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I just returned from four weeks in New Zealand to jet lag, piles of laundry, an overflowing inbox, and a strange sense of emotional whiplash. Let me say it clearly… reentry is real, and it deserves more compassion than hustle.  We often talk about preparing for vacations or time away, but what about the return? Whether you’ve been gone for four days or four weeks, coming back can be disorienting. You’ve likely been in a different rhythm: fewer responsibilities, more spontaneity, different foods, time zones, or even new ideas about how you want to live. So, how do we return with grace and not overwhelm? Here’s what helped me reconnect, reset, and reenter life without losing the joy and clarity I gained from my time away. Emotional Whiplash Is Normal Let’s be honest — we’re not really encouraged to admit that post-travel blues are a thing. You’re “supposed” to come back energized and grateful. But what if you come back... sad? Disconnected? A little resentful?  It happens. Maybe you’re back to responsibilities, routines, and even stress that made the break necessary in the first place. And on top of that, the contrast between who you were while away and who you have to be back home can stir up some big feelings. For me, there was also reflection. Time away often shifts your perspective. You may return with new goals, questions about your path, or clarity on what’s no longer working. That’s not a bad thing — it’s actually a beautiful part of the process. Rest Is Part of Reentry We went to New Zealand for a family celebration because my husband’s grandmother turned 100. While there, we travelled, explored, and embraced a slower pace. The small towns and quieter roads were a welcome change. There was even talk about us moving there. Tempting, right? But when we returned, real life was waiting. My car wouldn’t start, which turned out to be a blessing. I sat in my living room, exhausted, buzzing in my head like I used to feel after a big night out in my twenties. There was no way I could have stood through church that morning. I needed to rest, and I gave myself that grace. Rest isn’t optional. It’s essential. So is integration: giving yourself time to absorb what you’ve experienced before diving back into the grind.  What Helped Me Reenter More Smoothly Here are the five strategies I used that might support your own transition back to “normal.” 1. Ground Yourself Start small. Go back to your morning routine: maybe that’s journaling, walking, meditation, or simply playing your favourite music. I craved nourishment after indulging in fish and chips, pavlova, and more cider than usual. So I batch-cooked some healthy meals to reset my body and mind. Familiar actions help you feel rooted. They remind you that you don’t need to change everything overnight. 2. Reset Your Nervous System Before you reset your schedule, reset your system. Deep breathing, movement, or acupuncture can help. My acupuncturist told me my heart rate was jumping. I knew why. I had a hundred thoughts racing through my head: the book launch, school activities, sports, emails, so I did a brain dump. Got it all out of my head and onto paper. That one action lowered my stress and gave me a place to start. 3. Reflect on Your Time Away Take a walk without a podcast. Sit with your journal. Ask yourself:
I realized how much I enjoyed the simplicity of hotel living: fresh sheets, clean spaces, no clutter. It made me want to reorganize at home. I also noticed how much I missed structured routines and healthy meals. One of our first days back, tensions were high. We were all cranky, trying to clean the house. So I called a family reset. We went to Deep Cove, got donuts from Honey’s, and walked by the water. Not the healthiest food, but a time-out was what we needed. That moment reminded me of how valuable our time away was, and how important it is to protect that sense of connection and calm. 4. Reconnect with Your Mission It’s easy to fall back into habits without asking if they still serve you. So pause and ask yourself: what is this next season about? You don’t need to plan the whole year. Just choose a focus. For me, it’s about decluttering and creating more adventures with my family. I want to spend less time cleaning together and more time living together — outside, moving, exploring, laughing. Whether your mission is personal or professional, give it some space to guide your choices. 5. Change Your Perspective Reentry isn’t a return to who you were. It’s a chance to carry forward who you’ve become. Reframe. Re-entering your life really is a gift. It gives you that time to intentionally choose how to return to your life and how you want life to be. Re-entry isn't about going backwards. It's about becoming wiser. Wiser about how life was before, how life is now, and things that you want to bring from your trip, from your vacation, with you. Final Thoughts Take a moment to reflect on your own reentry experiences. What worked? What didn’t? What do you want to do differently next time? One trick I swear by is giving myself buffer time after events. Whether it’s a retreat or a convention, I stay an extra night before flying home. That space lets me process, rest, and return with more clarity. Also, let go of perfection. Seriously. You don’t need it right now. You need presence, momentum, and grace. And here’s something I’m considering — a 10-minute Reentry Reset guided reflection. A calming audio to help you ground and refocus after time away. Would you find that helpful? Let me know by commenting below or emailing me at [email protected]. Remember - you deserve to return well. Stay dynamic, Diane Read my other blogs:
