Stop When You Are Done

At the top of 2025, I shared with my therapist that I was tired. My routines were off, I was feeling run down, and I kept feeling like I was behind. As I rattled off all that I was doing, my therapist said to me, "You've done a lot. Do you realize that?" I had to pause and take that in. I was rattling off a laundry list of things I'd knocked out, and felt like I still had more to do. But what I'd already accomplished that week was a lot, and there were no looming deadlines that required me to keep going.

In that moment, I wrote down on a post-it and stuck it to my computer: "I've Already Done a Lot." It was to be my grounding point when I pushed myself too far (that's a thing), and when I leaned into workaholic tendencies.

Let's be honest, I didn't flip a switch and start moving at a slower pace within days of that conversation. It took the entire year. Literally.

In November, as I prepared for the year end and my last day of work before winter vacation (December 17th, heyyy), I decided to write a list on my whiteboard. This was a list of everything I absolutely had to complete before I shut things down for the year.

By Thanksgiving, there were 4 things still on the list. By December 10th, I was down to 1. And on December 12th, the list was completely checked off. I still worked, but it was with ease, and not rushing. I participated in final meetings, cleaned out my inbox, and wrote my out of office message. I continued working on other things, but didn't need to close them out. They can wait until January.

I found myself applying another version of the lesson my therapist taught me at the top of the year: Stop When You're Done. For years, I've felt like I needed to constantly be doing, working, moving. But I'm determined to move with ease and rest, because if I'm honest with myself, that's when I am at my best and when my creativity shines through.

Some days, that may mean wrapping up at 2:00 pm. Others, I may roll until 10 pm. But the point isn't to push through to meet some random expectation. The expectation is to complete what is most important to complete, and when that is done, I am done.

I hope you move with ease, rest and peace in this season. And if you learn nothing else from me this year:

Stop When You're Done.