I’ll be honest: I didn’t finish the 75-Day Joa Soft Challenge.
I started strong, documenting my progress, checking off my daily goals, and feeling like I was finally doing something that expanded me — something just for me. But somewhere along the way, between the full-time job, family responsibilities, and preparing for The Ordinary Bruja’s release, I ran out of shlits.
Not motivation — shlits. The mental energy, the emotional bandwidth, the space in my brain that wasn’t already stretched thin.
So, the challenge quietly fell off by the wayside.
The Hard Truth About “Falling Off”
There’s this narrative online about grit — that if you just want it badly enough, you’ll push through. But that’s not always how real life works. Sometimes, you don’t quit because you don’t care. You stop because you’re maxed out.
And I was.
The book launch demanded creativity and focus in ways I didn’t anticipate. Every hour I spent editing audio, writing blog posts, or packaging preorders was an hour I wasn’t resting or doing something restorative. So, even though I knew the 75-Day Joa Challenge was good for me — it had me journaling, meditating, moving my body, actually feeling again — I didn’t have the space to sustain it.
That’s a hard sentence to write. Because I’m a procrastinator by nature. And I know that if I don’t intentionally finish things, I start believing I can’t.
What I Learned from Not Finishing
I realized this challenge wasn’t about perfection or streaks — it was about building comfort in the act of finishing.
And that’s something I still need to learn.
Stopping doesn’t make me a failure. But avoiding reflection about why I stopped? That’s where stagnation lives.
So instead of pretending it didn’t happen, I’m naming it.
I didn’t finish.
But I will revisit it — not because I want a perfect record, but because I liked who I was becoming while I was doing it.
That version of me felt grounded, intentional, and kind to herself. I want to feel that again.
Choosing to Show Up Anyway
This week is release week for The Ordinary Bruja — my heart and my energy are all over the place. I’m proud, grateful, anxious, and a little raw.
But even with all of that, I’m showing up here — not to boast about how consistent I’ve been, but to acknowledge how human I am.
The truth is: I’m still learning what balance looks like. I’m still learning how to chase expansion without burning out.
And maybe that’s the lesson I was meant to find in all of this:
That sometimes, the real growth isn’t in completing the challenge — it’s in having the courage to face the gap between who you were trying to become and who you actually were in that moment.
My Reminder for the Week
- You don’t have to finish perfectly to keep growing.
- You can pause, rest, and still come back stronger.
- And you don’t have to have it all together to inspire others — you just have to keep it real.
The Ordinary Bruja: Book One of Las Cerradoras Series – Johanny Ortega
Marisol Espinal has spent her life trying to disappear from her family’s whispers of magic, from the shame of not belonging, from the truth she refuses to face. She’s always wanted to be someone else: confident, capable, extraordinary.
But when strange visions, flickering shadows, and warnings written in her mother’s hand begin to stalk her, Marisol is forced to confront her deepest fear: what if she isn’t extraordinary at all? What if she’s painfully ordinary?
Yet Hallowthorn Hill doesn’t call to just anyone. And the more Marisol resists, the stronger its pull becomes. The past she’s buried claws its way back, and something in the mist is watching—waiting for her to remember.
If Marisol cannot face the truth about who she is and where she comes from, the same darkness that destroyed her ancestors will claim her, too.
Somewhere in the shadows, something knows her name.
And it’s time for Marisol to learn why.
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