Relax Your Face

Saturday evening, a friend dropped this photo into our private group chat.

 

And instantly, my brain went to work. Not on relaxing. On writing.

 

And I had to laugh… because I had promised myself my laptop would stay closed all day Saturday. But I was still writing in my head. So technically, I won.

 

First, I asked permission to use it. She said yes and even offered to retake it with blueberries and a croissant. I said no. This is perfect as is.

 

This right here. This moment. This stillness. I knew it needed to land in your inbox.

 

If you’ve been following along or follow me on LinkedIn, you’ve probably seen what looks like a full-on snow globe of activity:

And more coming…

 

From the outside, it looks like momentum. And it is.

 

Pressure. Decision fatigue. Demand. Even progress isn’t exempt from stress.

 

Which brings me to the subject line you might have been wondering about: “Relax your face.”

 

It’s something my favorite Pilates instructor says every week. She says it right when we’re in the middle of a difficult move. The kind where your body wants to tense up and push through.

 

And then she reminds us:

And in that moment, we all laugh.

Because she’s right.

 

We’re holding tension in places that have nothing to do with the work.

 

Let me say that again.

 

You may not have a lake view. Or string lights. Or a quiet Saturday evening like this.

But what do you have?

Because something is within reach.

 

For me, that looks like strapping on my 12-pound pink weighted vest and going for a walk. Headphones in. World off. No scrolling or noise. Just space. As my pastor calls it, no ‘rubbing the screen.’

 

If I’m being honest, and you know I always am, you don’t always need to push harder.

 

Sometimes you need rest or movement. Most times, any type of movement will do. Sometimes you don’t need a snack or a Snickers bar like the commercials would have you believe.

 

And before you say, “I can’t leave my loved one alone…”

 

I’m going to nudge you to do something really hard… let them help you.

 

Here’s where this shows up at work:

Because no one stopped to ask what else might be going on.
 

Especially when the experience isn’t visible.

 

That’s the cost of assumptions.

 

Because performance didn’t change. The context did.

 

Which simply means… what you’re seeing isn’t the full story, and the assumptions you’re making may have you responding to the wrong problem.

 

And it’s exactly why I use dessert as a leadership tool in my interactive keynotes. Not for the sake of dessert, but to challenge assumptions in real time and help leaders see what they’ve been missing.

 

So here’s your reminder this week:

If you lead a team, support employees, or plan experiences that are meant to actually shift how people think and show up, this is a conversation worth bringing into the room.

 

👉 Ready to help your leaders see beyond assumptions? Let's talk about bringing this experience to your organization.

 

This isn’t a one-off. It’s part of a larger pattern I’m seeing across organizations:

 

Where behavior is misread. Where context is missing.

Translation: Leaders are making decisions based on assumptions, without the full picture.

More to Come,

Chef Maria