Doing vs. Being: When Growth Becomes Another Grind

In this episode of The Circle, Eric and Tim explore how personal growth and spiritual practice can quietly slip into another form of hustle. Why do we sometimes treat healing like a to-do list? What happens when our breathwork, yoga, or journaling stops being supportive and starts becoming performative?

Together, they unpack perfectionism, self-trust, and the radical permission to just be. From Tim’s morning breathwork dilemma to Eric’s meditation hall ego trip, this episode is a heartfelt, humorous, and deeply honest look at what it means to grow without losing yourself in the process.

Topics include:

• The trap of trying to “win” at healing
• How spiritual practices can become performance
• The importance of intention vs. outcome
• The power of check-ins and body-based awareness
• Why doing less might be exactly what you need

Whether you’re burned out from personal development or just curious about being more present, this conversation is an invitation to soften, slow down, and stop striving.

00:00 - Intro: The Hustle of Healing
02:03 - Why We Strive Even in Spiritual Spaces
06:20 - Eric’s “Best Meditator” Moment
09:45 - The Yoga Trap: Performing vs. Practicing
13:10 - External Validation in Embodiment Work
18:25 - The Slippery Slope of “Not Doing Enough”
22:42 - Spiritual Checklists: Help or Harm?
28:00 - Choosing What’s Right for *Today*
32:48 - The Fine Line Between Fixing and Growing
36:10 - Doing to Be: Yoga's Eight Limbs
42:12 - Intention, Not Just Action
46:40 - Is This Practice Serving Me?
50:55 - The Gift of Showing Up (Even When You Don’t Want To)
57:12 - Internal Validation: Can It Be Enough?
01:02:40 - From Broken to Better: Shifting Motivation
01:07:30 - Men’s Work & the Power of Just Being
01:11:58 - Check-Ins: A Simple, Radical Practice
01:20:00 - Feeling Without Explaining
01:25:30 - App Behavior, Loneliness & Conscious Choice
01:31:15 - Being with Discomfort Without Numbing
01:37:20 - Embodiment Is Not Measured in Metrics
01:41:00 - Closing Reflections: Let Being Guide Your Doing