibilities started weighing on me, my journaling practice started to happen more in seasons rather than a daily practice that went on for hours. I developed my own rhythm and certain types of journaling became more prominent to me in various seasons of life. Now, I practice journaling in so many different ways and continue to find new and effective ways that work for me based on where I’m at and how I’m feeling.

As a mental health coach, I offer journaling as a strategy for grounding, processing feelings of grief, developing a positive mindset, and effective goal-setting on an almost daily basis. Here are some common first responses I get:

I tried journaling and I could never be consistent.
Journaling really doesn’t work for me.
I don’t have time to sit there and write all my feelings.
I never know what to write.
Journaling feels like an added box on my to-do list.

Honestly, it hurts my heart for these folks when they share this with me because it’s evidence that they may be of the belief that there is a right way to journal…and friends, there is not!

I don’t want anyone to ever feel they have to heal, process, ground, or center themselves in a certain way. Instead of stepping outside the “this is how you heal” box, let’s smash the box!

PAUSE🔴

Take the time to discover the processes that will work best for you. There are as many different ways to practice journaling as there are people on the earth!! Really and truly. Everybody could have a different way of journaling that works for them. BUT…I do recognize that it can be a mental hurdle to start or pick it back up if you haven’t had success with it in the past. So, I wanted to share not only some journaling ideas with you, but also some mindset resets as you’re looking for strategies to support your holistic mental health.

If you’re in this community, then you already know how important I feel it is to take care of your whole being in spirit, mind, and body. Holistic Mental Health is critical when you’re trying pursue your business dreams fulfill purpose. Here are some strategies that help you feel grounded, clear, peaceful, and more connected to yourself that you can adjust and make your own in any way you feel works for you.

My hope for you is that journaling does not feel like another place of burden that carries feelings of failure. Journaling is supposed to be a place where you can PAUSE, tell your truth, and receive clarity.

I hope that you are able to find a rhythm whether it’s with journaling or any other type of practice where your heart can truly exhale and your thoughts can land in a way that propels you forward to the next best step for your mind and heart.

And if you’re a woman building a business, pursuing a dream, carrying vision, navigating transition, or trying to stay emotionally well while still showing up for your life, journaling can become one of the ways you return to yourself before you run too far ahead of yourself.

Here are a few ways to begin.

Creative Ways to Journal When You Don’t Have a Lot of Time

1. Voice Note Journaling

Open the voice memo app on your phone and talk for 2–5 minutes. That’s it. Say what you’re feeling. Say what feels heavy. Say what you’re grateful for. Say what you’re trying to figure out.

Sometimes your heart needs to speak before your hand is ready to write.

You can start with:

“What I really need to say is…”

“What I don’t want to admit, but need to be honest about is…”

“Today, I feel…”

Or anything else your heart desires! Remember these are just examples. You do what works for you.

2. Art Journaling

I spent a season doing art journals. I absolutely LOVED it and plan to return to it this year! I still look back at them and the pages continue to speak to me.

You do not have to be an “artist” to art journal. Draw lines. Use color. Make a collage. Paint your mood. Scribble what you don’t have words for yet.

Sometimes healing starts as a shape before it becomes a sentence.

Try asking yourself:

“What color does my peace feel like today?”

“If my overwhelm had a shape, what would it look like?”

“What image represents the version of me I’m becoming?”

Or anything else your heart desires! Remember these are just examples. You do what works for you.

3. Prompt-Based Journaling

If you never know what to write, prompts can be a beautiful place to begin. You don’t have to come up with something deep on your own. Let the question guide you.

Here are a few to try:

“What am I carrying that I was never meant to carry alone?”

“What feels unclear in my life or business right now?”

“What is one thing I need to release before I take my next step?”

“What would feel supportive in this season?”

“What is God inviting me to pay attention to right now?”

Or anything else your heart desires! Remember these are just examples. You do what works for you. Google is a great place to find prompts on various topics. I’ll also be sharing more prompts on the specific topics I talk about.

4. Gratitude Journaling

There are so many ways to practice gratitude. Gratitude journaling doesn’t have to be complicated. Write(or record, or draw) down three things you’re grateful for. They can be big or tiny.

The warm coffee.

The client who encouraged you.

The quiet moment in the car.

The breath you finally remembered to take.

This is a simple way to start a gratitude practice. Practicing gratitude can go much deeper than this, but start somewhere and if you want to go deeper and hear about other ways to practice gratitude, let me know. Leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you.

Leave a comment

Gratitude doesn’t deny what’s hard. It reminds your nervous system that hardship is not the only thing happening. Two things can be true. This hard thing is happening AND I’m incredibly grateful. That stance can create space for a shift to occur.

5. One-Sentence Journaling

This is for the woman who truly feels like she has no time.

Write one sentence.

That counts.

“My heart feels tired today.”

“I need more support than I’ve been admitting.”

“I’m proud of myself for not quitting.”

“I am allowed to move slowly and still move forward.”

One honest sentence can open a doorway.

You could write these in a journal or in a planner…you could even record them and play them back to yourself from time to time.

6. Walking Journaling

Take a walk and let your thoughts move with your body. You can record a voice note, speak a prayer, or simply reflect on one question as you move.

Try this:

“What is my body trying to tell me today?”

“What do I need to stop forcing?”

“What next step feels peaceful and aligned?”

Sometimes clarity comes when your body is in motion. Your body holds onto certain thoughts and memories moving your body can create a release that allows your spirit room to breathe.

7. List Journaling

Lists are your friend when your brain feels cluttered.

Try making lists like:

Things that feel heavy.

Things I can control.

Things I need to release.

Things that are working.

Things I need help with.

Small next steps.

List journaling can help you get the swirl out of your head and onto the page.

8. Prayer Journaling

Write your prayers. Write your questions. Write the honest things you might be afraid to say out loud.

You don’t have to clean it up first.

You can bring God the polished parts and the messy parts.

Your journal can become a place where you practice being fully seen.

9. Business Clarity Journaling

For my solopreneurs and dream builders, journaling can also help you make aligned decisions.

Ask yourself:

“What part of my business feels heavy right now?”

“What am I building that no longer fits my capacity?”

“What do I need to simplify?”

“What dream still matters to me?”

“What is the next faithful step, not the next frantic step?”

Because sometimes the problem is not that you don’t have clarity.

Sometimes you haven’t paused long enough to hear it.

Mindset Shifts for a Better Journaling Experience

Journaling is a tool, not a test.

You are not being graded. You are not behind. You are not doing it wrong. Journaling is simply one way to support your healing, clarity, and emotional wellness.

Consistency does not have to mean daily.

Sometimes consistency looks like returning to the practice when you need it. A seasonal rhythm can still be a powerful rhythm.

Your journal does not have to be pretty to be powerful.

Messy pages count. Half-written thoughts count. Scratched-out words count. Bullet points count. Tears on the page count.

You are allowed to outgrow old rhythms.

The way you journaled in one season may not work in another. That doesn’t mean you failed. It means you’re paying attention to your capacity.

You don’t have to process everything at once.

Healing is not a race. You can touch the edge of a hard thing without diving all the way into the deep end every single time.

