Confidence Classic: RECLAIM Your Power and Silence the Haters with Heather!

Come on this journey with me.

Each week when you join me, we are going to chase down our goals, overcome adversity, and set you up for a better tomorrow.

I'm ready for my process.

Hi, and welcome back.

I'm so glad you are here.

Okay, this is going to be a little different.

You know, I'm always trying to innovate and do something different.

I need your feedback as always.

Let me know what you think.

Okay, if you've been listening to the show for a while, you know that I auditioned.

First of all, Harper Collins' leadership made me audition to be Heather Monaghan.

Isn't that weird?

I think it's weird.

I feel that the author of a book should have to do the audible version, right?

You wrote it.

Why can't you read it?

Well, super interesting.

I guess that's not the case when you go the traditional publisher route.

You have to audition to be yourself.

So bizarre.

Okay, so backstory is: I got really nervous right before, and I text Kendra Hall, who she did the audible version of her book, Stories That Stick.

I've had her on the show.

She's amazing.

And I said, What advice can you give me?

I don't know what to do.

They're not, they didn't give me any advice.

And she said, Just be yourself and don't go too fast, right?

So greatest advice ever.

And I love that she gave that to me and that she helped me out when I needed it.

And she was right, just be you.

So once I read that, I said, forget it.

I'm just clicking record and I'm going to just read.

And so I just read a couple of chapters.

I uploaded it.

And a couple of days later, I heard back I got to be, I'm Heather Maudigan.

Okay, super exciting.

But then be careful what you work so hard for because then you might get it.

And now I had to record the audible version, which I actually don't mind doing.

It's not very different than recording a podcast, right?

You're talking into a mic and it is weird reading your your own book because you worked so hard over such a long period of time to create it.

And now you're just going through it.

It's, it's sort of a surreal experience, but I'm super grateful I was given the opportunity.

And I think, I don't want to say I think, I know you're going to love it.

I believe it came out so good.

And here's why.

They allowed me, instead of going to the cookie cutter place, recording studio place that I didn't want to go to, they let me record with one of my old producers from the radio business who I've known for years and who did my first audio book for Confidence Creator with me.

And so I feel safe with him.

I trust him.

He cares so much.

He's just, he's a great person.

Shout out to Scotty.

If you're listening, I'm so grateful for you.

And it was just an amazing experience.

I'm so grateful it came together the way it did.

Okay.

And I kept asking my point of contact at HarperCollins, hey, can I have some creative flexibility with the audio book?

I really liked how David Goggins did his.

And, you know, at the end of each chapter, he gives behind the scenes and he takes it into real time, not just what the actual hard copy book is like, right?

It's different.

There's more to it.

And she said yes.

So I just can't wait for you to hear it.

I'm so proud of it.

I can't wait to hear it.

I'm super excited.

I don't even know when I get to hear it.

That's what's so weird about doing a book with a traditional publisher.

You don't find out all that much information until after the fact.

Okay, so here's what I'm going to do today.

I'm going to read the first couple of chapters for you to one, give you a little insight and peek into Overcome Your Villains.

If you haven't pre-ordered it yet, get it now because you can still get the $500 bonus bundle for free when you get it.

Go to overcomeyourvillains.com right now.

Okay, so I'm going to read you the first couple chapters.

However, when I did the audiobook version, at the end of of every chapter, I just riffed and I would just talk about what I thought about that chapter, what was really happening behind the scenes when I wrote that chapter or what I meant.

I don't even really know what I said, but just kind of whatever came to me.

You know, I just spoke my mind.

I'm super excited to hear that part too.

Okay, so here we go.

We are going to, this is now, I'm completely done with the audiobook, by the way.

It's finally finished.

Super grateful it's done.

And this is the first time I'm reading my book since I did the audible version.

version.

Okay, so weird that I'm even an author, much less so weird.

This is my second book.

The whole thing's weird.

Okay, just know this.

