This weekend was a first:

I brought my kids with me to a speaking gig.

They’re 7 and 10, and I had my bestie from Miami on kid-duty while I was at the event.

And yet, when we got there and I realized there was only one bed for the 3 of us and the hotel room was full of blinking LED lights galore, glowing thermostats, and light switches that lit up the room, I spiraled.

Why did I add the extra complication of bringing my kids along when I needed to channel my energy into showing up and shining for a dear friend’s expertly executed event?

Spoiler alert: The trip didn’t go anything like I had planned.

I brought my kids because just a week and a half earlier, I’d gotten back from over two weeks away from them – and I couldn’t stomach getting on another plane without them.

And while I was for sure questioning my sanity that first night, it turns out choosing integration over compartmentalization was totally the move.

“I cried tears of joy when she walked out on stage,” my 10-year-old told my husband when he asked her what it was like to see Mama up there doing her thing.

It’s one thing to try and explain what we do to the people we love. It’s quite another for them to experience it in real time.

My girls and my best friend’s daughter got to soak up the energy of 150 women entrepreneurs playing a very big game. And they got to witness their mama feeling deeply at home in that room.

(Our household manager from our time in Miami came for a bit, too, and having her hug me and tell me how proud of me she was when I came off stage was such good maternal love medicine.)

I got to be all of me – and be seen in it. The mom. The speaker. The visionary. The author. The seeker. Even the nervous nelly the night before.

My girls are old enough now to sit quietly at the back of the room, playing with the babies and soaking in the vibe. Until they weren’t. They even made a surprise stage appearance mid-exercise to thank Leanne Mosley, the magnetic host, for letting them be there at Soft Girl Millions Live.

(I was a tad horrified to turn my head during the sharing and see my kiddos on stage! But it was a perfect lesson for me in expanding my capacity to feel safe taking up space, and Leanne was graciously delighted to be the icon for the trio of little girls dreaming big.)

Of course, there are times when integration just isn’t the move. I don’t bring my kids on date night, for example. A toddler at this event? Not only wildly inappropriate, but a logistical nightmare. And I don’t unpack my deepest personal issues during a pitch meeting.

But in this season, I’m realizing that the more spaces I show up as all of me, the more abundance flows. It opens energetic channels where my different roles don’t compete – they cross-pollinate.

I can already feel how being all of me this weekend acted as rich compost for what came next. My dear friend Liz and I unexpectedly stepped into a portal of expansion during a post-event walk and dinner – what can only be described as a watershed moment that catalyzed liftoff.

And as I write to you this beautiful Monday morning, the delicious, full-body vibrancy of the weekend is still pulsing through my cells. It wouldn’t have landed the same if I hadn’t shared it with my girls.

Maybe this week, when you feel like you have to put on a mask and pretend your heart isn’t breaking because someone you love is at the end of their life, or that you can’t mention you have kids because you’ll be seen as less desirable in business or love…what if you just integrated?

What if you took your next business call on the phone instead of on Zoom and got your steps in at the same time?

What if you got coffee with a friend while your kids play on a playground instead of trying to find an extra hour that you don’t have?

What if you stopped at the grocery store with your boo on the way home from date night and turned the produce section into a subtle seduction zone?

When we overly compartmentalize our lives, we block the flow of energy, and that impacts not only our finances, but also our fundamental life force.

You don’t need to perform for your life to work.
You don’t need to compartmentalize to be taken seriously.
You can show up as all of you.

Where can you choose integration over compartmentalization this week? I’d love to hear – where are you integrating instead of hiding this week?

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