Last week I was at my desk with a list that needed the whole day, and the phone rang.

It was a call I'd been hoping for - a conversation about a new venture I care about. We talked for a long while, and it was wonderful. And when I hung up, I was an hour further behind.

I felt it right away: jaw tight, shoulders up, tense and intense.

Maybe that's familiar. You're holding a lot, you love most of what you're holding, and somewhere along the way the pressure started to feel like part of the job. Like proof that you're taking it all seriously.

The thought underneath it is usually some version of: I'll relax when it's all done.

Then I saw the tin of Steady sitting on my desk. I warmed a little between my palms, breathed it in, smoothed it on, and took a few deep breaths.

And a piece of advice my mom has given me my whole life came back with it. It's always worked for me, though I've come to see that not everyone can take it straight.

Here's how I do it:

1. Say the true thing and write it down. Mine, that day: this list gets done today. Writing it down takes the argument off the table.

2. Give your body a moment. A few slow breaths, a scent you love, a hand on your chest. Calm is a felt thing before it's a thought.

3. Begin with the next small thing. One task, started from that calmer place.

The list stayed the same length that day. I moved through it differently and I finished it.

And the advice? In my mom's exact words:

"You have to do it either way. You can do it stressed or not stressed - either way, you have to do it. So choose."

What's on your plate this week that the pressure has attached itself to? Hit reply and tell me - I read these, and I'd love to know.

With love,

Briana

P.S. Steady is the balm from that story - Peter composed it by hand from some of the oldest calming botanicals on earth, and it works as a ninety-second ritual: warm it in your palms, breathe it in, begin again. It lives on my desk now. If you'd like one for yours, it's here: Steady Calming Balm