Last week, I wrote about how protecting your energy is essential to keeping your spark alive.

If you missed it, you could catch up here.

How's your week been?

I must admit, the last couple of weeks have been tough. In my corporate role, I lead a team of HR managers, and we wear two hats: strategists and partners to the people leaders. We collaborate closely with them, providing coaching, guidance, and mentorship to face challenges together. Our aim is to keep our workforce engaged and create a safe, motivating work environment for all.

Then, I got a text from a colleague I work closely with. My heart expanded. My deep aspiration to live with grace under pressure whether in life and work is starting to bear fruit.

My ability to engage with presence, clarity, and care for my colleagues is not something I learned from a textbook or was naturally gifted with.

It was forged through lived experience - through overcoming significant challenges, including healing from burnout, and navigating health issues after years of living on autopilot. Rest assured, I have fully recovered from the burnout I experienced six years ago, in a different work environment and industry, and is fully behind me. That chapter shaped who I am today, and it fuels the grounded. wholehearted approach I now bring to my work as a HR leader and coach.

It’s also why I’m passionate about sharing the powerful mindset shifts that support sustainable success - starting with one that changed everything for me from “I have to” …to “I get to.”

The shift that moves you forward

The progressive small change in langauge from “I have to” to “I need to” , then to “I want to” and finally “I get to”helped me reconnect with choice, purpose, and joy even in the face of pressure. It turned obligation into ownership, and responsibility into privilege.

The words are not just semantics. It’s a pattern interrupt. And it opens a door to joy. Let me show you how this personal example played out.

You see exercise was never my thing. I wasn’t a natural. I used to say, “I have to exercise to stay fit.” Then came a period of health challenges. And in my recovery, something shifted.

🙂 I wanted to care for my body.

🙂 Not just to get back to baseline, but to feel strong again.

🙂 To move with ease. To feel proud of what this body can do.

Old mindset:

Survival mindset:

Empowered mindset:

Liberated mindset:

Now:

• I commit to Pilates.

• I look forward to pickleball.

• I show up for personal training!!

More examples on how shifts work for different people.

Same task. New energy. Better outcomes.

And here’s why it matters. How we talk to ourselves shapes how we show up.

You move from one version - have to - that fuels resentment towards - get to - that fuels joy, even when the work is hard.

✅ This Weekend’s Action

What’s one “have to” in your work and life that you can gently reframe towards a “get to”?

Try changing the language this week and notice how it changes you.

🌅Reimagine a New Way Forward

What if you could envision a future where you didn’t have to choose between success and well-being?

What if you could lead, achieve, and still feel grounded and whole?

This isn’t wishful thinking — it’s a real possibility when you burn bright, not out.

🏁 Want Extra Momentum?

✨ Coaching with Me
➡️ Learn more about my coaching here

Thanks for being here. You’re not alone in this journey — and you don’t have to choose between thriving and succeeding. You can do both.

📬 Reply to this email with one of your spark moments — I’d be honoured to celebrate it with you.

To your spark,
Mary