Congratulations, brother. Celebrating you and appreciating you for your courage and wisdom. It’s always the hardest part to walk our own talk — but also the most important. It’s moments like this where soul gets to really breathe, settle in, take shape and emerge. I’m proud of you and your team. I feel the sadness too — the loss of the imagined future of Downshift. You all enrolled us into a very inspiring vision! But I’m even more excited to see what comes forth over time from an even deeper and more soul-rooted place. Feeling this deeper version of you emerging through your writing here is filling my heart with joy.
Love you, my friend. Soak in this precious time. May its slowness integrate deep into the fabric of who and what you know yourself to be. ❤️
This speaks to me. It feels like I am just a few steps behind you, fighting the urge to slow down, but knowing deep down that is the path. Thank you for putting to words to what I have been feeling.
Amen to this, Amit. Full body chills and tears as I read this piece.
Thank you, Steve for downshifting in public and paving the pathway for those of us who feel similarly. This piece hit at a moment where I’ve been in a downshift of my own, and fighting it. I felt my system settle as I read the words, “I am enough.”
Thank you so much for sharing a glimpse into your process of release. So beautifully written and relatable. Can't wait to see what emerges from the stillness.
Wishing you the best Steve. I hadn't read "Slow Enough to Matter" until now, and it deeply moved me. I had a lump in my throat reading it, mostly because parts of it sounded exactly like my experience. I really appreciate you writing it, the honesty in it, and for revealing yourself in this way here too. Have a wonderful summer.
Love this - Great post Steve. The need is still there and maybe in our culture, its for each of us to experience and figure out how to downshift. keep sharing your lessons pls.
This is beautiful! Thank you for your vulnerability and transparency; this is the kind of rhetoric more people need to hear in addition to scale, scale scale”. Have an amazing sabbatical!
Thank you for sharing this experience! Definitely what I went through as a post exit founder thinking I needed to run to the next one. But making the leap, hitting a wall, and learning these lessons helps us get to the truth.
Steve, have been following your journey and really respect and appreciate your decision. All the best on your sabbatical and would love to reconnect when you resurface if you are up for it. Best. Denny
Thank you for sharing your beautiful journey of creating space and letting go, even of things dear to you. Laura Storm, in Regenerative Leadership, calls this “wintering,” a powerful phase that allows for everything new to emerge. There’s one more recommendation I didn’t spot on your thoughtful bookshelf (thank you for sharing those precious recommendations): Anne-Laure Le Cunff’s work on Tiny Experiments. It resonates with many aspects of Designing Your Life, but she adds a fascinating neuroscientific lens to embracing the uncertainty of liminal spaces. Her insights are also shared in the Modern Wisdom podcast, which you might enjoy. Wishing you all the very best on your continued journey.
One of the most powerful tools in life is to realize when you have enough. In both my financial planning and my downsizing work this is the hardest thing for people to accept. We are taught to reach even when reaching makes no sense, more, always more. Kudos on reaching this stage!
Congratulations, brother. Celebrating you and appreciating you for your courage and wisdom. It’s always the hardest part to walk our own talk — but also the most important. It’s moments like this where soul gets to really breathe, settle in, take shape and emerge. I’m proud of you and your team. I feel the sadness too — the loss of the imagined future of Downshift. You all enrolled us into a very inspiring vision! But I’m even more excited to see what comes forth over time from an even deeper and more soul-rooted place. Feeling this deeper version of you emerging through your writing here is filling my heart with joy.
Love you, my friend. Soak in this precious time. May its slowness integrate deep into the fabric of who and what you know yourself to be. ❤️
This speaks to me. It feels like I am just a few steps behind you, fighting the urge to slow down, but knowing deep down that is the path. Thank you for putting to words to what I have been feeling.
Amen to this, Amit. Full body chills and tears as I read this piece.
Thank you, Steve for downshifting in public and paving the pathway for those of us who feel similarly. This piece hit at a moment where I’ve been in a downshift of my own, and fighting it. I felt my system settle as I read the words, “I am enough.”
Close behind you, brothers.
Beautiful post! Wishing you best on this new journey. May it bring peace love and light to your soul
Great read and enjoy the sabbatical!
but beneath the surface was a subtle fear that unless I built something meaningful, I wouldn’t truly matter. That I wouldn’t be enough.
This resonates.
Go well.
Thank you so much for sharing a glimpse into your process of release. So beautifully written and relatable. Can't wait to see what emerges from the stillness.
Wishing you the best Steve. I hadn't read "Slow Enough to Matter" until now, and it deeply moved me. I had a lump in my throat reading it, mostly because parts of it sounded exactly like my experience. I really appreciate you writing it, the honesty in it, and for revealing yourself in this way here too. Have a wonderful summer.
Love this - Great post Steve. The need is still there and maybe in our culture, its for each of us to experience and figure out how to downshift. keep sharing your lessons pls.
This is beautiful! Thank you for your vulnerability and transparency; this is the kind of rhetoric more people need to hear in addition to scale, scale scale”. Have an amazing sabbatical!
Almost cried as I read this. Congrats on shutting down Downshift in the name of the ultimate Downshift. Sounds like you got the message :)
Thank you brother. I always appreciate hearing from you.
Thank you for sharing this experience! Definitely what I went through as a post exit founder thinking I needed to run to the next one. But making the leap, hitting a wall, and learning these lessons helps us get to the truth.
Steve, have been following your journey and really respect and appreciate your decision. All the best on your sabbatical and would love to reconnect when you resurface if you are up for it. Best. Denny
What a nice surprise to get this message. I’d love to connect in August or September when the dust settles. It has been too long.
wow, this is exactly what I needed to read right now. Thank you for your candor, your insight, and your commitment to the seeing the path clearly.
I’m glad the timing was perfect for you Jim. Good luck on the path ahead.
Thank you for sharing your beautiful journey of creating space and letting go, even of things dear to you. Laura Storm, in Regenerative Leadership, calls this “wintering,” a powerful phase that allows for everything new to emerge. There’s one more recommendation I didn’t spot on your thoughtful bookshelf (thank you for sharing those precious recommendations): Anne-Laure Le Cunff’s work on Tiny Experiments. It resonates with many aspects of Designing Your Life, but she adds a fascinating neuroscientific lens to embracing the uncertainty of liminal spaces. Her insights are also shared in the Modern Wisdom podcast, which you might enjoy. Wishing you all the very best on your continued journey.
Tiny experiments is on my reading list. Knowing Anne-Laure it’s phenomenal.
Damn right. One door closes, another one opens — always has, always will.
One of the most powerful tools in life is to realize when you have enough. In both my financial planning and my downsizing work this is the hardest thing for people to accept. We are taught to reach even when reaching makes no sense, more, always more. Kudos on reaching this stage!