Table of Contents
🌸 A Soft Start
There’s something small and sacred inside you.
A pulse. A whisper. A spark.
It’s what makes you light up when you talk about certain things.
What keeps pulling you back to ideas you thought you’d forgotten.
What flickers gently, even on the hardest days.
But that spark?
It’s delicate.
And it needs protection.
Not in a defensive way.
But in a soft, fierce-with-love kind of way.
🌀 A Gentle Truth
Your spark is not meant to fuel everyone else.
It’s not a public utility.
It’s yours.
And while it can light up the room,
it shouldn’t burn at your expense.
To protect your spark, you must be willing to:
- Set limits
- Take breaks
- Say no
- Move slower
- Be honest about what drains you—even if it “makes sense” on paper
Because your system doesn’t run on logic.
It runs on aliveness.
💡 Try This
Make a quick list:
What makes you feel most alive right now?
What do you return to when no one’s watching?
What’s the small thing you always wish you had more time for?
Now pick one.
And give it a little space this week.
Even just five minutes of full presence.
This is how we protect the spark:
We stop waiting for permission to tend it.
💭 Parting Thought
Your spark isn’t optional.
It’s the source of your rhythm, your truth, your creative flow.
Let it be small. Let it be quiet.
But do not let it go out.
➡️ Next: Lesson 20: Soft Truths About Motivation
🏡 Back to Course Home: Course Directory
⬅️ Previous: Lesson 18: Burnout Is a Message, Not a Metric
The Systems Cowboy Guide to Living Softly in a Hard World
