IS THERE STILL ROOM FOR YOU?
Pillar I — Alignment · Read time: 4 min
Welcome to the first edition of The Saturday Ritual — a weekly invitation to reflect, review and realign.
Behind every scalable business, there's a founder with a clear vision. For both their company and the life they want to live. The gap between the two usually widens in the small things we stop doing, often without even realizing it.
A few months ago, I listened to an episode of The Diary of a CEO and the guest made a comment that got a lot of people talking: "You're not a candle. You can't burn out." For anyone who has been through burnout, it can feel like being told your experience wasn't real. But that wasn't the part that stayed with me.
A little later, Steven asked her a simple question: "Do you have any hobbies? Anything you do when you're not working?" There was a moment of silence.
And in that moment, I recognized myself from my own past.
In my early thirties, I was obsessed with my work building Daquïni. Receiving inquiries to send samples for Dua Lipa, to Vanity Fair or Hollywood movies, or to present my new collection at Bergdorf Goodman were everyday reality. It was an incredible time. Intense, magical and exciting. Always chasing the next shiny thing. Always on.
Presenting Daquïni at Barneys New York.
And then, without really noticing it or giving it importance, things started to change — and what I thought was temporary turned into years, and those years into my new reality.
My love for art. Reading in the evenings. That creative curiosity that had always been part of my life. All of it had been replaced by one single interest: my business.
The playful, spontaneous side of me became smaller and smaller in the shadow of a new version of me trying to control everything. Evenings with friends and family, conversations stretching late into the night — they all slowly turned into quiet work evenings in front of my laptop.
It felt like dedication. It felt like the most important thing I'd ever done, and I was anxious about letting go of it even for a second. And I was proud of that. I wore it as a badge of honour. For a while at least.
If you are here, you probably love your work — or are exploring how to turn what you love into your work. Hard work isn't the enemy. It's when you become your work. When all you are is work.
Research actually backs this up. When we have different identities, interests, friendships, hobbies, family — it builds resilience and strengthens our ability to deal with stress, allowing us to mentally shift between them, recover more easily, and come back with more to give. And more to receive. Everywhere.
Those parts of our lives aren't distractions from meaningful work. They're what allow it to last.
Building a business is demanding, and there will always be trade-offs. But there's a difference between trade-offs we make consciously — because we know what we're choosing and why — and ones that just happen to us while we're not paying attention.
The clearer we are about the life we want and the business we want to build, how they look and feel, the more likely those two things will end up actually fitting together.
Which means alignment isn't just a mindfulness question, it's a strategic one. One that we should regularly come back to and sit with. Because sustainable growth can only happen when we build with intention — and check in with ourselves honestly along the way.
The Saturday Ritual — a moment to pause
REFLECT
Who are you outside of your business, and are you making sure that person still gets some space?
REVIEW
Is there a version of you that you've been missing?
REALIGN
How could you bring a small piece of that back into your life next week?
If you feel like sharing any of it, I'd love to hear it. Message me, I read every email.
Want to go deeper on alignment? The first entry in the Library explores what alignment actually means for a founder-led brand — and where the gap usually starts. Read it here.
See you next Saturday,
— Ëmi Antal
Founder of atëmier
Connect on LinkedIn | Work with me 1:1
