What No One Tells You About Navigating Winter Seasons of Business | Living Room Session with Natalie Ellis and Lindsey Schwartz
11 Dec 2023 · 68 min
A live "Living Room" podcast recorded Dec 11, 2023 featuring Lori Harder with guests Natalie Ellis and Lindsey Schwartz about navigating "winter seasons" in business and life. The hosts use seasonal metaphor (winter = regeneration/hibernation; spring = planting; summer = shining; autumn = harvest) to frame discussions of burnout, pivots, boundary-setting, vulnerability, and community support. Key episodes: Lori describes a multi-year winter leading to a major business pivot (mentions being ~"a million dollars in" and 54 investors and having to choose to stop an alcohol product due to licensing/fingerprint constraints); Natalie describes moving from a long winter into spring/summer and a rapid somatic processing session (90 seconds to reach a root feeling) with a friend/coach; Lindsey discusses pruning, financial discomfort despite a successful launch, and the importance of support while transforming. They also discuss broader context: post-2020 economy shifts that change buyer behavior and require different messaging or guarantees. Practical takeaways include: protect your peace, prioritize buckets of attention, be transparent with trusted people, survey your audience, consider ROI-focused messaging in current economy, and allow winter to be regenerative rather than rushed.
Chapters
Is this really right? Or am I doing something because I'm under pressure or because I feel obligated? Is this truly right for me? Is this truly right for my community? Are my numbers actually really trying to show me something? And am I being stubborn because I think I just need to push, push, push through? Or could there be something else?
Hi, everybody. Hi.
So look how legit these are.
This is legit, guys.
I know. I feel really legit.
We've never had this before. I haven't.
I had it yesterday for the first time, and I was like, I'm a real podcaster now. Actually feel we've arrived. Yes. Yeah. Just saying.
This is so funny. It's like, just a room full of all of our friends.
So.
Hi, everyone who we're friends with. This is so fun. We were so excited to come to Austin. We actually had such a good time with Natalie at our event in Arizona that when we knew we were coming to Austin, Lindsay and I, to do podcasting, we're like, should we just honestly repeat it? Because that was the most fun podcast I think that we've gotten the chance to do so.
It really was. And I feel like we were dissecting it in the green room. We're just calling it the green room. I think what it was is, like, we all are just those type of people who are willing to just be super honest and raw and real, because I don't know about anyone else, but has anyone had, like, a year that has kind of put you through the ringer in one way or another? Okay, thank God.
I borrow your arm, too.
Thank God.
Hold the arms.
And we thought we would really unpack that tonight and talk about. About what it looks like in business to be in different seasons. Because the truth is, we're not supposed to be always on, always shining, always hustling, always having our moment in the spotlight. It's actually not sustainable. So for anyone who has felt like you've been maybe hibernating like a squirrel, you're stacking notes away. Troll mode.
Yes.
After the PowerhouseWomen event this year, we had this trending hashtag, Hashtag troll mode, which is. Let me just bring you up to speed on what that means. So I think I said from stage, I said, this looks really glamorous now, but wait until tomorrow. I will look like a troll who lives under a bridge and tells riddles. You know, it's, like, amazing how you can go from glam to troll mode real fast.
Troll mode's real important, though.
It's so important.
It's the only way we're here today.
So if tomorrow you're taking a troll mode day, you can tag us in that. But as we were kind of unpacking the seasons in business, it's so easy to parallel this with the seasons in life, right? In the season, I'm like, weather the seasons in weather and weather the seasons, the seasons of the year. Now I live in Phoenix, where there are actually not seasons.
There really are.
It's a time warp. But other places, there are seasons, and it's really purposeful.
Right?
So you have your summer that we just came out of. Summer is like that time you're shining, you're bright. But summer isn't always the time that you're harvesting. That comes. Comes later, right? That comes after you've shown up, you've shared your gifts, you're sharing your message. Autumn comes around, and then that's when we harvest right before we go into winter. And winter is that time of regeneration. It's a time of hibernation so that we can be ready to come back around in that spring season, plant seeds, and realize that there's a purpose for each season. And if we expect ourselves to be in one season all year round, it's not sustainable. I think that's where we find ourselves in burnout. And what can be tricky is that sometimes we're supposed to be in a winter season, but we're looking online at everyone who's in their summer or their spring and thinking that we need to be doing that too. So I feel like a great place to start could be just to share, maybe from like real life where we each are right now. If you were to give a season to it, or even if you want to give context to where you've been that has been brought you to where you are right now. Because I know for sure for all of us, we've been through all of them probably in the last. The last few months. So, Lori, do you want to start?
Sure. But first, this belt is ruining my life, so I need to.
I was thinking about that I might.
Let's just loosen things.
I really was like getting dizzy.
I think it's cutting off my blood supply. Okay, seasons.
Yes.
I feel so much better now.
If anybody else needs to do it.
Please, everybody, everybody loosen your belt. I just went with stretchy fabric from the get go.
You're so smart.
I planned well.
Okay, so the season that I'm in right now, I feel like I am going into a summer season.
Yeah, you are. Yes, I'm in summer.
Finally.
Do you mean you're glowing?
I'm glowing?
Like you're glowing.
But that is only, I think this is, this is probably the most excited, most energized, most fulfilled I've felt in a very long time. And I know that I can attribute that to a very long winter season. And there were points in this winter season where it's interesting because even in the worst winter, like I am from upper Michigan, you guys like record setting snowfall, like some of the worst winters in the U.S. but even in the winter season there, there were still really beautiful, bright, sunny days. And that really describes how winter feels sometimes, right? Like you're like, no, it's not so bad. I'm not crying today, cuz the sun's out. And then the next day you're like, why is it still here? Like I have three months left, right? That's what it feels like. And I just remember in season and I really think according to the pattern app, it was three years long, but it really honestly felt three years long. It felt like I was like shifting into a new place in my life and everything felt challenging, hard, like I didn't have the energy for it. Is anybody in that right now or has been in that where it's like you almost don't know if you're ever going to feel happy again, Like a true happiness. And so this conversation was so important for us tonight because of that, because when you're in it, you forget and you have to get really, really grateful for those sunny days and try to find them and also try to create them when you're in those winters. But because of that winter and because of that restoration that happens during winter, right, you look out and it's bleak and it's, it's gray, there's no color. But underneath it's actually a lot of rest and regeneration for those plants, for those trees, for all of those things so that they can come back in full bloom. And so I always think that like even when it's winter and you feel like nothing' happening, or you feel it's very bleak, there's so much happening and you have to trust it. It's just such a shedding process in order to come back a new version of you. Because we're never just like putting the new versions of us in my personal opinion, like over the top of it, it's like you are shedding the old version and you have to lose things and you have to kind of lose yourself in order to come back totally renewed. So I have definitely been in that winter season, now coming into summer, and I got really amazing answers from winter, but also asking really important questions in winter. You know, I think it wasn't until I started really asking those questions, like, is this really right, or am I doing something because I'm under pressure or because I feel obligated? Is this truly right for me? Is this truly right for my community? Are my numbers actually really trying to show me something? And am I being stubborn because I think I just need to push, push, push through? Or could there be something else? And there's that fine line, though, when you're in the winter season where it's like, giving up or quitting or pushing. And there's no clear answer to that. It's an everyday Q and A to yourself. So I can say that now I've come out on the other side after making some really tough decisions. That, you know, a question that I. I've used for people and that I use on myself, that I used during that season was, what am I pretending not to know? And that was a hard one for me. And I was like, I'm pretending not to know that this isn't going to work. And I was just in full denial of numbers, of what. What that could look like to launch, what my skill sets were even good at. I, like, could never see the path or the outcome. And that's a big sign, you guys, if after years, you just can't see the path or the outcome, clearly, there's reasons for that. It's because that's probably someone else's path. Like, you should have a general idea.
