When you're ready for your breakthrough ...
but the Universe keeps stacking the deck against you 😖

I had a coaching session today that I need to share with you because it perfectly illustrates something I see with high-achievers constantly. (And I have my darling client's permission to do so, obvi)

You know that moment when you declare you're "ready for your next level" - and suddenly everything in your life starts falling apart?

This is what that looks like in real life.

I was working with someone who had been doing incredible inner work. She declared she was "ready for her next level" - and truly meant it.

The universe's response? "Great! Here's everything that needs to go in order for you to get there."

What showed up:

🪫 Business obstacles that felt deliberately designed to block her progress
🪫 Legal situations draining her resources and energy
🪫Personal relationships becoming sources of active torment
🪫Complete emotional collapse: "I don't want to do this anymore"

Sound familiar? When you're on the verge of breakthrough, life can feel like it's systematically dismantling everything at once.

Here's what I could see that she couldn't: She was still unconsciously playing the "tormented one" game.

The tormented one is an identity. A part of her that had worn the cloak of "everyone picks on me and I just have to take it" for so long that it felt like her core self.

But here's the thing - that version of her doesn't get to go to the next level.

When you start outgrowing who you've always been, it literally feels like you're dying. Because in a sense, you are.

She described it perfectly: "I don't know who I am anymore. Even simple daily decisions feel impossible - nothing feels like 'me' anymore."

This is what happens when your old operating system shuts down before the new one fully comes online.

Your identity is like a suit you've been wearing for so long you forgot you could take it off. When pieces start falling away, you temporarily forget how to function without them.

Every person and situation creating chaos was actually serving a purpose - like that coach who's a complete asshole but somehow brings out your best.

They keep pushing and pushing until you finally say "NO. I'm not taking this anymore. I'm absolutely done."

They're not waiting for you to fight back with the same old strategies.

They're waiting for that moment when something deep in your soul goes: "I will not play this fucking game anymore."

Not from your head. From your bones. From every cell in your body.

She kept asking "But what do I DO? How do I fight these obstacles? How do I make this stop?"

But this isn't a strategy problem. It's an identity problem.

Old identity thinking: "I have to accept these circumstances because that's just how things are"

New identity knowing: "I am absolutely not available for this energy anymore" (then watch reality reorganize itself)

Maybe that means finding creative solutions. Maybe it means unexpected pathways opening up. Maybe it means something else entirely that only becomes visible when you're truly done with the old game.

During our session, she had a conversation with the "tormented one" part of herself.

Not to destroy her. Not to shame her. To thank her for surviving impossible circumstances and ask if she was ready for a new role.

Because that part of her got her here. It survived difficult experiences. It kept her functional when functionality seemed impossible.

But survival mode and thriving mode require completely different operating systems.

The tormented one served her purpose. Now it's time for the real her to emerge.

If you're going through something similar - if life feels like it's attacking you from every angle right when you declared you were ready to level up - this is actually evidence that your declaration was heard.

That is the Universe saying "Great! We are ready too. Here is everything that you need to resolve because it doesn't get to go with you".

But it doesn't hand you a list. It hands you a sequence of events that SHOW you... and usually if you look closely enough, they have the same theme.

In my client's case today: It was a little game her family of origin taught her to play, which is "We are going to treat you like shit, and you just have to take it. With a smile. Jumping through all versions of impossible hoops just to NOT get what was promised".

Until today, she had NO IDEA that she was still playing this game, actively.

Most people interpret this as "I'm doing something wrong" or "I'm not meant for success."

Actually, it means you're closer than you've ever been. And it means you're ready.

Instead of asking "How do I fix this?" or "What action should I take?" try asking:

"What identity am I wearing that doesn't get to come with me to my next level?"

Because until you're willing to let that old version of you go, you'll keep recreating the same patterns in different situations.
Different cast, same play.

Her homework wasn't to create a business plan or hire more experts or fight harder.

It was to regulate her nervous system, connect with her higher self, and ask what it would look like to stop playing the "tormented one" game entirely.

Not force solutions. Not override her body. Just stop feeding the old pattern and see what emerges.

Sometimes the most powerful action is the pause before you choose differently.

If This Is You Right Now:

Your cells are not broken. Your patterns are not permanent. Your current struggle is not your final story.

You're just shedding skin that no longer fits.

The chaos isn't evidence that you're failing. It's evidence that you're finally ready to stop playing small.

The real you - the one who doesn't need to be tormented to feel worthy, who doesn't need to struggle to feel valuable - they've been waiting
for this moment your entire life.

Are you ready to let them out?