Small moments of honesty matter.

A three-minute journal entry can shift your whole day because honesty creates movement. And sometimes movement begins with one sentence.

Your body may know the truth before your mind can explain it.

If you feel tight, tired, anxious, numb, or restless, let that be information. Journaling can help you listen to what your body has been trying to say.

Journaling is not about becoming someone else.

It’s about coming home to yourself.

The grounded you.

The honest you.

The healing you.

The woman who is learning how to build without abandoning herself.

So, if journaling has felt hard, boring, intimidating, inconsistent, or like one more thing on your already full plate, I want you to take a breath.

PAUSE🔴

You don’t have to force yourself into someone else’s process.

You get to find your own rhythm.

You get to experiment.

You get to make it creative.

You get to make it simple.

You get to let it be five minutes or thirty minutes, OR two hours…or even a 5 second voice memo.

You get to let it be one sentence.

You get to let it be a voice note in the car, a prayer on a walk, a messy page in your notebook, a gratitude list before bed, or a few colors on a page when words feel too heavy.

Your healing process belongs to you.

Your grounding process belongs to you.

Your clarity process belongs to you.

And as you build your business, pursue your dreams, and carry the vision God placed in your heart, I pray you give yourself permission to create rhythms that support the woman behind the work.

Because the dream matters.

But so do you.

And smashing the box that the world tries to put around the way you heal, the way you process, the way you grieve…is one way to honor the fact that you do indeed truly matter. You do have the agency to take the suggestions of others and make them fit into the rhythms that will truly make an impact for you! You are allowed to give yourself what you need…say yes when it makes sense. Say no when it makes sense.

We are about to be deep into the hot months of summer and I know it can be hard to think about starting any new habit, but I encourage you, if you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed, a bit stuck, unclear, or unsettled in your heart, consider trying one of the practices I’ve listed above and remember, a journaling practice doesn’t automatically mean daily and small steps forward as you need them still count!

P.S. If you didn’t know I have a podcast, then check it out!!! Podcast episodes are different than the information put into newsletters. A new episode comes out every Monday! Here’s this week’s episode Enjoy!!!

Spotify

Apple

Ok! Now, let’s get into it!!!

In my full-time job, I’m a Mental Health Coach. I’ve gotta say, I love what I do. People have access to subclinical care with ME through their phone!!! What a gift technology has given us to be able to provide such a thing. Every single day I work, I’m faced with countless situations where people have been stretched to their absolute limit by life. Their minds are so clouded they can’t see any way forward. Their hearts are so broken they can’t bear to think about setting a goal. They’re so incredibly exhausted while simultaneously feeling the weight of guilt for wanting and needing rest.

This is where we are as a society. My role…to help these precious souls start to shift out of patterns of brokenness and burnout before their mental health takes a dive so deep they can’t recover.

I’m the perfect one to take the charge of “Mental Health Coach Hear Me Roar” because not only am I extensively trained to help guide them, I was them.

I was the one stretched to my absolute limit when I was caring for my Dad on hospice care. I was the one who had a mind clouded with grief and despair when I lost the man I believed I would marry. I was the one carrying around a broken heart from losses and dreams deferred. I was the one burning myself out trying to juggle all the things fearing if I stopped to breathe everything would fall apart.

The details of our lives may be different, but the feelings often much the same.

I have been in the depths of sorrow. I have felt like giving up. Through it all, one thing that never changes is the woman I was created to be. I just had to learn to PAUSE long enough to allow her to resurface from the ashes.

Maybe you can relate. Maybe you know what it feels like to keep showing up while silently suffering. Maybe your mental health hasn’t completely crashed and burned, but you’re starting to notice things that cause alarms to go off.

This is where the PAUSE matters. Not as a cute to say self-care phrase, but as an actual lifeline back to your spirit, mind, & body, your wholeness, your truth, your capacity, and the woman you were created to be.

When Your Mental Health Takes a Dive, Start Here🔴

When your mental health starts to decline, it can feel like everything in you wants to shut down, speed up, or disappear.

You may want to isolate.
You may want to push harder.
You may want to make a drastic decision.
You may want to numb out.
You may want to convince yourself you’re fine because you don’t have time to fall apart.

Not the kind of pause where you disappear from life and abandon your responsibilities. Not the kind of pause where you pretend life isn’t still happening. But the kind of pause that interrupts the spiral long enough for you to hear what your spirit, mind, and body have been trying to say.

Here are a few places to begin.

1. Name the Dive Without Shaming Yourself for Being There

One of the first things my clients do when their mental health starts to take a dive is minimize it.

We tell ourselves:

“I’m just tired.”
“I’m being dramatic.”
“I should be stronger than this.”
“Other people have it worse.”
”It’s not that bad.”
“I don’t have time to deal with this right now.”
“I just need to push through.”

Minimizing what is happening with you does not make it go away. It just delays the care and recovery you actually need.

Naming the dive is not the same as surrendering to it. It is not you being weak, negative, or faithless. It is you telling the truth so you can respond wisely.

You cannot care for what you refuse to acknowledge.

Try using a simple sentence starter:

“Right now, I am noticing…”

For example:

“Right now, I am noticing I feel emotionally heavy.”
“Right now, I am noticing I am avoiding people.”
“Right now, I am noticing everything feels harder than usual.”
“Right now, I am noticing I am irritated, exhausted, and overwhelmed.”
“Right now, I am noticing I do not feel like myself.”

That one sentence can become a doorway back to self-awareness.

When Struggling, Try This:
Set a timer for three minutes and write without editing. Begin with:
“Right now, I am noticing…”
Let your words come out honestly. Don’t fix them. Don’t judge them. Just notice.

Power Pause Question 🔴
What have I been minimizing that actually needs my attention?

2. Stop Measuring Yourself by What You Can Produce

When your mental health takes a dive, your capacity changes.

That does not mean your calling disappeared.
That does not mean you are lazy.
That does not mean you have lost your discipline.
That does not mean you are no longer capable.

It means your system is asking for a different kind of leadership.

This is especially important for solopreneurs, creatives, caregivers, and women who are used to carrying a lot. We often measure our wellness by whether we can still perform. We ask, “Can I still get it done?” I’d like to suggest you start asking yourself, “What is this costing me?”

There are seasons when productivity is not the best measurement of health. Sometimes the healthier question is:

Did I eat today?
Did I ask for support?
Did I take a real breath?
Did I tell the truth?
Did I move something off my plate?
Did I honor my body’s signals?
Did I choose one doable thing instead of trying to do it all?

When your mental health is dipping, redefining what success looks like for you day to day and maybe even moment to moment becomes necessary.

Success may not be finishing the whole project.

Success may be sending the one email.
Success may be taking the nap.(This is me more often or not)
Success may be not making the fear-based decision.
Success may be admitting you need help.
Success may be letting “good enough” be good enough.

Try This To Have Available On Difficult Days
Create a “minimum viable day” list. This is not your dream-life checklist. This is your stabilization checklist.

Choose 3–5 essentials, such as:

• Drink water.

• Eat a real meal.

• Take medication or supplements if that is part of your care.

• Step outside for five minutes.

• Complete one necessary task.

• Text one safe person.

