Honoring the Pause: A Love Letter From the Messy Middle

I haven’t written in a while.

Not because I didn’t have anything to say — but because I’ve been living the very words I would’ve written.

I hit pause.

On blogging.
On holding space in my circle.
On showing up just for the sake of being seen.

Not out of avoidance. Not out of fear. But out of a deep, soul-led need to breathe.
To pull back. To come inward. To listen not to the noise around me — but the quiet, sacred whispers within.

The truth is… I’m still in it.
Not at the beginning. Not yet at the end.
Right here — in the tender, gritty, gut-wrenching middle.

The part no one really wants to talk about.
Where things aren’t wrapped in clarity or tied up in pretty healing language.
Where growth looks less like becoming and more like unraveling.

I’ve been peeling back layers. Sitting with parts of me I used to outrun.
And instead of performing healing — I’ve been living it.
Messy. Raw. Honest. Slow.

And honestly? That’s why I hit pause.
Because you can’t rush the kind of healing that asks for your whole self.

I needed time to honor what was falling away.
To grieve what no longer fit.
To hold space for the younger version of me who never got to rest.

And maybe you’ve felt it too — the pull to stop producing and just be.
To stop showing up with answers and instead, let yourself sit in the questions.

This post isn’t some big announcement.
It’s a breadcrumb. A breath. A reminder that even in the pause, you're not falling behind.
You’re simply honoring the parts of you that are quietly becoming.

So here’s to the ones in the messy middle.
To the ones doing the invisible work.
To the sacred pause between chapters.

I’m still here.
Still becoming.
Still holding space for what’s real.

And I’ll meet you right here — whenever you're ready to come home to yourself, too.

With love,
Johanna