Last year, I finally admitted something: I was exhausted not because I was working too hard, but because I was constantly paddling upstream.
I had knowledge and skills. I cared. I was doing what I thought I should be doing. But something was off. I was forcing outcomes, over-efforting, trying to make things work instead of listening to whether they still fit.
Mentorship
Midway through 2025, I asked someone to be my mentor. I didn’t have a polished pitch or five-year plan. Just honesty and hope that I didn’t have to figure everything out alone.
She said yes.
One of the first things she had me do was an exercise called KSAB: Knowledge, Skills, Attitudes, Behaviors.
Not as a performance review—as a mirror.
What do I know? What can I actually do well? How am I relating to my work and my worth? What am I consistently doing, especially when I’m tired?
Working through it, something clicked.
I wasn’t lacking capability. I was living out of sync with myself.
I knew a lot about purpose and meaning. I had strong skills as a writer and connector. But my attitudes had shifted toward urgency and over-responsibility. My behaviors didn’t match my values anymore. I was pushing when I needed to pause, saying yes when my body was saying no.
Intentional & Aligned
That’s when “intentional” started meaning something new to me.
Not intentional as in productive. Intentional as in aligned.
I’d been paddling hard, but upstream. When I slowed down and adjusted direction, I didn’t lose momentum. I found the current.
Living aligned is different than forcing outcomes.
It has steadiness. Clarity. It’s fueled by authenticity instead of adrenaline. It honors capacity and allows seasons. It doesn’t require constant proof.
I’m still learning this. The work now feels less about becoming someone new and more about returning to myself with intention.
I’m sharing this because mentorship matters. Reflection matters. When we’re out of alignment, our lives tell us—if we’re willing to listen.
Lately, I’ve been asking myself: Where am I aligned? Where am I forcing? What feels like flow and what feels like friction?
I don’t have tidy answers yet. Just a growing trust that alignment doesn’t ask us to push harder—it asks us to listen more closely.
And when we do, we don’t lose our direction. We find the current that was there all along.
©2026 Lori Ann King
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