• Go to bed at a reasonable time.

On heavy days, let that be enough. Show yourself grace.

Power Pause Question 🔴
What would be enough for today if I stopped forcing myself to function like I’m at full capacity?

Leave a comment

Let’s Chat

These are two notes from my Substack profile that I’d like to highlight this week. Join the conversation!!! Click the links below to enter the chat!

Until Next Time…

Nurture The Wholeness Within

Before I dive into sharing about the Power of Celebrating Small Wins on your dream pursuit journey, I have something exciting to celebrate!!

My podcast relaunched a few weeks ago! When I first started my podcast, in August of 2025, it was a Substack only podcast and I didn’t send it to any other podcast listening platforms. I had no clue what I was doing. lol I was building great community on Substack that I loved, but it wasn’t getting the reach I knew it could. Then, I connected with Adam. Adam is my podcast coach. (Podcasting Business School) Since working with Adam, I’ve gained clarity in my voice, the direction of my podcast, and countless other tips that have allowed me level-up after a challenging start to the year.

Today, I’m celebrating because in the past couple of weeks, I’ve received voice memos from listeners telling me how much they loved my COME BACK EPISODE and just how much they know my podcast will impact many.

Want to celebrate with me?

Leave a comment

Also though, you’ll be able to hear the voice memos
in an upcoming podcast episode. Stay locked in with me!

5 Clear Reasons to Celebrate
Small Wins While Pursuing Your Dreams

1. Science Backs Your Celebration: Your brain actually NEEDS to celebrate. Celebrating small wins activate the brains reward system. This releases dopamine and reinforces positive behavior. I like to call this The Momentum-Motivation Loop. The feeling of accomplishment you acknowledge through celebration allows you to see your progress and boots self-esteem and self-efficacy. Psychology Today

Skipping the celebration and immediately moving on to the next goal keeps you in constant states of stress eventually lead to burn out. Who agrees with me that:

Essentially, celebration is a little brain break that keeps you moving forward on your journey, which leads me to reason number two.

2. Celebration Provides a Tangible Way to Track Your Progress: A goal that you don’t track is less likely to be achieved. Celebrating small wins provides markers along your journey. We’re often so focused on the outcome that we diminish the work, the growth, the lessons, all the goodness that develops in us along the way. Creating a habit of celebrating small wins keeps us grounded in the present while still allowing us to move forward with capacity-aligned steps toward the end goal.

3. Celebration Creates Space for Gratitude: Have you ever noticed how much pausing to take a moment to notice the good in your life…to call out the things you’re grateful for can change your entire mood? Gratitude is such a powerful force that can shift you out of some of the most challenging times. When you allow yourself the space to slow down and recognize your small wins…like really settle into them, it can open the do for so much gratitude. Those voice memos that I celebrated at the beginning of this newsletter today did that for me. They gave me the space to be grateful for my listeners. They gave me a moment to sit, smile, and think about people who have been telling me since I was young that I should be on broadcast TV or the radio. It gave me a moment to sit and be grateful that I even have the resources to do what I do. The education, the mentors, the coaches that have shaped me, I took all of that in such deep gratitude as I received those voice memos.

4. Celebration Creates Confidence: pausing to allow time and space to acknowledge you small steps forward can really shift things. When I celebrated my voice memos in my podcast episode, it allowed for me to share. That sharing ignited even more excitement and celebration. According to Cheryl Robinson (Forbes Contributor), “To celebrate yourself isn’t the same as bragging. It’s not about loudly trumpeting your wins. It’s the purposeful sharing of what you are doing. Because if people don’t know what you’re up to, they can’t support you, collaborate with you or simply offer a nod of recognition. That gentle, visible self-acknowledgement opens a bridge between your internal world of effort and the external network of support.”

5. Inspires Others: Perhaps this reason isn’t the most critical, but for me, it is perhaps the most fun and the one that lands me right in the middle of my purpose to uplift others and inspire them to move toward their purpose. I received these text messages from a dear friend and colleague

   

   I can’t tell you how incredible it feels to know that my work and consistency is paying off not only for me, but for those who are listening, reading, watching, and being coached by me. That’s goal after all. Having evidence of it is stellar!!! I want this for you to! So, let’s start with a commitment to developing a pattern of celebrating the small wins. Deal?

   

Celebrate Regularly With Me

If any of my episodes have positively impacted you in any way, and would like to submit an audio clip with feedback, I invite you to do that. Be sure to shout of your business or project when you do. I’ll share these recordings periodically on upcoming episodes.

You can do this right now from your phone with these simple steps:

1. Use this Speakpipe LINK to record a 90 second or less audio clip. It’s ok to use your phone...I can clean up your audio if needed.

2. Use this template 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾

“Hi this is (YOUR NAME) from (YOUR BUSINESS). Nicole, I listened to your episode about___________________________and I (learned, felt, realized, etc.)____________________

I’m looking forward to continuing to create content that I and my listeners can celebrate. Join me!

The text messages above from Radha are referring to my Come Back Episode 🎙️If you haven’t heard it, check it out.

New Episode That just dropped on Monday is 018 Don’t Leave the Dream Buried Inside You: Mental Health, Purpose, and the Solopreneur Journey

Spotify:

Apple Podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/.../018.../id1860769046...

YouTube:

️If you have been enjoying my newsletter I’d really appreciate it if you would share it with one of your Solopreneur Sisters that might get value out of this content!

Just hit that FORWARD button and share it out!

If someone forwarded you this email you can CLICK HERE to subscribe and get a fresh newsletter from me every single Thursday.

Until Next Time,
Nurture The Wholeness Within

Nicole 🔴

️

I know! I know! It’s been a while. Way too long, honestly!

I’ve totally missed my beautiful solopreneur community. My entire 2026 has been like a whirlwind. It’s been hard to catch my breath. In spite of all the chaos and challenging feelings that have been part of my first three months of 2026, I’m here!

I’m back! I’m ready.

It is a gorgeous day here! I got up, got my Hotworx workout in and now I’m here, feeling great and ready to jump back into writing great newsletters for you!

🔴 ANNOUNCEMENT: My Podcast, Holistic Mental Health for Women Solopreneurs is back after my most recent “forced pause”. I truly had to PAUSE from ALL THE THINGS!!! Check out my come back episode below where I explain why in the world I disappeared and what I’ve been up to.

Spotify

YouTube

APPLE

https://podcasts.apple.com/.../holistic.../id1860769046...

As I come out of this most recent forced pause ready to engage my life and business again, I’m coming out with a much more clear and motivated understanding of the importance of time.

Having control taken away from me these past few months because of an intense caregiving situation, caused me to have a new determination to use my time well by no longer hesitating to move forward with my ideas and dreams.

I’ve always considered myself a go-getter when it comes to going after dreams and ideas. However, I’ve definitely had to overcome mistakes in my dream pursuit journey as a solopreneur.

Today, I want to share THREE traps I’ve had to overcome in order to go hard after my dreams in this season so that my actions show I truly honor and value my time.

