🎙️ EPISODE 024: Collapse the Timeline or Stretch the Pain
Welcome to the Rewired to Rise Podcast, I am your host Tanya-Marie Dubé.
What’s Really Keeping You Stuck
Let’s get clear: you’re not stuck because you don’t know what to do. You’re not stuck because you don’t have enough time.
You’re stuck because you keep lying to yourself about why you’re delaying.
You’ve got the playbook. You know how to sell. You know how to lead. You’ve proven it a hundred times. You could build results in your sleep.
But you’ve been circling in this mental loop:
👉 “I just need more clarity.”
👉 “The timing isn’t right.”
👉 “Once I have the money stacked, then I’ll go all in.”
No. That’s not the truth.
The truth is, you haven’t made the decision yet. And indecision is the single most expensive place you can live.
Because every day you hesitate, you’re rehearsing the identity of the woman who doesn’t trust herself. Every day you delay, you’re teaching your nervous system that safety is found in circling, not in moving forward.
That’s why your results keep stalling. Not because you’re missing a step, but because you’re double-booked. You’ve got one foot in your future self and one foot still clinging to the past.
And here’s the thing: you look successful on the outside. You’re running the meetings, you’re closing the deals, you’re delivering on the stage. But inside, you know you’re circling the same starting line.
That’s why everything feels heavy. That’s why nothing sticks. Because until you decide, nothing collapses.
Decision is the catalyst. Not action. Not strategy. Decision.
The moment you decide, you collapse the time. The moment you decide, you cut off every back door, every excuse, every loophole. The moment you decide, you stop stretching the pain and start living in the future your soul already said yes to.
So if you feel stuck right now, it’s not a strategy problem. It’s not a clarity problem. It’s a decision problem.
And until you make it, you’ll keep rehearsing the identity of the woman who hesitates - when the woman you’re becoming is already waiting.
Pain as a Side Effect of Delay
Let’s get brutally honest: you think the leap is what’s painful. The bold move. The risk. The investment. The pitch. The step into visibility.
But it’s not the leap that hurts. It’s the delay.
Pain is the side effect of hesitation.
Think about it: the moment you finally say yes to something your soul already chose, there’s relief. Even if you don’t know every step. Even if it stretches you. Even if you’re scared out of your mind, you feel the weight lift.
But the longer you delay? The heavier it gets.
That’s why your launches feel like pressure cookers. Because you drag them out while you’re still half-deciding. That’s why you sabotage after every win - because you never fully let yourself claim it as yours. That’s why you’re waking up at 3AM replaying worst-case scenarios in your head. It’s because your nervous system is trapped in limbo between the woman you are and the woman you’re becoming.
The pain isn’t the leap. It’s standing in the doorway, refusing to step through, while your soul is already on the other side.
Every day you delay, you stretch the suffering. Every “later” piles on more weight. Every “I’m not ready” reinforces the identity of the woman who never will be.
And here’s what makes it worse: you can still function here. You can still sell, still lead, still deliver. And people will applaud you for it. But you know the truth: you’re bleeding for results you could have collapsed months ago if you had just decided.
Delay doesn’t just cost you time. It costs you trust in yourself. It costs you momentum. It costs you the lightness that comes with alignment.
And that’s why so many high-performing women look powerful on the outside but feel hollow on the inside. Because they’re living in the stretch of pain that only indecision creates.
It’s not that you’re unmotivated. It’s that you’re living in the most draining place possible - half in, half out.
The pain will not end when you gather more information. It ends when you decide.
Timeline Collapse Through Identity Choice
Here’s the truth that will change everything for you: timelines don’t collapse through hustle. They collapse through identity.
You can work harder, take more sales calls, post more content, attend more networking events…and still feel like you’re running in circles. Because all of that is just activity layered on top of the wrong operating system.
What actually collapses time is this: deciding who you are now and burning every other option.
Not who you’re “working toward.” Not who you’ll “become someday.” Who you are now as the woman who has already achieved her goal.
Because when you choose identity first, every thought, every feeling, every action begins to align with that choice. And alignment is what accelerates results.
Think about it - the woman who decides she’s a million-dollar leader shows up to sales conversations differently. She doesn’t beg. She doesn’t discount. She doesn’t apologize for being expensive. The woman who decides she’s done with proving doesn’t keep over-explaining herself in rooms she already earned the right to lead. The woman who decides she’s already in the expansion doesn’t wait for the evidence. She creates it.
