This week, I was sick enough to be forced into bed for four days.
No working from bed. No “light admin.” No pretending I could still think clearly. My body shut down, and my head went with it. Even simple decisions felt heavy. I couldn’t access the sharpness I rely on.
Lying there, it became obvious this hadn’t come out of nowhere.
I’d noticed the signs earlier. Slower thinking. Shorter patience. More effort for the same output. And I’d labelled all of it discipline.
That’s the mistake.
Discipline isn’t pushing through reduced capacity.
That’s just borrowing clarity from tomorrow.
Most cultures reward visible effort, not sound judgment. Pausing gets questioned. Pushing gets praised. But the first thing pressure erodes isn’t output. It’s decision quality. And once that slips, momentum follows.
This week didn’t kill my momentum.
It stopped me from making decisions I would have had to undo later.
Slowing down didn’t weaken the system.
It protected it.
THE ONE INSIGHT
We’re used to overriding the body.
Five-am mornings. Four hours of sleep. Late nights. Working weekends. Saying you’re exhausted like it’s a badge of honour. We call it discipline.
But the body keeps its own record. It signals quietly at first, then more clearly. And if those signals are ignored long enough, it eventually stops you.
Being forced into bed wasn’t a failure.
It was the point where my body had more authority than my plans.
Listening earlier isn’t a weakness.
It’s how you avoid being stopped later.
THE ACTION STEP
If there’s one shift that matters here, it’s this: stop waiting for collapse to justify slowing down.
Listening to your body only works if it leads to concrete decisions, not reflection.
These actions are practical, specific, and designed to intervene before your body has to force a stop.
Set a sleep floor for the next 7 days.
Pick the minimum hours you will not go below. When work overruns, sleep still wins.Remove one decision type when you’re run down.
No new commitments. No big conversations. Only what’s already agreed.Stop the day earlier than feels necessary.
Not when you’re done. Earlier. Leave something unfinished on purpose.
Sometimes listening early is the only way to avoid being stopped later.
My latest project…
A few days ago, I shared a short book about my weight loss and health journey, and the identity shift that made it possible.
Not the routines or the rules, but the internal changes that had to happen for me to stop cycling and start moving forward. I’m mentioning it here for anyone new, or anyone who wants to understand the deeper work behind sustainable change.
You can find it here if you want to read more.
Before You Go
I’ve been writing these pieces in the quiet, between school runs, work, and late-night thinking, but I’ve started sharing more of the journey in real time too. The reflections, the systems, the messier parts of reinvention that never make it into the newsletter.
If you want to follow along, you’ll find me here:
Come say hi. It’s less about followers, more about finding the others who are doing the invisible work too.
If something in this email made you pause, think, or feel seen, send it to a friend who’s been quietly trying to make a change, too.
You never know what might land at the right moment. Link here.
“You don’t lose momentum when you slow down. You lose it when you ignore the warning signs.”