Anything is possible.

That's what I want you to know, right?

Because I can't believe not only did I write one book, but now I wrote two.

And not only did I write them, I've done the audible versions.

And they're good.

They're really good.

And I'm super proud.

Anything's possible for me.

Anything is possible for you.

Okay, here we go.

Overcome your villains.

Chapter one, a new me.

I got fired.

Three words I never imagined I would say.

Three words I was too embarrassed to say to my family and friends.

Three words that changed my life forever in ways I had no way of predicting.

Some people describe being fired as a humbling experience.

That's not how I would describe it.

Maddening, shocking, psychotic?

Those are all words that instantly come to mind when I look back on that awful moment.

And what made it all that and more was how it all went down.

It might be a little easier to understand if I give you some backstory first.

I grew up poor.

My childhood was not one that I like to sit around and reminisce about.

In some ways, this has been a blessing because I learned to be driven like no other.

But in other ways, this has been a holdback for me.

For much of my life, I was driven to chase a paycheck more than anything.

All I knew was I didn't want to be poor.

I didn't want to struggle.

I didn't want the kids I dreamed I would have someday to grow up in a trailer like I did.

That feeling of standing in the grocery checkout line and realizing you would have to put back half of the items on the belt because you didn't have enough money pained me.

Oddly, some people would have no problem with that.

For some reason, however, when it happened to me, it ripped my heart out.

The shame I felt thinking others were looking down on me, realizing I couldn't buy buy what I wanted and had to operate differently, was long-lasting.

Once you feel like that, there's a really good chance you will do anything in your power to never feel that way again.

And that's exactly how I responded.

Working my way up.

I started delivering newspapers at 10 years old, then busing tables at a diner, then working the front counter and drive-through window at a fast food restaurant, then waiting tables, and eventually bartending my way through college.

My dream was to graduate and join a sales team.

To be completely honest, I didn't just dream of joining a sales team.

I desperately wanted to join a sales team.

Not because I felt a passion or excitement to work for a business, but because I quickly learned that the owners of the nicest cars in the parking lot where I slung drinks were always salespeople.

They were the ones who left the biggest tips.

They were the ones who had the nicest houses.

They were the ones who had enough money to buy the most expensive suits, dresses, and shoes.

And they never had to put their groceries back.

I joined a top winery sales team as soon as I graduated and I flat out worked everyone, even the old timers.

It didn't take long before I became the top salesperson and I was promoted to brand manager.

It also didn't take long after getting promoted that my new boss started sexually harassing me.

I was too afraid to take on the company, too afraid to fight for what I knew was right.

So I quit.

I aggressively put myself out there looking for another sales job while while bartending on the side.

At a networking event a couple of weeks later, I met a man who stood out from the rest of the crowd and I decided to chat him up.

He told me I should go to work for him and I told him he wouldn't be able to afford me.

When he asked me how much I expected to be paid, I told him $75,000, never imagining he would pay anyone he just met at a networking event that kind of salary.

You start in the morning, he told me.

I was of course excited by this stroke of good fortune.

I walked into the event, a part-time bartender, and walked out newly employed with a 75K salary.

What I didn't realize at the time was that I had left a lot of money on the table.

I had undersold myself.

This was something I would do again, many times in my career.

When you don't see your own worth, others won't see it either.

People pay you what you believe you are worth.

I later learned that this man was worth millions of dollars and he saw potential in me.

I quickly became his top seller and he grew me to become his partner.

In my early 20s, I moved myself across the country to take his $25 million property and turn it into a $55 million property in just under three years.

I finally had some money.

I had established a reputation for generating revenue like few others in the industry.

Still, I wasn't satisfied.

Growing up poor had lit lit a fire in me that grew and grew until it consumed me.

I needed more revenue, more room for growth, a higher ladder to climb, a bigger salary, more commission.

I took my cash and my reputation and moved to Florida to go to work for a publicly traded radio company.

