When the Yes Disappears
How to stay steady when the thing you hoped for… doesn’t happen.
There’s a moment every builder, artist, founder, or dreamer knows:
You’ve put your energy out there.
You’ve taken the risk.
You’ve followed the signs.
You’ve had the call, the meeting, the green light.
And then…
Nothing.
No follow-up.
No explanation.
Just silence.
It can feel like rejection.
Or like failure.
Or worse, like a cosmic joke.
“Why would it come into my world at all,” you wonder,
“if it wasn’t going to land?”
The part no one talks about
is how confusing it feels to hold yourself steady in that middle space.
When you’re not in defeat, but you’re not in triumph either.
You’re just… waiting. Recalibrating. Wondering what it meant.
In my own creative work, from painting to pitching, licensing to podcasting, I’ve learned to meet this moment with something softer than urgency.
Because what looks like a stalled opportunity
is sometimes just a message:
This wasn’t the destination.
It was the rehearsal.
The mirror.
The refinement.
Sometimes, the offer comes to help you practice saying yes.
Sometimes, it comes to help you practice saying no.
And sometimes, it comes to remind you that your value is real,
even if the world hasn’t fully caught up yet.
I call this the ‘coherence gap.’
It’s that space between the output and the outcome.
Where your energy was clean.
Your effort was real.
But the result doesn’t show up… yet.
Not because you did something wrong.
But because the alignment wasn’t full.
And instead of spiraling into doubt,
this is where I’ve learned to pause and ask:
What if this wasn’t about them at all?
What if it was a checkpoint for me?
A test of whether I’ll shrink or stay sovereign,
even when it gets quiet.
Here’s the truth:
Not every yes is meant to become a contract.
Not every green light is meant to be final.
But every one of them teaches you something
about who you are in the waiting.
So if something felt right and didn’t land,
you’re not crazy.
You’re not failing.
You’re not being punished.
You’re refining.
You’re becoming.
You’re building the capacity to hold what’s actually yours.
Let the beauty do the work.
Hold your posture.
Keep creating.
Stay available, not desperate.
And know this:
Sometimes what doesn’t land
is clearing space for what will.
🎧 Want more?
This week’s short podcast voice note expands on this idea:
When It Doesn’t Land, now live on Spotify + Apple.
👉 Listen on Spotify