The Portal We’re In (And the Choice We’re Being Asked to Make)
🌿 This week, I found myself sitting with a question that felt both simple… and incredibly important:
With so much uncertainty in the world right now—
how do I come back to a sense of control?
Not control in the way we often think of it—
managing everything, predicting outcomes, staying ahead.
But a quieter kind of control.
The kind that asks:
Am I being a good human?
Am I doing good work?
Am I tending to my own garden?
Because when everything outside of us feels noisy, unpredictable, or even chaotic…
that may be the only place we truly have agency.
Recently, one of my mentors shared a passage from White Eagle of the Hopi Tribe.
She described this moment humanity is moving through as a portal.
And that language stayed with me.
Because a portal implies movement.
Choice.
Transformation.
He said we can either fall into the hole…
or walk through the portal.
We don’t need to control the world.
We need to choose how we meet it.
And as I sat with that, I couldn’t help but translate it into the reality of the women I work with every day.
Women who are leading.
Women who are holding a lot.
Building businesses.
Leading teams.
Supporting families.
Making decisions that matter.
Women who don’t get to check out of life—even when things feel uncertain.
So what does it actually look like…
to walk through the portal as a leader?
Because falling into the hole doesn’t always look like collapse.
Sometimes it looks like subtle disconnection.
Scrolling more than centering.
Reacting more than responding.
Saying yes when something in you is whispering no.
It looks like functioning… but not feeling anchored.
There’s another teaching I’ve been holding alongside this one:
To be whole in your life’s journey, you need both deep roots and high branches.
A tall tree with shallow roots falls in the first wind.
But a tree with deep roots can weather any storm.
And I believe this is the deeper invitation right now.
Not just to grow…
but to grow while rooting.
If your roots aren’t deep, your growth will always feel unstable.
Because most of us have been taught to measure growth by what’s visible.
More success.
More output.
More momentum.
But what’s happening beneath the surface?
That’s what determines whether your life feels steady… or shaky.
Whether your leadership feels clear… or heavy.
Whether your success feels aligned… or quietly exhausting.
I see this often.
A woman who is doing everything “right” on paper…
But she wakes up already slightly anxious.
She moves through her day without ever really checking in with herself.
She pushes through signals from her body because there’s too much to do.
And eventually, something begins to feel off.
Not dramatic.
Just… misaligned.
That’s not a failure.
That’s a root signal.
Because when we’re not rooted, everything requires more effort.
Decisions feel harder.
Emotions feel heavier.
Leadership feels more draining.
But when we begin to tend to our roots—
even in small, consistent ways—
something shifts.
We don’t necessarily do less.
But we move differently.
More clearly.
More honestly.
More steadily.
So I’ve been asking myself:
What does it look like to consciously choose the portal… each day?
Not in a big, sweeping way.
But in the small moments.
Choosing to pause instead of react.
Choosing to listen to my body.
Choosing to clear one thing—physically or emotionally.
Choosing to create a little bit of beauty, even in the middle of a full day.
There’s a line in that passage that I keep coming back to:
“What you emanate now is the most important thing.”
And that feels especially true for those of us who are leading.
Because people don’t just respond to what we say.
They respond to what we carry.
Our energy.
Our presence.
Our steadiness… or lack of it.
Your leadership is not just what you do.
It’s what you emanate.
So maybe the question isn’t:
How do I control what’s happening?
Maybe the question is:
How am I choosing to show up within it?
If this resonates, I go deeper into this conversation in this week’s podcast episode— sharing a simple, practical framework to help you come back to your roots, make clearer decisions, and lead with more steadiness… even in uncertain times.
🎙️ You can click below to listen:
So, I feel this is one of the best pieces I’ve ever read…it will hold different meanings to those lucky enough who read and digest it.
The significance of leadership, in my opinion, has specific connotations…depending on the intention, mission and design (phase of life) one is in.
It is profound yet uncomplicated. Relatable to many aspects of growth and cycles.
It’s not that I related to it…it’s simply brilliant.