Taking a Pause: The Power of Rest and Reflection with Amberly Lago

Welcome to The Amberly Lago Show, stories of true grit and grace. Hey there. Thank you for tuning in to The Amberly Lago Show. I appreciate you being here. This is a different kind of episode. I wanted to take a few minutes to speak straight from my heart to yours. Well, to be honest, it's one of the hardest episodes I've ever had to record. And it's not because I don't know what to say, but it's because I care so deeply about this community. And I was going to try not to cry, but I care so deeply about you, you showing up and tuning into the show. And what we've built together for over 5 years now. I can't believe it. I've shown up every single week, no matter what was going on, to bring you some encouragement and inspiration and real conversations that matter from incredible guests like Ed Mylett. And last week we had John Gordon. Henry Ammar. I mean, the list goes on and on. And now I just need to take a little pause. And it's not forever. It's just until the fall. Because sometimes I think the strongest thing that you can do is to stop, is to breathe, to heal, to refill your cup before you pour again. And if you've watched my social media or you get my newsletter, letter, which I hope you do, by the way, um, lately you will see that I've been navigating some really tough terrain with my health. And as many of you know, I live with a condition called complex regional pain syndrome, and it's ranked highest on the pain scale. For those of you who don't understand, because I've got friends who you know, I've known for years. And they so kindly offer me, you know, advice on how to get rid of the pain. And, and I've tried just, I think, just about everything. And, but so many of my friends don't really know what it is. Well, complex regional pain syndrome, it's kind of— it's caused by trauma. And it's where your sympathetic nervous system is all out of whack. So for lack of a better term, it's where it's kind of like a computer that needs to be rebooted. It's a constant loop of pain. And when I say constant, it's all the time. And I know I put on a brave face a lot, and there's a lot of people that don't even know I live with pain, but I navigate pain and I plan things out daily. Mine is in my right leg, and it feels like a million rubber bands wrapped around my foot and a vice grip going around it, squeezing it with battery acid. flowing through my veins. Seriously. I have moments where it's less and I can do more, but it's ranked higher than amputation without anesthesia. It's ranked higher than kidney stones. I mean, it's pretty crazy. So pain can drive you to do search and try different things. And I have flown out of the country to try radical treatments. I've done everything from ketamine infusions to Eastern, Western medicine, spinal block, spinal stimulator. And that's what I recently had, a second trial for the spinal stimulator. And so this one was especially hard physically and emotionally. And it reminded me that even the most resilient among us need space to recover. And so I hope that if you are struggling with anything, you take time to recover as well. And as As I was laying in bed this morning, and I was thinking about what should I share about this procedure, and I've decided not to share so much other than I had the spinal stimulator already taken back out because I don't want to discourage someone who might think that that's a right fit for them who has complex regional pain syndrome, not to do it based on my experience because we're all different. Yeah. And what works for some may not work for others. And so if you have questions, you can always reach out to me. You can shoot me a DM on Instagram @AmberlyLagoMotivation or shoot me an email at info@amberlylago.com. And I'm happy to share my experience with you because I want the best for you. You know, there's a version of me that would have just pushed through, just kept recording podcast episodes and pretended like everything was fine. But I feel like I've grown too much. And hopefully you've grown along with me to just ignore when your body is talking to you, when your body and your spirit are calling for rest. So I'm taking this break to get clear, to listen, and to dream again. When I come back this fall, I want to come back stronger, more intentional, and full of fire with brand new content for you, deeper conversations for you, and guests that are going to blow you away. And so this pause isn't just about healing my body. It's about healing my soul. It's shown me that rest isn't weakness. It's wisdom. It's revealed how— I don't know, I think sometimes how easy it is to get caught up in doing and forget the power of simply Being. And so I hope that this episode that's short and sweet is going to remind you to listen to your body and also not forget the power of just simply being. It's reminded me that purpose, it's not about constantly pushing. It's not all about the grit. It's about giving yourself some grace. It's about honoring your season and showing up with presence. I know. I know for me, this is— Ruby's got one more year of high school left. And so I am just being fully present with her. I mean, last night we went out on a date and we went to Barnes Noble. And by the way, I asked them if they had Joy Through the Journey and they were sold out and they're getting more copies in if you're in Garland. It was just so good to go to Barnes Noble and I love how it smells in there. I haven't been to Barnes Noble in a while. And just to be present. And you know what? I feel like sometimes success looks like surrender. Sometimes strength is soft, and sometimes the best way forward is to stop and to reflect and to realign. And I was just really thinking— I did a keynote actually yesterday, and luckily it was a virtual one because I'm still feeling a little bit weak. I'm getting stronger. Yeah. But I talked about the 4 Rs of resilience. And first is to recognize. And so I kept saying the first week after this spinal cord stimulator, I'm fine. No, I'm good. And my husband was like, you're not good. And my team was like, you're not good. I'm canceling and rescheduling. I'm canceling appointments. I'm rescheduling appointments. My husband was like, I'm taking you back to the hospital. And when we recognize what is going