So.
So you were pretending not to know that the original product idea wasn't going to work.
Correct.
You were denying that. Denying, like, continuing to push through.
Yeah.
Because that's really important for people to know. If anyone isn't familiar with the story of why you get to proudly say that you're heading into summer, it came on the heels of making some really, really tough decisions that will definitely circle back to yes.
And thank you for translating, because I leave a lot out.
No, that was good. That was really good.
I speak cryptically, everybody.
Well.
And, you know, when you're with friends and you're getting to walk through these different seasons with them, it's important too, I think, for us to all anchor in with each other. Just like, when I look at the season that you're in right now, I want people to know just how much went in behind the scenes for you to have the summer and the amazing harvest that you're going to have. So we'll. We'll get into that a little bit more. But, Natalie, what about for you? Like, current season or even just what this year has been like for you?
I want to copy and paste so much of what you say. I feel like I'm in. I'm trying to think of. I feel like I'm in spring, moving into summer. Like, I'm really in the season where the momentum is behind me. And I was. I was having conversation my husband earlier, and I was saying to him, I feel like myself, period. Not like myself again. I feel like myself, period. Like the self I haven't been in a really long time, and almost like I feel more myself than I've ever been. And I would say the last. I don't know, two years have been so challenging. And I feel like it was winter with, like, the smallest summer, and then I'm back in. I'm back in. And every time I felt like I was finally getting my energy, my momentum, clarity back, I felt like I was pulled back under again. And it was almost like I was just drowning behind it, and I couldn't see another way forward. And I can say the last. How many months, six months at least, have just felt like every week gets better and better and better every single week. And the last couple of months have just been like, you know, when you put all the work in behind the scenes and you're. You're doing the work, but you're not seeing it, like, you're harvesting, but ain't anything harvesting, like, just dirt. So I was, like, just harvesting, and nothing was coming of it. And I feel like the last couple of months, actually, it's all started to come into bloom. And it feels so good to have trusted myself throughout this process because there's so many times that I was like, I don't know about this. Like, did I make the right decision? Like, have I just really myself over here? Like, what am I doing? And actually, I feel so happy right now, and I'm so excited about what I'm moving into, and it feels like that momentum is beginning again, and. Same thing. I just think it's so important to talk about it because it can feel like you're. You're like. But I'm in a harvest season, but there's literally nothing harvesting. And I think it's important to acknowledge that. And it can feel very wintry. It can feel really dark and hard and challenging. But you've got to keep harvesting it. You've got to keep going. If, you know, like, when when you knew you were, you made the decision to get on the path you're on now. Like, it still isn't an easy process. It's still not this linear process, but it feels different. Like someone asked me yesterday, how do you know when you're in alignment? Is it when everything flows and is easy? And I'm like, no. Like, it's not. Like something worth having is not always easy. But you know, you feel it deep down in your heart and your soul and your bones that it's the right decision. And it's very easy to know that. Whereas when you're doing something that feels very, very challenging and you know, it's like, what's the thing? I'm afraid to admit out loud, it's like, this isn't meant for me. This isn't right for me. And there's a difference. And we all know there's like no guru that can tell us the answer to that. And it feels really good that even during all those, all that harvesting of nothing, I knew deep down I was doing the right thing. Like, no matter what my, like ego, mind and self doubt and everything was saying, I knew deep down I was doing the right thing. So, yeah, I'm come. I would say spring, summer, like that new collection.
Yes.
Is coming.
That new bag. Yes.
That's how I feel. And I feel so excited about it, which also seems so interesting. Moving into an actual winter.
Isn't that funny?
I don't think I'm resting that much.
It's your own personal summer.
Yeah, it's my own personal one.
It feels really good just outside in the snow, in a bikini.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
I want that content.
Yeah.
That's what I want for it.
Okay. Okay.
Interesting. As I'm listening to both of you talk about this and I think what you said, Natalie, is so good because I think to the outside world it probably looks very much like I'm either in summer or autumn. Our big event is in August. We have our big launch. We had our biggest launch ever. Like, blew our numbers out of the water. And personally, I'm in very deep in winter. I'm very deep in a transformation journey where I can't. I can actually, I can keep going the way that I've been going, but I also was getting to the point where I'm frustrated that things aren't moving the way that I feel they're supposed to be because I was ignoring the personal transformation that I think I just, I could tell I needed to go through, but I didn't know what it was yet. So it took coming out of that busy active season. So you can still, I love how you acknowledge you can still be producing, you can still be harvesting. It doesn't mean necessarily that you actually go into hibernation and hide. Because I still have bills to pay.
Exactly.
But even on that side, I had the best launch ever and I feel the most financially unstable that I've ever felt. We took some huge risks this year and pushed ourselves to the limit. And I think they're smart risks. But most entrepreneurs don't want to tell you that they have smaller growth this year than they had the year before. You know, we made some really bold decisions. I was telling the girls in the back when we were prepping. I've also been in a pruning season.
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I have known nothing about gardening. We actually talked about this on the.
Last podcast we did together about trimming bushes.