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In a previous podcast panel, I was joined by some of the authors of the upcoming Dynamic Women® Leadership Secrets book, Rochelle Odesser, Candy Motzek, Laura Richards, and myself, to discuss how women succeed and overcome challenges.  One of the questions I asked these authors is “What is the most valuable leadership lesson you’ve learned, and how would you advise others to apply it?” And I am going to share their answers to this question in this blog. Candy Motzek: For me, I think the most valuable lesson I learned was from an old boss that I had, and it's back to this thing of caring. I used to be like, get in the office early, work like crazy, stay late, climb that ladder. He'd been around the block a few times. Every day, he would walk into the office and he would look around, and he would smile, and then he would go and he say, “Hello” to every single person. I used to think, “What an incredible waste of time.” But you know what? When it came down to it, he created a relationship with everybody. He was really keeping his finger on the pulse about what was going on and who was okay and who wasn't. We felt trusted and that we mattered. For me, that's a huge thing. A seemingly small question of, "How are you today?" when really asked from that place of the heart goes a long way to creating a solid team. Diane Rolston: Building that consistency every single day. I get what you mean, a waste of time. I love efficiency, and that's actually a lesson that I had to learn. I wish that someone had modeled that for me like it was modeled for you. But the other piece of that is even when people model it, some people don't always pay attention, and you pay attention and then implement. I think that's one of the key things. Laura, Rochelle, and Candy are giving so many pieces of gold around leadership and how to be a better leader and really, just evolve as a person. But will you implement the things that are said? That's the key. Let's hear what Laura has to say about a valuable leadership lesson learned. Laura Richards: I'm going to say the dreaded B-word, boundaries. I'm telling you, that's my superpower. You know what I mean? When I learned how to set boundaries, because you're not only protecting yourself, you're setting and maintaining a healthy culture in your organization and in your community. I'm talking about community around you, your friendships, all those kinds of things, like who you are, like when you go into the world, that you're building community.  When you can teach people where your door is, because boundaries, show people where the door is to get to you. That to me is so important. Leadership isn't about pleasing everybody, but it's where you have to uphold the values, create safe environments, and address toxicity head-on. My advice is to get comfortable with that—learning how to set healthy boundaries. It's hard at first if you don't know how, and that's something that I do talk about often on my podcasts and with my clients, how to do that because that's the ultimate act of self-love that will trickle down to every single thing in your world. Diane Rolston: This is what you do with your clients. Candy and I do it with our clients. Rochelle knows enough about this that she's setting boundaries with her clients and helping them to do the same. Can you just give us an example of one boundary that might someone might set just so the readers can be like, “Ah, okay, now I'm seeing how that can apply.” Laura Richards: Who are you is the biggest thing. Look to understand who you are and what you want from this world. Because there are going to be a lot of people who are going to take from you. The one that's coming to mind is in a world of takers, especially if we have this persona that we are givers—okay, when we go into this world and we care, and we love, and we're trying to help people—we’re givers. The takers are going to take. Trying to understand that I can only give a certain amount, and I will allow only a certain amount, and not to feel bad. It's not about pleasing everybody. Not to feel bad when you do have to tell people "No". Because we can say, "No, thank you" or "No, that's not what I do. This is what I do," and be okay with that. It's learning who you are and how you're going to interact with the takers because they will find you. Diane Rolston: They'll be like, “Hey, can I just ask you a quick question?” and all of a sudden, you're coaching them for free. Some words that I've said is, “Sure, I've got five minutes for you.” Laura Richards: Yes, and that's really hard. I have had people say, “Throw your calendar at them,” and say, "Hey, sure. Sign up.” Even I have a free call on my calendar. But it's very short, and sometimes it needs to go on my calendar so you know that I'm not just running a cute little business. I'm actually running a business, not just a little hobby I have. Diane Rolston: Even if you know you need to go to Costco or lunch with a friend, that's still important. They're not coming into that time. Thank