It was a bigger company than the one that I had been working at with more revenue and far more upside.

I pitched myself for a job that didn't exist and was awarded VP of sales.

Based on my performance, I was quickly promoted two more times and ultimately named chief revenue officer.

I was one of only two women on the executive team, and I was as proud as I could be.

I had finally arrived.

There was just one problem.

The other woman on the executive team seemed to despise me, and she was the CEO's daughter.

Instead of engaging this woman in battle, I decided to ignore the office politics and focus on growing revenues, which I did by leaps and bounds.

When I started at the company, we were billing $100 million annually.

Two and a half years later, after I was named chief revenue officer, that number had doubled to more than 200 million annually.

Much of this increase was the direct result of my own effort.

I had the house, the car, the clothes, the cushion of cash in my bank account.

I had made my dream come true.

I had it all.

And then I was fired.

In an instant, I went from being the hero who had more than doubled the company revenue, had won countless awards, had been promoted three times, and had just been named one of the most influential women in radio three weeks earlier.

This was not a humbling experience.

This was a horrific moment that left me under a weighted blanket with a bottle of Chardonnay attached to my wrist.

This was the lowest of the lows of my life, a grown-up version of getting your heart broken in high school.

You thought you had it all figured out.

You were so happy, on top of the world, only to find out you were fooling yourself all along.

That was exactly it.

I have been fooling myself.

All the while that woman was hating me and nursing her apparent desire to eradicate me from the company, you see, when her father became ill and needed to step down as CEO, he elevated his only daughter to the position of interim CEO.

And she tortured me.

I can't lie, the way this villain treated me made me feel miserable.

But I refused to buckle.

I wouldn't let her get the best of me.

I refused to show any weakness.

Here's just one example.

I would be sitting in the conference room, usually the only other woman in the room, surrounded by male colleagues, as the villain would walk in.

She would go up to each person at the table one by one, saying hello and even hugging some.

Then she would walk right by me as if I didn't exist.

Those days were tough.

They were tough because by ignoring me, she was signaling to everyone else that I didn't matter.

I was invisible.

This feeling of being ignored really got to me, and it became worse over time.

And every time I allowed this to occur, I could feel her getting stronger as I got weaker.

I was like Alice in Wonderland, shrinking away to nothing after taking a swig from a bottle labeled, drink me.

I hated that feeling that I didn't exist.

Things had gotten so bad that the night before I knew she was going to be in a big meeting with me, I would start to panic.

What would I do when she would ignore me again?

I desperately needed my paycheck, so I couldn't do what I most wanted to do, tell her off.

What could I do?

What I hadn't realized was that allowing her to continue to ignore me was not only chipping away at my self-confidence, it was building hers.

And all the other executives and managers could see it.

The rest of the team looked at me differently.

Everyone had always seen me as a tremendously confident high performer, but I was starting to shrink in front of their very eyes.

I was becoming nothing.

I finally had enough of this game.

I decided that while I couldn't tell her off, I could make sure she and everyone else in the meeting knew I was there.

To get ready for this moment, I practiced exactly what I was going to say in the mirror at home.

The morning of the meeting, I picked a red outfit, a power color that allows me to feel my best, did my hair, took some extra time to look good because I knew it would turn my self-confidence up just a notch.

I wanted to stand tall and exude confidence, and with all my preparations complete, I knew I would.

I had reached a point where nothing was worth allowing me to feel like a B-rate version of myself.

I wasn't nothing.

I had delivered millions of dollars worth of business to the company for years.

I deserved to be seen and heard.

To put the icing on my confidence cake, I played my fire me up playlist as I drove to the office.

I showed up to the meeting and chatted everyone up, many people complimenting me on my dress.

I smiled, thanked them.

It was game on.

Then, in came the interim CEO, my new boss, the villain.

She walked from person to person as she always did and passed by me as she always did.

She sat at the head of of the table where she always sat.

