On Your Mark, Get Set, Reset… Go!
ON YOUR MARK. GET SET. GO.
How many of y’all remember being kids and hearing, “On your mark, get set, go”?
Those words take me back to childhood games, school races and my time running track.
In track, your position in the blocks mattered. Your reaction time mattered. How quickly you pushed off and found your stride mattered.
And your girl eventually mastered the start!
But I learned that a strong start did not guarantee a strong finish.
The real challenge was learning how to readjust after the race had already begun.
What happens when another runner’s spikes hit your leg? What happens when you get hurt, lose your rhythm or can’t maintain the stride you planned?
Do you stop? Push through the pain? Or adjust your stride so you can finish without causing more damage?
That is where I found myself this August.
ON YOUR MARK
For once, I felt prepared.
I reviewed my calendar, made my schedules and delegated responsibilities. Between motherhood, counseling, running businesses, braiding, caregiving and everything else attached to my name, your girl had a lot going on.
In the words of Big Sean—with a little Sade remix:
“I got six jobs, I don’t get tired.”
I had positioned myself in the blocks. My checklists were ready, and I was prepared to run.
GET SET
Then life disrupted my stride.
Sinus problems, respiratory symptoms, headaches, coughing and sneezing—the whole nine.
At first, I tried to keep running.
I put on protective gear, isolated myself and went to the office. I got about two solid hours of work done before my body started doing what sick bodies do.
OMG!
I started coughing, sneezing, snotting and draining so much that you would have thought I had just experienced my first heartbreak.
Kleenex was everywhere. Eyes red and puffy. Throat sounding rusty. Somebody walking in would have thought I had just received devastating news.
Nope.
Just my sinuses putting on a full dramatic production—Broadway style.
Eventually, my body made the decision for me:
“Uh-uh. Exit! Ma’am, this office is closed.”
I felt frustrated because I was ready to execute my plan. Then my all-or-nothing thinking showed up.
Since I could no longer run the race exactly as planned, part of me wanted to throw away the entire plan and return to the starting line.
But I didn’t need to restart the race.
I needed to reset while I was already running.
RESET
Resetting meant practicing what I preach and teach my clients.
I stopped trying to do everything perfectly—or make everything big—and returned to simplicity.
Instead of preparing a five-course Tuscan chicken meal, I was okay telling the kids to eat chicken noodles.
I took my medication, got some rest and did what any other workaholic would do: I worked from bed with ChatGPT, my laptop and my phone.
Don’t judge me. 😂
I simplified what could be simplified. I released what could wait. And I stopped pressuring myself to be physically present everywhere.
Missing one back-to-school meeting did not mean missing my daughter’s entire senior year. I had to separate being an involved mother from trying to attend every single moment.
Sometimes resetting your stride means accepting that you cannot run every lane at the same time.
JUST BECAUSE IT’S LOUD DON’T MEAN IT’S IMPORTANT
We live in a culture that makes everything feel urgent.
An email comes through, and we think we have to respond immediately. A text appears, and we feel pressured to answer. Every meeting seems mandatory, and every unfinished task starts yelling.
Everything on my to-do list started yelling so loudly that I thought I was at Gates trying to place an order!
But just because it’s loud don’t mean it’s important.
Before deciding what deserved my attention, I needed to calm my body.
I drank my peppermint tea—and it was oh so good. I took some deep breaths, prayed and read Scripture.
Then I asked myself:
Does this genuinely require my presence?
Does it have to happen today?
What will actually happen if it waits?
Once I slowed down enough to answer honestly, I realized most things could wait without producing serious consequences.
Sometimes we are not responding to an actual emergency. We are responding to the pressure we feel to keep running at full speed.
EVERY RUNNER NEEDS SUPPORT
Resetting my stride also required me to accept help.
I had several back-to-school braiding appointments scheduled. I did not want to disappoint anyone, but my symptoms were not improving, and I had to cancel.
Then one of my clients showed up for me—and taught me a lesson.
She brought me a wellness basket filled with essential oils, vitamins, chicken noodle soup and other goodies to help nurse me back to health.
