One of the hardest skills I’ve had to learn is saying no.
I get excited by opportunities and often push my stress aside to accept one commitment after another. Right now my workload has grown well beyond what I can comfortably manage. I’m juggling so many projects that sleep has become precious, and I’m close to burning out. Still, this is my responsibility, and this season has taught me a lot about myself as I build my career as a young entrepreneur.
A month ago I reduced my hours at Anytime Fitness to part time (20 hours a week) to free up time for blogging and freelance work. That change felt liberating, and with that energy I said yes to several new freelance projects. Below is a clear breakdown of what I’m handling now and how much time each commitment demands.
Current Workload
- Anytime Fitness: 20 hours/week
- Designer Whey: 4 recipes/month (approx. 3 hours/week)
- Anytime Health: 3 recipes/month (approx. 2 hours/week)
- Fitfluential Instagram: social content and management (approx. 5 hours/week) (new)
- Yoga Sculpt — CorePower: at least 3 classes/week (approx. 6 hours/week, more if I sub)
- Yoga Sculpt — Hockey Team: 2 classes/week (approx. 3 hours/week) (new)
- CorePower Management: leadership and administrative tasks (approx. 8 hours/week) (new)
- Fit Foodie Finds: recipe development, blogging, and social media (15–25 hours/week)
- TOTAL/Week: approximately 62–72 hours/week
Last week I didn’t take a single day off, and this week is shaping up the same way. That’s on me. I reached a breaking point on Sunday: after my shift at CorePower (a recent addition to my schedule) I came home and burst into tears. The crying wasn’t about CorePower itself but a release of built-up stress and exhaustion. I rarely cry, and when I do it reminds me of difficult times in the past when I struggled with depression linked to an eating disorder. Those memories are unsettling.
I truly love the projects I’m involved in — they’re meaningful and rewarding — but the sheer volume of commitments has introduced negative energy into my life. This post isn’t meant as a complaint. Writing it down helps me evaluate what needs to change. Either I step back from some responsibilities, or I become much more deliberate with how I use my time.
Luckily, I have several mentors who have offered consistent, practical advice: Steph, Blake, Shannon, Angela, and Stephanie. Their guidance has been invaluable. One clear piece of advice keeps coming up — define your purpose. If I can clarify why I do what I do, I can use that purpose as a filter to decide which opportunities to accept and which to decline. Learning to say no becomes much easier when a request doesn’t align with your core goals and values.
Yesterday I met Stephanie for coffee, and she helped me think through this in a structured way. Identifying purpose isn’t instant; it’s a process. But the moment you begin filtering new work through that lens, choices become clearer and more intentional. Time management and work-life balance follow when you stop adding commitments indiscriminately and start aligning with your mission.
So that’s where I am—still figuring out my purpose and working on systems to protect my time and energy. I’m grateful for the support network around me and for the experience I’m gaining, even when it’s messy. Thank you for listening this morning.
Today I’m taking a break to enjoy time with Lauren from Me and the Mountains and my friend B — we’ll be biking and browsing Uptown. Tonight I’ll attend my first cocktail event for the Healthy Living Summit, and I’ll spend tomorrow at the conference downtown in Minneapolis. I plan to step back from blogging this weekend to recharge, but I’ll share updates on Instagram if you want to follow along.
If you’re juggling too much right now: start by listing every commitment, estimate the weekly time each requires, and ask whether each one aligns with your core purpose. That clarity is the first practical step toward healthier boundaries and better balance.