you, Laura. For you, Rochelle, what do you think? What has been one of the most valuable leadership lessons that you've learned? Rochelle Odesser: Kindness. When I first started working in this business, the first manager I had was a female, and she was very direct and firm. I thought unkind in the way she handled not only me, but some of her clients and other people she was working with. I hated that image, and I didn't like the fact and we're talking a very long time ago. I'm talking about in the '80s. There was that image that a woman had to be the B word in order to be successful. It was just a place too far that I was not going to go. It just wasn't me. I didn't think I would develop good relationships with co-workers that way, and certainly not with clients. I always wanted to be kind to them. If I couldn't help you, I was going to say that in a way that would at least direct you elsewhere, so you might get an answer or find a place. I think when you talk about society, that's lacking a lot, but that's very important to me. When you talk about boundaries, that’s very important to me.  Diane Rolston: You can be kind and assertive. You can be kind and direct. You can be kind and honest. Just using all of those with kind. It's not a kind doormat. It's kind with all of these other qualities. Yes, that's important. Wrapping Up These leadership lessons from the Dynamic Women® Leadership Secrets authors, Candy, Laura, Rochelle, and myself, are just a glimpse into the powerful insights packed into this book. From building relationships and setting boundaries to leading with kindness and confidence, these lessons are designed to help you step into your full leadership potential. If you want to listen to the whole panel interview, listen here. It’s not too late to be part of this book! If you’re a woman with a leadership story to share, this is your chance to join the book and have your voice heard. Don’t miss this opportunity to inspire and impact others with your journey. Plus, our exclusive launch party is happening this May! Join the invite list now to celebrate with us and be among the first to grab your copy of Dynamic Women® Leadership Secrets. Read my other blogs:
Self-care has come up quite a bit because as I talk about having a successful life that we feel satisfied in, a lot of times, people are like, "Oh, it's just because I need some more self-care, right?"  But remember when self-care just simply meant, “I'm going to take a break?” Now it's pretty much like an Olympic sport. Instead of just resting, we've turned relaxation into a fully optimized experience, complete with morning routines, productivity apps, and an ever-growing list of things you should be doing to properly unwind because you can't just do it the regular way by taking a break. Gone are the days of simply lying on the couch with a cup of tea and reading a book. Now, if you've been looking at Instagram, if you've been hearing some of these gurus, self-care is more about optimizing it to be photo worthy. Have you seen videos of aesthetic baths? Where they're going to have their bath, with the tray that goes across, and then the container that they've prepared of perfectly selected snacks, their hand-crafted green juice, a variety of candles and special music with binaural beats. Then they've got their journal, three gratitude journaling prompts with essential oil bath salts and rose petals in the water.  I'm just happy to take a bath with no one around, especially after the cleaners come because then I know the bath is clean. Just make sure the water is warm and let me lie there and don't bother me. (How come kids need to bother you when you're in the bath or even on the toilet?) What type of bath is yours? Aesthetic or more simple? I'm very curious. But then the other thing is if you do self-care in this aesthetically pleasing way, then you have to document it, don’t you? There's the perfect video, the perfect photos in the well-lit Instagram post, captioning "Prioritizing me" with some star emojis. If that didn't go up, then did it even happen? If I had to do all that before my bath, then the water would be cold! And it cancels out any de-stressing the bath would have given me because of a long to-do list to get it “right”. When they talk about productivity rituals, they should be efficient and easy to do. In the past, I shared about the Miracle Morning and how wonderful it is because if you don’t have time it can be done in as short as six minutes, and it gives you a little bit of structure to make it easier. But at this point in our lives, at this point in society, in this day and age, self-care is starting to feel like work, and honestly, that defeats the purpose. We don't want to have to put so much effort and care into self-care that we completely negate any rest that it has given us. Why does this matter? When rest feels like another item on your to-do list, then it's not actually relaxing at all. The thing is, as high achievers, we don't just do self-care like, "I'm going to read my book". We try to excel at it. Instead of just reading our book, we're listening to our book, and then we're listening to our book at two times the speed or more AND folding laundry. Instead of simply recharging and giving ourselves some space, we turn it into another box to check. I have been guilty of this with my daily devotion. It became a list to check.
