On September 14th, while swimming off the coast of Spain, I got stung by a compass jellyfish.
The sting itself wasn’t dramatic – almost no pain, the wound itself healed quickly. Most people who are stung are hospitalized for 2-3 days and I managed to walk away with just a handful of delirious hours while my liver actively processed the toxin out of my blood.
I definitely got off easy comparatively… but six weeks later, my brain still feels like it was swimming in neurotoxin soup.
My once sharp focus has slipped into mental exhaustion. My normally abundant energy has tanked. My memory is so foggy that last weekend I couldn’t remember the movie I watched the previous night. I’ve spent the last 2 weeks prioritizing rest. My 10-hour work days turned into 1-4 barely-functioning hours a day.
For someone who best defining features are abundant physical energy, high intelligence and quick thinking, this was a devastating process to work through. Being smart and energetic were how I saw myself, there were part of my identity. So without them, I felt like I was not myself. The beauty in this humbling experience is to see beyond these identities. I am not defined by either of these characteristics. Gaining or losing them doesn’t change me at my core. Even without energy and intelligence, I am still me.
This also caused me to completely re-evaluate how I live my life. I love what I do so it’s not uncommon for me to work 10-12 hour days 4-5 days per week and still work some on the weekends. Working in my business fills me up and fuels me, but also I’m definitely addicted to the workaholic lifestyle. My busyness has been a badge of honor for me for DECADES. The belief that I need to work extra hard to get ahead kept driving me into hustle. I know consciously that I need more rest and space to attract more of what I want but my nervous system is coded to be in fight or flight, so I trick myself into habits to maintain those levels of stress. Putting a full stop on my business for a few weeks – after having been traveling and not working in my business for week was interesting to say the least.
But here’s the wild thing, my business kept going. Even when I slowed down, everything I’d built continued to thrive.
And that forced slowdown gave me the one thing I’d been ignoring: clarity. Connection with my inner truth.
I realized how much I’d tied my worth to working hard. That things don’t have to be hard to work. And that slowing down might just be the most powerful manifestation tool of all. So I’m taking action to realign my schedule to put ME back into it. To prioritize my rhythms and cycles of what serves me and shift my world around that.
Starting in 2026 I’m shifting my schedule to start after 9am most days. Giving myself longer lunch breaks in the middle of the day. Scheduling weeknight activities that prevent me from working super late. Finding ways to prioritize my health and new goals before my work. I’m excited to see how this translates into more abundance in the new year!
I’m giving thanks to the little spicy creature that literally shocked me back into alignment.
Because sometimes, the Universe whispers “rest.” And if you don’t listen, it sends a jellyfish to literally shock you into taking a break and re-evaluating.
