There is a version of stubborn that serves you really well in life.
It gets you through hard seasons. It keeps you showing up when other people would have quit. It built your career, your business, your reputation. It is probably one of the things you are most proud of about yourself, even if you would never say that out loud.
And then there is the version of stubborn that keeps you from admitting you need help.
Those two versions live in the same body. And for most of us, we have never had to tell them apart because pushing harder has always worked... until it doesn't.
Here's what happens when brain fog starts creeping in for a high-achieving woman.
She notices she's slower than she used to be. She's forgetting things. Making small mistakes she never would have made before. She can't hold a thought from one end of a meeting to the other without losing the thread. Her patience is shorter. Her confidence is quietly eroding.
And her solution?
Work harder. Stay later. Read her notes twice. Drink another coffee. Get up earlier. Push.
I know this because I did it for years in my bakery. Standing in that kitchen some days completely foggy, managing staff while running on fumes, making mistakes I would have never made when I was sharp. Instead of stopping to ask what is actually happening to me... I just added more hours. Hours I manufactured out of stubbornness because quitting or slowing down or admitting something was wrong felt like failure.
The pushing never fixed it. It just hid it well enough to keep going... for a while.
The thing about brain fog is that it does not respond to effort. You cannot willpower your way out of a brain that is not getting what it needs. And the harder you push on an exhausted system, the more you accelerate the burnout that is already happening underneath the surface.
So when do you stop pushing and start looking for real solutions?
Honest answer... if you are asking that question, you are probably already past the point where you should have asked it.
The women who are fine do not ask it. The women who are struggling but completely closed off do not ask it either. The women who are starting to quietly wonder if there is another way... those are the women who are ready.
Ready for what? That part looks different for everyone. For some women it is sleep. For some it is nutrition. For some it is a supplement that finally gives their brain what it has been starving for. For some it is all three, and the supplement is just the thing that gets them functional enough to do the rest.
But none of that starts until the pushing slows down.
And the pushing does not stop until we admit that this version of the problem does not get solved the way we usually solve things.
That is not weakness. That is actually the smartest, most high-achieving thing you can do.
If you want a starting point, I put together a quick brain audit. A few minutes, honest questions, and a clearer picture of what is actually going on. It is the thing I wish someone had handed me before I spent years and thousands of dollars figuring it out myself.
With Gratitude,
Sue
Founder, MyUnMess