So I've been trimming bushes, but pruning and getting so much intuition. So many intuitive nudges to cut back on things. Things that on paper look like they're going really well and that feels scary. Especially when now I have a team to support and I'm financially supporting my household right now as my husband launches a business. So I just want to be really honest about like what this season looks like because this will be the catalyst for whatever summer or spring, whatever else is my bikini season that's coming afterward. But right now I am the most uncomfortable I've ever been financially, physically. I feel like I've been dealing with some really deep negative self talk that almost had to come to the surface so I could see how much energy I was wasting by just allowing that to go on in the background. And I'm just really proud to of myself for being willing to sit in this season because it's been really uncomfortable and how cool is it? I think the thing that keeps me going is having People who are in other seasons, because it reminds me of what's on the other side. And just. I mean, Lori and I had so many of those conversations while you were going through your journey too, of just what it. What it takes to support yourself. So maybe let's talk about that in your seasons that have felt wintry, it felt a little brisk. What does it look like to support yourself in those seasons?
Oh, God, it's always going to look different because it's. It's so unique to you in whatever time you're going through or if you're a mom or if you need more space, if you need more rest. For me, it was kind of a. I mean, a lot of times I just would black out, really. I'm trying to think some days when you're just. You don't even have any energy to take care of yourself. And it just. I got into a really bad cycle of not taking care of myself. And now I think I'm learning to be. The last year of like, that winter season is when I became really aware of, whoa, girl, like, no one is coming to save you and no one's coming to take care of you. And so I just observed how much started slipping in my life and how much joy I was like, leaving on the table. I have a great life. I have an incredible husband. And I know that if I'm not taking care of myself, I can't even be present for the things that I have that are great in my life. So now, you know, I've always had decent practices throughout, you know, the last 15 years. But I'll say that just different things like eating well for the day so that I feel good, so that my mood is good, that really slipped. I was drinking way too much wine because I was depressed and I was anxious. And that started a cycle of like, drinking more wine, which caused me to wake up every single night in the middle of the night. And so that was one of the things that I had to, like, put an end to pretty quickly. Is just like Monday through Friday, I have to take care of myself and not have wine and eat something better for myself because my anxiety flares up around food and. And alcohol. Anybody else, like, if you're in an anxious time in your life, you add that and it is pure gasoline on the fire. And so I had to have an honest conversation with myself. Yeah, I can't tell you how many nights I Woke up at 2am after having even just one glass of wine. But when you're in it, it's like, you really got to kind of watch the whole thing where I was like, how long are you willing to tolerate sabotaging yourself? I set it for like a year in the middle of the night. And I was like, how much longer are you going to do this? How much longer are you going to be sick and tired of making yourself feel horrible and be anxious and feel super depressed and like, you can't handle what you're doing? And I think that it took a couple things because I couldn't. It's like I couldn't stop the cycle. It actually took doing different things. It took looking at the things in my life that weren't aligned and going, I think these simultaneously have to go while I try to fix this. Because it was like, yeah, I could try to stop drinking wine, but then I go do the things that aren't aligned and that I hate. And it's just going to make. Drive me back to the wine and the bad food. So it, it really is. It's a pruning. When you want to be in bikini season, you have to trim. So I was like pruning it all back of what it was not serving me anymore. And to be really honest, like, even who wasn't serving me? Like, I had some family members that I was like, I have to watch, I have to set some more boundaries and I have to figure this out and some friends. And I needed to be around people who were just at a higher energy at that point. So even if I loved other people, I didn't have the energy to pull people up. So I had to get really selfish. So it may have looked, I'm sure it looked selfish to some, some people at a certain point, but, man, you gotta go do that and cut people off who are draining you at that point so that you can go be strong again. It's like you have to go away to go recharge and be strong again.
That's so true. It's like every area of our life, our relationships, our health and wellness, all of it plays in for you. When you've been in winters, what has supported you not. It's like, we don't wanna rush through it. That's not the point. The point isn't to rush through it to the other side.
Why can't we have it faster?
I hate it.
I had a guest on my podcast yesterday who actually summed it up in such a perfect way. And she was talking about how she would gaslight herself. And I really recognized that and realized whenever I am in that season or have been in that season, whenever I gaslight myself, the problem gets worse. So feelings like, for me, I'm a doer. I like to get up in the morning and just get going. And I'll do way more when I'm in a winter season, when I feel anxious, when things aren't going to plan. My solution is like, well, if I do more, you know, if I just keep busy, I'll get through it. And I think the gaslighting myself would come from telling myself that I was feeling fine when I actually wasn't, and just kind of powering through it and just saying, you know, it's just another week. It's just going to be this. It's just going to be that. And the thing that helped me the most, I mean, through my winter season, the thing that helped me the most was protecting my peace beyond anything else. And so one thing that really came clear to me is we have so many buckets in our lives, and we cannot expect to pour into every single one of them at all times. Otherwise, we're not only setting ourselves up to fail, but we're setting other people up to be let down by us. And I remember having a conversation with a friend. It was early this year, and she'd asked me to be an affiliate for her launch. And I just. I felt bad saying no. So I was like, yeah, sure. And I knew I had no business saying yes. I had no capacity even to take care of my own business, never mind to be supporting anyone else. And that was no reflection on how I felt about her. I just didn't. And I said yes because I thought, well, I'm a friend. I should do it. And ultimately, I couldn't fulfill on that. I was exhausted. I didn't have the time, space. I knew it wasn't the right thing to be doing. And I felt so bad about saying yes and then rescinding it. I ended up shooting her a quick voice note, being like, I really can't support you. I'm just. I'm not feeling like I have capacity for it. And she called me, and she just called me out, and she was like, you should never have said yes if you knew you couldn't have done it, because all you're doing is setting yourself up to feel really down and like a failure. And you're setting me up to be let down. And she just called me forward in that moment. We had such a. A beautiful conversation around it because I just broke down and she was like, thank you for finally letting me see you. Because by you just saying yes and carrying on with it. I don't know what you're going through, but on that conversation, I just let it rip and I just told her all the things that were going on for me. And firstly, it brought us closer. And I think having those friends is incredibly important. You want to have friends that, that stand for themselves and they don't make it about you. She didn't make it about me being a bad person. She didn't make it about me being in the wrong. She about, hey, probably shouldn't have done that. And let's have a conversation about it. Let's use this as an opportunity to grow closer. And so more of those friendships that feel safe during those seasons that you can really have those conversations with and not gaslighting yourself. Because I was just telling myself I was okay, therefore telling others around me I was okay, and I just wasn't. And so a lot of that. And when I'm being honest with myself, I'm more honest about what I can give attention to and what I can't. I think when you do acknowledge that, like, okay, right now is a season of work and being a wife and motherhood, and that's kind of where I'm pouring all my energy right now. And that might mean. It doesn't mean that I'm disregarding my friends, but it might mean I'm saying no to more things. It might mean that I'm saying no to kind of the business things that aren't moving the needle. I'm not going to speak at that event. I'm not going to go on that person's podcast. I'm not going to be an affiliate for that person. Like, that's just not serving me or where I'm at right now. I might not be flying home to visit family as much, whatever it is. If you can acknowledge that and actually be intentional about the buckets you are filling, I think you feel less guilt because when you feel like you have these competing desires, like, okay, I really want to be the best mother and wife and business owner, and at the same time, I want to be the best friend and sister and I want to be the best co worker and all the things, you feel all that guilt. Whereas if you're like, right now in the season, this is the thing I'm focused on, and this is what I'm not focused on, that guilt goes away because you're not telling yourself you should be doing anything different to what you're currently doing. And so not saying, I've got it Down. I have definitely not perfected this, but I'm now getting in the awareness of it where I can catch myself in that guilt, in that spiral. I even reached out to friends a couple of weeks ago and I was like, I feel like a really shit friend right now. And then I was. And then as soon as I did that, firstly, I just loved that I did it because I think it brought us all closer to have that conversation. But then secondly, it showed me, ah, that's because I am. I'm not investing there because I feel really stretched, but I'm telling myself I should be. So how can I figure this out? So that's been really helpful for me because the less I feel conflicted inside to the happy I am, the happier I am, and the more that is reflected and I think helps you get through those seasons in a way that feels better.