That basket gave me more than physical supplies.
It reminded me that I did not have to run this race alone.
As a single mother, caregiver and business owner, I am accustomed to making things happen whether anyone else shows up or not:
Get it done. Figure it out. Keep it moving.
But independence can quietly become isolation.
Even the strongest runners need coaches, water stations, medical care and people cheering from the sidelines.
My client reminded me that caring for myself also meant allowing other people to care for me.
And yes, relief came—but a little guilt tried to run beside it.
I reminded myself of something I teach, believe and try to live by:
I must care for myself so I can continue caring for others.
Many of us—especially women in Black and brown communities—have been trained to keep running even when we are hurting.
But sometimes strength is not maintaining the same speed.
Sometimes strength is recognizing when your stride needs to change.
Sometimes you don’t need to return to the starting line.
You simply need to get back on your mark, get set, reset—and then decide how you are going to go.
MAKE ME OVER
Once I stopped fighting the fact that I needed to reset, I had enough space to pay attention to what the interruption was teaching me.
And that is when a song came to mind.
Miss Tina Turner herself.
“Make me over and make me nice, oh, and when I'm done, oh, I want to be made right. I wanna be made over.”
And that part hit differently this time.
At first, I thought I needed to make over my schedule.
Move this appointment.
Cancel that task.
Push this deadline back.
Delegate that responsibility.
But the more I sat with it, the more I realized:
Maybe God was not just trying to make over my schedule.
Maybe He was trying to make over me.
Because some of the pressure was not coming from my calendar.
It was coming from my expectations.
My need to get everything done the way I originally planned.
My discomfort with slowing down.
My guilt when I could not show up for everybody.
And that little voice that will have you lying in bed sick, coughing up a lung, still thinking:
Okay, but what can I accomplish today?
Sir. Ma’am. Somebody take the laptop. 😂
Sometimes a reset reveals what needs to change around us.
Sometimes it reveals what needs to change within us.
Proverbs 16:9 reminds us that we can make our plans, but God directs our steps.
And sometimes His direction looks like rest, redirection, delay or receiving help.
That does not mean the purpose disappeared.
It may simply mean the route changed.
And when the reset is over, I do not just want to say I survived it.
I want to be made over.
SO WHAT DO YOU DO NEXT?
Keep it simple.
PAUSE
Recognize that something changed.
PRIORITIZE
Decide what truly needs your attention right now.
SIMPLIFY
Do the version you actually have the capacity to do.
GET SUPPORT
Let somebody help you carry what does not have to be carried alone.
TAKE ONE NEXT STEP
Not ten. Not the entire plan. Just the next one.
That is the reset.
Not perfection.
Not trying to catch up with some imaginary version of yourself who never gets tired, sick, overwhelmed, distracted or interrupted.
Just adjust and keep moving.
YOUR RESET DOES NOT NEED TO BE CUTE
Sometimes we make resetting another project.
New planner.
New routine.
New notebook.
New goals.
Now listen, I love a good notebook too.
But you do not need to purchase a whole new personality because Tuesday went bad.
SOMETIMES YOUR RESET LOOKS LIKE:
Taking your medicine.
Answering one important email.
Canceling something you know you cannot do.
Feeding the kids chicken noodles instead of Tuscan chicken.
Going to sleep.
Praying.
Asking for help.
Trying again tomorrow.
That counts.
Your reset does not have to look impressive.
It needs to be realistic enough for you to actually do it.
NOW TAKE IT TO THE WORKSHEET
This is where I am going to stop talking and let you do the work.
I created the RISE Reset Worksheet to help you slow down, get everything out of your head and figure out what your reset actually needs to look like.
That is where you can dig deeper into what changed, what you can control, what can wait, where you need support and what your next move will be.
And remember:
You are allowed to change your stride.
You are allowed to slow down.
You are allowed to ask for help.
You are allowed to change the plan without abandoning the goal.
And apparently, sometimes…
you have to reset your reset.
That was the lesson August gave me.
I did not need to return to the starting line.
I just needed to adjust my stride.
Get back on my mark.
Get set.
Reset.
And go.
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