I spent years chasing space, balance, and freedom. Then, when I got it, I didn’t know what to do with it.
Three babies in three years. A startup to scale. A marriage to nurture. So many moves I lost count. For a long time, space was a luxury I couldn’t imagine. But eventually, I built it. Only to discover I didn’t know how to live inside it.
I thought freedom would feel like ease and a long-awaited release. But instead it felt like guilt. Like I was cheating. Like I’d set my load down and left everyone else to carry it.
The myth of more is real. We’re conditioned to believe success requires a packed calendar, relentless stress, and more to do than time allows.
Many of us believe that without these things, we aren’t ambitious. We aren’t trying hard enough. It doesn’t count if it doesn’t hurt. I kept wondering what was wrong with me.
The answer, I believe, wasn’t a lack of ambition. It’s that I’d built a life where ambition only had one method: doing more, faster. I had to learn that creativity, rest, and even joy could be fuel instead of distractions. I know I’m not alone here.
But what if you could create space that fuels your growth instead of hindering it?
First, I had to give myself permission: to play, to wander, to not “use” every hour efficiently. This is still the hardest part and it’s tricky because only you can grant yourself this permission for it.
And then came the rediscovery of fun: long meandering walks, dance parties in the kitchen with my family, jumping off cliffs into lakes (okay, just once, but still). I started to build rhythms around these moments. Not once-a-year indulgences, but weekly rituals.
The shift wasn’t dramatic, but it was unmistakable.
If you’re like me, you’ll find a few things emerge from this space: creativity and calm, but also self-doubt and guilt for all the fun you’re having. You might chastise yourself for being lazy or unproductive. In the hunger for results, you start hunting for anything to check off a list. This is normal.
Remember this: Your stress doesn’t make you more valuable. It just makes you tired.
The good news is that you are not alone and, thankfully, many brilliant minds have already forged the way for us. One such option is Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. Her 12-week program towards creativity is just structured enough to quiet the lack of productivity doubts but allows for plenty of true self-exploration and fun. For the first time, I saw that creativity wasn’t a luxury. It was a leadership tool I’d been too busy to use.
Regardless of your personal journey, one thing is certain. Creative space makes you a sharper operator, a better strategist, and a more human leader. As I gain space, my team gains strength and confidence. Our culture and products thrive. We actually look forward to work. Trust me, this wasn’t always the case.
In Greg McKeown’s book Effortless he writes that “Producing a great result is good. Producing a great result with ease is better. Producing a great result with ease again and again is best.”
You’ll find that backpack of expectations you’re carrying to be a little lighter. You’ll begin to laugh and play more. And then magic happens. You connect dots you didn’t realize could be connected. You ask better questions and have more interesting ideas. Perhaps most importantly, you are setting a great example for those around you. You inspire your employees and your children to take care of themselves, too, and the effects begin to compound. You may not be able to measure the financial impact of joy in quarterly reports, but the effects are real.
Once we stop confusing our busyness with our worth, we create space for our true value to emerge. The most sustainable, respected leaders I know don’t just grind. They build lives that breathe. They play, they learn, they laugh…and then they get to business. Their work is better because of it.
What if your KPIs included energy, creativity, clarity, or sustainability?
What might change if you believed breathing space was a strategic asset?
What’s one thing you could remove this week? And one thing you’d do just for the joy of it?