What's the Permission Slip You Really Need to Give Yourself Today?
“When something breaks — and something always breaks — who climbs with you.” Christine Cole
It’s Friday. That quote above is from an email I read this morning — at 6:30am! My cat, Ella, woke me up at 6am to feed her, and while I had every intention of going back to sleep for another hour, I did what we’re told not to do: I opened my phone and scrolled through my email.
So much for catching some extra zzzzzzz’s before my trip to DC!
But, reading Christine’s email was the gift I wasn’t expecting. It contained several gems, including the one above.
Gems that tend to only come to light when you are in the thick of a struggle and, in hindsight, are able to see the blessing in it.
If you follow me on social media, you may have seen my video where I shared that I’m tired…actually, I’m exhausted.
And while my body is still tired, mentally and emotionally, her email energized me.
It reminded me that something will always break (or breakdown). And when that something is me, it doesn’t mean I’m broken — it means I need to slow down and pause.
Sometimes, circumstances in life and business will invite you and me to give ourselves a permission slip we didn’t even know was necessary.
This is what I’m thinking about while sitting in the Quiet Car on my Amtrak train — particularly as it relates to the intersection of permission, freedom, and independence.
For me, what’s coming into sharper focus is the power of “wait” and “no” as we move through our days.
Permission is Funding, Too
Here’s what I keep coming back to: pausing doesn’t feel like a decision. It feels like falling behind. Like something is being taken from you, not funded by you.
But two weeks ago, I told you that some of what funds your freedom was never yours to decide — that it came from someone else’s choices, long before you. This week, I’m talking about the one piece of funding that is entirely yours: the permission to wait. The permission to say no.
It rarely feels like it’s paying off in the moment. In fact, it usually feels like the opposite — like you’re falling behind, or letting people down, or wasting time you don’t have. That’s exactly what makes it easy to skip.
Waiting doesn’t look like progress.
Saying no doesn’t look like growth.
But if last week’s email was right — if some decisions don’t pay off for a year, or two, or longer — then this is one of those decisions. You may not feel the freedom in the pause itself. You’ll feel it later, in the capacity you still have because you didn’t spend yourself into empty.
So if you’re tired right now — mentally, physically, in your business, in your life — this isn’t me telling you to push through. It’s me telling you that the wait, the pause, the no, is its own kind of funding.
One only you can make. One you may not see the return on for a while.
What Wait and No Actually Look Like
So here’s what that looks like in practice — the small, unglamorous moments where wait or no is actually the thing funding your freedom later:
Wait, instead of sending the email at 11pm because you’re anxious about the response — even though waiting until morning won’t change a single fact, just how you show up.
No, to the client who wants a rate you know is too low, even though “some money” feels safer than “no money” in the moment.
Wait, on the big purchase — the one that isn’t reckless, just not yet — even when everyone around you is telling you that you’ve earned it.
No, to the meeting that could have been an email, the call that could have been a text, the “quick 15 minutes” that’s never actually 15 minutes.
Wait, before you answer the message that made your stomach drop, so you respond from clarity instead of adrenaline.
No, to the version of “opportunity” that would grow your business and shrink your life at the same time.
Wait, on the diagnosis you’re tempted to give yourself — tired doesn’t always mean broken. Sometimes it just means tired.
None of these look like progress while you’re inside them. They look like hesitation, or missed momentum, or someone else moving faster than you. But they’re the same kind of decision as the ones from two weeks ago — the ones that don’t pay you back on the timeline you’d like.
Christine’s line was about who climbs with you when something breaks. And I wholeheartedly believe in having a supportive community. But I’d add one more piece: sometimes the person who has to help you climb is you — by being willing to wait, to pause, to say no before you break(down) any further.
That’s not weakness. That’s funding. The kind that doesn’t show up on a balance sheet, but shows up, eventually, as freedom.
If you’re tired too, consider this your permission slip. You don’t have to see the return today for it to be real.
About Jacquette
I love to ask questions and spark aha moments. I love to talk about why success with money is about more than just the numbers, and how the cultural impact on the intersection of money, business, and life matters–A LOT! And, I really hope I help people feel seen, heard, and not judged—especially since money is emotional and personal.