Then, I forgot that the whole point is to connect with God. It's not about, "Boop, read that, read that, read that." It's to actually have the experience. How often are we doing the thing but not being present? How often are we engaged in self-care, but not actually enjoying it and getting the benefits? I want you to ask yourself: Did you do yoga this morning? Was it actually fulfilling, or did you not let it be because it wasn't perfect: because you didn't do it at sunrise, or you didn't do it in a hot yoga room, or you didn't hold your pose without twitching? Just enjoy the yoga! And then, did you drink water today? But was your water infused with electrolytes? Was it mineral water? Was it filtered with the light of the sun or the moon? Just drink the darn water! You have good intentions for all of these. The irony of all this is there's pressure to do self-care correctly. I just want to squash that, push it aside. You don't have to do self-care perfectly or aesthetically. You just need to do it the way that is best for YOU to relax and recharge. Otherwise, it's another source of stress. What self-care is about If it isn't clear already, self-care isn't just about bubble baths or perfectly aesthetic self-care. It's about creating some boundaries in your life and your self-care so that you can actually rest, enjoy, or recharge. Here's the truth. Really, no one's talking about it because it makes good social media and products being sold to us all the time. But real self-care isn't always pretty and it isn't always fun. I'm going to say that again: self-care isn't always pretty, it isn't always fun. There's a lady I see who knows about Chinese medicine, acupuncture, acupressure, massage and more. Going there sometimes is messy, meaning I sometimes cry to release, and sometimes she gives me a very gentle talking-to about things I shouldn't be eating for my health, some energy that has to move, or some changes I need to make in my life. But it does a world of good for me. Yes, if you're lighting a candle and putting on a face mask, and that feels nice, great. But do you know what's really transformative? Saying ‘No’ to things that drain you. That's caring for yourself. And saying no without over-explaining, just saying, "No, I can't," without having to come up with all these reasons and stories and feeling guilty afterward. Really, it's going to bed when your body is tired. Instead of pushing through another podcast episode or another email or making sure the last of the dishes are cleaned. It's letting yourself eat a meal and just eat a meal without multitasking, without feeling bad that you're having carbs—just enjoying the food. Real self-care isn't about occasional pampering. Yes,
But it's also about changing the way I operate daily. I hope that you do this too because then you don't have to constantly recover from your own life. You don't have to take a whole weekend off or go to the spa for the day because you're treating yourself so you can work harder later. It's about making simple daily choices that allow you to feel well all the time. For me, that's sometimes it’s giving myself buffer time before a client session for a bio break. Sometimes, it's asking people to move our meeting time so I don't have to rush and feel stressed. Sometimes, it's saying “No” to a new client or saying “No” to an immediate start date, moving it later when it feels more spacious. Here’s maybe a new perspective for you: Self-care isn't about making you work better or more productive. It's not about doing it perfectly or adding in pampering. This is the dark side of the wellness culture that's pushing you to have to do it perfectly—and you don't have to. Self-care: a productivity hack? Somehow, along the way, self-care became yet another productivity hack. Remember when stores weren't open on a Sunday? They weren't open, so we could rest. I remember my mom being called into work on a Sunday, and that was so shocking because Sunday was a day of rest. We rest because it's supposed to make us more efficient later. Ah, so productivity, high achievers, it's rest so that you can do more. Just like when you get better sleep so you can maximize your performance. You can also take breaks during your day so you don't burn out and lower your output. I really like the Pomodoro Technique. It’s great to help you be uber-productive for 25 minutes, then take a five-minute break, or after three of those, a 10-minute break, so that you can increase your output. Another is meditating so you can handle stress better and stay