That's when I made my move.

I raised my hand and said, good morning.

You must have missed me.

I'm down here excited to be here.

I gave her a big smile and a wave.

I wasn't being mean or disrespectful, but in that moment, I was building my confidence and I could see that hers was being chipped away.

The reality is that in any moment, you are either building your confidence or chipping away at it by the actions you take or don't take.

If my new boss had wanted to build her confidence back, she could have said something like, Good morning, Heather.

Thank you for understanding.

That wasn't intentional.

Glad you're here.

Now let's begin the meeting.

But she didn't say anything.

She hadn't seen that one coming.

I saw a few of the men at the table shoot glances to one another, and I even saw one of them trying to hold back his laugh.

I had let it be known, loud and clear, I would no longer be ignored.

That was it.

The game ended right then and there, or so I thought.

Looking back, I believe this this was the moment when the villain decided to get rid of me for good.

Within a few months, I was gone.

I'm sure you know the saying, when one door closes, another door opens.

That's not how I saw it.

I was in a total panic.

My source of income had been suddenly and irrevocably cut off.

Not only that, I had signed a non-compete agreement when I became chief revenue officer, which prohibited me from taking a position with a competitor for one year after leaving the company.

This meant that I couldn't leverage my vast network of connections in the industry.

For the next year, I would have to find some other way to generate income.

And I needed income.

There's another part of the story I neglected to tell you.

When I was fired, I was a single mom with a 10-year-old son, Dylan.

While you may be expendable, you are never replaceable.

There's no one else in the universe like you.

I didn't realize this at the time, but today, as I write these words, it is crystal clear.

You have the ability and opportunity to take your unique skills and attributes wherever you want.

Just because you have been successful in one lane doesn't mean that you can't succeed in another.

Getting fired was painful and heartbreaking.

That day, I truly felt like I had lost everything.

What I didn't realize was that while they could take away my paycheck, everything else stayed with me.

No one can take your reputation, your experiences, your network, and your talents.

No one is replaceable.

The scariest thing I did was deciding not to go back to corporate America and work for another company.

Instead, I decided to go to work for myself.

I would take all the success I had earned for others and use that success instead to ensure the future of my son and me.

Sitting here right now, I still can't believe I did it.

While I loved the security my steady paycheck provided, I hated the way it made me feel.

I wasn't living up to my potential, and I certainly wasn't happy.

I was simply surviving, hoping my boss would finally recognize my worth and leave me alone to do what I did best.

But that's no way to live.

To find your true calling in life, you need to be willing to take risks and put yourself on the line.

This may mean escaping your box by jumping out the window and realizing you've got wings and that they will open when you need them most.

I think we all intuitively know this is the case, but sometimes we have to be pushed out the window to discover our wings have been there all along making the decision to sit alone instead of sitting at a table where you are not supported is not easy but it will be worth it meet a different guest each week let us know better

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I ask you to try to find your passion.

While I'm recording this, I'm just thinking about yesterday and I spent the day with friends and I wasn't on my phone at all.

And it was such an amazing feeling.

And so often it's hard to do that, right?

But after you do it, you feel like a million bucks.

So challenging you this week or this weekend at some point, pick out a few hours, whatever it is, five hours, seven hours, I don't know, and detach from that phone.

You will feel so much better.

Go outside for a walk, go to the beach, whatever it is for you.

I'm a beach person.

We were definitely at the beach and it was so worth it.

So fun.

And I actually want to get into one of the conversations that one of my friends brought up.

But I first, I don't want to forget to answer your question.

So I'm going to answer a question that I received DM on Instagram.

Okay, hey, Heather, listen to Overcome Your Villains on Audible and then Confidence Creator.

You are an inspiration.

Now I'm listening to your podcast and recommending it to others.

So helpful.

Oh my gosh, you guys, when you share the show or your feedback on the books or the show with anyone, it helps me so much.

You have no idea.

