You Are Not Lost. You Are Pivoting.

On the courage it takes to trust yourself when the path changes

Okay, can we just talk about something for a second?

Because I keep seeing it everywhere lately. In my sessions, in my own life, in my conversations with the women in my world. And I feel like somebody needs to say it out loud.

The pivot.

Not the pretty one. Not the one where you post a glowy caption about "trusting the journey" and everyone cheers you on. I mean the real one. The one that happens in the middle of the night when you cannot sleep. The one where you have spent years, maybe your whole life, working toward something, and then this feeling starts creeping in, quiet at first, and then louder: this does not feel right anymore.

That is terrifying. And if you are in it right now, I just want to sit down across from you and say: you are not broken. You are not a quitter. You are not behind. You are listening to yourself, maybe for the first time in a really long time. And that takes so much courage.

Okay, I have to share something personal

I wanted my doctorate basically my whole life. Like, that was the plan. Academia was always where I felt most like myself. I love learning, I love research, I love the whole environment of it. I was in the program, doing well, and genuinely enjoying the work. From the outside, everything looked exactly the way it was supposed to.

But every single time I had to go to class, I would get this anxiety. And I kept pushing it down. Kept telling myself it was just stress, just the adjustment period, just the part you have to push through. Because I loved it. I really did. And school had always been a place I thrived.

But there was this other voice. Quiet, steady, persistent. And it kept pulling me toward something else. Toward building Reiking Sunshine. Toward my health and fitness work. Toward creating something that was fully mine. And no matter how many times I tried to ignore it, it just would not leave.

Making the decision to step away was genuinely one of the hardest things I have done. School felt secure. It felt like who I was. Walking away felt like I was giving up something real and solid for something I could not even fully see yet. And honestly? Changing my mind felt embarrassing at first.

But I talked it through. I got really quiet with myself. And eventually, I had to just trust what I knew inside, even when it did not look the way I had always imagined my life would.

"There is nothing scarier than the idea of leaving what is good for the hope of what may be exceptional. What you do not realize, at that moment, is that you have already decided. The path forward is now about becoming comfortable with that choice... In the end, you already know. You are not finding your answers. You are finding your courage."

Brianna Wiest, The Pivot Year

That quote stopped me when I first read it. Because yes. That was exactly it. I already knew. I was just working up the nerve to trust it.

A pivot is not a failure. It is a recalibration.

Here is what I hear from almost every woman I work with when she comes to me mid-pivot: "I wasted so much time." "People are going to think I could not handle it." "I should have figured this out sooner."

And I get it. I really do. But can I offer you a different frame?

In life and career design, there is this concept borrowed from the design world. The idea that you do not plan a life like you are drawing a blueprint. You prototype it. You try something, you learn from it, you adjust, you try again. Nothing is wasted because every version teaches you something you could not have learned any other way.

That path you are stepping away from? It was not a detour. It was research. You were learning what you are made of, what drains you, what lights you up, who you are when things get hard. You were gathering information that only living it could give you. And now you are using all of it.

Leaving a path is not proof that you failed it. It is proof that you have grown past it. Those are completely different things.

Why it feels so scary (and why that makes total sense)

When clients come to me in a pivot moment, whether it is a career change, the end of a relationship, a move, or walking away from a dream they worked really hard for, one of the first things we do is just get honest about what the fear is actually about.

Because the fear is valid. It deserves to be looked at, not bypassed.

What I find almost every time is this: the old path felt safe because it was known. You had an identity on that path. You knew who you were there, and others knew it, too. They reflected it back to you. And when you consider stepping off it, you are not just changing direction. You are renegotiating your whole story. Who am I if I am not this? That question is a lot. Even when you know the answer, even when you are genuinely excited about what is next, there is still something to grieve. And grief and clarity absolutely can live in the same body at the same time.

This is exactly where Reiki does something that nothing else can quite replicate. When we are carrying a direction that is no longer aligned, we usually feel it in the body way before we have words for it. The anxiety before the class I did not want to attend. The dread without a clear explanation. The heaviness that does not match the life that looks fine on paper. The body always knows. It is always communicating. Part of the work of Reiki is creating enough stillness and safety to actually hear what is already being said beneath all the noise, pressure, and fear.

That is not a weakness. That is your own wisdom asking to be heard.

"You're not failing because you're not motivated. You're not supposed to get far on a path that was never yours to walk."

Brianna Wiest, The Pivot Year

Seriously. Read that one again. Let it actually land.

So what does trusting yourself actually look like?

Here is what I want you to know: pivoting does not mean you have it all figured out. It does not mean you know exactly where you are going. It just means you are done outsourcing your direction to the outside world and starting to listen to what you already know on the inside.

This is where coaching and Reiki together do something really special. Coaching gets you strategic. We look at your values, your vision, and your actual skills and strengths. We figure out what the next chapter looks like in real, concrete terms and build a plan that you can actually move through.

But Reiki gets you regulated. Because here is the thing: you cannot think your way into clarity when your nervous system is in full survival mode. When anxiety is running the show, the wisest part of you cannot get a word in. Reiki creates the internal conditions where you can actually hear yourself. Where the next right move can surface without getting drowned out by fear.

Together, they work in a way that neither can do alone. Strategy without the embodied piece leads to burnout and spinning your wheels. And embodiment without a practical path forward can leave you feeling clear but stuck. When you have both, something shifts. It feels like wholeness. Like you are finally moving from a place that is actually you.

If you are in the middle of a pivot right now

Here is what I would say to you if we were sitting together over coffee:

You are allowed to change your mind. You are allowed to want something completely different than what you wanted five years ago, or two years ago, or even last year. You are supposed to grow. That is literally the point.

You are allowed to grieve the path you are leaving, even when you know leaving is the right call. Both of those things can be true at the same time.

You are allowed to not have the full answer yet. A pivot does not require a destination you can see clearly. It just requires the next step. And then the one after that.

And if you are scared? Good. That fear usually means what you are reaching toward actually matters to you. The things that do not matter do not scare us. The things that do are the ones worth fighting for.

You already know what you need to do. You are just finding your courage to do it.

And honestly? That is exactly where I come in.

Want support through your pivot?

Whether you are in the middle of a big life or career change, or just feeling that quiet pull toward something you cannot quite name yet, I would love to walk alongside you. Come explore coaching and Reiki sessions at reikingsunshine.com.