What I’m about to tell you is honestly not earth shattering. You’ve probably heard all of this before. HOWEVER…KEEP READING because it is widely believed it takes at least 7 times of hearing/reading a message for it to sink in and you to truly take action. Unfortunately, sometimes the truths that could unlock things for us stay trapped in our minds for years just waiting to be released. The catalyst that makes them take hold is often a life event like loss, heartbreak, or major life transition that provides the space for the truths to feel real and relevant.

🔴 Trap#1: Perfectionism

Perfectionism, the illusion you can so easily fall into. Perfectionism is not about having a standard of excellence. It’s a fear based response that keeps your wheels spinning around the same thoughts, same questions, changing the same color on your website, fighting over one word in the title of an article and so on and on for days, months, and for some even years.

I have done this!!! Who else??? 🙋🏾‍♀️🙋🏾‍♀️🙋🏾‍♀️

It’s the never enough syndrome…and “I’m not enough” mindset that keeps you stuck in analysis continually striving for the “perfect” time, the “perfect” wording, the “perfect” anything that will keep you from having to put yourself out there and own what you’re doing.

Why? Because so often self-worth is tied to output!

This is why the struggle to pursue a dream and follow through is not necessarily about laziness, drive, or passion. Many times, it’s about a mindset. It’s about a heart that has believed a false narrative.

📌Tip: Give yourself permission to start messy. Progress over Perfection = Winning!🎉

🔴 Trap #2: Procrastination

Procrastination, the sneaky wall of protection. Sometimes procrastination can be difficult to pinpoint because it cleverly disguises itself in practices that seem good (ie planning, researching, or organizing) You’re doing something, right? You’re being “productive”.

In reality, procrastination is a fear response the same as perfectionism and they play well together. The need for “perfectionism”, which is an illusion, drives the need to seem like you’re moving forward without actually doing the tasks that will truly move you forward.

This keeps you stuck in cycles of busyness with no results and this can create shame and embarrassment that keeps you in the cycle or causes you to give up the dream altogether.

📌Give yourself permission to STOP the cycle of busyness. 🛑

🔴 Trap #3: Productivity

Productivity, the drive to be constantly busy. Productivity looks really great doesn’t it? That is, until you burn out. You know why you burn out…wait, let me speak for myself here…you know why I burned out several times in my journey?

I was constantly busy doing things that were irrelevant to me moving closer to my dreams and it was exhausting.

What was I doing? I was focused on the look of this website or that graphic. I was obsessing over wording. I was debating which service, idea, or product I should start with. I was squabbling over which pink should be in my logo.

While all of these decisions matter to a degree, they are mostly irrelevant when it comes to you stepping boldly into the thing you are trying to bring forward. And you know what, not only does it block your forward movement and your money, it brings a heaviness to your mind and body that has your nervous system in overdrive constantly.

This is something we just can not afford to do. When I realized this is what I was doing, I started to recognize that I was slowly killing myself to keep up a fear based pattern that was keeping me stuck spinning in circles with nothing to show for my hard work.

I DO NOT WANT THIS TO BE YOU!

IF IT IS YOU, I WANT TO HELP YOU GET UNSTUCK!

BTW....One of my favorite problems to help solopreneurs out with is developing a plan of taking sustainable money producing action while honoring your capacity and preventing burnout.

If this is a goal that you are working on, I’d love to have you join me as one of my FOUNDING MEMBERS in Skool Community, No More Silos where this is our entire focus…Building Business and Pursuing Dreams in a Sustainable Way While Taking Care of Our Holistic Mental Health!

If you know another creative woman solopreneur who could use support, strategy, and community, would share this with her? We Solos need to stick together and build each other up. There’s space for everyone, but we can’t be afraid to take up the space assigned to us. So, let’s encourage one another to continue becoming our best selves!

Just hit that SHARE button and remember sharing builds community & healthy community can be a life-line!

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Until Next Week, Nurture the Wholeness Within!

Your Solo Girl,

Nicole 🔴

First, I want to welcome my new subscribers. So glad you’re here and looking forward to sharing space and thought with you. To those of you that have been with me for a while, you may remember that as 2025 was coming to an end, I did a countdown to 2026, The Year of the Pause. I was excited to share all of my tips, lessons, and strategies that I would be focused on teaching throughout 2026.

I had high anticipation…

I was truly excited about what 2026 would bring.

I was ready to soar…and then I woke up January 2nd incredibly sick.

I was sick for about 2 1/2 weeks. Definitely not the start to the year I was hoping for.

Just as I was starting to feel a bit better, I got word that I’d lost my dear cousin to cancer after her valiant 10 year battle.

I was devastated. My world was rocked. As I was trying to process the fact I became incredibly sick out of nowhere and the loss of my cousin, I was notified that I was needed out of state for an extended time for a pretty intense caregiving situation.

As I write this email, I’m still out of state…still in a pretty intense caregiving situation…leaning into this unexpected forced pause and sharing lessons, tips, and strategies I’ve learned and am still learning as I walk through this year.

I’ve decided to replay my countdown to 2026 because you know what, all of it still applies and if there’s anything I’ve learned during my very difficult start to the new year, it’s that we don’t always need new information…new resources etc…

While I won’t share daily like I did during the countdown, I’ll bring back the emails weekly but with insights from my very tumultuous beginning to the year.

Happy December! Can you believe 2025 is quickly coming to a close? If you’re anything like me, this year has included twists and turns, ups and downs, and above all else pivots and PAUSES!!

I have pivoted and paused so much throughout this year. If you’ve been following me since I started back in April, then you may have noticed pivots and changes in my Substack name, bio, and even some content! While my purpose never changes, the way I package it, present it, and pursue it has taken some time for me to truly figure out.

PAUSE

Pausing has been a major thread throughout everything I’ve done throughout the year even though other things changed. The Pause was always consistently present.

To continue the momentum I’ve gained throughout the year, I’m officially naming 2026 The Year of the Pause in my community!!

Why the pause?

Because too many of us are leading, serving, building, and creating from an empty place. We’re living on autopilot just trying to make it through. We love God, we love people, we love our work…but our bodies are tired, our minds are cluttered, and our spirits are carrying more than intended for our most aligned capacity. We must learn to prioritize our wellness.

The pause is not about quitting.
The pause is about honoring your humanity so your purpose can actually be sustainable.

Know a woman who needs to begin honoring the woman she was created to be and not lose herself in her business and leadership?? Share this with her so she can be part of revisiting the countdown to The Year of the Pause!

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In 2026, we’re going to explore:

• How to pause without abandoning your calling

• How to honor your capacity as a woman, leader, and creative

• How to build rhythms that protect your peace while you create global impact

• How to earn income with your creative ideas & heart passions in ways that match your capacity

  Do you or another woman you know need to explore these topics? Join me NOW for this countdown and get prepped for The Year of Pause!!

  Join The Year of the Pause Countdown

Not only that, 2026 is the year to step fully into your capacity to lead and serve using your gifts and entrepreneurial spirt, but in a way that won’t allow you to abandon yourself.

You don’t have to earn the pause.
You simply have to be willing to receive it.

If you already know you need this, you’re in the right place.

Today’s Pause Moment 🔴
Where in your life are you most craving a pause right now?

Leave a comment

Leave a comment and let me know where you’re craving a pause the most and why….

