In this issue: Spring break is over and I'm coming back changed. A roadtrip that turned into a mirror. Real talk about what it means to carry other people's financial weight... and what happens when you forget to put yourself down for a minute.

Spring break is over... sad face.

But real talk... this one came at exactly the right time. I was running on fumes. Carrying client weight, family weight, watching what's happening in America and the world... all of it had been piling up on me quietly. I needed a reset and I didn't even fully realize how badly until we were already on the road.

This year we decided to roadtrip it to Phoenix to see my uncle and his partner. We looked at flying but at $450 a person it made more sense to drive and stay at hotels along the way. Ironically... the US decided to go to war with Iran right before we left and jacked up fuel prices, so the math didn't quite math the way we planned.

We stopped in KC along the way, grabbed some new shoes from Going Going Gone, and drove through Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas all in the same day. After a couple of 10.5 hour days we finally pulled into Phoenix... 100 degrees... a far cry from the blizzard we left behind in Ankeny.

While we were out there we hit the OK Corral, rode through a canyon on a steamboat, went through a live cave, and most importantly... spent real quality time with family. I can't explain it fully but when everything in life feels like it's coming at you from every direction, being in the presence of people who just love you with no agenda... it resets something in you that you didn't even know was broken.

The road trip wasn't done on the way back either. We took a different route up through Colorado... saw lava fields in New Mexico, the snowcaps of the Rockies, and then just vast... I mean VAST... farmland all the way back to Iowa. We stopped in Kearney, Nebraska at the Crowne Plaza, which has become our favorite stop on any road trip. Indoor waterpark for the boys and all you can eat prime rib!

This one is for every person who has ever felt underpaid and didn't know how to fight for more... or worse, didn't think they had the right to. The pay gap conversation gets loud but rarely gets practical. We fixed that.

Here's what you'll get:

▶️ Watch on YouTube 🎙️ Listen on Spotify 🍎 Listen on Apple Podcasts

The title says it all. This one is about ego, entitlement, and the gap between where people think they are and where they actually are. I got into it.

Here's what we covered:

▶️ Watch on YouTube 🎙️ Listen on Spotify 🍎 Listen on Apple Podcasts

I have to be honest with you all this week.

I have not been okay. Not in a crisis way... but in a "running on empty and pretending otherwise" way. Winter in Iowa does something to you. No sun, no movement, nowhere to go. And I carry a lot. My clients' financial stress, my family, my business, the weight of trying to find a path forward for everyone around me. I had let all of that pile up without doing anything about it for myself.

This roadtrip showed me that I had stopped practicing what I preach.

I talk about balance. I talk about protecting your mental health. I talk about not letting the grind consume you. And there I was... checking email constantly, trying to pile more onto my plate every single day, not walking, not moving, not breathing.

So I made some decisions on that road.

I will no longer be constantly checking email, text, and social media waiting for something to need me. I will respond at normal times unless something genuinely requires an immediate response. I will not schedule more for myself than I can actually handle in a given day. I will recommit to daily walks with Michelle. I will be present watching our boys at their games and trainings instead of half-watching with my phone in my hand.

Here's why I'm telling you this...

As I write this, a client terminated their contract with us. We were literally on the way home from spring break when it happened. The old version of me... the version from two weeks ago... would have spiraled. Would have questioned everything. Would have made it mean something about my worth and my ability.

Instead, I sat with it. And I thought... that space just opened up for someone who needs me and is ready for what I bring. That's not cope. That's clarity.

I challenge all of you to slow down. I mean it. The world is chaotic right now and we are absorbing all of it whether we realize it or not. You cannot pour from an empty cup... and right now a lot of us are cracked at the bottom pretending we're full.

Take the walk. Take the trip. Have the bitch fest with someone you trust. Come back ready.

You can't build wealth from a place of depletion. Take care of yourself first.

See you next Tuesday!