When I Stopped Fixing Me and Started Fixing My Approach
For a long time, I thought I was the issue.
My hair was “too frizzy.”
My skin was “just like this.”
Too dry. Too oily. Too sensitive. Never quite right.
Stay with me here, I’m not actually just talking about my hair or skin. There’s more to this.
I assumed my body was the problem instead of looking at what I was putting on it, how I was using it, or whether the tools I’d chosen actually suited me. Then something small changed.
I started switching things out.
A different hairbrush.
Different products.
A new way of caring for my skin.
Even, a different makeup sponge and how I used it.
Suddenly, my hair wasn’t the problem. My skin wasn’t the problem.
The way I had been approaching them was.
Other people had the same hair, the same skin concerns and they’d figured it out. That made me realize: maybe this wasn’t about “fixing me.” Maybe it was about finding better tools and learning how to work with my natural makeup instead of fighting against it.
And once I saw that shift in something as simple as hair and skin, I couldn’t unsee it in the rest of my life.
What we often think is the problem… isn’t the problem.
It’s how we’re using something.
It’s how we’re approaching it.
It’s what tools we’ve chosen.
It’s our mindset around it.
Take work, for example.
There are millions of people online building successful businesses, creating, selling, and growing. You might be doing something very similar and still wondering: “Why is this working for them, but not for me?”
Often, the gap isn’t talent or effort. It’s a subtle difference in:
Your approach
Your energy
Your timing
Your tools
Your boundaries
Or how you create
When are you most creative?
When do you actually need to rest?
What environment helps you think clearly?
What style of work drains you versus what fuels you?
What works for someone else might not work for you and that’s not a flaw. That’s your design.
We all think differently.
We process differently.
We create differently.
We burn out differently.
That difference is your secret weapon but only if you learn how to use it.
Sometimes it’s simple. Sometimes it’s deeper.
Sometimes the fix is as simple as switching a hairbrush.
Other times, it’s about rethinking your habits, the time of day, how you learn, your beliefs, or the way you’ve been pushing yourself.
Wouldn’t you want to understand yourself well enough that life feels a little lighter, a little clearer, a little easier?
If something isn’t working, change it.
Not in a harsh way. Not in a frantic way. Just gently, curiously, and intentionally.
Try a new tool.
Try a new rhythm.
Try a new perspective.
Focus on you, not what everyone else is doing.
Because once you unlock what actually works for you?
You level up.
You show up differently.
You move differently.
You create differently.
And when that happens… doors start to open that you didn’t even know were there.
.
.
.
Michelle Gallant
Writer | Creator | Less Hustle, More Life
Cover Image Captured by: Amanda Rentiers Photography
