The Strength in Surrender

Is Now the Time to Swim Upstream or Downstream?

A week after I found out I was pregnant with my first baby, I was laid off from what had been the most exciting job of my career. Suddenly, I found myself in California—on what was supposed to be a work trip—wandering into a soul-searching birthday instead.

The morning of my birthday, I learned I was having a baby girl – a mini me to pour my heart and soul into, and to raise to be a happy, capable, kind young woman. Hours later, I sat across from a reiki healer who asked me to pull a card. I drew a fish—fitting, since I’m a Pisces and it was my birthday. She asked me something I still think about:

Are you swimming upstream or downstream?

Like the fish, life has seasons. There are times to push hard against the current and times to let go and flow with it. At this crossroad—welcoming new life while jobless—I had two choices:

One: swim upstream, become the GTM-focused co-founder of a startup, build from scratch, write playbooks, hire, execute, hustle. Or two: swim downstream, join an established company with customers I respected, a product with deep market fit, and a role I knew inside and out—leading a sales and client development team within business experiencing incredible growth and valued at >$1B.

The old me, fighting the current, defined by the hustle wanted to choose the startup grind without hesitation. But something about that card, my baby girl, and the season of life I was entering gave me clarity. I didn’t need to fight the current this time. I needed to choose different. I needed to choose to go with the flow. Excellence over ego. Depth over stretch. And my life has been 10x better for it.

There’s wisdom in knowing when to push and when to flow.

Strength can look like surrender—and going with the current will always take you exactly where you’re meant to go.

Downloadable recipe card, here.