Hey Reader

There are times when life does not pause just because you are carrying something heavy.

The work still needs to be done. The people you love still need you. The deadlines still arrive, and because you are the dependable one, you may keep showing up so well that nobody realizes how much it is costing you.

That is why my latest conversation with Nick Strand on Work it, Live it, Own it!, moved me.

Nick spent twenty years building world-class stages for artists like Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Stevie Wonder. He worked in environments where there was no room for error and no fallback plan. However, offstage, he was carrying grief, caregiving, and a personal health crisis of his own. He lost his mother to cancer, loved his wife Brianna through terminal cystic fibrosis, and later faced Bell's palsy, a moment that forced him to slow down and face what he had buried.

Nick now teaches a message that I think every woman who has been called "strong" needs to hear:

Motivation is emotional. Resilience is structural.

In other words, you cannot build a sustainable life on willpower alone.

You need a foundation.

Your foundation is made of the things that help you remain present in your own life: your values, your health, your boundaries, your support system, your rest, and the courage to take the next right step even when life is messy.

This episode is not about pushing harder. It is about building differently. If you have been performing at full capacity while quietly running on empty, I hope you will listen.

​Listen to the episode: “When the Show Must Go On — and So Must You” →​

And if someone came to mind as you read this, please send the episode their way.

She may need the reminder that strength does not mean doing everything alone.

Warmly,

SaCola Lehr

P.S. Nick’s story began behind the scenes of the world’s biggest stages. But the lesson is for all of us: the stage beneath you matters. Build one that can hold you.

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