If you’ve been giving endlessly and still feel guilty when it’s time to receive, this pattern might be running deeper than you think.

There’s something that happens when we start holding more in our lives – more responsibility, more creative output, more presence, more service.

We rise to the occasion. We figure it out. We expand our capacity and keep showing up.

But somewhere along the way, many of us develop a blind spot. We become so practiced at holding space for others that we forget we’re allowed to be held too.

The Resistance to Being Supported

I’ve been moving through a season of expansion lately. There’s a lot of new things coming through my field – the podcast launching, the magic app going live, the Mirror Mentorship opening up. More production, more conversations, more energy required of me than ever before.

And in the middle of all this growth, I started noticing something that wanted my attention.

I started noticing all the ways I still resist being held.

It showed up in small moments at first. Like when I was doing a lot of in-person facilitation and realized my body genuinely needed support – a massage, some bodywork, something to help me recover and stay grounded. And even though I knew I needed it, there was this voice inside me that said… “that’s a waste of money.”

Or the more recent moment when I felt the desire to deepen my own mentorship – to invest more in being held by my teacher – and that same voice crept in. “You’re not really worthy of that. That takes too much time. You should be using that money somewhere else.”

Here I am creating containers to hold others, pouring myself into service, building something that asks a lot of me energetically… and yet, when it comes to receiving that same care for myself, there’s still a part of me that hesitates.

The Pattern So Many of Us Carry

I don’t think I’m alone in this.

So many of us can give endlessly. We can show up for others without question. We can hold space, offer support, and pour energy into the people and projects we care about.

But when it comes to letting ourselves be supported – truly supported – we suddenly feel like we have to earn it first. Or like it’s indulgent. Or like it takes away from what we’re supposed to be doing for everyone else.

There’s this quiet belief running underneath it all: that our worth is tied to what we produce, what we offer, what we give. And receiving? That feels like something we haven’t quite earned yet.

But here’s what I’ve been sitting with…

Life as a Hologram

If I look at life as a hologram, where the external world is always reflecting something internal – then the bigness I’m holding out there is asking me to hold myself in a bigger way in here.

The expansion isn’t just about what I’m building. It’s about who I’m becoming in the process. And part of that becoming is rewiring the belief that I’m not worthy of being held while I hold so much.

When we’re stepping into more – more visibility, more leadership, more creative output – the universe is also asking us a question: Are you willing to receive at the level you’re being asked to give?

And for many of us, that question reveals an edge. A place where we still don’t fully believe we’re worthy of the support we so freely offer others.

Redefining What Reciprocity Actually Means

We usually think of reciprocity as giving and receiving – pouring out and having something come back to us. And yes, that’s part of it. But I’m realizing there’s a deeper layer.

Reciprocity is also about being willing to give to yourself what you so freely give to others.

It’s recognizing that for all the energy, presence, and care you offer the world… you are worthy of that same investment. You are worthy of being held. You are worthy of support, of rest, of someone tending to you for a change.

And when we resist that, when we tell ourselves it’s not important, or we’ll get to it later, or we should just push through – we’re actually blocking the very flow we’re trying to create.

The Link Between Self-Worth and Prosperity

The truth is, the deeper we step into alignment with our own worth… the deeper prosperity we experience. Not just financially, but energetically. Emotionally. Spiritually.

When we allow ourselves to be held, we’re not being selfish or indulgent. We’re actually coming into right relationship with the energy of abundance. We’re saying yes to the support that wants to flow toward us. We’re creating space to receive – which is the other half of the equation we so often neglect.

Prosperity isn’t just about what comes in from the outside. It’s about our internal capacity to let it land.

And that capacity grows when we practice receiving. When we invest in our own support. When we stop telling ourselves that care is a luxury we haven’t earned yet.

An Invitation to Ask a Different Question

So if you’ve been pouring out and wondering why you feel depleted…

If you’ve been holding big things and quietly telling yourself you don’t deserve support…

If you’ve been putting everyone else’s needs before your own and calling it service…

Maybe this is your invitation to ask a different question.

Not “how much more can I give?” but “how am I allowing myself to be held?”

And you are so, so worthy of it.

Letting Your Body Show You What It Needs

Notice where your body is asking for support that you’ve been dismissing. Maybe it’s rest. Maybe it’s movement. Maybe it’s the kind of care that costs money or time and you’ve convinced yourself isn’t necessary.

This week, let yourself receive one thing your body has been asking for – without guilt. Let that be enough.

A Question for Your Soul

Sit with this question: What am I giving to others that I’m not willing to give to myself?

Let the answer rise without judgment. This isn’t about fixing anything – it’s about noticing where the imbalance lives so you can gently begin to shift it.

Sustainable Expansion in Your Work

Your capacity to hold big things in your work is directly connected to how deeply you allow yourself to be held.

If you’re in a season of expansion, ask yourself what support structures need to be in place – mentorship, bodywork, spaciousness in your schedule, so that your growth is sustainable rather than depleting.

The more you allow yourself to be held, the more you can hold. That’s the real math of reciprocity.

Xoxo, Lauren

“You cannot pour endlessly and expect to stay full. Being held and meeting your needs isn’t separate from the work – it is the work.”