Yeah, that's such permission for me. Even in the last week, I was telling Lori that I feel like I've been pushed to a limit of looking at some things that either are going to shift or I'm just gonna break under the weight of this pressure I'm putting on myself. And I was at this event over the weekend, and there was. I was sitting next to a friend, and she was showing up in the ways she always would. And just like, how are you? How's, like, Elliot's business going? And I felt myself. It was. Have you ever had that moment where you feel something screaming on the inside like, I'm not fucking good. Okay.
I'm not okay. I'm not okay.
And then I felt myself going. Now, I don't actually know that that was the right time or place to have the conversation that I really wanted to have, but it was like I could hear myself not allowing someone to support me. I could feel myself not wanting to be not okay, especially. And normally I would just cancel on the event. But I was, like, committed to going to this event and then thought I had to show up as my summer Lindsay when that day especially just was not how I was feeling. And afterward, even just in the last couple of days, everything you're saying, like, noticing that I'm just craving sharing with people close to me so that they know just even how I'm feeling. And I was talking with my mentor right now, and she said, well, what's the resistance to that? Does anyone else find yourself resistant to, like, you don't really want to talk about it when you're not okay? Because most of us are used to being okay, and we're Used to being really on fire and productive. And immediately I was like, I don't want someone to try and fix it. And I just realized, like, I'm not even allowing myself to be supported because I'm not putting boundaries around how I'm having that conversation, because I have girlfriends. They're sitting right in this room who I can say, I just want to share where I'm at. And I actually don't want any advice right now. I just want space, holding. And so doing that, even over the last couple of days, felt so nurturing, so supportive, because that was the piece that I wasn't doing. And right now, I'm in a season where I kept saying, I feel like I'm just holding so much. I'm holding it together for my husband, who's feeling, like, super vulnerable, and he's launching a new business, and he's stretching himself. So I. I felt like I had to be strong for him when that is not even, like, the dynamic that works for us. He's so supportive of me when I wasn't even letting him. So for anyone who finds themselves in a wintry season, you're, like, hunkered down under the blanket with some hot cocoa in your. You know, you just need to really nurture your soul. My tendency in winter is to want to hibernate alone, and it's so lonely. And that's not actually what I need. I need, like, a buddy in the. The bear den with me.
Are you. She was looking at me. Because we're staying together.
Yes.
So is this an invitation?
Invitation for tonight.
I was actually gonna text you. I took a nap right before this, and the beds are super comfortable.
You wanted me to sleep, so if.
Yours isn't comfortable, you can. Yeah, we can spoon also.
Do you or do you not want advice tonight?
No.
Okay.
You have to know.
It depends.
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What I think is great, though, is often a lot of people are in it with us, and we have no idea because we're not even willing to open up. Like, I remember texting that to my friendship group. And, you know, you're not going to kind of win, so you're like, oh, I'm just gonna say it anyway. And I'm, like, feeling like a mess, and no one tried to fix it. In fact, it was just like, so many echoes of, oh, my God. I've been feeling the same way. Me too. Me too. And it was. None of us had the solution, but it was just like, it sometimes just takes one person to just say exactly how they're feeling, and then everyone else might feel comfortable saying the same thing. Because I think as strong women, you attract strong women. And we're so used to being strong that often we forget that there's another way. And especially in female friendships. The thing I love about female friendships, I love our men. They're incredible. But they do love fixing things. They just gotta fix everything. Whereas I think female friendships, when you have those really safe female friendships, they're so good at just listening and just offering a hug or something like that. And it's. It's really nice to have that. And I found for myself, because I. Being vulnerable in my friendships just didn't come very naturally to me. Like, same thing. I'm very much like a lone wolf often, like, I like to just deal with things. And then I present, oh, here's what's been happening. And people are like, wait, what? Yeah, like, when it's got, like, a neat, tidy bow on it. And that's just. That's just me as a processor. Yeah. But my work has been opening up and sharing. Hey, I don't really want advice. I like to process on my own. But I also do want to let you know where I'm at and just. I think it just allows people to love you even more.
Yeah.
Because they see more of you and they're like, oh, my God, I love you even more for sharing this. And I know for me, whenever any of my friends vulnerably share where they're. I feel like my heart just expands to them even more. And I'm like, I didn't know I could love you more. And I do. And like. And it's so nice to just see other people's humanness and reminder that, oh, God, we really are just like trying our best out here.
Especially in this space, I think especially in this world of entrepreneurship. How many of you in the room are entrepreneurs? Pretty much everybody. I kind of figured.
Great.
Or work for entrepreneurs or. Yes. You know, it's. We were talking in the. I want to say backstage. Backstage.
Make it sound bigger for that listener.
Yeah, let's call it backstage because everyone. Listener.
Thousands of people in here.
The crowd goes wild.
We're in a. We're literally like thousands.
Are they chanting our names?
Yeah, they were.
They can add that in post production.
Thank you.
But we were talking and now I forgot what we were talking about backstage. It'll come back. It'll come back. But I think the industry that we're in. The industry that we're in and feeling. Thank you. Feeling like this. This feeling like we can't be honest or even acknowledge even just like the state of the economy or when things feel tougher because it starts to feel like. Is that me admitting that maybe my stuff isn't great? Especially if you coach other people or. Natalie, you were saying that just about how it is a different economy. It's a different economy now. So if your business feels different now or if you are having trouble getting traction in the same ways that you used to, we quite literally in the last three years have gone through several lifetimes. And in every business that I'm in, we own real estate. In our real estate business, everything has changed. So why would I think it's any different for my. My other businesses? That everything that worked three years ago doesn't necessarily work right now. And it doesn't mean that I suck, but it does mean that we have to think differently. So do you want to speak to that a little bit?
