When the Results Are Taking Too Long (and You’re Tempted to Quit)
There are seasons where you’re doing everything you know how to do — showing up, staying consistent, making aligned choices — and still, the results feel slow. Slower than you expected. Slower than everyone else’s.
And in those moments, it’s easy to start questioning yourself.
Am I doing this wrong?
Did I miss something?
Shouldn’t this be easier by now?
This conversation is for the women living in that in-between — the waiting, the uncertainty, the quiet seasons where progress doesn’t look obvious but the work is still deeply real.
LET’S DIVE IN. 🖤
Hello friends and welcome back. Today is one of those “pull up your chair, I’m in this with you” kind of episodes.
I want to talk about something I walk through more often than I wish I did — and something I know I’m not alone in, even if it feels that way sometimes.
There are seasons where I’m doing the work. I’m showing up. I’m being consistent. I’m staying aligned with what I believe I’m called to do… and still, the results feel slow. Slower than I expected. Slower than what I see happening for other people.
And in those moments, I catch myself wrestling with questions like,
Am I doing this wrong?
Did I miss something?
Should this be easier by now?
I wanted to bring this into this space today because I don’t think we talk honestly enough about what it feels like when progress takes longer than we planned — and how isolating that can feel when everyone else seems to be moving faster.
So if you’re in a season where things feel quieter, messier, or slower than you imagined… you’re not alone. I’m right here with you and I want to walk thru this together.
I think one of the reasons this feels so heavy is because of the world we’re living in right now.
We’re constantly watching other people’s timelines. We see the launches, the milestones, the glow-ups, the “finally made it” moments — all neatly packaged and easy to consume. And even when we know better, it still affects us.
Social media has this way of quietly convincing us that everyone else figured it out faster… cleaner… with less resistance.
But here’s the part we don’t talk about enough:
Social media makes it incredibly easy to “look” successful.
It’s easy to curate momentum.
It’s easy to highlight the wins.
It’s easy to post the breakthrough without ever showing the burnout underneath it.
Visibility doesn’t mean a person’s goals or life is healthy.
Momentum for someone is not the same as stability.
And sometimes what looks like success from the outside is actually someone barely holding it together behind the scenes.
But when you’re in a slow season — when your progress feels quiet or messy or non-existent — it’s hard not to internalize the comparison. It’s hard not to wonder if you missed a step, or if you’re the only one still climbing while everyone else seems to be coasting.
And that’s where the lies creep in:
“If it were meant to work, it would’ve happened by now.”
“If you were really called, it would be easier.”
“If you were doing it right, you’d have more to show for it.”
But that’s not truth — that’s pressure.
And pressure has a way of making faithful work feel like failure.
I don’t want this conversation to stay surface-level, though. When we talk about things taking longer than expected, I’m not just talking about a business plan that hasn’t landed yet… or a side hustle that’s starting to feel like maybe it was a silly idea. Those are valid and I’ve been in each of those.
And for some of us, the thing that’s taking too long goes beyond the surface of these things.
It’s looking at a vision board year after year and quietly removing the dream of having a baby — not because you don’t want it anymore, but because it hurts too much to keep hoping when time feels like it’s slipping through your fingers.
It’s having to close your membership or press pause on a dream you know women need — because only one person signed up — and grieving the gap between the impact you feel called to make and the reality in front of you.
It’s realizing that your goals had to change because your life did.
Because now you’re caring for a sick parent.
Or navigating a divorce you never planned for.
Or holding everything closer to your chest after a friendship ended in a way that broke your trust.
Or rerouting your entire year around chemo, radiation, surgeries, and survival — instead of the dreams you thought you’d be chasing.
And when those things take longer…
when healing takes longer…
when answers take longer…
when relief takes longer…
It doesn’t just test your patience.
It tests your belief in good.
It tests your faith.
It tests your sense of meaning.
Friends—
Some delays aren’t just inconvenient. They can be devastating to our souls.
And pretending otherwise doesn’t make you stronger — it just makes you feel more alone. That’s why I created this conversation today. The results are taking a long time, sure. But that temptation to quit is rooted so much deeper and I want you to know you aren’t alone.
You’re allowed to grieve what didn’t happen or hasn’t happen yet.
You’re allowed to feel the unfairness.
And you are not weak for doubting when life gets this hard.
Grief doesn’t mean you’ve lost faith.
Doubt doesn’t mean you’ve failed.
And disappointment doesn’t mean you did something wrong.
All of those are signs that you loved something so deeply. You hoped. You believed deeply in something. This is huge, friends. This is what makes you so special and what makes those dreams on your heart so powerful. They matter.
When things don’t turn out the way you prayed, planned, or envisioned… it hurts.
You don’t need to rush past that pain.
You don’t need to reframe it into a positive.
You don’t need to turn it into a lesson before you’re ready.
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU’RE TEMPTED TO QUIT (BECAUSE IT’S TAKING TOO LONG)
So if you’re listening right now and you’re in that place — where you’re doing the work, you’re showing up, you’re trying to stay faithful… but you’re tired of waiting…I want to get really practical.
Because when things are taking too long, the temptation isn’t always to quit because you don’t care anymore…
Sometimes you want to quit because you care so much.
So here are a few anchors I come back to when I’m in that season — and if you’re there too, I hope these give you something to hold onto.
1) Don’t make permanent decisions from temporary exhaustion
Sometimes you don’t actually want to quit…you just need a nap. 😅
So before you burn the whole thing down, ask:
Have I eaten?
Have I slept?
Have I had water?
Have I had a moment to breathe?