And so often I get notes from people saying, I'm sure you don't need the help, but let's just put it out there.

Yeah, I need the help, right?

It's a super competitive industry, whether you're an author, a speaker, or a podcast host.

There are thousands of other people that do the same thing I do.

So I'm always fighting for how can I get heard?

How can I get shared?

How can people recommend, right?

We live in a review and recommendation world, and it is really helpful when someone says, hey, I I listened to this show.

I love it.

And I think you'll love it too.

So whenever you can do that, it means the world to me.

Yes, I need your help.

Nobody succeeds alone, including this girl right here.

Okay.

So, Heather, a few of my villains were in the church.

This is interesting because I have not received a note like this before.

It really, I found this very interesting.

Not that I'm shocked, by the way, by this, because villains can be everywhere, right?

They are everywhere, by the way.

Okay.

Okay.

So a few of my villains are in the church.

There was a transition during this time.

It goes into some detail, which I don't want to get into, but talking about, you know, different people within the church and how from one situation or another, people were getting angry.

You know, and it's interesting, the church is like the one place you think this kind of stuff wouldn't happen.

People wouldn't be villains.

They wouldn't be saying nasty things.

They wouldn't be getting angry.

Yet it happens everywhere.

I feel like I had to take their nonsense because I loved my job and I loved the church, which I get that too.

I needed flexibility for my family, my kids, and I thought I had such a good situation.

I didn't want to ruin everything for my family.

And my family was involved, right?

Because it's church, people.

I get it.

After all this craziness, I ended up leaving.

So that was, I'm sure, a very hard decision.

However, absolutely the right decision.

Because when you're surrounded by villains, you're never going to reach your potential.

You're never going to attract your right people.

And you're never going to find peace for yourself, right?

And this whole life is about finding peace and joy.

And I'm so proud of you for making that very difficult decision.

I see how complex it is when things get involved with the church.

I really do understand, have a lot of empathy for that.

Okay.

So she goes on to say, none of these people that, you know, her villains really realize the extent of, you know, basically the abuse they were causing this woman, which that happens very often, right?

Most people, it's easy to see situations in others.

It's very hard often to see it in yourself.

I find this all the time with people.

I'll sit down and talk with my friends and they'll explain a situation to me and I'm like, oh my gosh, it's so clear.

Here's the answer.

However, certainly isn't that easy for myself when I'm saying, how do I grow my show?

Why isn't, why am I not selling millions of books yet?

You know, I don't, I can't point to it real quick and figure out the answer, but it's very easy for others to do that sometimes.

So I'm not shocked that they didn't realize the extent of how horrible they were being to this woman.

I'm sure, P.S., you know, I relate this back to my own life and my story.

I'm sure the woman that harassed me at work, you know, I'm sure she knew that wasn't ideal or, you know, she wasn't being really nice, but I bet bet she didn't think it was the worst thing in the world to the extent of which I knew it was, right?

It's just, it's so much more obvious on the outside looking in.

And sometimes it's really hard to identify and when it is you, right?

So, okay, I get that.

I believe that.

That makes sense.

What do you do when you encounter your villain now?

Okay, I'm going to pause right there.

So number one, and I get asked this question a lot.

I have never run into that woman again.

Isn't that funny?

Because she lives in Naples.

She is the CEO of a company in Naples, Florida.

And what's funny, I live in Miami.

However, I'm on the board of directors of a company headquartered in Naples, Florida, right?

So I have to go over to Naples pretty often, right?

At least once a quarter.

So multiple times a year, I'm in Naples.

Naples is a very small city.

And the hotel that I typically stay at over there, which is funny, it was the same hotel that I would stay at when I worked for her company.

You know, one day it was so random.

I was leaving the hotel after a board meeting and packed up my car and I saw there was a lot of people in the hotel and I wondered, oh, maybe there's a conference or something.

I don't know.

Whatever.

You know, I got in my car and took off.

