Why Visionary Women Need More Time to Think: How Rest and Reflection Fuel Change-Making Impact
In a recent group mentoring session, one of my clients - a successful founder with a growing business - shared something that resonated deeply with everyone on the call.
"I've spent the last six months totally overwhelmed - researching growth strategies, learning from industry leaders, gathering data for my next move," she said. "But since joining this space and actually giving myself time to reflect, I've realised - all that external noise was drowning out and undermining what I already knew my next steps would be”
As she spoke, I watched other women on the screen nodding with recognition.
This moment perfectly captures what I've witnessed hundreds of times in my work.
Brilliant women, arrive feeling overwhelmed by their to-do lists, drowning in information and exhausted from constant doing, begin to sink beneath the surface of their busyness.
And in the space of calm, quiet presence, they reconnect with the deep well of wisdom that's been inside them all along.
Creative solutions bubble up effortlessly.
Clarity arrives without striving.
Peace and power land deeply.
Gnarly decisions get made with calm confidence.
Rest and reflection isn't another productivity hack.
This is about reclaiming our right as women to think, to pause, to reflect - to access the revolutionary power of our own deep knowing.
The Theft of Our Thinking Time
Our culture has stolen our thinking time.
Every moment must be monetised, optimised, or justified.
Daydreaming is dismissed as laziness.
Unstructured time is seen as wasted.
And this impacts visionary women acutely…
We're trying to reshape culture and create meaningful change, and yet we're caught in systems designed for extraction rather than innovation.
Many women arrive in my space having internalised the system’s pressure.
They feel guilty for taking time to reflect.
There’s a constant background urgency in their lives and work.
They've lost trust in their own wisdom because they never have space to hear it.
The Indigestion of Endless Input
I know it well myself. I notice as my computer pings. Another notification. Another opinion. Another expert telling me what to think, how to live, what success should look like, who I should be.
Our minds are crammed full of other people's ideas, strategies, and solutions.
We're drowning in information but starving for wisdom.
Grind culture hasn’t just stolen our rest, it’s colonised our imaginations.
The women I work with arrive full of strategies they've learned, frameworks they've studied, advice they've consumed.
They're unconsciously searching for more information, more input, more answers from outside themselves.
But actually, what they need is space to digest. Time to metabolise. Support to to hear their own knowing.
When we're constantly consuming information, we lose touch with our own inner compass. We forget how to trust our instincts. We become easier to manipulate.
This mental crowding keeps us safe for those in power up positions.
A woman connected to her own knowing is more dangerous. She starts asking questions. She begins imagining different possibilities. She becomes harder to convince, harder to sell to, harder to control.
That's why creating space to digest, to integrate, to hear yourself think isn't just about personal wellbeing - it's a political act.
When you quiet the noise from outside, you begin to hear the revolutionary whispers of your own wisdom.
And this world is in desperate need of our wisdom.
The Hidden Violence of Constant Doing
When we race from task to task without pause, something precious gets lost. Our creativity withers. Our innovation stagnates. Our bodies get louder in their protest until we're forced to stop.
Brilliant women are burning out simply because they never give themselves permission to integrate, to process, to simply be.
Their nervous systems are fried.
This isn't sustainable. It's not even effective.
The solutions to our biggest challenges won't come from depleted women operating on autopilot.
Rest as Revolutionary Practice
Taking time to think and feel isn't self-indulgent - it's revolutionary.
When we claim space to reflect, we resist a system that wants us permanently distracted and depleted.
In my mentoring space, I watch women rediscover their power when they give themselves permission to pause. Solutions arise naturally. Clarity comes without force.
Their work becomes more potent because it flows from a place of deep knowing rather than reactive doing.
This is why rest and reflection form the foundation of my work with visionary women. Not as a productivity tool, but as a reclamation of our right to think, to question, to imagine different possibilities.
Creating Space for Deep Thinking
If you're feeling called to reclaim your thinking time, start small:
Schedule regular periods of unstructured time in your calendar
Create firm boundaries around this space
Find environments that support reflection
Give yourself permission to rest without an agenda
Trust that solutions will emerge from your own knowing
Your wisdom is already there. It just needs space to surface.
The Future Needs Your Clear Mind
The world needs your unique vision, your creativity, your innovative solutions.
But it needs them to come from a place of clarity and deep knowing, not frantic depletion.
When we give ourselves permission to think deeply, to reflect fully, to rest completely - we access a different quality of wisdom.
Our work becomes more powerful because it flows from our essence rather than our effort.
This is the foundation of sustainable success.
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Want support in finding your deeper knowing this winter?
Join me for Rest & Receive.
Together we'll explore how to truly nourish ourselves through the darker months, creating space for both rest and meaningful, confident action.
Nourishing Moments is my gift to you this Christmas - three free meditations to help you find calm amongst the chaos this festive season. Rest and find comfort in being with yourself, just as you are.
With love and gratitude,
Erika x
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