focused. If meditating for you isn't sitting quietly, you can use guided meditation, music, dancing, or sit quietly looking at waves or nature, it can also be a hike, praying, or journaling—any of these things that help you reduce stress. What if self-care wasn't about making you better, faster, or stronger? What if it was just about helping you feel like yourself again? If you don't feel like yourself currently, is it because you need to rest more? Is it because you need some true self-care? Ladies, you don't have to justify your rest. If you're tired, lie down. We had a pretty big deadline this week with some guests coming to our house, and I just had a moment where it felt like, “I had done enough”. I still expected everyone else to keep going, but I said, I need to lie down for a minute. I have just burnt myself out. We don't have to prove that our self-care improves us in some way. If you’re like, I only listen to non-fiction books because I want to improve myself. But now your brain is overworking, and now you're taking notes so that you can implement what this business guru has said, that's not helping you to rest and relax. Maybe you do need to re-listen to the whole Harry Potter series. Maybe you do need a romance novel just so that you could rest. You deserve to take care of yourself simply because you exist. You don't have to earn it. You don't have to get permission for it, and you don't do it just because it makes you more productive. How do you practice actual self-care? #1: Redefine self-care Redefine self-care and what you truly need, not what's trendy, not what wellness influencers swear by but what actually helps you feel good. Right now, all my social feeds are showing cold plunges and hot saunas. I'm at a point where I just can't do it. I think my cortisol is too high. I don't like the cold, so I’m not going to do it and that's okay. What is for you?
 #2: Set some boundaries Set some boundaries around energy-draining people—those emotional vampires sucking your energy. Set boundaries around energy-draining obligations. I was just speaking with someone who is the manager of her daughter's soccer team and it’s driving her bonkers because the parents are being a pain, and there's always more responsibilities being added. Thankfully she has decided to pass it off to others. Iif your self-care requires you to constantly recover from your actual life, that's a sign you need some better boundaries. Definitely not more bubble baths. #3: Make space for real rest. Right before going on my month-long trip, I took a whole day before my in-laws arrived and before we went away. I got my hair done, went to Pilates, took care of a few things, and in a chill way, cleaned my house. Getting my hair done was a real rest. Pilates was a real rest. I also took a little bit of time for myself to do my devotional, and I took a little bit of time on my bed doing nothing, just as I prepared for everyone to come home at the end of the day. If you only let yourself rest when you feel like you've earned it, you're missing the point. I remember what my mom told me, “There's always something you can do.” That’s the truth. Like a pan to wash, an email to reply to, or a task to complete. But rest isn't a reward for being busy. It's a basic human need, like breathing, good snacks, moving your body, and sleeping. We must rest. Wrapping Up As I wrap this up, remember: self-care isn't a task, it's a way of being. That could be the biggest shift I share today. If self-care feels like another thing to achieve, you've fallen into the dark side of wellness culture. It's time to rethink your approach. Go through the questions I asked in this blog. The goal isn't to become a highly optimized wellness expert or to have a perfectly curated Instagram profile or to be the best in all things in self-care. It's to actually feel calm and to feel like a functioning person who enjoys life. It's much simpler than we make it. Next time someone tells you to lean into self-care, don't just add another habit to your already-packed routine. There are already too many things you have to do. Ask yourself, "What do I need right now?" And then do that… even if it's just lying on the couch, maybe eating peanut butter straight from the container. No explanation is required if that’s what you need to feel cared for by yourself. Who is a friend who needs to read this message? I encourage you to share it. Until next time. Take care of yourself and stay dynamic. Read my other blogs:
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