Yeah. I was sharing Covid 2020. For a lot of us who are in the service based online industry, our businesses were booming. And there's so many reasons behind that. There was all these stimulus checks. People who had previously seen spent a lot of money on commuting, ordering lunch outside the home, a lot of coffees, all those things that was adding up. And people had a lot more money to spend and they were investing in making themselves better. We were seeing the memes go around all of 2020. I'm using this time to make myself better. Look at who I'll be when I reemerge from this. We all had that mindset. And so we saw like the online space, online education space, boom. Like, bigger launches than we could ever have imagined. When a lot of us went into 2020, kind of like, holy shit, what does this mean for our businesses? Actually, for a lot of people, it was the biggest year for them in business. And now we're in a completely different place. And it's not to say people aren't having big launches. I saw someone have the biggest launch of their career a couple of months ago, but there was ROI directly tied to what they were selling. And it was very different to what people were buying in 2020, where in 2020 people might have been investing to make themselves better. Right now, a lot of people are investing to change their circumstance, to get a direct roi. And I posted about this on my Stories a few weeks ago. Someone had asked me that in a question box of do you think the economy has changed? And I openly said it absolutely has. I've seen it in my business. I know every one of my peers has seen it in their businesses. Why are people not talking about it? And my DMs blew up with people saying, thank you for actually acknowledging this. I thought there was something wrong with me or my business. And what I honestly think, and I'm just gonna say it, I feel like a lot of people in this industry are scared to say it because they think it reflects it effects on them. Their business coaching, their courses, their programs. They think, oh, if I go and acknowledge that the economy has changed, it means my mindset work's not working. It means my social strategy is not working. That's what they believe. And I understand it. I. I'm not judging that. And we do need people to come out and say, the economy has shifted. We are not in a great place economically. There is so much instability happening in our country and across the entire world. And to not acknowledge that, I honestly think we're doing our students, our community, our friends, our peers a massive disservice because we're having them live up to this invisible standard that people are not hitting behind the scenes. And everyone is reworking their sales pages, their email funnels, they're reworking everything to come from a different angle, to directly talk about the roi, to give those money back, guarantees that they never had to give, to take something that was intangible and turn it tangible. And so if you have been wondering, is it just me no, it's not. And do I think you need to change things up if it's not working? Absolutely. Because we don't know how long this is going to last. We knew in 2020, all the stimulus checks, we knew all of this was going to hit. We thought it would have hit in 2020, 2021. It hasn't. It's hitting now and we just need some people to come out there and admit it and then we can all take a big deep breath and say, ah, there's really nothing wrong with me.
Right.
I mean, other things are very easy. We want to share it.
And I don't want to like shit on everyone's parade and say that it's going to be bad. I just want to say it might be time just to look at your email funnel in a different way. It might be time to message that product in a different way. It might be time to add that one bonus or that guarantee that you hadn't done it or had to do in the past. And that doesn't reflect badly on you as an entrepreneur, as a coach, as, you know, an owner of one of these businesses. It literally just is that's what your community needs right now. And maybe they would, maybe, you know, your program works in this economy, great. But that person might feel a little bit more comfortable investing in something that has a bit of a cushion for them, that if it isn't working or it's not for them, they can get a refund like and that's something we can all add and watch our conversion rates go up. And I just want to have more conversation about it.
It and I that's so important. Especially if any of you listening are newer entrepreneurs where maybe your business launched around the time where things were really great. You haven't gone through a business winter. It's just expected.
Yeah.
What were you going to say, Lori?
That just this is, this is such a beautiful moment in time to be learning again. And if you guys have been in this long enough, you know that this is, this is going to continue to happen and that money is still out there, it's just going somewhere else. And you just have to shift your energy as you watch people's buying habits change as well. So of course during COVID it was like obviously online things were going crazy. People wanted to be in these zoom groups, coaching, all of that. And now you're seeing a huge draw towards more in person and different people's in person events are selling out more. So it's constantly flexing and seeing where people are going. But I also think, you know, something you do so well is also survey people and just really like, like seeing what's going on with your community. And that's been something I've been guilty of in the past, is just kind of guessing and thinking I know what they're feeling and what's going on. But, you know, you guys, even just from someone who has grown up in the Midwest to moving to California, you don't know what the hell people are thinking.
Trust me.
Like, you can think, you know, but you, you're in a bubble. You get in a bubble no matter what. So it's such a great lesson in just always remembering that this is coming and you should always be nimble. And even when you're, you know, so many people were flying super high even in, you know, my husband's raising money right now, and there's a couple big companies that we are invested who were crushing it for a while and they're still doing great, but they're trying to raise money and it's just not going as well. And they're afraid to talk about it because it makes people. There is a real thing about it. It's hard because you don't just want to be online going, oh, I lost this money, or whatever this looks like, because at the same time, you can't get people invested in you when you're saying, hey, I've lost money, or whatever this looks like. So it's a really fine dance to almost have these containers where, you know, you should be speaking to the people, but you're also maybe actively showing like, hey, and this is what we're doing. So I think that is something that's really powerful for your communities is be real, but show what you're going to do. Like show them the way. Pave the way. I don't know if this is going to work, but here's what we're going to try next. We're going to go here, we're going to go there, we're going to go everywhere. I feel like I need to complete that.
We're in Dr. Seuss Green Eggs and ham.
But I think that that is, like, so powerful to hear. I know that there has been so many times where one really big thing for me that I would, I would love to hear from you guys too, is I used to always compare myself to, as an entrepreneur to other people's numbers. I had no idea that they were paying JVs and affiliates. I had no idea that they were buying ads. So I would just hear that someone did a seven figure launch. And I would figure, because we were just working off of our team and no one else, I would assume they were just taking all of that money home. And so it was under their mattress. Yes, they did just pile it under their mattress and sleep on it, roll around in it naked with honey on or something. But that was the most empowering thing, is when we get in rooms like this and when you speak transparently with each other, you know, even talking about, what are you making, how did that launch do, where did that money go? Because otherwise we don't know. We literally don't know. So if you don't have the mastermind, if you don't have, you know, that particular room, you should create it, like even in a group of three or four people.
And not just share launch numbers, but share profit, share what, what was invested into it in order to hit those numbers.
Yeah, yeah.
There's just so much space for transparency there. I would actually love to talk a little bit about your pivot if we could.
