Let me guess:
You’re running a million miles an hour, keeping all the plates spinning, and when someone asks how you are, you smile and say…
“I’m fine.”
But here’s the truth no one wants to admit out loud:
You’re not fine. And that’s not a failure—it’s a sign.
One of my clients came to a session recently, sat down, and told me about her week like she was reading from a spreadsheet: back-to-back meetings, school drop-offs, launching a side project, helping a friend through a breakup, making sure the dog got to the vet.
Then she paused.
Took a breath.
And said, “But I’m fine.”
I looked at her and said, “What if you’re not?”
“I should be grateful. I shouldn’t complain.”
This is the sentence I hear on repeat from high-achieving women.
You’ve got a career, a family, maybe a business, and you tell yourself you should be able to handle it. You should be grateful. You shouldn’t feel tired. You shouldn’t complain.
But here’s the thing:
Overwhelm doesn’t care how beautiful your life looks on paper.
You can love your life and still feel completely maxed out.
You can be successful and still feel disconnected.
You can have the dream house and still feel like you’re crumbling inside it.
High-functioning burnout is still burnout.
You might be going through the motions.
You might be crushing it at work.
You might be the go-to friend, the organized mom, the reliable one.
But if you’ve lost access to joy, rest, or even your own thoughts—
That’s not fine. That’s survival mode.
When you say “I’m fine” long enough, you start to believe it.
You ignore the check engine light on your soul.
You quiet the parts of you that are screaming for rest or change.
And before you know it, you’re so disconnected from what you actually want or need that even the question feels overwhelming.
“We stopped. We got honest. We laid it all out.”
With that client I mentioned earlier, we didn’t dive into productivity hacks or time-blocking or self-care checklists.
We got honest.
We asked:
- What are you actually feeling?
- What’s taking up the most mental space?
- What would feel just 10% lighter this week?
She didn’t need to be everything to everyone.
She just needed a plan that honored her.
And that plan didn’t include pretending she was fine.
It included boundaries. And grace. And saying no without explanation.
Letting yourself get honest is the first step to real alignment.
We think admitting we’re not fine is a weakness.
That it means we can’t handle it. That we’re falling apart.
But what if it means you’re finally waking up?
What if “not fine” is actually the invitation you’ve been waiting for—to realign your life with your values and energy?
Because here’s what I know:
No woman builds her best life from burnout.
No one creates peace while pretending to be okay.
You get there by telling the truth. Even if it’s messy.
Even if it means disappointing a few people.
Even if it means letting go of the version of you that had it all “together.”
You deserve more than “fine.”
You deserve joy.
You deserve rest.
You deserve to wake up and not feel like your brain has 47 tabs open before your feet hit the ground.
So the next time you catch yourself saying “I’m fine”—
Pause.
Breathe.
Ask: What if I’m not?
Because that moment of honesty might be the first time in a long time that you tell the truth.
And that truth? It could be the beginning of everything changing.
Ready to stop pretending you’re fine and start creating a life that actually feels good?
This is the work we do in the Purposeful Life Group Coaching Program.
If you’re craving clarity, boundaries, and alignment—you’re in the right place.
Learn more about the program here