Lean Into The Pause This Week…

P.S. In spite of the very challenging start to the year I’ve had, I was able to follow through with a huge goal I had for March 2026!!! I facilitated my first virtual International Women’s Summit and am already planning year two for 2027!!! It did not turn out exactly the way I wanted it to because my forced pause caused me to make some pivots. I had to redefine what success meant to me during this season. Maybe you need to as well? I’d love to hear how that’s going for you.

Chatting with her today, was a step to help me move forward as I continue to come out of a pretty intense “forced pause” I had to take recently. Pausing to chat with her today was not only fun, but it helped me have the space to think about exactly how I’d like to come out of my unexpected little Substack hiatus.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on our conversation. Where do you find yourself in life right now? Are you intentionally creating regular rhythms of pause?

Leave a comment

I’ve been quiet most of this year and next week, I’ll explain why. But just know I am slowly coming back to myself and will be sharing more about what’s been happening in the midst of my pause as 2026, The Year of the Pause continues.

Get more from Dr. Nicole Pertillar 🔴 in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

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To be real, it sucks. As a solopreneur who is growing and expanding toward the entrepreneurial space of freedom and ease but not quite there yet, these types of experiences can be devastating to mindset and momentum.

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My word for 2026 is Elevation. When I tell you that as I sit here writing this at 3am, nothing in me feels like elevating. Nothing in me feels staying the course. Nothing in me feels like wading through the uncertainty, the lack of know how about certain things needed for my launches, the insecurity of wondering if anyone will care about the services I offer…but you know what? This is where The Pause comes in. I have to pause those thoughts and feelings that aren’t aligned with the course I charted. I have to pause those patterns that, in the past, have resulted in failure to launch or the inability to follow through. When I dubbed this year, the year of the pause, this isn’t what I had in mind…lol But the reality is this is the truth that my solopreneurs need to see and understand.

It’s ok for me to feel sad. It’s ok for me to feel overwhelmed. It’s ok for me to pause and acknowledge that the start to this year has been hard as hell and not anything I expected it to be. What’s not ok is for me to allow that temporary reality to guide the way I move in business during my year of elevation. No toxic positivity around here. I acknowledge what has and is happening around me, but I also recognize that I can’t let what happens around me stop me. Temporary reality doesn’t get to become permanent direction. Yes, life is lifing. Yes, this is hard. Also though, my business still needs my leadership so it can thrive. It needs me. I am the business.

What about you? How has your start to 2026 been? Maybe this year started ok, but you struggle because you had a hard start to life or a hard start to family or entrepreneurship? Whatever hard you may be familiar with, it doesn’t cancel your calling. And because it doesn’t cancel your calling… it means you’re going to need a way to keep moving that doesn’t require you to pretend you’re fine. This has been my January…finding a way to keep moving even though I’m feeling less than fine.

When life gets messy and you still need to answer the call, here’s what I’ve learned to do:

🔴 Pause long enough to tell the truth about what’s real. Not what you wish was real. Not what you’re performing. What’s real. What you’re truly feeling and needing.

🔴 Name your capacity today. Not your ideal capacity. The real deal today. What do you actually have to give right now, emotionally, mentally, physically, spiritually?

🔴 Choose one aligned next step and let that be enough. Not ten. Not twenty. One. One step that honors your calling without abandoning your spirit, mind, & body. What is the doable next step you can take in your business without breaking?

Because here’s the truth: your calling doesn’t require you to be superhuman. It requires you to be honest and intentional. It requires you to show up even when you don’t feel like it. Even when it’s hard

Pause. Re-ground. Re-choose. Then take the next step with support. And if you’re reading this thinking, “Okay… but I need help doing that,” that’s exactly why I created Envision 2026, happening this Saturday. It’s not hype. It’s a guided space to pause on purpose, get clear, and leave with a plan that fits your real life, your true capacity.

If 2026 has already been a lot, or maybe it’s been a challenging last few years, don’t disappear. Don’t delay. Don’t do it alone. I’ll see you at Envision 2026 so we can set intentions for the year ahead.

Even if you can’t make Envision 2026, what can you do to chart your course for a year that brings you to your desired outcome? What’s your next step to ensure that you stay the course this year? In what ways will you institute the pause to help you sustainably walk through this year while building what you’re called to build?

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Today’s Pause Moment🔴: Take a moment to go through the following prompts today.

Temporary reality: “Right now, I’m dealing with ________.”

• Pause + breathe: Inhale 4, exhale 6… three times.

• Tell the truth: “What’s real for me today is ________.”

• Name capacity: “Today I have the capacity for ________ (one thing).”

• Choose one next step: “One aligned step I will take is ________.”

• Seal it: Put it on your calendar with a start time.

Permanent direction: “But I’m still committed to ________.”

Now choose one action that supports your permanent direction in 20 minutes or less.

Build Without Breaking The Builder…YOU
Until Next Time,

I have been one sick girl to start the new year :( I was even not feeling well in this conversation. Nonetheless, it was such a beautiful conversation with important tips and encouragement to start the year.

In this conversation with my fabulous sister, , we discussed habits to support holistic mental health and business in 2026. We had such a great convo and we would LOVE to hear your thoughts!

🔴 JOIN ME January 31st @9 am CST for ENVISION 2026! This will be a powerful event about creating the year you want and becoming the YOU you want to be at the end of this year!

🔴Follow & Listen to My Podcast Holistic Mental Health for Women Solopreneuers

🔴 If you are a woman solopreneur looking for ways to center your wellness so you don’t burnout from building & you could use some community, join me in NO MORE SILOS

🔴 Join my sister and I in her Facebook Group, Sweet Freedom, if you’d like support around food and your physical health. We’re on a Sugar-Free/Low-Sugar Journey and would love for you to join us!

🔴 PODCAST #1

🔴 PODCAST #2

Lots of links I know, but I just wanted to make sure you have access to everything we mentioned in the conversation above.

It would be my absolute honor if you would pass this email on to a woman solopreneur who could use some encouragement, guidance, and community to help them center their wellness and not break as a business owner(or aspiring business owner) this year. SHARING is truly caring, helps plant seeds of community, and is an easy way to encourage writers and readers.

Let’s Keep Learning, Growing, & Loving,

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Thank you , , and many others for tuning into my live video with !

Get more from Dr. Nicole Pertillar 🔴 in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

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One of my greatest highlights of 2025 was joining this fabulous Substack community. I have grown, I’ve evolved, I’ve connected with several of you in deeper ways than I thought possible.

How about you? What were the highlights of your year?

Leave a comment

If you’ve been following my countdown to the new year, then you know that here at Mosaic Mindset, we’re going to be focusing on The Power of the PAUSE🔴. We are going to be pausing and taking our time to live life with great intention while we center our mental health holistically and overall wellness.

I want you to understand that you don’t have to have everything figured out about what this year will look like. As I’ve said before, you get to decide to how you will experience this year and I want to help you get your mind right. The Mosaic Mindset is a mindset that remembers you are made up of many pieces and all of them matter…it’s also that the piece your voice plays in the world! You matter. Your voice matter. Going after the dreams in your heart is a must because they matter.