I end up getting a text from a good friend of mine from Miami who happened to be in Naples on vacation with his family, staying at the same hotel I had just checked out of.

The irony is crazy.

And he texts me to say, oh my gosh, take a look at this.

And he took.

a picture.

It was the annual conference for the company I used to work for.

And it was happening at the same hotel I was staying at for my board meeting.

And I just didn't hang, you know, I didn't go in to eat breakfast or whatever before I left or lunch or whatever it was.

I just grabbed my stuff and left once the meeting was done.

So I was in the same hotel with that woman, my villain, and I did not see her.

So sort of interesting.

So I haven't run into my villain to answer her question and answer a question I'm asked very often.

I haven't.

So I don't know necessarily how I would respond.

I think I know, but you don't know until you're in it, right?

There's nothing that matches being in it.

What I can tell you is that woman who fired me, she had a right hand, our general counsel at the time, back when I worked at the company.

And they were a freaking frack.

They did everything together.

They hated on me together, right?

They were just not very nice.

And I ran into the GC on a flight right before COVID hit.

I was leaving LA and flying back to Fort Lauderdale.

And she was on the same flight that I was.

And I'll tell you, my heart started racing.

It was the craziest thing.

And what I want to explain to everyone about this is

your body will naturally

be triggered by certain people or situations, smells, locations, whatever it is, because your brain is just hardwired that way, right?

So, for me, I worked side by side with this GC for 14 years.

She always treated me terribly.

In the end, her and her buddy fired me, right?

It was a very negative experience.

I didn't stand up for myself very often, so I didn't feel good about it.

Seeing her face triggered that feeling and emotion inside me of, oh my gosh, they treat me horrible.

I hate seeing them at work.

Oh, I can't stay.

I felt so emotional.

It took me back to that time when I had worked with them and I didn't like it.

I actually text my friend from the plane who still worked at that old company and I said, oh my gosh, I just ran into the GC.

I'm sweating bullets.

I can't believe that she's here.

And he writes back, whoa, slow down.

You don't even have to work with her anymore.

What do you care?

You should be jumping up and down saying, hey, I'm living my best life.

I don't have to work with this jerk anymore.

You know, it was so obvious to him.

It wasn't to me emotionally charged in the moment, but I felt so grateful to say, he's right.

I should be jumping up and down.

I don't have to work with that nasty lady.

And I'm seeing her and I'm remembering how bad it felt to be around her.

And I don't have to feel like that anymore.

And I'm so grateful.

So, you know, that actually reminds me of there's a scientific experiment called Pavlaw's Law, which is all about scientists training dogs that whenever they hear a bell, they're going to be fed.

What ended up happening is the minute they'd hear the bell, their body would start reacting as if they had already eaten.

Their mouth would salivate.

And then they'd remove the food and it would take a while for them to be unconditioned from that bell.

Well, this woman, this general counsel, she was the bell to my body to signify upset, fear, anger, resentment, whatever, you know, whatever these emotions were I was holding.

And it worked.

I was triggered immediately.

I didn't do anything.

I went and sat in my seat, but luckily I reached out to this friend who still worked with her and said, oh, she's still nasty as ever, horrible as ever.

Jump up and down.

You don't have to work with her and be grateful.

And it really helped me flip that perspective.

So here we go.

So, you know, she wanted to know how I reacted when I saw my villain.

I didn't.

I saw one of my villains and I really, you know, kept it together.

I did not, I didn't say anything to her, by the way.

I just walked right by.

I kept my head held high and wasn't about to smile or say hello to her.

Okay.

She says, Well, my villain acts as if we're on great terms, like basically as nothing bad ever happened.

She left quietly, you know, trying to take the high road, which I totally, I get it.

She said, I'm grateful because leaving me has led me to a better career, but still just yuck, right?

Like it's almost as if, and I get this, you feel like this lady's getting away with something.

She treated you terribly and now she's acting like you're buddies.

