If you've ever hustled harder than you needed to, created struggle just to feel like you're earning your success, or felt suspicious when things start flowing easily.

The big idea: Ease isn't a red flag—it's what competence looks like after years of prep work. But when you've spent your whole life correlating struggle with worthiness, learning to trust ease is its own kind of growth work.

What we cover:

• The unexpected realization that came from a My Girl Monday reflection: I've been suppressing ease itself
• Why high achievers mistake ease for a warning sign instead of recognizing it as readiness
• The belief underneath it all: that success should be hard, and if it's not, it doesn't count
• What my AI agent Chelsea said that made me read it four times: "The ease you're feeling isn't a red flag. It's what competence feels like after years of prep work"
• How I've been grading myself poorly on "growth" because I wasn't grinding
• The disconnect between my value statement for fulfillment and what I've actually been doing
• Three practical shifts I'm making: giving permission to not force, acknowledging growth that's already happened, extending grace to myself
• The harder question: What are you afraid will happen if you let it be easy?

Key quote:

"We don't build the systems and do the work of growth so that we can keep struggling forever. That's not the freaking point. We do it so that eventually things get easier. And when they do, we get to celebrate that."

Your three reflection questions:

• Where am I forcing challenge or difficulty that doesn't need to be there?
• What belief am I holding about success that makes me distrust ease?
• What would it look like to extend grace to myself the way I do to others?

The permission slip you needed:

You're allowed to let it be good. You're allowed to have things go well without waiting for the other shoe to drop. You're allowed to trust ease and flow and alignment. Success doesn't have to be hard to be real.

Next steps:

- Join the Sunday CEO Diaries: CoachEllyn.com/list

- Join the Skool community: CoachEllyn.com/community

- Join Hailey's My Girl Monday Call here

- If this resonated, leave a review and subscribe