A quick note outside my usual Wednesday essay — I wanted to share something directly today...

There’s a version of me I think about sometimes.

From the outside, she looked like she had it together.

I was carrying an incredibly heavy load at work. I was pregnant with my second child. I was parenting a toddler who needed more than I knew how to give.

If you had looked at my life then, you probably would have said, She’s doing it. She’s managing.

I had the title, the fancy name brand employer, and I was getting everything done.

But on the inside, I was slowly drowning.

I was losing my patience. Losing my capacity. Losing my sense of who I was beneath the roles and responsibilities.

And the most dangerous part?

Nothing was technically wrong enough to justify stopping.

I wasn’t failing. I wasn’t falling apart. I was just surviving in a way that wasn’t sustainable.

That’s the woman I think about when women reach out to me now.

The ones who say: “I’m doing all the things, but I can’t keep doing them forever.” “I know this isn’t sustainable, but I don’t know what to do next.” “I’m not in crisis, but I’m not okay either.” “I keep wondering… who do I want to be when I grow up now that I’m a mom?”

You do not need to wait until things are desperate. You do not need to wait until your health suffers, your patience is gone, or your life blows up. You do not need to prove that it’s “bad enough” to deserve support.

Most of the women who join my groups look exactly like I did back then. Highly capable. Reliable. Doing fine on paper.

One woman came into a recent group saying, “I feel like I’m living on the edge of everything falling apart. I keep thinking if I can just push through this season, it will get easier.”

What shifted wasn’t her ambition. It wasn’t her competence.

What shifted was the constant over-functioning.

She stopped assuming everything was hers to carry. She started making decisions without spiraling. She learned how to feel steadier in her body, not just more efficient with her time.

Her words at the end: “I didn’t realize how much I was white-knuckling my life until I didn’t have to anymore.”

That’s what this work is about.

Not doing less because you “can’t handle it.” Not giving up on your career or your ambition.

But learning how to live and lead without constantly bracing for impact.

My March group of Ambitious Mothers Mastermind is for women who:

• Look like they’ve got it together (and for those that don't!)
• Know, deep down, that their current life isn’t sustainable or what they want
• Want to enjoy the life they've worked so hard to build
• Want support before things fall apart, not after

Basically, they are starting to ask: What if the way I’m living and working no longer fits who I am?

One thing I want to be transparent about:

This is likely the last group I’ll run in 2026.

I’m being very intentional with my capacity right now, in part because I’m pouring a lot of my energy into my book. It matters to me to do that work with care, which means saying yes to fewer things, and showing up more fully for the ones I do.

I’m not sharing that to rush you. I’m sharing it because I don’t want anyone stuck in “someday” if what they actually need is support now.

You get to choose when you stop white-knuckling it. You don’t have to wait until you’re underwater to reach for help.

If this is resonating, the next step is simple: Reply to this email, or fill out the interest form.

We’ll talk. We’ll see if the group is a good fit. And if it’s not, I’ll tell you that too.

But you don’t have to keep carrying this alone.

Talk soon,

Anne

P.S. If part of you is thinking, “I should be able to handle this” — that’s not a reason to wait. That’s often the sign it’s time to be supported.