Total BS, right?

So to me, I would probably

say something in a calm manner, but you know, you need to stand up for yourself.

And here's the thing, people will treat you the way you teach them to.

Now, another thing I know is you want to forgive people.

You want to let go of anger and move on.

And that's a process.

It took a long time for me to do that, but it benefited me in the end.

The more I used to focus on how nasty that lady was, the more I would focus on how upset she made me, the more upset and angry I stayed and the less I put my time and energy on to building my business and my life that I was creating, right?

So once I finally forgave her, let go of her, released her from my life, I was no longer tethered to her in any way.

I didn't have to spend my time thinking about her, seeing how the company performance was going.

I let it go.

And once I let it go, my business started building more because I put my attention and my energy there.

So, that's number one I would say: is you know, find forgiveness in your heart, not for them, but for you.

Undo those tethers, they're no longer tethered to you.

You've taken the high roll, you've moved on, you made the right decision for you, you put yourself first, cheering you on.

So freaking amazing that you did that, and start putting your time, energy, and effort towards the things that you want to create in your life and let go of that.

Meet a different

So as I mentioned, I turned 48 today and I'm big into like I have these funny routines I like to do for any birthday.

I like to look back on the last year, right?

Like what did I accomplish I'm really proud of or what did I learn from this last year that's important for me to write down and move forward with?

And then also what am I looking forward to in this next year?

And when I was reflecting on those things for 47 versus 48, you know, a couple of things come to mind.

One, when I look at my life today versus one year ago today, my son had just gotten out of academic camp, right?

Because he was coming off of Zoom school, which was awful.

And if you have a kid that is, you know, in the teens, you can feel me.

It was so isolating, so hard for them.

No sports, just, it was very hard.

And so we were not in the greatest place.

He was getting better, right?

He was, he was trying.

He had made it through the academic camp, which I was so proud of, but things were not perfect.

They were far from normal or far from perfect.

But to know where he was then versus where he is now, you know, he's thriving.

He's, it's incredible the change that I've seen in him and him being able to be around friends again and have a year back in real school with real people.

And it just, it's so amazing to have that gratitude now for these things that we used to just take for granted every day.

I just took for granted my son would go to school every day and be with friends and play sports because I had lived that life my whole life and why wouldn't he?

And to have this complete hiccup or nightmare or whatever you want to call it with COVID, you know, it gives an opportunity just to be grateful every day that we wake up, that he can be around people his own age, that he can interact with others.

And I'm so excited for him going back to school this week.

So that's something that's super exciting to see his journey in the last year has been remarkable.

And I'm incredibly proud of him.

For me, you know, obviously when you're worried about your child, that is one of the hardest things because you can't control everything around it.

You can't control really anything around it, but you just hope that you're being the best parent you can be, not knowing.

if you are, especially if you have one child, like you haven't seen this movie before, you're just hoping you're doing it right or doing it the best that you can.

So that had been an issue.

For me, my speaking business was picking up for for sure.

I had tons of Zoom events, which was great, but obviously in-person events are my favorite.

And starting to see the transition that's been occurring, building momentum to more in-person has been, all of this is just, it makes me so much more hopeful for the future, so much more excited about the future and what's to come, which is amazing.

And then my book with HarperCollins Leadership, Overcome Your Villains, a year ago, that book was not out.

You know, now today it is, right?

So that's a huge accomplishment that I'm super proud of.

I constantly read the reviews and the DMs I get from you.

And I'm just so grateful for the feedback that I get.

And to know that I can play a small part in someone's life and helping them to embrace fear or tackle change or go for more.

It's an incredible feeling that when I was back in corporate America, I didn't feel.

And to know today that I do work that gets to help people, it means the world to me.

So I don't know what you're doing right now.

If you're not feeling fulfilled, keep looking because there are opportunities out there for you to find something more fulfilling.

I don't know what that looks like yet.

And I didn't know what it was for me a decade ago.