10 Questions to Shape Your 2026, The Year of the PAUSE🔴

Sometimes goal-setting at the start of the year can feel overwhelming and performative. I’m a huge goal-setter, so I’m not saying not to, but I do believe that setting goals without laying a foundation that will frame those goals. So, here are some powerful questions to set the stage for your 2026!

1) How do I want to experience 2026: emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and physically?

Before you set the goals and envision the outcomes, name the atmosphere.
What do you want to feel more often when you wake up and move through your days?

2) What do I want my days to consist of?

Not necessarily your big wins, but your real life. What needs to show up more in your life: rest, laughter, deep work, friendship, movement, play, prayer, quiet, creativity?

3) What is one way I’m done abandoning myself in 2026?

Where do you disappear in the name of being “responsible,” “reliable,” or “strong”?
What’s one new boundary that protects your wholeness?

4) What does “building the dream—without breaking the builder” look like for me this year? 🔴

Be honest: what supports do you need while you build? What rhythms and guardrails keep you from paying for your success with your health and overall wellness?

5) What do I want my voice to do in 2026?

Comfort? Challenge? Teach? Advocate? Create beauty? Tell the truth?
What have you been carrying that needs to be said out loud this year?

6) What relationships need to shift in 2026?

Who gets more access? Who gets less? What would it look like to choose connection that feels steady and not draining?

7) Where am I being invited to simplify?

What would you stop doing if you trusted that “less” can still be fruitful?
What’s one thing you can release that would instantly create breathing room?

8) What would “success” look like if it included my nervous system?

Let your definition of success be full-bodied. What does success look like when peace is part of it and not a reward you earn later?

9) What is one fear I’m willing to outgrow in 2026?

Not by forcing yourself. By choosing brave, kind steps. What would you try if you believed you didn’t have to be perfect to be impactful?

10) What do I want to become consistent with in before I expand?

Before you go big, go steady.
What small practice, done weekly, would quietly transform your entire year?

A gentle invitation

You don’t have to answer all ten today.

Pick one question. Sit with it. Journal it. Pray it. Take a walk with it.
Allow yourself to PAUSE🔴 with it and let the truth be revealed.

And if you want support building your year with intention and taking care of the woman who’s building it, subscribe to Mosaic Mindset—my weekly note to help you gather the pieces, nurture what matters, and make aligned moves without burning out.

Cheers to a Prosperous New Year!

Dr. Nic🔴
Pause. Build bravely—without abandoning yourself.

P.S. If you’re only subscribed to my newsletter, you’re only getting one piece in the mosaic of your life & business. 😄 Subscribe to Holistic Mental Health for Women Solopreneurs, my podcast where the other pieces come together so I can help you align your business with your capacity. In 2026, new podcast episodes will drop on Mondays & new Mosaic Mindset articles will drop Wednesdays🔴 Different Platforms. Different Content. Same Coach ❤️

It’s not the part where you’re dreaming, getting excited about all the possibilities, and loving the whirlwind of creative ideas hitting you. It’s not the part where you’re planning and charting your course. Though all of this is important and you do need to steward it well.

It’s the part where you’re doing everything…and quietly realizing you’re doing it alone. The buck stops with you. You make all the decisions. You create all the products and services. If you’re anything like me, you have conversations with yourself about your ideas! lol

If you’ve ever been in the space where your vision is loud but your support is thin (and your spiritual, mental, & physical capacity feel limited) then I wrote this for you.

I wrote this because I know what it’s like to be the woman with the gift, the calling, the impact…and still feel isolated, sometimes uncertain, and exhausted when it’s time to execute. I’ve been building. I’ve been trying to be consistent, I struggled with remaining visible.

Ladies, I’m 48 years old and I’ve wanted to be in business for myself since I was 22. I spent the last 20 something years spinning my wheels, doubting myself, dealing with grief, loss, and transition as I tried to reconcile my deep desire to be of service, but also grow and develop my personal life. It was a cycle I don’t wish on anyone, EVER.

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PAUSE🔴

Let me tell you ladies, I’ve been there! I’ve been struggling to bring all of my ideas together. I’ve been uncertain of the call on my life. I’ve been intimidated by what I felt might be the response to my message. I’ve struggled with confidence. I’ve started and stopped. I’ve put out great workshops and programs but had no strategy for follow up. I’ve always had the voice, the message, the ideas, and even some great strategies. But I was tired…

Not just tired…

EXHAUSTED

I mean the kind of exhaustion where your brain is spinning with ideas, but your body is begging you to stop. The kind of exhaustion that honestly made me avoid my business ideas and go back to my “normal” every day life.

I had vision. I had goals. I had a real message that God had developed in me over the years through various pieces of my life story. But I also had decision fatigue. I had inconsistent momentum and would start and stop so many times. I remember two incidents where people were trying to track me down for my personal prophetic art paintings and my shift merch. These were two of my launches that I didn’t have the structure, mindset, or band with to follow through on and so I left my customers on read with no response from me! Yikes!

The weight was all on me. The answers all had to come from me and I was struggling. I wanted so badly to show up well and support the women I was called to speak into. I went through seasons where I lacked motivation, but that really wasn’t my problem, if I’m being honest.

Here’s what I’ve learned that I didn’t fully understand back then:

Sometimes the missing piece isn’t motivation.
Sometimes the missing piece is community.

Not performative community. Not “networking” community. I mean REAL community. I mean a group of people who can hold space for your growth, reflect your blind spots, celebrate your wins, and remind you you’re not crazy for needing support…AND that you’re a dope, amazing creative being whose voice matters in the world.

I’m building something for the woman who is building something. I’m building something I wish I had throughout my entire journey of building. I’m building for the woman who is creating offers, serving clients, growing an audience, stewarding a gift…
and trying to stay healthy and whole while she does it.

I’m building for the woman who knows she has an impact to make in the world
but she also knows she can’t keep sacrificing her health, her peace, her relationships, and her joy just to stay “productive.” I’m building for the woman who is ready to center her wellbeing rather than consider it as an afterthought.

You don’t just need better systems (though you most definitely do need them).

You need better rhythms.
You need better support.
You need spaces where you can build without breaking YOU.

And that’s why I created:

Why No More Silos

No More Silos: Structure for your vision. Community for your soul.

No More Silos is a coaching + mastermind membership for women solopreneurs who need a consistent room to grow in.

It’s a space where you can:

• get grounded in what matters this month

• get support while you’re building for your audience

• stop second-guessing every decision in isolation

• stay accountable without shame

• and create momentum that doesn’t require burnout

This isn’t building at the cost of you. This is building that protects you. This isn’t chaos with a calendar. This is a system with a soul. I created No More Silos because I want you to be free. I want you to get your God-given message out to who it’s supposed to get to. We live in a society where it’s time-out for shrinking back and getting stuck in our own thoughts.

Because I want this group to be exactly what YOU need, I’m forming a Beta Group. My Beta Group will be my founding members. Of course I have my ideas on what I want to offer and how, but my Beta members will help craft and refine this group.

