The Lie of "Unlimited Potential" - And The Truth About Finding Ease, Flow and Sustainable Success

Click here for the audio and video version - read by the author herself.

I spent years chasing the illusion of "unlimited potential" - until the day I hit a limit so unmovable, it forced me to question everything I believed.

You know the kind of potential I’m talking about - the kind sold by high-performance coaches, self-help gurus, and Silicon Valley optimizers.

The kind that tells you you can fold time, biohack your body, outwork your emotions, and “transcend” all limitations if you just try hard enough.

And I did try.

In my early twenties, I lived by those mantras. I woke up at 5 AM to meditate, journal, visualize, manifest. I believed discipline could override exhaustion. I treated rest like a moral failure. I believed limits were obstacles to conquer.

Then life - graciously, brutally - kicked my ass.

One of the biggest kicks came in the form of motherhood.

From the moment I got pregnant, I was terrified.

Not just of the usual things - the childbirth, the identity shift, the responsibility of caring for a human being. My terror ran deeper. Because for the first time in my life, my body was out of my control.

I, the disciplined yogi, the embodiment of willpower, could not override the sheer force of biology.

I was exhausted, my emotions fraying at the edges, and so nauseous my breakfast was sucking on a slice of ginger. But instead of surrendering to what my body was asking of me - rest, nourishment, stillness - I pushed.

At five or six months pregnant, I was still running massive projects, managing collaborations across different companies in Vietnam and Singapore, pretending I could carry on like nothing had changed.

Because to acknowledge my limits felt like admitting failure.

And then - motherhood came.

And it swallowed me whole.

From the moment I got pregnant, I was *terrified*.
Not just of the usual things - the childbirth, the identity shift, the responsibility of caring for a human being. My terror ran deeper. Because for the first time in my life, my body was out of my control.

I remember one night, not long after giving birth. My daughter was asleep, finally, after hours of nursing. I passed her to her dad and slipped away to the bathroom just to pee - a simple act that now felt like a rare and dangerous luxury.

As I walked past the mirror, I saw my reflection and froze.

I didn’t recognize myself.

There I was, standing in an oversized breastfeeding gown, my breasts still half-exposed, my postpartum belly wrapped in a giant diaper. My face - pale, hollowed-out, eyes ringed with exhaustion - looked like it belonged to someone else.

I felt trapped inside this foreign body. Trapped inside a life I hadn’t consented to.

I wanted to run. But there was nowhere to go.

I had hit a wall. And for the first time in my life, I couldn't push past it.

There was no biohack for this. No visualization technique that could undo the raw, visceral reality of my limits.

And I resented it.

I resented my body for failing me.

I resented my baby for needing so much of me.

I resented the world for letting me believe that if I just tried harder, I could be limitless.

That resentment almost broke me.

Then something shifted.

I stopped trying to force myself back to “normal.” Instead, I built a life around my reality.

I took a four-month maternity leave, something that had once felt unthinkable. When I returned to work, I started with just four hours a week—slow, intentional, honoring what was actually possible for me.

I worked with a therapist and a conscious parenting coach to navigate my inner world. I hired a nanny for extra support. I gave my body what it craved—massages, rest, nourishment.

And something unexpected happened.

Instead of falling behind, I grew.

Having limited work time forced me to become ruthlessly strategic. I stopped wasting energy on projects that weren’t working. I focused only on the business activities that created the most impact and revenue with the least time and effort.

I stopped overgiving, overcommitting, and overworking.

And it paid off.

By the time my daughter turned two, my business hit its highest revenue month ever - $33,000 in December 2022.

That same month, I was launching new programs, serving clients powerfully, and incubating a vision for the future.

That same month, I had just returned from a family trip to Uruguay.

I was doing less, but my work was stronger, sharper, and more impactful.

I had let go of the fantasy of being limitless.

And in return, I had found something real.

When we resist our limits - when we treat them as obstacles to overcome rather than wisdom to heed - we don’t transcend them.

We just suffer more.

Ignoring my limits didn’t make me more powerful. It made me exhausted, resentful, and brittle.

I see this everywhere. Not just in new mothers, but in entrepreneurs, coaches, creatives, healers - in people who’ve been conditioned to believe that their worth is tied to how much they can produce.

When you ignore your limits, you end up:

Overcommitting, saying “yes” to everything until you’re stretched too thin
Underpricing yourself, giving more than you receive until resentment festers
Doing everything yourself instead of delegating, because you think you should
Burning out, then blaming yourself for not being “strong enough”

But here’s the truth:

Your limits are not the enemy.

The Earth is not unlimited.

Her resources - while renewable - are still finite. And look at what happens when we refuse to acknowledge that.

Deforestation. Extinction. Climate collapse.

