16/10/2026
IS THIS IT? — When being capable becomes a trap
Back in my corporate days, I was very good at getting things done. I worked overtime to get projects over the line, took on more than was reasonable, and even volunteered to run a program alongside my full-time job.
Because apparently, my plate wasn’t quite full enough. 😂
I was the person everyone could rely on—the one who would always find a way to make things work.
Until I couldn’t.
I became so burnt out that I had to take a year off work to recharge and reset. Looking back, I can see that I kept giving more than I had and had completely lost the ability to say no. I’d become so used to being capable and dependable that I stopped asking myself whether I actually had the capacity.
Isn’t that the trap? We can become so good at looking after everything and everyone else that we stop noticing what it’s costing us.
These days, I know what my limits are and that understanding took a lot of being honest with myself on what I could do and what left me feeling drained
Because being capable doesn’t mean being available for everything.
And when you get clear about your limits, people don’t necessarily think less of you. They may even respect you more.
The bigger lesson was that I didn’t have to prove my worth by how much I could carry.
So, if you’re the person everyone relies on, you might want to ask yourself:
Who’s looking after you while you’re busy looking after everything else?
And...if you sometimes think, “Is this it?”, stick around. We’re exploring what it means to come back to yourself, one real-life moment at a time.
Love
Helen x
no
