The Forced Stop
How to navigate when the rug has been pulled from under your feet.
Spoiler alert: I don’t have any wise answers to share today.
I have posted at least twice a week on this site since April of 2025. It’s one of my favorite things to do, honestly. It’s a space for me to share tools, voice my opinion, and advocate for things that I believe warrant more attention.
The last ten days have been silent.
On Sunday, January 4th, my partner’s mother passed unexpectedly in her sleep. She was 63.
Sometimes there just isn’t anything you can say.
As a solo-preneur / freelance consultant / coach / fractional business development advisor / whatever the word of the week is, I’ve been doing a lot of thoughtful prep for the new year. I spent time reflecting on how I wanted to prioritize my time. I soft launched some new offerings. I set up a budget for the year. I created a robust marketing and sales strategy for January, when my coaching and course sales typically see a bump in interest. I lined up client work.
And then it all went sideways.
That soft launch stalled. The marketing and sales plan evaporated. The client work put on hold.
Early stage grief doesn’t allow much space for writing a pithy Instagram post.
We can’t predict these things. None of us.
And those of us who work for ourselves know, when you’re already facing the inherent uncertainty that freelancing brings, the unpredictable can really throw a wrench in your best laid plans.
No one should have to worry about how the rent gets paid while they’re grieving a loss. But when you work for yourself, there’s no automatic bereavement leave and no colleagues to pick up your slack.
This is a moment in which I know I need to slow down, even if slowing down can’t really mean stopping everything.
So what have I done so far, now that I’m back at my desk?
Responded to client emails from last week to update them on my situation and upcoming availability, including rescheduling calls
Shifted a major course start date back, to give myself more time to prepare and do the appropriate marketing
Identified the top 3 ‘must-do’ tasks this week, plus a bonus 3 ‘can-do’ tasks that would be nice to get to if I have the capacity
Drafted how I might scale back my agenda for events and content publication in January and February
Executed a few admin tasks that are time sensitive, but don’t require a lot of brain power (like sending out 1099s)
Ah.
Just like that, I feel a little less disorganized and like I’ve actually accomplished something for the day. I also feel a little more myself. Like maybe someday, life will be a little normal again.
But not all the way normal, ever.
Thank you for bearing with me right now. And if you are going through anything remotely similar, here’s the advice I can muster: you don’t have to do it all right now. Break it down. Take it piece by piece, day by day, and you’ll get there.