Are you walking the broken sidewalk?

Have you ever felt like the weight of the world was pressing in so tightly that you couldn’t breathe?

That’s where I found myself these last two weeks. My nervous system overloaded and dysregulated, my values tested, and the collective heaviness almost pulling me under.

I asked myself:

• Can I hold empathy and humanity without also holding the burden of grief for things so far out of alignment with my values?

  
  

• How do I show up as a lightworker when the storm feels so close, so dark, so unrelenting with no end in sight?

  
  

• How do I regulate myself enough to not shut down when I can feel the collective energy pressure, even with filters and boundaries in place?

I’ve been contemplating all these questions, as have many of you.

And here’s what I know:

1.     I don’t owe my grief to anything. I grieve what I choose, not what I feel falsely obligated to.

2.     I hold empathy because it’s who I am.

3.     I hold my humanity by honoring every person’s inalienable rights, even when we disagree.

4.     I hold my alignment by staying devoted to the work I’m here to do.

It reminded me of a lesson I learned while living in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. The sidewalks there were often cracked and broken by tree roots. At first, I tried to stay on them, sometimes struggling, slipping when they were wet and nearly falling.

Until one day, I realized I didn’t have to. I could step off the sidewalk and walk in the street instead. It was safer, smoother and easier.

Yet my conditioning told me I had to stay on the broken path. I had to suffer and be uncomfortable.

That moment changed me.

It taught me that sometimes, the most aligned choice is to step away from what everyone else accepts as “the way things are” or the "right" way, and choose a new path.

That’s what this season feels like now. Stepping off what no longer works. Trusting myself to walk differently. Letting alignment, and not conditioning, guide me forward.

I’ve done enough inner work to know when something isn’t right for me. And even when things change, as they inevitably do, I can trust myself to test, adjust, and realign.

That’s my purpose: to live this, and to help others find their own alignment with their soul, identity, and purpose.

So I ask you:

Where in your life are you still walking the broken sidewalk?

And what might open up if you dared to step into the street instead?

Comment and let me know. I’d love to hear what you’ve discovered about yourself this week.