There’s a quiet shift happening right now.
A soft, steady pull that more women are starting to listen to.
It’s not the rush to climb higher, work harder, do more.
It’s the gentle whisper that says, pause. slow down. be here.
I recently read The Power Pause by Neha Ruch, and it put into words what I’ve been feeling for a while now: the call to re-evaluate, re-center, and reclaim life on my own terms.
Because something happens when your kids get older. The blur of early motherhood begins to soften, and you start to see just how fast time is moving.
The once-exciting hustle starts to feel… heavy. The routines that used to feel fulfilling start to feel draining.
And for many of us, that’s when we realize, we don’t want to keep sprinting through life. We want to be present for it.
Teenagers bring a whole new level of parenting.
The emotions are deeper. The schedules are fuller. The worries are heavier.
And yet, they’re more independent than ever before, creating small pockets of space that weren’t there when they were toddlers.
It’s in that space that a lot of us begin to ask, who am I now?
What do I want from this next season of life?
Why does the career or lifestyle I built feel more like a drain than a dream?
I had worked my entire adult life. And more recently, I found myself immersed in a role that looked successful on the outside but left me feeling depleted, disconnected, and chronically burnt out. I realized that in my pursuit of productivity and professional accomplishments, I had come to view success as an endpoint.
I never stopped to ask if that version of success was even mine.
I didn’t pause long enough to question, “Do I still want this?”
And if I’m honest, I was scared of what the answer might be.
What The Power Pause Really Looks Like
The Power Pause is more than stepping away from work, it’s about reclaiming yourself, gently and with intention. Here’s what it can involve:
- Redefining Identity:Letting go of the need to prove your worth through output. Exploring who you are beyond titles, roles, and to-do lists.
- Financial Planning:Taking intentional steps to ensure security during the pause, without shame. Being resourceful while giving yourself space.
- Finding Your Footing:Creating a daily rhythm that brings peace, play, and meaning. Releasing the pressure to have it all figured out.
- Growth and Learning:Reconnecting with creativity, learning a new skill, or exploring something you never had time for before.
- Possibility of Returning to Work:Knowing you can always return, refreshed, re-energized, and pivot in a new direction.
- The Teenager Factor:Holding emotional space for kids going through their own transformations, while honoring your own.
- Mom Friends and Support Networks:Leaning into friendships and honest conversations with other women who get it.
- Resilience and Re-Energizing:Rebuilding your energy, not to keep grinding, but to feel like yourself again. Whole. Calm. Centered.
Releasing the Old Story of Success
This pause is not about failure.
It’s not about giving up.
It’s about evolving.
It’s about honoring the truth that what once fulfilled you may no longer fit. And that’s okay.
We don’t have to hustle our way into midlife.
We can soften. We can recalibrate.
We can pause, not to lose momentum, but to redirect it into what actually matters.
I’m a creative individual and feel full when I’m creating. But for a long time, I felt like I needed something outside of my career in music and radio to prove that I was smart and worthy. I’m what people might call a “nepo baby” in the radio and music world, and for years I felt this unspoken pressure to prove that I didn’t just get handed opportunities. That I could build something on my own.
Do people really think I’ve had things handed to me? Honestly, I don’t know. Probably not nearly as many as I think, think that. But the voice in my head made it feel real.
So I started building, working three jobs at once. My full-time radio job. Teaching yoga and fitness. Coaching. Podcasting. Created affirmation cards, gratitude journal. Wrote a book. I created and created and created.
And it was beautiful. But somewhere along the way, I realized I was still working evenings, nights, and weekends, even now, even though my kids are older. I’d rush through dinner just to clean up fast so I could get back to work. I worked at nights in my car in a parking lot while my youngest was at volleyball practice. I was sitting on the couch on weekends “watching” a movie with my husband but I was on my phone putting my Instagram content together for the week.
I don’t want that anymore.
I want to slow down. I want to be more present for dinner, fully present, not halfway in a business plan or idea, answering emails or worrying about editing a podcast. I want to feel that sense of fullness from being with them, not just from achieving something.
The Gift of Being Here
I don’t want to blink and miss these final years of having my girls under the same roof.
I don’t want to be so consumed by building and producing that I forget to live.
What I want is to be here.
To show up fully for the messy, sacred, ordinary moments.
To model presence, not perfection.
That’s the real power of the pause. It’s not a setback, it’s a conscious choice to realign with what matters most.
We’re allowed to shift. We’re allowed to slow down. We’re allowed to redefine success not by how much we do, but by how fully we live.
This is your invitation to pause, without apology.
Nikki Lanigan
Nikki Lanigan is a yoga, HIIT, and Barre instructor, she is also a Holistic Health Coach through Institute of Integrative Nutrition. Nikki is trained in Yoga Shred, Yoga Psychology, meditation, chakra balancing, and EFT/Tapping. She has done trainings with Sadie Nardini and Ashley Turner. She got her 200 hour yoga teacher training in 2017 at the Carrie Treister School Of Yoga. Nikki takes a holistic view of health, helping her students and clients reach a place of self-love not just through movement, but with mindset and lifestyle guidance as well. Nikki is also show prep writer for The McVay Media Show Prep and host of the podcast Fit, Fun, and Frazzled. Connect with Nikki on Instagram. www.instagram.com/nikkilanigan.yogaandwellness www.instagram.com/fitfunandfrazzledpodcast
