when he felt discouraged
Hey Friend...
Let me tell you something thatâs been happening behind the scenes lately, the kind of thing you usually only share with a close friend when youâre being really honest.
My husband started a new business a few months ago. A car broker business, actually. He helps people get great deals on cars, and the part that still makes people pause is that the dealership pays him, not the buyer. Once people understand that, they usually say something like, âWait⊠why wouldnât I do it this way?â
And in the beginning, it took off.
Those first three months were filled with referrals coming in, sometimes multiple deals a week. That heady feeling of watching something you built start to move quickly. The momentum, the validation, the sense of âokay⊠this is working.â He was riding that wave.
And then the wave slowed.
Nothing dramatic happened. Nothing blew up. There was no big mistake or sudden failure. Momentum just dipped, the way it naturally does in business sometimes. But emotionally, it hit hard. His attention shifted away from everything that had been working and landed squarely on what wasnât happening fast enough anymore.
One afternoon he started texting me about how stressed he felt, how discouraged he was, how much he was judging himself. I could feel that familiar spiral in his words, the one where your world gets smaller and your inner critic gets louder.
So I texted him back, straight from the heart:
He didnât shut down. He didnât get defensive. He thanked me.
He told me it moved him out of that heavy energy heâd been sitting in.
And afterward, I found myself thinking about how many success stories we hear that conveniently skip over this exact part. The discouraging middle. The moment where momentum slows and doubt starts whispering that maybe itâs time to stop.
Like how James Dyson built more than five thousand vacuum prototypes that failed before one finally worked. Or how J.K. Rowling was rejected by twelve publishers before the thirteenth said yes to Harry Potter. If either of them had decided that the dip meant something was wrong, we wouldnât even know their names.
It made me realize how often we mistake slowed momentum for failure, when really itâs just part of creation.
Most breakthroughs donât happen when everything is flying high. They happen right after the moment youâre most tempted to quit.
And more often than not, what bridges that gap isnât some massive reinvention or burst of inspiration. Itâs simply staying willing to take two more steps.
Two more follow-ups. Two more conversations. Two more small, practical choices when it would be easier to shut down or pull back.
Two more steps while youâre discouraged.
This doesnât just show up in business. It shows up in relationships when communication feels heavy, in bodies when progress feels slow, and in dreams when it would feel safer to stop hoping than to keep choosing.
Sometimes the difference between being stuck and being in motion is nothing more than staying in the game a little longer than your doubt wants you to.
đ Your Add Wonder Tools
As you move through this week, here are a few questions you might gently sit with:
- Where in your life have you stopped moving because momentum dipped?
- What are the simple actions you already know work, but youâve backed away from because discouragement crept in?
- If you were willing to take just two more steps right now, what would they be?
- Where are you judging yourself instead of staying in motion?
- What could you choose today that doesnât require motivation, only willingness?
You donât need everything figured out. Sometimes you just need to keep walking.
Two more steps can change everything.
With so much love and real-life creation,
PS. And if you (or someone you know) are buying a car, live in the U.S., and would prefer to get a great deal without the dealership stress⊠I know a guy đ Hit reply and let me know, Iâm happy to connect you. (Two more steps, baby.)
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