Because reflection isn’t soft — it’s survival when everything’s uncertain.
TL;DR:
When my job felt under threat, my instinct was to fix it.
But the real shift came when I did something different: I paused.
Not to escape the fog — but to face it, and find myself again inside it.
There were two times in my life where the fog wasn’t mental — it was emotional.
Thick. Heavy. Charged.
The first was years ago, when I lost a university work placement.
The second? Much more recent.
My function was being dismantled.
Leadership had already started making calls.
And I was sitting in a Friday team meeting while my boss quietly admitted she might be the only one still defending our value.
The room didn’t spin.
But something in me did.
What It Looked Like in Real Life
My default setting is to act — fast.
Check the numbers.
Do the maths.
Map the scenarios.
Plan the escape.
And I did some of that — I won’t pretend I didn’t.
But for the first time in years, I also let myself pause.
I gave myself the weekend.
I didn’t spiral.
I reached out — not for information, but for connection.
I asked someone else how they were doing.
It softened the edge of everything.
What Helped Me Shift
Honestly? The Reflect pillar wasn’t a concept — it was a necessity.
I worked through the 6-step cycle — not to create content, but to stay grounded.
When the panic started to build, I caught it.
I didn’t numb it. I didn’t override it.
I closed my eyes.
Put both feet flat on the floor.
And reminded myself: You can’t control the outcome. But you can choose how you show up inside it.
That was enough.
And Today?
I still don’t have answers.
I haven’t looked for another job.
I haven’t run toward “the next thing.”
But I’m building.
I’m making decisions from a place of rhythm, not reactivity.
- I’ve tightened my financial boundaries
- I’ve softened my emotional ones
- I’ve told myself the truth about what might happen — and I’m still here
And that fog?
It lifts when I stop trying to outrun it.
It clears when I reflect with care — not fear.
Your Gentle Next Step
If the mental load has become fog — or if your brain feels full from holding too much — you don’t need another plan.
You might just need space.
The Curiosity JumpStart is a free reflection tool to help you gently unpick the noise and reconnect to your own rhythm of thought.
✨ Download it here
What This Series Is For
This post is part of Here’s How I Do It — a personal blog series sharing the real-life rhythm behind the Beaming Bernie pillars.
Not just the structured ideas. The lived ones.
What’s Coming Next
Next time, I’ll share how I stopped trying to “fix” myself — and started moving with a rhythm that actually fits the version of me now.
🌊 How I Stopped Fixing Myself and Found Flow — a post about reframing change, letting go of pressure, and choosing forward motion over perfection.