What You’ll Receive Inside the Beta Group

During this beta season, you’ll receive:

• Group Coaching (real-time support + guidance)

• Monthly Lunch & Learn teachings (strategy + sustainable leadership + faith & business)

• Community co-working sessions (protected time to execute with accountability)

• Monthly Mastermind Hot Seat (get unstuck, get feedback, get next steps)

• Holistic Mental Health Support (pause plans + group pause sessions)

• Community + Connection with women who get the solopreneur journey

And honestly? One of the most underrated benefits is this:

You’ll have a place to bring your business questions before you spiral.
You’ll have people to help you move forward while you’re building.

The Heart of the Beta: You’ll Help Me Build This

Let me be super clear: this beta group isn’t just you joining something.

It’s you helping me shape something.

You’ll be part of building this membership with me.

That means I’ll be:

• polling the group,

• asking what you need most,

• gathering feedback on what’s working,

• and refining the structure so it truly serves women solopreneurs well.

What I’m asking from you in return

If you join the beta, I’m asking for:

• detailed feedback as we move along

• your honest input on additions you’d love to see included

• a written testimonial at the end

• and a short video testimonial at the end of the beta period

That’s it.

You don’t have to be perfect.
You don’t have to be the “most successful.”
You just have to be willing to show up, try it, and tell me the truth about what’s helpful & what could be MORE HELPFUL.

Beta Timeline + Pricing (read this part carefully)

The beta group will run through the end of March.

Right now I have space for:

• 3 more FREE Beta Spots (I had several takers before I even wrote this email. That tells me this is a needed service)

• 5 paid spots at $27/month

After the beta ends (end of March), I will officially launch No More Silos at an introductory rate of $57/month.

But here’s the key:

All beta testers—free and paid (if you choose to stay in the group, there is NO OBLIGATION) will be locked in at $27/month for as long as you remain in the group.

Who This Is For

This is for you if:

• you’re building something meaningful and you’re tired of building alone

• you’re ready for structure, clarity, and accountability

• you want community that feels supportive, not draining

• you’re committed to your vision and your wellness, but also need some holistic support direction & strategy

If you’ve been craving a steady room to grow in, THIS IS YOUR SIGN.

Want One of the Beta Spots?

All I need from you right now is:

your best email address. (FIRST COME FIRST SERVE, SO DON’T DELAY)

Reply to this post (or message me) with your email and put “No More Silos Beta” in the message. When you email me, I will let you know if the free spots have been filled and you can decide if you’d like to continue at the $27/month rate. (PRO TIP: Even though there is a free option, sometimes the paid option is better for you because your heart and passion follow your money ;) and there are often better chances you’ll show up when your money is out there)

I’ll be sending out the full details by JANUARY 9TH, including:

• session dates/times,

• how to access the space,

• what to expect in March when beta time is over

• and some introductory forms

If you’ve been praying for (or hoping for) a space like this…
a space with structure for the build and community for the woman…

I’d love to welcome you in.

No More Silos — Structure for your vision. Community for your soul.

— Dr. Nic 🔴
Pause. Build bravely without abandoning yourself.

P.S. Only one more day in 2025! The Year of the Pause is almost here! Join No More Silos as a Beta Member and start the year off in a community that honors the pause.

3 Days and Counting until The Year of the PAUSE🔴 and you know what I keep thinking about?? I keep thinking about the ways I want 2026 to be different, not just from 2025, but from any other year! It’s up only from here!

I want to experience levels of peace and freedom I haven’t known before. I want to have business success that changes my life AND the lives of the people I love. I want to shoot for 3 BIG SCARY(in a good way) goals for the year.

I want to experience greater levels of ease and abundance. I want to settle into life saying “Let Them” (have you read Mell Robbin’s book The Let Them Theory?) with the most unbothered energy ever! What about you? How do you want to experience 2026? Leave me a comment and let me know!

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PAUSE🔴

You truly deserve this pause to set your intentions…to decide how you want to move through 2026…to acknowledge how you want to feel, what you’re expecting and what you won’t stand for.

Take a pause and think about what you want to release and not carry into 2026 and also what do you want to pick up?

Today’s Pause Moment 🔴
Take a few moments to set your intentions for how you want to experience 2026.

P.S. Hit reply and share your 2026 intentions with me

P.P.S. Holistic Mental Health for Women Solopreneurs Podcast available where ever you listen to podcasts!!

4 Days and Counting until The Year of the PAUSE🔴! Who’s excited?? 🙌🏾 🙌🏾 🙌🏾

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Tell me what you’re most excited about for 2026! I truly want to know. As solopreneurs, all too often, we can fall into the trap of working in silos. All of our ideas are roaming around in our heads. Depending on the type of business, we could go days without speaking to another human about what we’re doing. We tend stay in stuck places longer than we should. Why? We lack community. Please hear me when I say this. We could have great friends and even spend time doing things we love with people we love on occasion. However, we live our identity as a solo in a silo giving no breathing room to our ideas, our strategies, our creative output…receiving little to no feedback on this living breathing entity so close to our hearts, OUR BUSINESS.

PAUSE🔴

While pausing is personal, it’s not meant to be lonely.

In 2026, I don’t want you trying to redefine your rhythms in isolation. We need:

• Safe spaces for truth-telling about how far we’ve come, where we are, and where we still want to go

• Community that understands capacity and calling

• Conversations where we can be both visionary and vulnerable

• Community that breeds creativity and provides healthy accountability

The Year of the Pause🔴 will live here in this community—through my emails, posts, podcast, and the spaces I invite you into along the way.

We’re going to:

• Learn together

• Practice together

• Celebrate and recalibrate together

• Pause-Shift-Renew together

Today’s Pause Moment 🔴
Who do you want beside you in The Year of the Pause? How can you invite them into this journey?

P.S. Hit reply and tell me: what’s one small way you can honor your capacity today?

P.P.S. Holistic Mental Health for Women Solopreneurs Podcast available where ever you listen to podcasts!!

If you’ve been here for a while, you know I mosaics. As an artist, I find them absolutely beautiful, but even more than how beautiful I find them to the eye, I find so much meaning in them. Mosaics created by placing pieces of hard broken glasses, stone or tile. When I look at mosaics, if a piece is missing, I can tell.

I believe you are a mosaic—a whole woman made up of many different pieces:

• Your story and upbringing

• Your faith and values

• Your body and nervous system

• Your creative gifts and ideas

• Your business and work

• Your relationships and responsibilities

• Your grief, disappointments, and quiet hopes

Some pieces feel beautiful.
Some feel heavy or unfinished.
Some feel like they cracked with sharp painful edges.

PAUSE🔴

Holistic mental health says:

All of those pieces matter.
They’re all connected.
And they all need care.

Especially for my women solopreneurs(my solos), it’s easy to focus on just the business piece:

• “Am I showing up enough?”

• “Is my content consistent?”

• “Am I making enough money?”

When you only tend to the business piece and ignore everything else, your bodies, boundaries, grief, faith, really the entire landscape of your mental health quietly pays the price.

Then, there are some who focus on everything but the business in their heart due to various struggles, fears, un dealt with pain, grief, and disappointment and they can’t get business traction.

