Success Is Not Either/Or, It’s Both/And – How to Embrace Grit and Grace to Build a Life You Love
- Brainz Magazine
- May 16, 2025
- 4 min read
Anne-Sophie Reinhardt is a Certified Mind-Body Eating Coach, author, and podcast host helping women reconnect with their self-worth and create bold, magnificent lives. Featured in The Huffington Post and on German TV, she blends expertise and intuition to guide clients toward authentic transformation.
What if the key to living a powerful, fulfilling life isn’t in choosing one path over another, but in learning how to walk both at once? We’ve been taught to choose. Hustle or rest. Strength or softness. Ambition or acceptance. But real freedom comes when we stop living in extremes and start living in wholeness. This isn’t about balance. It’s about integration.
What does it really take to live a life that feels fully yours?
If you’ve ever felt torn between wanting ease and chasing big goals, between surrender and discipline, between being soft and pushing hard, this is for you.
Because here’s the truth nobody talks about:
You don’t have to choose.
In fact, the most successful, fulfilled people I know have learned to master both.
Why you don’t have to choose between flow and hustle
I used to believe I had to pick one path.
I recovered from years of dieting, body hatred, and eating disorders. And for a while, I thought the secret to peace was to only live in softness.
Let go.
Slow down.
Embrace ease.
But here’s what life taught me:
You can’t build the life you want on softness alone.
Real growth?
It’s built on action.
Courage.
And yes, hard work.
And yet, the hustle alone will burn you out if you don’t learn to rest.
It took me years to realize I didn’t have to choose.
I could live in both.
Why you need both to truly thrive
Let’s get real:
I’m not here by accident.
I ran 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days (yes, that includes Antarctica).
I raised my son solo, without support from his dad. No money, no help, nothing.
I survived eating disorders, depression, and trauma, and rebuilt my life from scratch.
How?
Because I learned to live in both grit and grace.
Grit got me out of bed at 4 a.m. to train for marathons while parenting alone.
Grace helped me stop abusing my body and start loving myself again.
It’s not one or the other. It’s both.
What it looks like in real life
Let me show you what I mean:
Grit is running even when your legs feel like lead.
Grace is stopping when your body needs to rest.
Grit is showing up when no one’s cheering you on.
Grace is celebrating the tiny wins along the way.
Grit is working through nap times and late nights.
Grace is forgiving yourself when you drop the ball.
It’s not perfect. It’s messy. And that’s exactly the point.
What you can do to live in both
So, how do you actually live this way?
Here are five powerful reminders to get you started:
Own your big dreams.
Stop shrinking. Name what you really want, even if it scares you.
Do the work.
Show up. Take action. Take the next step, even when it’s hard.
Rest when you need to.
Don’t wear burnout as a badge of honor. Build in recovery.
Celebrate your wins, all of them.
Every small step counts. Don’t wait for the big moment to feel proud.
Let yourself be all of you.
You don’t have to choose. You get to be both.
You are allowed to live fully, all of you
Here’s the thing:
This life you’re building? It’s not based on luck. It’s built on who you become in the process.
It’s built on the choices you make every single day. So here’s my invitation:
Stop choosing one over the other.
Stop hiding the parts of you that don’t fit the narrative. Start living fully.
Because you, too, are allowed to be all of you. Grit and grace.
Ease and effort.
Dreaming and doing.
Always.
Want to go deeper?
If you’re standing at the crossroads, wondering if you should lean into ease or push for more, here’s the truth:
You don’t have to choose.
You get to live in the both/and.
You get to build a life that feels real, meaningful, and fully yours.
And if you’re ready to explore what that could look like for you, I’d love to invite you deeper into my world.
At annesophie.us, you’ll find tools, stories, and conversations that challenge the old rules and help you write your own.
From podcast episodes to personal insights, from bold truths to rebellious reminders, it’s all waiting for you.
Because you deserve to live fully.
And you don’t have to do it alone.
Anne-Sophie Reinhardt, Mind-Body & Life Coach
Anne-Sophie Reinhardt is a Certified Mind-Body Eating Coach, author, and podcast host specializing in empowering women to reconnect with their self-worth and embrace bold magnificence. With certifications in mind-body practices, business coaching, and life coaching, Anne-Sophie blends expertise and intuition to guide her clients toward transformative breakthroughs. Featured in The Huffington Post and on German TV, she is the host of Boldly Magnificent and Escape Diet Prison, where she shares strategies for living unapologetically and creating extraordinary lives. Explore her work to find inspiration, tools, and stories that celebrate the power of self-love and authentic living.
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