on, who we are, where we are, then we can take action steps to move in the right direction. We heal what we reveal. And then I, I think it's really important to reframe. And so the next R, um, in the resilience formula that I've just kind of come up with yesterday, uh, is reframe. And how can you, you reframe something from why is this happening to me into how is this happening for me? What am I learning from this? What is this teaching me? And I will tell you, I— as hard as it was the last couple of weeks, I am telling you, I kept saying, there is a purpose in this. God has a plan. I did not just go through all this pain. For no reason, God has a plan. So reframe and and look at how you can learn from the situation, and then refuel. I really encourage you to do everything you can to refuel yourself mentally, spiritually, physically, so you can pour from a full cup. You can pour again, and that's one of the things I'm doing is I'm taking a little pause so I can. I can just mentally refuel myself and come back stronger. So physically, how can you refuel yourself? Look at what you're eating. Look at how you're sleeping. Look at how you can move your body. Even if, like, I couldn't move, y'all. I could not move. Seriously, I couldn't move. But I could take deep breaths. So do everything you can to get stronger physically. Spiritually, I was praying and I had prayer warriors. And spiritually, sometimes I feel just spiritually lit up and closest to God when I go outside in nature. And mentally, how can you flip the script as soon as you feel any kind of negativity creep up? Well, I In your own mind, or you hear it, how can you flip it and turn it to a positive? I encourage you to listen to things that lift you up. This is your time while I'm on this break to go back to hundreds of episodes that I've recorded and catch up on things. Because let me tell you, I've had some real rock stars on the show. So refuel yourself. And get stronger mentally, physically, spiritually. And then finally, the last R is rebuild. It's never too late. It's— you're never too old. You're never too young. You're never too dumb. These are some of the things— well, except for the not, you know, too young part that I would tell myself. But one of the reasons I'm taking a pause is because I'm rebuilding and I want to bring this show back stronger. with more intentionality. And I'm rebuilding. And, you know, it wasn't long ago that I completely rebuilt— I rebuilt— rebuilt— I rebuilt my whole entire career. And so if you have a dream of rebuilding, I'm still carrying on with my Profit and Your Purpose coaching program. I wasn't planning on sharing this right here and right now, but We're talking about how to scale your business, how to level up. And that starts July 7th. And I'll put the link for that in the show notes for you. But I just really want you to take care of yourself mentally, physically, spiritually, and know that you can— you have the power to recognize and reframe and refuel and then rebuild. So I just want to say thank you. Thank you for listening. Thank you for showing up. Thank you for tuning in, for sharing episodes, for your, you know, sending me messages of encouragement. You've made this show what it is. I couldn't do it without you. It wouldn't be a top 1% podcast without you. And I promise this pause is only going to make it better. The joy through the journey does not stop here. I'll still be sharing on social media. I'll be writing and coaching and sending my newsletters out. I will be living the message. The podcast is going to be back in the fall with more truth, with more transformation, with more joy than ever before. And I would like to hear from you. Who are some guests that you would love to hear on the show? So please let me know. You can shoot me a DM on Instagram @AmberlyLagoMotivation or @TheAmberlyLagoShow. And so for now, I'm just— I'm going to rest. I'm going to heal. I'm going to dream. I'm going to get stronger. And I really hope you'll do the same in your own life. Take the pause if you need to, because if you're not, you know, you You're not falling behind. You're being prepared. I want you to remember that. You're not falling behind. You are being prepared. I love you and I'm cheering for you. And I'll see you back on the show this fall. And then before I go, if you still want to connect, grow, and be a part of something this powerful this summer, there are still some amazing opportunities to do just that. You know, I had my team tell me, I think you should go on a complete sabbatical. And I was like, oh, well, that's not going to happen. I have my mastermind ladies. I have events that I've committed to. I'm not going to do that. And so I will take a little short pause with the show, but I'm going to continue with my coaching and the mastermind and some of the events. So if you go to amberlylago.com/events, you can see if there's an event near you. I would love to see you hug your neck in the flesh. My Unstoppable Life Mastermind is still going strong and we are diving deep into purpose, branding, building influence. So if you've ever wanted to speak, write, or scale your mission, now's the time. Right now I have every single lady in my mastermind. That is either in the middle of writing their book, they're starting their book, or they're finishing their book. Christina Simmons, her book is coming out July 3rd. She listens to the show. Hey, Christina, I love you. Congratulations on your book. I was honored to write the foreword for her book. I'm also doing a special retreat at my home. It's a full day of strategy. It's connection. Branding, photo shoot, a whole lot of joy. So it's a day of hot seats and brainstorming and intense breakthroughs. And then we go have a day of fun, usually out on the lake. I like to rent a double-decker pontoon and we go have some fun. But I'll be speaking at a lot of events coming up. You can check out my website again at amberlylago.com/events. And again, if you want to really build your brand and turn Turn Your Purpose into a Profit. Go to the link in the show notes and you can find out all about the 3-month coaching program. There are a few spots open, but we start that July 7th. Thank you again for tuning in and thank you for being here. And please share the show, catch up on episodes. And I will see you soon.