Broken Glass

A big part of my business is glass—glass jars, glass vessels, glass candles. And with glass comes the inevitable: sometimes, it breaks. Thankfully, it doesn’t happen too often, but when it does, I’ve noticed a pattern. More often than not, the breakage doesn’t happen during shipping or production—it happens when I’m moving too much at once.

Every single time I’ve dropped a candle, it’s because I was trying to carry too many things at the same time. Instead of making multiple trips, I overloaded my hands, thinking I could manage it all in one go. And then, before I knew it, something slipped. Another candle shattered. Another mess to clean up. And every time, I find myself thinking the same thing: I should have just made another trip.

It got me thinking—how many times in life have I done this with my responsibilities? How many times have I taken on too much, said yes to too many things, overloaded my schedule, and stretched myself too thin? And just like with the glass, something always gives. Maybe it’s my peace, my health, my relationships, or my ability to show up fully for what actually matters. The responsible thing would have been to put something down, to carry only what I knew I could handle, and to go back for the rest later.

Imagine if every single responsibility you carried—every commitment, every project, every obligation—was a fragile piece of glass in your hands. And if you lost your grip, something important would fall and break. How then would you decide what to carry in this season?

I want to encourage you to pause and examine what’s in your hands right now. Are you carrying too much? Is there something you need to put down, even if just for a little while? Because sometimes, the wisest thing you can do isn’t to push harder—it’s to take another trip.

So, what’s one thing you need to set down right now so you can carry what truly matters with more care?