Thriving Currents - December 2025 Becoming Shatterproof

A monthly pulse of coaching insights, strategy, and powerful questions to help you thrive at your edge.

If 2025 has felt relentless, you’re not alone. Over here at Waters Edge, its been a season of lifequakes - both big and small - all hitting within 6-9 months of each other.

Alongside podcast interviews, speaking engagements, advanced training with Erickson Coaching International, coaching my 1-on-1 clients, and mentoring 2 coaches and 2 businesses, and building a second business, 2025 hit me with a "one-two-three" punch combo.

Given the chaos that came with punch #1, the loss of my international development career in Feb, I had planned an intentional pause... embracing my own fallow period. Well, with that came a mack truck-sized 🚚 plot twist of punches #2 and #3: receipt of devasting personal news (Aug), and a 30-day notice (Aug) that my landlord was selling my beloved condo of 5 years.!

Some years test us more than others, but every challenge carries an invitation -- to pause, to reset, and to rise differently.

My first reaction...

Classic over-action, hyper-drive: viewing 18 apartments/condos in 10 days, purging 10 years worth of possessions (because I didn't really do it in my previous move either!)

Productive? Sure. Sustainable? Not even close.

Physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion didn't just show up, they took me out at the knees! I had exhausted my resilience reserves!

Thankfully, I was reminded about the concept of being shatterproof over trying to rely soley on being resilient. In May, as a guest speak at the Wild Network event, I was introduced to Tasha Eurich, her work on resilience, and her new book, Shatterproof. Everything that I have known and thought about resilience and being resilient... was blown out of the water!

Here’s what changed the trajectory:

Number 1: There is a Resilience Ceiling and I hit it.

Tasha Eurich’s Shatterproof put language to what my body already knew: the resilience ceiling is that breaking point where capacity is so depleted that minor hassles feel like major threats.

Naming it wasn’t weakness; it was data.

Once I said, “I’m at my ceiling,” I could right-size decisions and stop pretending I had infinite bandwidth.

(Curious where you are? Reply "quiz" and I'll send you the Resilience Ceiling Quiz)

Number 2: Resilience isn’t control—or endless grit.

Shatterproof reminded me that resilience is not infinite, and its not about white-knuckling forever (i.e. relentless endurance)

I, like many others, had a habit of leaning into the concept of "GRIT at all costs!."

Thankfully, Tasha's work came to me earlier this summer, and I was able to prevent "grit gaslighting" myself! Its the subtle (or not so subtle) overture where, instead of validating our stress or distress, our commitment to coping with it is questioned. This can often come from well-meaning but unaware friends and family or your own inner critic.

It sounds like:

"Other people have it much worse"

"I should be grateful, what's wrong with me"

"Don't fall apart now."

"What doesn't kill us makes us stronger!"

I swapped "push harder" for resource smarter sleep, boundaries, shorter sprints and actual recovery windows.

Number 3: "What doesn't kill us, makes us stronger," is not a strategy

I grew up on "Suck it up buttercup" and "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger." These slogans reward emotional suppression, not wisdom. True strength is not the absence of feeling, its the capacity to notice, process, and adjust before you break.

As someone who has muscled her way through various challenges in her life (ok, almost all), I made the intentional decision NOT to muscle through this lifequake season.

I listened, I slowed down, rallied my people, and made aligned moves.

Sustainable beats heroic every time.

Number 4: Harnessing the cracks.

"The crack is where the light enters." ~ Rumi & Leonard Cohen

These lifequakes, these disruptions revealed what wanted and needed to change -- and what wanted and needed to begin.

In order to harness those parts that crack as the result of disruption, we have to recognize the 3 major phases within a lifequake:

• The Long Goodbye: name the loss and let the feelings land.

• The Messy Middle: identify old patterns and experimenting with new approaches.

• The New Beginning: embrace a new normal and stepping forward with intention.

And that's just what I did.

For me, when I was in the Long Goodbye phase and transitioning to the Messy Middle, I was very fortunate to have friends and family recognize that I was in this space. They provided protective guardrails for me to cry and spin, without falling off the cliff.

That gave me the space to test ideas and solutions and then feel empowered in making decisions to move forward.

And as I approach (vs. "approached" as this is an on-going lifequake season for me), my support community has helped pump me up further with some tough decisions that I had/am/will be making!

Lastly, Number 5: Asking for help.

As a hyper-independent woman... coupled with being a high-performance coach, the internal struggle of asking for help WAS and IS real!

And let's be real... asking for help isn't easy.

It's HARD and its effing HUMBLING!

There’s real magic in asking for help. It turns those tough, lonely moments into chances to connect and grow stronger together. When you reach out, you give your friends the chance to show up and support you—and that can make all the difference.

Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness; it’s a bold move that shows you’re ready to lean into your strength and keep moving forward with a little help from your people. (#loveyouall)

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If you’re in a season of recalibration rather than acceleration, this may be your moment to pause — and get support.

📩 Reach out to learn more about becoming shatterproof through high-performance coaching.

Contact Meredith