Your rhythm was never the problem. It was never supposed to look like anyone else’s.
In our last chat, we met both versions of the Cranky Pants energy of You Were Made for the Full Spectrum. Not Just the Pretty Parts. Today, we talk about what this energy looks like when it is working.
Your rhythm isn’t supposed to look like anyone else’s. That’s the first thing to make peace with.
Other energies thrive on consistency and predictability, but the You Were Made for the Full Spectrum energy runs on variation and flow. Your energy moves in seasons. Some periods are expansive and high-output. Others are slower, more internal, more about integration than production.
Both are correct. Both are part of the same larger rhythm. The practice is learning to trust the season you’re in instead of measuring it against the last one.
In everyday life, this looks like giving yourself permission to operate differently than the productivity advice from all the gurus tells you to. You don’t need a rigid morning routine. You don’t need a color-coded schedule. You need to stay connected to what is alive in you right now and move from there. Set the parameters when it feels right. Rest in between. That’s not laziness. That’s how this energy works.
I know a woman who runs on this energy. She’s one of the most productive, creative, and magnetic people in any room she walks into. And she’s never had a consistent morning routine in her life. What she has is a remarkable ability to discern what she needs on any given day and honor it without guilt. Some mornings, she’s up early and moving. Others, she’s slow and inward and lets herself be that way. And the output that comes from that kind of honest self-management is extraordinary.
That is the You Were Made for the Full Spectrum energy in everyday life.
This energy is consistent in me. I’ve had to work at allowing my body to decide how I start my days and how I work throughout them. Most days, I write my Morning Pages, move my body, and then have breakfast. But I’ve learned to allow myself to not do this when my body is leading me somewhere different. And in my work day, I have a rough idea of the structure, but there’s a lot of variability. I’ve learned to be okay with that.
This energy also shows up in the way you are with people. When this energy is part of you, you have a remarkable capacity to accept others exactly where they are, including the parts they are ashamed of, the contradictions they can’t reconcile, and the extremes they’re embarrassed by. You don’t need people to be neater or more consistent or easier to understand. You find them fascinating just as they are. People feel that, and it draws them to you in ways they can’t always articulate. You love people just the way they are.
I never thought much about this side of me until one of my sons got a DUI. He was going through a very difficult time: a bad breakup, and he had lost five close friends; one to cancer, one to an accidental overdose, and three to death by choice. After the fifth funeral, he literally crashed. It was awful.
I did what I could to help him through. At one point, one of his friends told me how much he appreciated the way I handled the DUI and everything around it. He shared how other parents had handled similar situations very differently.
My son faced the consequences. He rode the bus and dealt with all of the legal stuff. But I stayed by his side through all of it, offering love, forgiveness, and guidance. To be fair, that was easier because no one was injured. But I stayed. That is the You Were Made for the Full Spectrum energy. Staying through the hard thing because you can see the whole picture, not just the uncomfortable parts.
That willingness to stay through the hard stuff extends into how you show up in everyday conversation, too.
The voice of this energy says I should have shown up late so I could skip this small talk. Because small talk, like forced routine, feels like it minimizes what is possible. This energy wants the real conversation. The whole person. The depth underneath the surface presentation.
This resonates with me deeply. I am terrible at small talk. I much prefer the deeper conversations that happen when I am really connecting with and getting to know someone.
Your fascination with the full range of human experience is not performance. It’s one of the most powerful things you carry.
Next time, we'll talk about what this energy looks like at its absolute best. The Inner Saint version. And this one takes my breath away a little.
I wouldn’t miss it. I hope you don’t!
Find your happy. Love what you do. Make a difference. Come back to me safely. See ya!
