Sometimes You Have to Stop to Keep Going

This week I crossed off a bucket list item and went to Yosemite. It was amazing, the trees, the mountains, the lack of humidity…

It was good for my soul. 

And I had a lot of time to think as we hiked miles each day, especially since for much of the hiking I couldn’t talk and breathe. Between the altitude and the mileage there were many times that all I could do was focus on putting one foot in front of the other. 

Our last day there we hiked the Vernal Falls Mist trail and continued to the top of Nevada falls: 9 miles and 2500 feet of elevation gain. For those of you who don’t hike, that’s a LOT of time going straight up.

Don’t get me wrong, the trail is beautiful with incredible waterfalls and 600 stone steps carved into the granite, but I really struggled. 

I wanted to do it. I was going to do it. And I couldn’t breathe.

I decided the only way this was going to work was to stop when I needed to, not with a lot of drama or a lot of shame. I was GOING to do it, For the entire middle section of the trail I would take 20 steps and stop, catch my breath and allow my heartrate to come down. 

Then 20 more steps. 

I sang sesame street counting songs in my head and kept going. 

It was brutal, and beautiful, and I still wanted to do it. 

My husband kept offering to take my pack and I kept refusing. 

Then I realized that while stopping when I needed to was a huge moment of personal growth, I could also accept help that was offered. I didn’t need to make this harder on myself. I could stack the odds in my favor. 

So I gave him the pack and rejected the self-talk that this was failure. 

We had a shared goal. We wanted to hike this together and he was able to help.

It would serve many of us to take this same approach to work. Because nurses are really good at pushing through, we often interpret stopping as weakness, asking for help as incompetence, and needing a break as evidence that someone else is handling things better than we are. 

It’s ok to stop when we need to. It’s ok to catch our breath and let our heart rate come down. It’s even ok to accept help from others.

Sometimes stopping is what allows you to continue.

Accepting help doesn't mean you're incapable. 

This can allow us to reach a place we may have otherwise thought impossible. 

For much of the hike my breaks were short, just taking a minute or two. 

The hike wasn't just about getting to Nevada Falls. It was about figuring out how to get there. 

Are there places in your life where you feel like stopping to breathe would help?

Are there things that you can let someone else help you with instead of doing everything yourself?

Can you allow yourself these kindnesses?

Can you silence the voice that frames taking a break and accepting help as failure?

How can you do this for yourself this coming week, and what beauty awaits you on the other side?

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What if you stopped making everything harder than it needs to be?

Sometimes we need to pause, catch our breath, ask for help, or simply give ourselves permission to do things differently. That isn’t failure—it’s taking care of yourself.

If you’re feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or like you’re constantly pushing through, 1:1 coaching can help you step back, figure out what you really need, and create a way forward that works for you.

You don’t have to do it all alone.

Let’s talk about what that could look like for you. Megan@NursingBeyondtheJob.com