The Year of the PAUSE🔴 is my commitment to helping you honor all of your pieces, not just the productive ones. And that’s why I’m so excited to share this with you:

I’m relaunching my podcast:

Holistic Mental Health for Women Solopreneurs. 🎙️🔴

This podcast is one of the main ways I’ll be walking with you through The Year of the PAUSE🔴

We’ll talk about:

• The many pieces of you that need nurturing so you don’t abandon yourself while you build

• Capacity—emotional, mental, spiritual, physical—and how to stop planning your business like you’re a machine and plan in a way that honors your reality

• My Pause–Shift–Renew Framework in real life: what it looks like in your schedule, your mindset, your relationships, but ESPECIALLY YOUR BUSINESS

• Grief, transition, and disappointment and how they impact how you show up in your business and goals

• Creative expression and various holistic strategies—helping you to prioritize your mental health making sure to cover your spirit, mind, and body to avoid burnout and self-abandonment so that you build impactful business using your creative genius to earn income without slowly killing yourself.

Think of the podcast as a space where we:

• Take a breath together

• Tell the truth about what it’s like to build something while being a whole human

• Learn practical ways to care for our minds, bodies, and spirits while we grow our work

You’ll hear coaching, conversations (PauseLabs), and real-life stories (Leading Through the Cracks) from women navigating the same tensions you are: capacity challenges, business follow through, burnout and overwhelm, losing self in vision and mission, operating in a silo, and other issues that impact your business negatively.

As we count down to The Year of the Pause, I’d love for you to:

• Follow/subscribe to Holistic Mental Health for Women Solopreneurs wherever you listen to podcasts. Here’s one of my last episodes prior to the pivot I made in how I’m delivering my episodes.

• Share it with another woman solopreneur who you know is holding a lot

• See it as part of your Pause Plan for 2026

5 More Days until 2026!!!

Today’s Pause Moment 🔴
When you look at the mosaic of your life;business, body, emotions, faith, relationships; what piece has been most neglected, and what might holistic care for that piece look like in The Year of the Pause?

Leave a comment

P.S. Hit reply and tell me: what’s one small way you can honor your capacity today?

P.P.S. Remember 4 Days left until The Year of the Pause 2026!

• Surrounded by wrapping paper and dishes

• In a full-on “Christmas coma” from food and family

• Or just emotionally tired from holding so much this season

If you’re not in “plan the new year” mode yet, I want you to hear me clearly:

As your coach, I know something important: most big shifts don’t happen in one big moment. They happen because your gains courage and motivation as you keep hearing the same gentle invitation…until one day, you say yes.

So today is not about having your 2026 Pause Plan perfectly mapped out.
I’m not doing this count to 2026 The Year of the Pause to rush you into planning and rigid boundaries that say you need to know all of the answers now. It’s quite the opposite.

My goal with this countdown is to slowly introduce my frameworks gently keep the conversation going so that, when you are ready, the ideas are already warm in your mind and heart. So today is not about having your 2026 Pause Plan perfectly mapped out.

Today is simply about imagining what a pause rhythm that feels like YOU might look like.

BREAK IT DOWN: DAILY, WEEKLY, MONTHLY AND EVEN QUARTERLY. Remember these are just examples. You may decide you only have it in you to focus on one weekly pause right now. There’s no right or wrong. There’s just evaluate what’s aligned with capacity and what you feel you can commit to (Also, keep in mind that once you make a choice, you can always change it, if it’s not working for you. You adjust what’s not working.

• One daily pause:
  5–15 minutes where you check in with you and with God.
  ☕ Morning coffee or tea in silence.
  🚶🏾‍♀️ A short walk alone.
  📖 A few slow minutes with a verse, affirmation, or journal.

• One weekly pause:
  A block of time where you step away from constant producing.
  🕯️ A quiet evening with no obligations.
  ✨ A “no work” block one afternoon.
  🔴 A weekly reset ritual you return to.

• One monthly pause:
  A slightly longer space to zoom out and look at the bigger picture.
  📝 Reflect on what’s working and what’s not.
  🧩 Notice what your capacity felt like.
  🔴 Adjust tiny things before they turn into burnout.

You don’t have to decide any of this today. Just let your heart play with the idea:

“If I had a pause plan that actually felt like me,
what might it include? What would be my natural rhythm?”

Breathe that question in and then go back to your blanket, your leftovers, or your peeps. The Year of the Pause will still be here when your brain is fully back online.

For now, you’re simply letting the seed of this idea land and grow.

Today’s Pause Moment 🔴
If my pause plan didn’t have to look like anyone else’s, what could my daily, weekly, and monthly pauses look like in this season of my life?

Leave a comment

P.S. Hit reply and tell me: what’s one small way you can honor your capacity today?

First and foremost I want to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas! May you be blessed in every aspect of who you are. May this be the start of a joyful new season for you, your family, and your business.

In this new season that’s coming for you, first you pause, make your shifts and then live in a continual state of renewal. (Repeat steps Pause & Shift as needed)

Renew is where you:

• Begin to feel your energy slowly return

• Experience more clarity and less chaos

• Live from new patterns instead of riding on autopilot

• Notice that you’re responding differently than before the pause

Renew doesn’t always feel dramatic. Sometimes it feels like a little more ease, a little more peace with more breathing room, a little more honesty in your daily life.

In 2026, The Year of the PAUSE🔴, R is about:

• Renewed mindsets

• Renewed rhythms

• Renewed courage to live in alignment with who God created you to be

Remember, you are not starting from scratch. You are starting from a place of new wisdom…new patterns…You are being renewed from the inside out.

Today’s Pause Moment 🔴
Where have you already seen small signs of renewal in your life—and where do you long to see more?

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P.S. Hit reply and tell me: what’s one small way you can honor your capacity today?

It’s Christmas Eve!! Wishing you and yours a blessed and safe holiday. We’ve got 8 more days left in 2025 and then you know what time it is!!! It’s 2026, The Year of the Pause🔴. It’s day 2 of me breaking down my PSR Framework and today we’re focused on SHIFT.

After you pause and tell yourself the truth and acknowledge your needs, the next step is Shift. If you think people panic at the pause, you should see what can sometimes happen when it’s time to shift. When I’m coaching people, here’s the challenge…people want to rush past the pause and dive into all sorts of shifting. What I’ve found though, is that when you try to shift without pausing, your plans tend to blow up and you end up at square one and sometimes even worse.

The SHIFT🔴 doesn’t always mean dramatic life changes.

Often, it looks like:

• Adjusting your expectations for this season (Mindset Work)

• Saying no where you once said automatic yes (Boundary Work)

• Reworking your schedule to match your capacity (Capacity Scheduling)

• Changing how you talk to yourself (Re-writing Narratives)

• Choosing a kinder next step (Values-Aligned Micro-Steps)

Shifts can be small and still powerful.

In The Year of the Pause, S is where we honor what the pause revealed and ask:

“Given what I now see, what needs to shift?”

It’s important to remember that you don’t have to do a total overhaul of life at once(as my clients often try to do). You don’t need to shift everything, but it all likelihood, there is something small you can shift.

Today’s Pause Moment 🔴
What is one small, practical shift you could make that would honor what you’ve learned from your pauses lately?

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P.S. Hit reply and tell me: what’s one small way you can honor your capacity today?