Hey Healers,
Over the past few weeks, one of the things I’ve been reflecting on most is not just what felt difficult during this season… but what actually helped at some of the most difficult points.
Because when life gets turned upside down unexpectedly, you find out very quickly what genuinely supports you and what just looks good on paper.
One of the biggest things that helped me during this time was support with communication and scheduling.
As a solo practitioner, I use a virtual reception service that answers my phones from 8am–8pm daily, books patients into my schedule, manages cancellations, and helps keep communication flowing when I’m unavailable. Normally I keep my usage pretty minimal to keep costs low, but during this season, I leaned on them heavily.
Because honestly? Managing my calendar suddenly felt overwhelming.
Trying to coordinate appointments while sitting in hospital rooms, responding to family updates, navigating uncertainty, and emotionally processing everything that was happening… it was just too much mental load at once.
And in that moment, having someone else help carry part of the operational side of my practice mattered enormously.
Yes, it cost me a little more money this month.
And it was worth every penny âś…
I also realized how much I relied on the systems I’ve built into my practice over the years.
One thing I use constantly is my waitlist function in Jane.
If there’s someone I need to get in sooner, if I move appointments around, or if I need to circle back to someone later, they go on my waitlist so nothing gets lost in the shuffle.
And during this season, that automated system carried so much for me in the background.
I didn’t have to rely on my overwhelmed brain to remember every person I needed to follow up with. The system held some of that for me.
That’s the thing about good systems: most of the time they feel almost invisible.
Until suddenly you really need them.
Another thing that helped me more than I expected was honesty.
As things were unfolding with my dad, I stopped trying to overly polish or perfectly package everything.
I was simply honest with people.
“My father is in the hospital and I need to be with my family this morning so we can make some difficult decisions. I need to cancel our appointment today. I’ll do my best to get you rescheduled as soon as possible.”
That was it.
And over and over again, people responded with kindness.
Because most human beings understand what it means to go through something hard.
I also had to give myself a lot more grace than I normally would.
Emails sat unanswered for a few days sometimes.
Texts waited.
Things moved slower.
And nothing catastrophic happened.
Honestly, I think many of us are functioning so close to our maximum capacity all the time that even a small disruption feels destabilizing.
I was listening to a reel recently where someone was talking about how everyone is constantly searching for the biohack that’s finally going to “fix” them — the perfect supplement, the perfect peptide, the perfect morning routine, the perfect productivity strategy, the perfect AI tool.
And meanwhile, so many people are just desperately trying to feel normal.
Rested enough.
Calm enough.
Human enough.
And I think difficult seasons have a way of stripping things back to that very quickly.
You stop asking
“How do I optimize everything?”
And start asking:
“What do I actually need right now to feel supported?”
Sometimes the answer is sophisticated.
- And sometimes it’s surprisingly simple:
- Someone answering your phone.
- A cancellation policy that protects your time.
- A quieter schedule.
- A system you can rely on.
- More sleep.
- More honesty.
- More grace.
Not every difficult season requires you to completely reinvent your life.
Sometimes you just need enough support to create a little more breathing room while you move through it.
And honestly, I think practitioners especially need permission to hear that.
We are often so used to being the support system for everyone else that receiving support can feel deeply uncomfortable.
But there is a difference between independence and isolation.
And difficult seasons have a way of teaching us that very quickly.
I’d genuinely love to hear from you on this one.
If you’ve gone through a difficult season in practice before, what actually helped? Was there a system, habit, support, boundary, person, or small shift that made a bigger difference than you expected?
📧 Hit reply and let me know (I read every response, and honestly, I think these conversations matter more than we realize.)
Geneviève 🌿
Responses