Yeah, let's do it. Because I finally can. Please, let's talk all day.
We're out.
Yeah, we're out.
And knowing what it looked like a little bit behind the scenes, I mean, you had to quite literally kill something that you had poured two years of your life into building and not just come up with a new idea. But I know we're going to record a podcast about this too. We can just share the story everywhere, like, even down to the name. You had, like a week to come up with a new name. There were some crazy pivots behind the scenes. So I want you to take us back to that moment and you spoke to it where you had to answer the question, what am I pretending not to know? What was your experience in that moment that you said, I can't pretend anymore that this is going to work? The original idea.
Oh, well, you know, when you invest a lot of time and money into something. I can't remember the name of it.
But there's an actual cost fallacy.
Yes. Say it again.
Sunk cost fallacy.
Sunk cost fallacy. I didn't realize I was so in that, but I was, you know, I was a million dollars in. I was 54 women in. 54. Not just. Not just women who. I was like, hey, I don't really know you. I knew them and looked up. Up to them, or still do. And so it just. I was mounting this pressure on myself because in the beginning I wasn't. I wasn't sharing. So there was just I wasn't really sharing with friends because I wanted to appear stronger because you want people to get on board. It's very challenging. I'm telling you. I'm telling you, it is a challenging dance that is like, appear strong. Make this look amazing. Make it, you know, look like the greatest thing. So people want to be involved and on the backside you're crumbling and you need to tell people that you are so that you can be stronger and actually appear strong again. So it was like, I've never been in that. Like, that I've always been really willing to share and be vulnerable. But I find, like, even it's funny because in the beginning, like, even one of my best friends was the biggest and first investor. And I was like, I kind of feel like I shouldn't tell her this. So then you're really stressed out. And I am a person who, I want to prove a point. I was like, I want to prove that I can do this, that I can bring this forward. This is a very male dominated industry. Everyone is telling me that I can't do this. And I'm like, do you know who I am? I can totally do this.
She's like taking off her earrings.
I was like, all right, because I just got fueled by that. But the more and more that started to get unveiled to me and the more people that I would meet and the more honest conversations I would have, I couldn't deny that these are very smart people who I then allowed to look inside of the business who were then saying, here are your two options. And I also had a couple things happen where I actually couldn't go on. Because in order to get our license, our alcohol license, they wanted fingerprints of all of our 54 investors. And I was like, so they just gave their Social Security, which they, like, didn't want to do at all. And now you want their fingerprints because some are celebrities, so they're not going to do that. Like, they weren't going to do it. I already had people telling me they weren't going to do it. And so you're like, if. If they're not willing to cooperate, I actually can't go on. So it was a really interesting place for me of the numbers not lying and having someone deep in the alcohol industry who's actually an alcohol expert who helps all of the celebrities get their alcohol out.
I'm like, how do you become an alcohol expert? That sounds like.
I thought I was, but I guess she really was. I was like, oh, yeah, let's try this drinking. Okay, so she Literally said, here's your two options. You can either go raise $10 million and maybe never be profitable until you're bought. Can you imagine that feeling? Maybe never be profitable. Just keep raising, hoping that you get bought. Like that just. That literally gave me a heart attack just thinking about it. Or she was like, or you can pivot. And I was like, I could what? And so I'd already started thinking of another idea for this product, because as I was looking at the numbers, I learned really quickly, I need another way to bring money in. So I was thinking of. I've always loved hydration. Always, always loved hydration packets. Like, the whole idea around it, always trying to drink more water, because it just makes me feel so much better. And obviously, we know we're also very motivated by our skin and all of the things that it does that. I had already had this idea of this hydration packet with benefits to it that was going to be an upsell for the alcohol. So it was kind of already in the back of my mind as like, well, I need to get money through.
The door if this alcohol is just.
Going to be operating in the red. Like, what does this look like? And so when that time came where literally I had gotten the answer of, hey, we need these fingerprints. And this woman had just come and visited me and kind of looked at my. My numbers in the business, and it all just came to, like, one weekend that Monday that Lauren had called me, my chief of staff, and she said, you know, we're gonna need fingerprints or we can't go on. And I said, then we can't go on. And I. I literally heard it and couldn't believe it came out of my mouth. And I was like, I literally can't believe I'm doing this. Because all I could think about was 54 women and all of their husbands being like. I knew that was a bad investment. That's, like, what I would play in my head over and over. And so I didn't have an option, though I knew I had a lot of money left for this, especially for this type of company, that it wouldn't take as much money to get it off the ground. And so I knew it was my duty, literally, to pivot and to bring a product that had the same exact energy and same exact message, like, what I originally wanted to the world. And all of a sudden, we were all kind of coming, like, it was that butterfly season out of COVID where everyone's like, okay, I think we're back, you know, a year later, after Covet Everyone starts feeling like they're back, and I'm like, nobody really wants to be drinking anymore, let alone promoting it. Like, we all just want to feel better. And so it just. The alcohol thing wasn't feeling aligned. This felt so much better. But how did it feel? It was freaking dark. I. I'm not gonna lie. I've had these conversations with people. I was like, if something happened to me or if this airplane crashed, I would be relieved. Like, I literally had really desperate thoughts of, like, I just don't want to wake up. I don't know how to drag myself out of bed. I feel like I failed everyone. I'll never come back from this. It was really bad. It was really bad.
Can I share the conversation? The Napa.
Yes.
So I remember I didn't really know what was going on. And, I mean, I knew it wasn't going the way you were hoping it was going, but I. I didn't know to the depth of what was going on. And we were all together in Napa, and you just were really honest, and you were just very honest about. I'm struggling. And the thing I'm struggling the most with is I'm going to let you all down. And I remember in that moment just being so grateful that you were being honest about that, because that was such an opportunity for me. And I knew I was speaking on behalf of every single woman to say we didn't give a shit about the money from the beginning. We were investing in you. And I really love that you just had the guts to say it so that people could just love on you and share with you how they were really feeling. Because I feel like kind of goes back to what we were saying earlier, too, is people really just want to know, like, how can I be there and support you? And I feel like that was such a moment for you where you're like, you know what? I'm not going to hide this anymore. Here's where I'm at. That. Here's all the things that I feel about myself and just have it. And that was really powerful.
Thank you for that. And, like, if I. If I can say one thing to that point, is I couldn't free myself until I spoke it into a room of people that I knew. Like, it could have gone either way. But, like, I. You have to speak it into a room of people who, you know, could be on a similar journey or are on a similar journey. And until you do that, you will be a prisoner in your own life.
Life.
