How to want more without feeling guilty for new moms: honest answers for Carmel

Carmel: for readers done coasting

There's a particular kind of tiredness that follows a genuinely good life — the kind Carmel knows well. It isn't burnout. It's the fog that rolls in when you stop asking for anything more.

And this is Carmel: a Midwest community where comfort is well-earned — and where a comfortable routine can quietly become the whole story That's the terrain — now for the honest line through it.

🎧 A note for Carmel readers (short audio)

“Ambition is not ingratitude.” — There Is a Fine Line Between Gratefulness and Complacency

What it looks like from the inside of Carmel

Nothing is wrong. That's the problem — nothing has asked anything of you in a while.
You feel behind even when you're ahead, and ahead even when you've stopped moving.
You keep waiting for a sign, ignoring that 'is this it?' keeps showing up like one.

Ten minutes at the edge

Sit somewhere in Carmel you usually pass through — a park bench, a parking lot, a quiet street — and do absolutely nothing for ten minutes.
Whatever your mind keeps circling back to without a screen in front of it is the thing this book would tell you to look at.

Being thankful for today and honest about tomorrow is not a contradiction — it's the whole assignment.

The reading experience

The chapters move quickly — late-90s nostalgia, group chats, marriages, careers, perfectionism — each one ending with an observation you'll repeat before you realize you memorized it.

Reader questions from Carmel

Is it another hustle-culture book? The opposite. One of its most-quoted lines is literally 'This is not a hustle book.' It's about honest ambition, not grinding.

Is it preachy? No. It shares observations and stories more than instructions — and it openly rejects hustle-culture preaching along the way.

Next step, Carmel: the free sample

No account gymnastics — open the sample, read the first chapter, and decide with your own goosebumps. Free on Kindle Unlimited, $0.99 otherwise.

There Is a Fine Line Between Gratefulness and Complacency — book cover Kindle — $0.99 Paperback — $14.99

Read it on Kindle Unlimited for free · paperback ships Prime · Questions for clubs on the main site.