I don't want to be the expert anymore.

Why systems failed me, why regulation saved me & why I’m changing the name of this space to match my new reality.

The end of 2025 was a strange one for me. (Wasn’t it for us all?) I’ll be honest, it was probably 3 months of me just trying to make sense of things. Not in an existential way. More of like a ‘what am I doing here’ kind of way.

I was trying to decide what mattered most... choosing what fires to put out first.

It wasn’t just demanding of my time & energy but my emotions & head space as well. Everything felt important & yet somehow unimportant all in the same breath. It was a period when things really just had to be taken in stride.

And there were a few truths that kept bubbling to the surface during that time.

1. Nervous-System Regulation Matters

Maybe 5 years ago I would’ve scoffed at this, but I showed up for myself & my family in incredible ways because I made a daily effort to put my ability (read: NEED) to stay calm first.

Now, we are not talking anything drastic or time-consuming or militantly consistent here. Hardly. In fact, it was really two simple things: checking in with myself throughout the day & giving myself what I needed in real time.

Sometimes it was a nap, sometimes it was the Open app, sometimes it was a walk outside.

Simple. Quick. Supportive.

It was all about intention, less about putting more on my plate.

I absolutely can’t say I was 100% regulated. What I can say is that it’s what helped me feel like I could keep my head above water instead of spiraling. Without it, I would’ve been deeply unsettled. It was the best I could manage at the time & yet somehow it had such a meaningful impact.

2. Less Is Always More

When you’re in these periods of everything demanding your time & attention, you get really good at recognizing that everything can’t get equal priority.

Sure, when life is calmer, I love to meal plan. I love to have a to-do list that I’m working through. I love to have the luxury of time to organize my closet (weird, I know, but it’s my idea of productive fun).

But in these times when everything feels unsettled, I’ve learned I am at my best when I let some of that structure go.

I know today’s culture wants us to believe the solution is systems optimization, but that’s just more to manage. More opportunities to feel overwhelmed, and more likelihood you’ll feel like a failure because it’s “all falling apart.”

NO thanks.

I’ve learned I know enough to get by without the structure. If anything, it’s a flex to be able to do it so well because I know it like the back of my hand. So I prefer to lean, instead, into what I’m good at. Doing the minimum viable in my day frees me up to show up in the areas where life needs me most today.

That level of intention & self-awareness has done far more good for me than learning someone else’s idea of a “good system.”

The Pivot

All the while I kept thinking, “But what about Mom Life Handbook?”

How can I call myself a leader in the mom space if I’m barely keeping afloat myself? How do I even begin to share anything meaningful when I barely have the energy to fold my kids’ clothes?

So I paused. And let myself sit with those questions and, admittedly, some self-doubt. And I came to some honest truths:

A) I don’t love positioning myself as the expert with the solutions. (Heck, I don’t even believe we should rely on experts as much as we do—how could they possibly know what’s right for us in our unique positions to begin with?)

B) When I try to create valuable “educational” content it feels forced. Often because I don’t think what we need are more solutions. So how do I write about something I inherently don’t believe we should prioritize as much as society leads us to believe we do?

When I go back to the belief that we are at our best when we prioritize ourselves—whether through carving out time to regulate or rejecting the pressures to do it all—it’s abundantly clear to me that it’s the shared struggle & processing of the experience that we really benefit from.

So moving forward, I’m renaming this space A Little Less.

You’ll still get my honest thoughts on what’s on my mind delivered for free. But I’m moving the personal details—the specific protocols and decisions I’m actually making—to a paid subscription here on Substack. Think of these less as “manuals” and more as me sharing the inner workings of my own life, in hopes it helps you navigate yours. It is very much a work in progress, but I’m excited to share the real process with you.

You can expect these emails to be more ‘in the moment’—what I’m grappling with, how I’m making sense of it, and how I’m stripping away all the external noise telling me to do more.

And just because it’s hard while I’m figuring things out, the focus is to be honest but also productive. The focus is less on griping and more on what I’ve ruled out & what I’m leaning into—in hopes it helps you to feel less alone in the journey & points you in a direction to look as you approach your own experience in your own unique way.

Thank you for being here. I’m so excited for what’s to come & hope you’ll find it incredibly meaningful & supportive to you. 💕

Talk soon,
Erin