Am I about to start my cycle?
Seriously ladies. All of these are real, valid spaces to look because when you’re depleted, everything feels like failure.
2) Stop demanding the whole staircase — ask: “What’s the next right step?”
Despite what you might think, you don’t need the full five-year plan to keep going. You don’t need to know the ending to stay faithful in the middle.
You just need the next right step.
One choice.
One email.
One workout.
One boundary.
One post.
One day at a time.
Bit by bit is how it becomes a lot. And what I’ve realized is that this process IS your life, so you might as well enjoy it, right?!
3) Romanticize the slow life — ruthlessly eliminate hurry
This is the part that has changed my life. I talk about romanticizing your life on this show often and it’s because when you can slow down and fall in love with your OWN life it changes you on a soul deep level. Your nervous system shifts.
Hurry will have you living like everything is urgent…and the reality is…there isn’t truly much that is actually life or death urgent in our day to day. Most of it we make up and build a story around it’s urgency. Ya know? We have to ask ourselves what really matters at the end of the day and do everything we can to ruthlessly eliminate hurry, rush, and distractions wherever we can.
This is wisdom, ladies.
Slow doesn’t mean stuck.
Slow can mean steady.
Slow can mean sacred.
Slow can mean rooted.
I’m in my slow era and I can tell you first hand that I love it so much more than I did my hustle era.
4) Stop using someone else’s journey as proof you’re behind
IDK about you but when I’m feeling down about my progress I have this terrible tendency to look left and right at everyone elses’ progress. Progress that doesn’t have the same starting line, finish line, belief system, life circumstances, you name it. But I stare at it thru my screen and measure myself. And you can bet I never measure up. You either?
Friends. You are not behind or late because someone else has more followers, more money, more momentum, more milestones.
You don’t know what they sacrificed.
You don’t know what they’re carrying.
You don’t know what’s happening off-camera.
Your timeline is not a problem to solve. And this might be counterintuitive to every other online entrepreneur out there, but I’ll say it. Your timeline doesn’t need a “fast track” course or “get rich quick” kinda shake up. It needs TIME. And a LINE. It’s in the word itself. It’s a path. And the time your on it is called a journey. So fall in love with that process.
5) When you can’t hold hope… hold your habits
This one is everything.
Because some seasons you don’t feel inspired.
You don’t feel confident.
You don’t feel “on fire.”
And that doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong.
It means you’re human.
So when hope feels slippery, hold your habits.
Not hustle habits.
Not grind habits.
I mean the small things that keep you anchored:
water
movement
morning routine
prayer
therapy
meals
rest
boundaries
your people
Sometimes the win is simply staying steady.
So if you’re in a season where it feels like it’s taking too long…
I want to reiterate what I think some of us need tattooed on our minds:
You’re not doing it wrong just because you’re waiting.
Waiting is not failure.
Waiting is not a sign that you missed it.
Waiting is not punishment for starting late or being behind.
Waiting is part of the story.
And I know that’s not always comforting — because waiting and transitions can feel so stinking uncomfortable. It can feel like you’re doing everything you know how to do… and still not seeing the thing you prayed for, worked for, hoped for.
But something I lean on during waiting seasons is this idea of waiting well.
Because the waiting isn’t just something you survive.
It can actually be something you live inside of.
You don’t pause being a person while you wait.
You don’t stop needing joy while you wait.
You don’t stop needing peace while you wait.
You don’t stop needing support while you wait.
And you don’t stop being called while you wait.
So instead of only asking, “When is it going to happen?”
I’ve been trying to ask a different question:
Who do I want to be while I wait?
Because the truth is… the waiting is inevitable to the human experience. We all face it.
And maybe it’s not even called waiting.
Maybe it’s called living.
You can wait and grow… or you can wait and stay stagnant.
You can wait and heal… or you can wait with a resentful spirit.
You can wait and build… or you can wait and wish.
You can wait and live… or you can wait and watch.
The waiting is inevitable. It’s gonna happen.
It’s what you choose to do in the waiting that changes everything.
And I want to be a woman who waits well.
Now — waiting well doesn’t mean you’re always hopeful.
It doesn’t mean you’re always positive.
It doesn’t mean you never cry or question or grieve.
Waiting well means you stay honest.
You stay soft.
You stay rooted.
You stay connected.
Waiting well means you stop punishing yourself for not being “there” yet.
It means you stop living like your life starts on the other side of the breakthrough.
Because your life is happening right now.
Right here.
In this season.
In this chapter.
Even if it’s slower than you wanted.
Even if it’s messier than you planned.
Even if you’re still figuring it out.
And if you’re listening and you’re tempted to quit… I just want to offer you this gentle reframe:
Maybe you don’t need to quit.
Maybe you just need to adjust the pace.
Maybe you need to stop sprinting.
Maybe you need to stop carrying it alone.
Maybe you need to stop measuring your worth by your results.
Maybe you need to stop looking at other people’s timelines like they’re proof you’re behind.
And maybe the bravest thing you can do right now isn’t to force a breakthrough…
Maybe the bravest thing you can do is to keep taking the next right step.
So if today spoke to you…
If you’re waiting.
If you’re tired.
If you’re disappointed.
If you’re scared it’s never going to happen…
I want you to hear me: I get it. I feel all of that. I’m with you.
And LOOK AT YOU —
You’re still in it.
You’re still growing.
You’re still showing up.
And you’re allowed to wait well along the way.
Permission granted.
I love you. I’m proud of you. And I’ll see you right here next week on The Self Care Sisterhood Podcast. 🤍
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