And so doing that in a Room full of, like, my biggest mentors. I just, like, broke down. But you know what? After that, Natalie, I was free. Like, I was totally free. And that was. I'm like, okay, so whose opinions really matter? I think that's what we need to think about in the winter season is, like, whose opinions really matter? Who do I need to go speak this to? Whose help do I need? And if you have their backing, like, really, it could be three people, it could be five people. You will find the energy and courage to get through all of it. And that's all I. For me, that's all it takes. Like, when you say the friends list, which, by the way, I'm so upset I'm not on your shitty text list of texting me all your I want, I want.
I know. How do we get the invite to that?
I can add you into the shit list right now. It's all mums because. Okay, we're just sharing all the.
We need. We need to be prepared for that season. So did you win?
Don't worry about it.
On a separate one, actually, it's fine.
You'll ask to unsubscribe very soon. I, I assure you. But we'll. We'll give it a shot. But I love what you said then. All the mums are like, there's pictures.
Of poop and squirting milk everywhere.
Oh, yeah, the poo is everywhere. But what you said there was. It comes back to that. Not gaslighting yourself, like, telling yourself, if I speak this out into this room, people are going to think X, Y, Z of me. To actually speak it out and be free, like, that is so powerful. To just be so honest with yourself that you're, you're like, I, I. At this point, if I'm not honest with myself, none of it matters. So I'm going to be so honest in a room of people that I feel like, could walk away and judge me. I could say anything, or it could go a different way, but at least I was honest.
Yeah, it's so true.
You.
You get to a place. I think we've all been into this place recently, actually, for all of us, which is kind of cool. You get so sick of not feeling like yourself. You get so sick of, like, living this, like, altered personality, or you get sick of your own shit. That's what I'm looking for. You really are, like, you're. You're over it. You're like, how. It's that same thing. How long am I going to tolerate, like, me tormenting myself because it's like, we have this awareness that it's really just us and we have the ability to free ourselves. Like, when you're in that conversation, for you guys, I would love to hear, like, what are those moments where you know that you're. Do you know you're doing it to yourself in the moment? Like, what is that conversation? Like?
I would love to say that I know, but I think I'm also really good at gaslighting myself. I feel like it's. I've been on a journey this year of going from what I know in my head to, like, feeling it in the cells of my body. Because I think there's a lot that I've known for my entire journey. I'm very personally developed. Does anyone else? You're like, but I've read all the books on forgiveness and I've read all the books on. But I don't think I. I had a practice for getting it from my head down into my literal selves. So that's just taken a lot of slowing down. It's taken a lot of time to acknowledge what are the beliefs that I'm keeping in place? And why am I fighting for those limitations? Why am I fighting for that version of myself that feels safe but also shitty at the same time? And taking the time to acknowledge, like, when I know it up here in my head, but I don't practice it, I don't feel it. I haven't embodied it yet. Because I want to just believe that when I know it logically, because I read it probably on an Instagram quote, where all good things come from, I'm like, double tap. Maybe I'll even share it. Like, I've got that, but I don't have. I have not got. I don't have. Don't got that. How do you say that? Don't got it. And that's why this. This is more of a winter season. It's been a season of slowing down. It's been a season of pausing and trusting. That stillness isn't the same as laziness. It's actually the best thing I can do for my community. It's the best thing I can do for my business is to just be in, like, marinating in sometimes the harder moments mentally, until I can get the lessons that I might know. And I just want to bypass. I want to just action my way through them, get them down into, like, the physical level where I own them. And that's been just quite honestly, a super, super messy process.
Yes.
You just made me really think about like, when we're resting, we all secretly are like, this resting is so productive. I know I'm gonna get something from it. And then you're like, why is it still so, like, empty space? But you are like, I think you have to rest easy knowing it is productive even when nothing happens. Because I remember the year that we had, like, started hanging out, and I was in my year of just like, I don't know, I need some space. And I was like, feeling like I was productively resting. And every day I was like, well, I'm cutting things out. I'm doing less that I can get more answers. I just wanted. I didn't know what was next. So I was leaving room for what was next. I was trying to rush the space. I was like, okay, I've had like three weeks. And then it was, okay, I've had six months. Where's my next big thing? Like, okay, God, where's my next big thing? Like, let it land any day now. And it felt like nothing was going on. But so much goes on. Like, in nothing, so much goes on. And you just have to trust that and you actually have to, like, savor it and enjoy it. And I think be in those spaces where it's like, nothing is actually happening, and that's okay. And it's important for your brain. It's important for your well being.
Okay. So I'm kind of thinking of that reel that we were looking at again in backstage. Backstage before we came out to our stage of classes.
We should sell backstage passes. They'd be so disappointed.
So what do we do now? Eating steak with a. With a spoon and a fork.
Not effective, but that's all, you know.
It wasn't effective, and I didn't want to bite it because then I was like, I'm gonna come out with steak in my teeth. So that's why.
That's how glamorous.
VIP pass. Yes.
Like a spork.
Yeah.
But there was this reel that was circulating, so obviously if it's on Instagram, it's the truth. This is a true story about these redwood trees that were injected with a chemical that's very much like adrenaline. And they were injected with it so that they wouldn't go into hibernation. But what happened is these beautiful trees, Redwoods are the ones that you can, like, drive a car through. They're huge. They're big, they're strong. They survive for hundreds of years. They died within a year because they never had a chance to winter. And Again, this is 100% factual because it was on the Internet. And whether or not it was, I think that's such a parallel because you're speaking to it. There's such a tendency to want to rush through a winter. But are we. And this is actually the question that I've been asking myself. Am I unintentionally lengthening it by avoiding the lesson that winter is inviting me into? By avoiding the feelings and the emotions that might feel scary to go and touch because I haven't allowed myself to go there, because I've been so on, because it's just so easy to always be on. But are those actually the emotions that are blocking me from the next level of impact that I know I really want to make? So maybe just to kind of tie this together, what's one of the bigger gifts, gifts that a winter season has given you?
You just made me think, like, I've never heard a good album from a happy person, like, ever. Like the best songs, like Taylor Swift always comes out with good ones after she just went through some shit. Like you have to go through that to get some good stuff.
So what was the question?
What's the name of your next rap album now? What's a gift? What's one of the biggest gifts that a winter season has given you?
You myself, I have never felt, like you said, more myself ever. I have never felt more clear. I've never felt more sure footed. I've never felt more ease to say no and more ease to say yes. I am so proud of the woman that I have become because she has endured a battle that I never thought I would have ever gotten through. I really love me right now because of it.
I can't wait for that album. I really can't.
I should have written it during the pain.
That's the problem. I can still access one. Natalie, what about you?