This is why some women look like they’re “lucky.” They aren’t lucky. They’re decisive.
They made the choice to live from the future self their soul already showed them. They cut off every other identity. They stopped rehearsing hesitation and started rehearsing certainty.
And the second you do that? The timeline collapses.
Because time bends to the woman who knows who she is.
This is why you keep circling. Because you’re still trying to build new results with an old identity. And until you decide, you’ll keep dragging your feet, wondering why the vision feels so far away.
But the vision isn’t far away. It’s here. Your soul already leapt. The only thing stretching it out is your refusal to choose.
Timelines don’t collapse because you found the right strategy. They collapse because you decided your identity and your nervous system had no choice but to catch up.
Nervous System Prep for Massive Momentum
Here’s the mistake almost every high-performing woman makes: she makes the big decision. She declares the leap. She raises the standard.
And for a moment, she feels unstoppable. The energy is electric. The momentum is wild. The vision feels so close she can taste it.
But then…she crashes.
Her body panics. The overthinking kicks in. The fear floods in. The self-sabotage starts whispering.
Not because the decision was wrong - but because her nervous system wasn’t prepared to hold it.
This is why you feel like you keep yo-yoing between power and collapse. It’s not because you’re inconsistent. It’s because your body is still calibrated to survival, not expansion.
Your nervous system learned safety in overworking. It learned worth in proving. It learned peace in staying small.
So when you suddenly start acting from the identity of the woman who doesn’t beg, doesn’t please, doesn’t grind, your body says, “What the hell is this? Not safe. Shut it down.”
And if you don’t understand what’s happening, you’ll mistake the crash for a sign you made the wrong decision. You’ll tell yourself you moved too fast. You’ll start backpedaling, tweaking, second-guessing.
But the truth is, nothing went wrong. Your nervous system just needs proof.
Because massive momentum isn’t about forcing yourself harder - it’s about teaching your body that it’s safe to move at the speed your soul already chose.
This is why some women can double their income in months and others can’t hold it for a day. It’s not strategy. It’s calibration.
When your nervous system learns that momentum is safe, expansion becomes your baseline. You stop bracing for collapse. You stop crashing after wins. You stop creating chaos just to feel comfortable.
And that’s when everything accelerates. Because momentum doesn’t feel like a rollercoaster anymore. It feels like home.
Making the New Timeline the Only Option
Let’s cut right to it - your future isn’t waiting for you. It already exists.
There’s a version of you, right now, living the life you keep journaling about.
She’s running the team.
She’s commanding the room.
She’s signing the clients.
She’s holding the wealth.
She’s leading without bleeding for it.
She’s not some “someday” fantasy. She’s real. She’s alive. She’s already here.
The only difference between her and you? She decided.
She stopped negotiating with her old self. She stopped dragging her feet in the doorway. She stopped pretending she needed more clarity, more time, more proof.
She made the leap identity-first. And because of that, she cut off every other option.
That’s why she moves faster. That’s why results bend toward her. That’s why her success looks “sudden” to everyone else.
It’s not sudden. It’s alignment.
And here’s the part you need to hear: as long as you keep leaving the back door open, you’ll keep circling the same loop. You’ll keep rehearsing hesitation. You’ll keep bleeding for results that could’ve landed months ago if you’d just chosen.
Your timeline doesn’t collapse when conditions are perfect. It collapses the moment you decide there’s no other option.
That’s why some women skyrocket and others stall. Not because one is more talented. Not because one knows more. But because one burned the escape hatch and the other is still standing in the doorway.
And here’s the reality: stretching the pain is optional. Collapsing the time is inevitable.
But you have to decide.
Your soul already said yes. Now it’s your turn to stop rehearsing delay and embody the timeline that was already written for you.
Make it the only option.
In closing...
Remember: the version of you who’s living it? She got there by deciding.
If you’re ready to collapse your timeline instead of stretching the pain, it’s time to head over to my website: rewiredtorisepodcast.com/episodes and click the quantum leap button at the top of the page.
Subscribe to the podcast, and share this episode with the woman in your world who needs the reminder: waiting is the most expensive choice you can make. I am your host Tanya-Marie Dubé and it's been an honour spending this morning with you. Have a great day and I'll see you on the next episode of the Rewired to Rise Podcast.