Lucky Girl Summer: Redefining Luck, Burnout & Rest When You Haven't "Made It" Yet
If you've been doing everything "right" — showing up, working hard, staying consistent — and it still doesn't feel like enough, you're not alone, and you're not doing it wrong. On this month's solo episode of She's So Lucky, I got honest about what I'm calling my "lucky girl summer": a season built around releasing instead of pushing, and a completely different definition of what it means to feel lucky.
I walked into the studio with zero plan for this episode. No outline, no three-tips-in-a-bow. What came out instead was the most honest thing I could give you: the real, current-state version of where my head's at, and why I think a lot of us have been sold the wrong idea of what "creating our own luck" is supposed to look like.
Why Doing Everything "Right" Still Isn't Working
I've spent 13 years in corporate, three years building this podcast full-time, and my entire adult life believing that if I just worked hard enough and stayed consistent enough, the results would follow. Lately, that math isn't mathing. My personal life has never felt fuller — three years into building a real community in New York, after a genuinely hard, isolating stretch in LA — but my career still doesn't feel like it's giving me the growth or stability I'm looking for.
That gap between "life is good" and "career is a mess" is one a lot of us are sitting in right now, especially if you've built your entire identity around work ethic. If effort alone hasn't gotten you where you thought it would by now, this episode is for you.
What Rest Actually Looks Like When You Haven't "Made It" Yet
A lot of the rest-and-ease advice out there comes from people who already have the nest egg, the exit, the financial cushion that makes stepping back feel safe. That advice isn't wrong, but it's incomplete — because it doesn't answer the harder question: what does easing off the gas look like when you can't actually afford to stop, but you also can't afford to keep burning out with nothing to show for it?
That's the real tension of a lucky girl summer. It's not about throwing caution to the wind. Rent is still due on the first, no matter how "lucky" you're feeling. But there's a difference between the deadlines you can't move and the rigid, one-path thinking around how you get there — and loosening your grip on the how is where the actual relief lives.
Redefining Luck: It's Not About the Number
For most of my life, luck looked narrow: hit a certain income, hit a certain milestone, build a certain kind of security. I still want those things. But I'm starting to believe the real secret to feeling luckier isn't hitting the number — it's having more flexibility in how you get there.
Maybe luck isn't the successful outcome at all. Maybe luck is always finding a way to figure it out, even when you don't have a plan. Maybe it's a better night's sleep. Maybe it's a summer spent with people who actually show up for you. Redefining what counts as "lucky" is, in itself, one of the most grounding things you can do when you feel stuck.
How to Have Your Own Lucky Girl Summer
You don't need a fully mapped-out plan to start releasing what isn't working. A few places to start:
Get honest about where you're actually thriving versus where you're actually stuck, instead of averaging your life into "fine."
Separate your hard deadlines (rent, bills, real obligations) from the rigid, one-path thinking about how you'll meet them.
Let go of the idea that rest has to be earned through a big enough exit or a large enough bank account first.
Widen your definition of luck beyond the number — notice the smaller wins that actually make you feel lucky right now.
Give yourself permission to not have the plan yet. Figuring it out as you go is still a plan.
Listen to the Full Episode
This is the version of the conversation I don't usually have out loud — unscripted, a little uncomfortable, and hopefully useful anyway. If any of this hit close to home, listen to the full episode of She's So Lucky on YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