I had no idea.

I would work ridiculous hours in corporate America and then work nights and weekends for a charity trying to find that fulfillment.

Now today I found a way to merge it all together.

Again, it didn't happen overnight.

It happened after a series of crazy events, but you've got to have faith that you'll be led to that right place and that things will work out because I truly believe they will.

And I surely see that they are for me.

So just keep going, keep taking the chances, keep listening to yourself, and keep moving forward.

So some of the things that I did in the last year, I'll never forget, it was December of last year, so I was still 47.

And I just decided I needed to clear, I wanted some space in my life.

So I decided to clear out so much, just purge as much stuff as I could out of my house to make space.

And when you do that, that, for some people, it provides a level of clarity, just a level of space where you can think more clearly.

It really helped me a lot.

It helped bring me some clarity.

So just an interesting exercise for you to try, possibly, you know, when you have that space around you, your mind has that space, you welcome that clarity.

It's a great hack that if you haven't tried yet, purge your house and see what clarity you get from it.

Okay.

Get rid of some old stuff so you can make space for something new and better.

That's what I did back in December.

And then January came and I was in an awful court case with legal situation with my ex-husband.

And, you know, that was very negative, right?

Like didn't love that.

And when she saw me, she said, oh my gosh, you don't seem like yourself.

You're just like at a low vibration.

She said, talk to my energy healer.

And I called her energy healer.

And I actually did a whole episode on this.

So go back and check out the episode with Tanya Lester.

It's amazing.

And that woman changed my life.

I mean, literally within days of meeting with her, my court case was wrapped up with my ex and things were resolved out of left field.

I mean, I was shocked by it and things just got a lot better and there was a weight lifted off of me.

So I know that this isn't for everybody, but for me, it offered me a lot of healing and just a sense that my energy was vibrating at a higher level.

And we are all energy and we are all vibrating at some level and attracting things to us.

Just being aware of, you know, what does that look like for you?

What level are you vibrating at?

What are you attracting to yourself?

And there are things you can do to change it.

And I live that and I preach it and go back and listen to that episode because it is fact, it's my truth.

And if it can help me, it might be able to help you.

But definitely check it out.

And so I went through that process, which was happened really quickly and really changed things for the better.

And then, you know, suddenly, as I said, my neighbor was telling me I should move.

And then I was further purging more things out of my home.

And, you know, it's been this up and down roller coaster of things I didn't expect, but welcoming these things into my life, knowing I don't know what this looks like on the other side, right?

But there's a possibility of something that's better and being willing to let go of what's okay to go for what could be great.

That's the whole thing.

That's the whole key about growth and about, you know, possibility and improving your life.

So I've definitely stepped into these things.

I've definitely chosen to see fear as a green light that means go and move into it faster and faster.

And I I hope that some of these things that I've gone through can potentially inspire you to go for more, inspire you to let go of what's not serving you so that you can grab on to that next thing that can take you to that next level or open that next door for you and be willing to know there is a possibility for more out there if you choose to.

and want to go for it.

So I want you to.

I'm hopeful that you will.

I'm so grateful for how far I've come in the last year.

I can't even put it into words.

I'm so excited about the possibility for the next year ahead.

It's, I mean, literally, I'm freaking out.

I'm so excited.

It's going to be major.

I just have this feeling this is my best year yet.

I'm putting the intention out there and it's going to happen.

So, what's next?

I don't know, but I'm going to keep you up to speed here every week, like I always do.

Until next week, keep creating your confidence.

You know, I will be.

Please share this episode if you like it.

That's how I know you like it.

When you share, tag me.

I will always repost you, and I so appreciate your support and can't wait to see you next week.

I decided to change that dynamic.

I couldn't be more excited for what you're going to hear.

Start learning and growing.

Inevitably, something will happen.

No one succeeds alone.

You don't stop and look around once in a while.

You could miss it.

Come on this journey with me.