A reflection on ambition, exhaustion, family, and jugaad — the art of making it work.
A reflection on ambition, exhaustion, family, and jugaad — the art of making it work.
I’ve always pushed myself hard. To the limits. To my personal edge. To get the scholarship, the promotion. Win the race. Have the most fun. Be at the center of the dance floor, every time. Work hard. Play hard. Look the part. Be the part.
I want to win, even if it’s just a workout class. Thank God I’ve loosened up over the years, but I used to care about having the best form in the room. A bit cringe, I know, but also true.
When I was younger, I wasn’t the most athletic on my soccer team. My edge was effort. I wasn’t afraid of the work. I was smart. Not necessarily book-smart, but life-smart. I had grit. I’ve always taken on a lot and believed I could do it all. It’s one of my greatest strengths and my biggest flaws.
My constant critique from old bosses was, “You spread yourself and your teams too thin trying to do too much.” To be honest, I used to brush that off. We’re doing great! We’re hitting our goals. Growing. But in the background, my teams were burning out and I was a bit disconnected from reality. Everyone isn’t like me. Thank God. But that’s not something I naturally understood, especially when it came to output.
I married a high achiever too. We’re both wired for excellence. When one of us is struggling, we don’t coddle, we support (read: push). Do better. Be better. You got this. It’s made us a great team. It also means we rarely stop.
Well… after this last trip, I think I finally found my limit.
Maybe it’s exhaustion. Or maybe it’s the fact that, for the first time ever, I canceled a work trip. I spent days debating whether I could really go from showing our Spring ’26 collection in New York, to India to discuss the future of business, to shooting Holiday ’25 in San Francisco the next day, then waking up and flying to Charlotte for another Eddy event.
The hustle. The whirlwind. The tornado emoji is actually one of my most-used.
But somewhere between unpacking from an 18-hour flight and getting the kids ready for school, I paused (for maybe two seconds) and realized: I don’t have to do this to myself. Or, perhaps more importantly, to my family.
They’re the ones who reset my perspective. How could I take my almost-two-year-old on another long trip? Why am I pushing us all so hard? I tell myself I’m teaching them determination and dedication, and I am, but what about balance? Rest? Joy without performance?
The truth is, I genuinely love the dance. The building. The dreaming. The constant motion. It energizes me. I don’t believe there will be one “I’ve made it” moment, just a thousand small ones that, together, make the life I’m building.
And then India happened.
It snuck up on us and gave me perspective. There’s a Hindi word that’s been echoing in my mind since the trip: Jugaad.
My business partner shared it with me after we saw a man on a bike moving a stack of maybe 15 ladders, with his friend on a tuk-tuk beside him giving him a constant “push” with his foot out the side door.
It doesn’t translate perfectly, but it means something like resourceful ingenuity. It embodies a mindset of finding creative, flexible solutions to problems - often with limited resources. The art of making it work. Creativity born out of constraint. Finding a way when there shouldn’t be one.
India lives and breathes jugaad. It’s in the way a tailor fixes a broken machine with a hair tie. How a family of five fits onto one motorbike. How beauty and chaos can coexist so effortlessly.
And I realized, I’ve been living my own version of jugaad for years.
Seeing my kids walk the factory floor, playing on a pallet in the background of my design meetings, gave me flashbacks to when Andi was a newborn and I was hosting fittings from our living room while nursing, having just launched Eddy.
The journey so far has been a lot of hard work, a lot of hustle, and a lot of jugaad. Finding creative solutions when the plan doesn’t go to plan. Making something beautiful out of the mess. Learning and growing and building my family right alongside the business.
This trip was important. It was challenging. It was emotional. And it was full of perspective.
It also reminded me how lucky I am to have a partner like Max. He was everything on this trip. My mental challenger, my thought partner, my strategic sounding board, the main parent and lead caregiver - all while balancing his full-time job back in California while our side of the world was sleeping.
I needed my family, and they showed up for me in ways I’ll never forget.
I’ve always believed in hard work. In grit, in perseverance, in the dance of doing it all. And that hasn’t changed. But I’m also learning to pause. To breathe. To recognize the beauty in the in-between. In the imperfect, improvised, deeply human moments that are the heart of what I’m building.
I share a lot. My work, my family, my chaos. Because I’m building a brand that’s personal. What better way than to show the real thing? I love these moments, even the messy ones. I’m my own biggest fan when I scroll back and see the pieces of my heart in motion.
I see bright things ahead for Eddy, and for myself.
And if that future ends up looking a little different than I planned? Well, damn. I’ve loved the ride.
This season, I’m carrying a new mantra with me:
Do it beautifully. Do it sustainably. Do it with Jugaad.
xx
Megan
