1,000 pounds of pressure

Where do I even start. Should I start with, “I’m currently unable to sleep on our cute weekend getaway?” Or, “Our cat woke us up at 5AM this morning and I proceeded to stare at the ceiling for hours, questioning our life decisions?”

I think no matter which way I slice it, you get the current picture. I can’t sleep, and there is a multitude of reasons why.

Let’s start with the title of this post, and backtrack for at least 18 hours.

Yesterday, we left Seattle around 3PM, which was a feat in and of itself, considering huge work stress, taking our cat to the vet, the hellish week we had, not to mention navigating parenthood with our cute 6 month-old sidekick.

Packing two humans, a baby, and two cats for a two day trip is surprisingly not easy. But we made it work.

You know those vacations, where you feel like you should be having a good time.. but you’re just not?

Well, this is one of them.

I can’t say I completely blame the bad lighting and the uncomfortable pillows in our suite, the three hour commute time, or the disappointing tempura battered fish and chips from dinner last night. Which, to be honest, were a huge disappointment, since it feels like a crime to call something tempura battered only for it to arrive soggy.

I can’t even blame our cat, who decided to aggressively paw at the closed bedroom door this morning, which caused a rather loud banging sound as it pushed against the frame.

For us humans, that sort of thing tends to activate our nervous system at 5AM, especially us high-strung type.

So no, it wasn’t the cute fluffy menace, the fish and chips, or the frustrating ferry ride.

It’s the enormous pressure we feel about business, finances, and frankly, living in America in 2026.

That’s the quiet part no one wants to say out loud in today’s affordability crisis.

As my husband innocently watched a few videos while his cranky (yet loving) wife drove yesterday to give him a break after a long work week.. one video came up that I was really thankful for.

It was Dave Ramsey, a financial advising powerhouse. I’m not talking about the sleazy, Grant Cardone kind that pressure sells you into a $700 marketing course that promises to change your life, and then you get a call from his team who tries to upsell you even more while you’re driving on the freeway and the sales agent could care less.

I may be speaking from personal experience on that one, but I digress.

Dave Ramsey is a genuine dude who offers solid, no BS financial advice.

He had a guest on his show who shared that his expenses were $1,000 more than his earnings, and he asked Dave if he should sell his house that he keeps shelling money into fixing to stop the bleeding.

Dave immediately said to absolutely sell it, and said “You’ve got 300 pounds on your back—you absolutely need to sell it! You’re so used to carrying 300 pounds that you don’t even know what it’s like to not carry that load.”

That hit home. My husband and I immediately said it to each other, how relatable that felt, and how our own life and small business in the US felt that way.

Except for us, it feels like a 1,000 pounds, not 300 pounds of pressure, and we’ve just been living in it.. for years.

Now, don’t get me wrong. We have plans to leave. Plans to move to Japan, and have someone run the show here. Many days, we wonder if it’s even possible, since it’s feeling impossible to even find someone.

But on the day that we found our recent interviewee likely can’t make the position work, and that sublessee handed in the keys who was covering a good portion of the rent because he’s going out of business…

The 1,000 pounds felt like 3,000.

So sure, there are lots of small things, even some bigger things like being woken up to a mini lion at 5AM, to be frustrated about.

But it’s this pressure, this enormous, monstrous pressure we feel, that’s really what makes it hard.

Which leads me back to my point of starting this project, and some things I’ve uncovered since removing doom scrolling from my life.

It’s been hard, no doubt, and I watched five reels for the first time last night, before putting my phone down in disappointment that I even did that, against my own intentions.

The point of this blog, is to live more presently, and often times that means facing the discomfort within.

No wonder I was falling into doomscrolling, with how difficult everything has been.

No wonder, I would have normally fallen into that same trap last night.

No wonder so many people fall into the same loop, who feel the same pressure that we are.

We’re not just living in post Covid era. We’re trying to survive in a completely new world.

Which is why so many people want to leave this country, to be candid.

Before you hit the panic button, I want to assure you I won’t talk about politics here. I’m sick of it myself.

My aim is to bring light into the collective despairing reality so many of us feel, which makes it easier than ever to fall into this trap.

This blog is a reprieve from that, and a reminder that we owe ourselves so much better that to trash our own time and our own brains.

And let me tell you.. you’ll be shocked at just how damaging doomscrolling is for your brain. I’m working on a harrowing article to combine all the daunting research on the subject, and it’s quite disturbing how bad it is for your health.

We really owe ourselves much better.

Do you know how many times I almost quit on this little blog? How much second guessing I did? I really wondered if I even had the time, yet here we are just a few short weeks later, with an entire platform launched simply because I stopped one toxic habit.

You owe yourself that, too.

I firmly believe in God, or Allah as we refer to him in my faith, and before you decide that’s divisive for you, I invite you to remember a time ten years ago, when things were just chill and people had different belief systems.. and that was cool. It wasn’t a problem, because the algorithms hadn’t convinced us yet that it was.

I really and honestly do believe in Allah’s presence in my life, and how he guides me.

Yesterday, when I was at the vet, I saw this memorial for all the pets that passed away last month.

A beautiful memorial for so many beloved pets who have passed away. Rest in peace, sweet angels.

See the flowers, the colors, and the butterflies? It totally felt like a sign to keep going with this project, especially since I used the same colors in my graphic designs.

I’ve even been wanting to launch another blog inspired by a pet we lost, whose memory we want to keep alive through writing about caring for our own two cats today.

I’ve been wondering if that is realistic, and this felt like an affirmation that it totally was.

In faith, we believe the Devil will try his best to sway you away from things that are good. The doubts in your mind are evidence of that.

Imagine if I never started. If I stopped because I’d never launched the pet blog first.

When really, this project was the key to everything all along.

Maybe we’ll even make some income from this, if we are blessed enough to have subscribers that donate to the cause.

Income so we can run ads to this small but mighty project, and inspire others to take action in their own lives, too.

Because wasn’t that the goal all along? To bloom, blossom, go through our own metamorphosis, and spread our wings?

Today’s seeds are tomorrow’s flowers, and today’s change is tomorrow’s butterfly.

So if you’re not subscribed already, subscribe now, so you can remember this important message. Sign up for the paid version, if you’d like this message to reach more people, and support our family.