The same is true for you.

You have limits in energy - physical, emotional, spiritual.

You have limits in time, in how much your nervous system can hold before tipping into stress, shutdown, or trauma.

You have limits in strengths - things that come naturally to you and things that don’t.

And these limits?

They inform the way you create your life and business. They shape your priorities, your boundaries, your pricing.

They are not holding you back.

They are guiding you forward.

Your limits are not a cage.
*They are a frame.*
*They give you a starting point. A direction. A way forward.*

Imagine a river.

A river does not resist the rocks, the fallen trees, the curving banks. It does not fight to erase them.

It moves with them. It is shaped by them.

It wins without fighting.

So, how do we do that? How do we honor our limits instead of battling against them?

By paying attention to where the flow gets blocked.

Observe your life and business. Where does the flow stop?

If clients DMing you at all hours is draining you → It’s time to set boundaries.
If you feel underpaid and undervalued → It’s time to raise your prices.
If you dread admin work but force yourself to do it → It’s time to outsource. Even if it’s just 3-4 hours a week. Even if it’s a trade of services.
If motherhood feels like an all-consuming sacrifice → It’s time to carve out space for yourself. Even two hours a week to work on something that lights you up.

Your child will be okay.

Your business will be okay.

The world will not crumble if you honor your humanity.

If I handed you a blank canvas and said, “Paint anything,” you’d probably freeze.

But if I gave you a constraint - “Paint a charcoal portrait of your mother at 17, from a faded black-and-white photo, with her long braids falling over her shoulders” - suddenly, something takes shape.

Your limits are not a cage.

They are a frame.

They give you a starting point. A direction. A way forward.

That night in my breastfeeding gown, staring at my reflection, I thought I had lost myself. But maybe I wasn’t lost - maybe I was just meeting the version of me who could no longer fight her limits, but had to learn to move with them.

And in that surrender, I found something unexpected: flow. Like a river meeting its banks, like a dancer moving with the rhythm, like a body finally aligning with itself. And I can tell you this - life is much fuller on the other side of that fight.

Not limitless. But enough.

Before we close, I want to leave you with a gift - a love letter, a reminder. For the parts of you that have fought against your limits.

For the parts that still believe they need to be limitless to be worthy.

For the tender, brave, wild, and soft parts of you that are learning to embrace exactly where you are.

This is for you - A poem.

Look at you
Come with me.
Stand in front of this mirror.
Not the one fogged by your doubts,
not the one warped by the weight of “not enough.”
This mirror - clean, still, waiting -
the one that has always seen you.
Look at you…
I love you.
How can I not?
Look at you…
You’re so tender, so soft, so dear.
You’re so afraid, so brave.
You’re light and darkness stumbling into one.
I love you.
How can I not?
Look at you…
The way you trace the lines of fallen leaves
The way you gaze out to sea
The way you close your eyes and feel the sun on the nape of your neck.
I love you
How can I not?
Look at you…
Dancing to the beats of your drumming heart
Wiping tears off your lips, asking life for another kiss
Bandaging your knees, taking one more step on trembling legs
Keep your bruised palms up and open, holding both sunshine and rainfall
I love you.
How can I not?
Look at you…
A woman, a warrior, a wildflower breaking through concrete.
You didn’t just survive, my dear.
You blossom.

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P.S: follow your calling

Once you’re free from the fear of disappointing others and start honoring your limits, you’ll have more space to follow your calling and create a soul-filling career or business. Clarity of purpose is essential here.

Which is why a community of like-minded, soul-centered coaches like Impact Coaching Circle™ is the starting point for you to explore, where you can meet coaches just like you: highly sensitive, creative, and wanting to make a difference in the world.

Doors to Impact Coaching Circle™ will be open by the end of April 2025, join our waiting list here to be one of the first to know when it’s open for registration.

See you inside!

The freedom you want is possible!

Hey, fellow purpose-driven human!

I’m Milena. When I was 24, I said no to corporate job offers to “do my own thing.”

9 years, some major fumbles, 3 TEDx Talks, 1 published book, 50,000 followers, and hundreds of clients (from 15+ countries) later…

I make a multi-six-figure living as a coach while spending most of my time walking barefoot in my apartment. #introvertgoal

I know you want to make a difference.

I’m here to help you turn that calling into a financially sustainable coaching business — while staying away from the hustle, and skipping the pitfalls that trip up most new coaches.

Quit your 9-to-5. Move to a paradise island. Slow yoga every morning. Work from sunlit cafes. Make time for loved ones (including yourself). Grow your influence. Wake up excited about your day. And serve only the clients who light you up…

All of that (and more!) is possible, once you have the right support.

Let me help you shine.

that’s not enough, tell me more!