And so are you. Tired of trying to earn your way into relaxation. Tired of performance-based healing. Tired of every gentle thing becoming a goal, a hustle, a to-do item.

You tried morning pages. Bought the pretty prompts, the trauma-informed tracker. But somewhere along the way, it turned into another metric for progress. Miss a day? Cue the shame spiral. May as well give up.

You tried doing less. Blocking off whole afternoons to “just rest.” But the stillness was too loud. Skin buzzing with guilt. Feeling like you were failing at something, forgetting something, doing something wrong.

You even tried crafting. (Or baking. Or sewing. Or jewelry making. Or maybe all three). Once. But when it didn’t come naturally, you felt dumb and abandoned ship. Not sure how to sit with the discomfort of not being good at something yet. You tell yourself you’ll try again later, not to waste all of the materials you bought. But your closet is still a full blown craft store.

The problem isn’t a lack of discipline or motivation. The problem is that your nervous system has been conditioned to equate high productivity with worth, structure with safety, and rest with danger. Your body forgot how to feel safe being soft.