Three sick kids. Barely any sleep. Andrew traveling. Work deadlines we couldn’t move. Laundry everywhere. One of those weeks where even answering a text felt overwhelming.

And somehow, the thing that pushed us over the edge was… dishes.

Not a huge marriage crisis. Not some giant life moment. Just exhaustion piling on top of exhaustion until we were both frustrated and saying things we didn’t really mean.

By Thursday night, I was sitting on the bathroom floor crying because it felt like I was failing at everything at the same time — work, marriage, motherhood, all of it.

I felt like I was hanging on by a thread.

And honestly? I think so many moms know that feeling.

The pressure to keep everything moving while also being patient, grateful, calm, organized, emotionally available, and somehow still present through all of it.

Later that night, I remembered something we wrote in The Courage to Commit…

“The question isn’t whether you’ll break your commitments. The question is what you do in the hour after you break them.”

So instead of trying to solve the whole week, I texted Andrew two words:

“I’m sorry.”

He called me back almost immediately and just said, “Me too.”

Nothing magically changed that night. The kids were still sick. The stress was still there. We were both still tired.

But we decided something simple:

Tomorrow, we try again.

Honestly, that might be one of the most important lessons we’ve learned in marriage, parenting, faith, and life in general.

Commitment is rarely about perfect streaks. Most of the time, it’s choosing to begin again after a hard day.

The workout you skipped.
The patience you lost.
The prayer life that’s felt distant lately.
The marriage conversation you avoided.

You don’t have to wait for next Monday or next month to recommit.

You can just start again tomorrow.

That’s a huge part of what The Courage to Commit is about, and honestly what we’re most excited to talk about together on our book tour!

Not having a perfect marriage, perfect routines, or perfect answers. Just learning how to keep showing up for each other, your family, your faith, and the things that matter most even in the middle of messy, real life.

We’d genuinely love to hear from you: When’s a time recently where you had to “start again tomorrow”? Reply and let us know. Reading your emails and hearing your stories has honestly become one of the best parts of our week.

It’s wild to think our book comes out June 9th and tour starts in Nashville on June 7th. Only a few weeks away! These last few weeks have felt exciting, stretching, meaningful, chaotic… honestly all the things at once.

One thing I’ve been learning lately is that it’s okay to hold multiple roles at the same time. Mom. Wife. Friend. Co-worker. Creator. Dreamer. And sometimes balancing all of it gracefully looks less like “having it together” and more like giving yourself permission to try again tomorrow.

Anyway, just wanted to remind you that if this season (or week) feels heavy or messy or overwhelming, you are definitely not alone in that.

Chat next week 🙂

— Shawn Johnson East

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