Taking a break used to feel like betrayal. Like leaving money on the table, walking away from security, or worse — proving I wasn’t cut out for the game.
So I didn’t stop. I kept running. Even when my body staged protests — mornings that felt like climbing Everest, stress sitting on my chest like a brick, the little voice in my head whispering please, for once, STOP.
But I silenced it. Because who has time for rest when you’re busy proving you can handle it all?
Cue the Trap
Enter: the affordability trap. My personal jail cell, disguised as ambition.
The math looked simple — time equals money, right? Work more hours, earn more, feel safer. But here’s the plot twist nobody tells you: the math is broken.
Because we’re not machines. We don’t endlessly churn out perfect results just because we stay logged on. Energy runs out. Creativity runs dry. And spoiler alert: your soul doesn’t run on caffeine.
Multi-Passionate Mess
And here’s where it gets even messier: being multi-passionate.
I wasn’t just trading time for money in one lane. Oh no, I was pouring myself into everything. The business. The side project. The writing. The “someday” dream that kept me up at night. Every passion felt like it deserved “just one more hour.”
Except it didn’t add up. None of my passions got the best of me. They all got fragments of me, scattered and tired. I was showing up everywhere — but never fully anywhere.
The Glamour of Exhaustion
I wore exhaustion like couture. Sixteen-hour days. No weekends. No boundaries. The entrepreneur uniform: bleary eyes and to-do lists that never end.
I thought I was winning. In reality, I was losing — big time. My judgment blurred. My creativity flatlined. My relationships frayed. My body broke down. And the very work I thought I was protecting? Sloppy at best.
The Plot Twist
Here’s the kicker: the breaks I refused to take would’ve cost me way less than the chaos of never taking them.
Rest isn’t a luxury. It’s the investment that actually pays back.
Enter The Year in 13
That’s why I started building The Year in 13. None of the traditional systems worked for me. They were rigid, punishing, soulless. I needed something designed for the multi-passionate, the scatter-brained visionaries, the ones who can’t just “pick one lane.”
It’s discipline, but with room to breathe. Structure that doesn’t choke you. Balance that doesn’t require abandoning everything else you love.
Because if I’ve learned anything, it’s this: burnout is way more expensive than rest.
And you can’t make things work if you don’t work.
xoxo, UP-13 đź’Ś
A girl, probably. 