Similar. I feel like in my most recent season of winter, which I will say is probably one of the hardest that I've ever been through, I prolonged it by resisting so many of the things that I already knew were true in myself. And by resisting it, I just kept putting it off and making it bigger and harder and scarier. And there was a point during this whole time that I became so like, I was talking about prioritizing my peace. I became so at peace with all of the things I was afraid of. So I became so at peace with the idea of walking away from a business that I'd spelled, spent six years building a business that I tied my name to that I really identified myself with walking away from relationships that were some of the deepest relationships in my entire life. Walking away from a version of me that's the only version I've ever known to be safe. The version of me that's constantly achieving, that's the safe version of me. There was so. And I could go on a long list of all the things that I faced off with. And I got to a point of asking myself, well, who am I without all of these things? And would I still be okay? Would it still be safe? And I stopped resisting it and I became at peace with all of it. And I became at peace with whatever unfolds next is meant for me. And I'm fine with any single path. And I truly meant it. I wasn't just saying it. It wasn't like, oh, this is a negotiation or this is xyz. I truly meant it. Whatever is meant to be, I am going to be okay with. And there was points I was like, would I be okay with being a full time mother? And that made me face off with so many parts of myself that had my worth tied to my achievements and how much I was earning. And would I still be invited in those rooms? Would I still have those friends? I mean, I faced off with it all and I came to such peace with, yes, I absolutely would be okay with losing all of these things. Because at my core I feel peace and happiness because I'm. I'm now at a point of realizing it's not coming from any of this. It's not coming from any relationship, even my closest relationships. It's not coming from the amount of my bank. It's not coming from how that launch went. It's not coming from will those people invite me on that trip. It's not coming from any of that. And we've even talked about this. This. To just be at peace with all of that is the most powerful feeling. And I approach everything that I can from that lens now. And I even was saying this to my husband earlier about, I closed on two big deals today that I've been working on for a really long time. And they have been the most fun deals to negotiate of my entire career. Because at any single point I knew I would have just walked away if it wasn't right for me because I didn't need it. It in the past, part of me would have needed it because of the sunk cost of being in the negotiation. All the things I would tell myself about what it meant, none of it meant anything to me because I'm happy anyway. And so that was the Biggest gift for me. And then the second thing that I want to share when you were sharing about resisting something and the feeling being so big, I connected with a friend during part of this process, and she was kind of asking me, what's going on? And I. I made this comment. I was like, I'm not even going to get into that, because it feels way too big. And she. It's Alyssa. No, Briga. She's one of my closest friends in the world. And for anyone that knows, I will know she's one of the most incredible coaches on the planet. And she was like, ooh, let's get into that. Like, okay. She's like, okay, what are you doing on Sunday? Can we talk about this? And I was like, okay. So all week long, I felt nauseous. I felt anxious going onto this call, I was shaking because I knew there was some really deep emotion that I had been so scared of facing. And so I got on a call with her, and I was expecting that this was going to be screaming and crying. And I was like. And I literally remember saying to her, alyssa, this emotion is way too big for me to feel on this call. My baby's in the other room. My husband's like, it's just too big. And she was like, okay, that's okay. Let's feel it anyway. And she took me through the most incredible process, and I got to the root of that emotion in 90 seconds. And when I got to the root of the emotion and I faced it off, all I felt was peace and happiness. There was no screaming. There was no crying. There was no any of that. And I was like, what is this? What? What is this? And she was talking about how when you really get to the root of any emotion, when you stop telling yourself stories about what it is or isn't at the core of every single emotion, like, that is peace, because you just felt it. And I didn't need to feel it in any kind of way. I didn't need to act, express it in any kind of way. And I'm not saying that process is for everyone, but that was such a lesson for me, because I have always been an avoider of things that feel too big. I'll. I have work today. I have a meeting in five minutes. I'm not going there. I'm going to put it in a closet and hide it, or I need to show up as happy mum in 10 minutes. I'm not doing that. And what she taught me in that was actually feeling it can bring me so much closer to My peace. So much happier, so much faster than I thought. I thought this was going to take me years to deal with the pain that I was dealing with. I thought it would take years, and it took me 90 seconds after going through the process. So also permission to face off with those things in containers with people that you really trust, because it can be a lot easier, I think, than we think it has to be.
So Alyssa's calendar just filled for the year.
I know. I'm sorry, Alyssa.
Go ahead and spell her.
Like, 90 seconds. Take us through the process.
I will say the process took a lot longer to explain than to feel. And she had to let me go at it from a logical place before she let me feel it. And so she's like, we're gonna feel it in two ways, and she'll tell it better. But it was on a logical level. We'll feel it and we'll talk about it, but then we need to go and address it on a somatic level. And she took me through that whole process, and she's incredible. But it did take a lot longer than that. 90 seconds. But to feel it was just 90 seconds. And it was just a reminder for me of, like, when I tell myself that I can't feel it because I've got that meeting in five minutes, I can probably go feel it.
Yes.
And the more that I put it in the closet and tell myself I'm okay, the bigger it gets. And she was just saying, you know, there's so many ways you can be feeling it. Like, for me, I don't know. I love going out in the car and turning my music up really loud, and I'm, like, singing along. I'm like, oh, my God, now I'm really crying because music brings it out of me and being out of the house. So there's little things or like, being to able just in a bath and, like, fully sinking into myself. Like, there's ways that actually I knew logically I could be doing to feel my feelings, but I think I was telling myself that it wasn't safe to feel them or I couldn't handle them. I wasn't trained. All the things we tell ourselves, but actually, we're so much stronger than we think.
Yeah, that just feels so nourishing, I think, relating to so much of what you both said. And, yes, there have been lessons from previous winters, but I'm just gonna let myself receive that as, like, nourishment for me, as I feel very much in that place and very much even just willing to share it. More vulnerably as I'm going through it, not when it's solved. Because I still love my business and I love my life. And I actually wouldn't trade this for the world because when we sign up for this journey, you're signing up to become someone new. And you don't get to become someone new without going through a few deaths in the process. So come to my funeral for my previous self. You're all invited, and I'm just really encouraged, filled up, inspired by spending time with all of you. So thank you.
And I'm really excited for when we have this conversation when you come out of the winter and you have those lessons that you get to share as well, and maybe we'll be back in another winter and in our funeral clothes. And that's the whole thing. And I just, just love how we are just talking about the seasons as they are, not as we've learned them.
And that's the thing. I don't want to pretend that I have other inspiration I can draw from. But what I'm actually practicing is so much of what we've talked about here is just being okay, being seen in my not feeling as powerful state. So that's it.
Thanks everyone. Sa.
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