Trusting the Whisper: Amber Swenor’s Journey from Strategy to Soul

Amber Swenor trusted the quiet inner whisper—and it changed everything. In this episode, we talk about making bold moves, releasing external expectations, and building a life that feels as good as it looks. Tune in for a heart-centered convo on business, bravery, and what it means to be free.

Learn more about Amber Here:

https://www.amber-swenor.com/

https://www.stephshanks.com

https://www.instagram.com/stephshanksphotography

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephshanks/

https://www.youtube.com/@stephshanks

https://www.tiktok.com/@stephshanks?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

https://www.facebook.com/stephshanksphotography

Transcript

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Hey friends, and welcome back to unwritten. The podcast where we dive into the bold, beautiful, and sometimes messy stories of people who've rewritten the script of their lives. I'm your host, Steph Shanks, a portrait photographer, a storyteller and passionate believer that it is never too late to become the version of yourself you were always meant to be. Whether it's changing careers, leaving relationships, navigating illness, or just choosing yourself for the first time. This space is all about honoring the chapters that aren't yet written. And today's guest. She is the definition of transformation. Amber sweetener is a soul led business strategy based musician, speaker, and the founder of Soul Seed. She helps conscious leaders build online businesses without sacrificing who they are. What I love most about Amber is that she walks the talk. After growing a successful marketing agency, she made the powerful decision to pivot. Choosing alignment over expectation and building something that truly reflects her soul. In this episode, we talk about what it means to trust that whisper, those quiet nudges that call us to something deeper, and how doing these little things can change everything. So grab your coffee, get cozy, and let's dive in. Hey it's Stephanie. Thank you so much for tuning in. I have Amber Steiner here today. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for welcoming me. So Amber made the trip all the way from Madison. So thank you so much for doing that. Yes, I think this is so fun to do this here at your studio. It's a lot different than if you're on zoom and you're in your workspace. And yeah, I really had to embrace the space that I have and how can I make the most of it? So it's beautiful. Here we are. Yeah. Now, so you were just talking beforehand, and you're a leadership coach. You are a retreat leader. You have a rock band, and you are pursuing a global public speaking career. Yes. All of the above. Now, are there seasons to this? Are there seasons that you're working on one thing versus the other, or is it. How do you how do you come up with the ideas and how do you keep pursuing the new things in life? Yeah. Yeah. So everything and kind of does fit under a cohesive brand or vision for what I'm doing. But there are sort of seasons in terms of where most of my energy, where how my energy is going on, where I'm focused more on one aspect of the business and then the other. So, for example, with my speaking, like I'm always all year long marketing it or having conversations, but there are certain seasons in the year where I'm doing a lot more speaking, and then there's a few months that I know are slower months, and then the same with my band. Like, we're always doing something for the band, but we're not always doing live shows. We pretty much do live shows from spring to the fall, and we use the winter to regroup, write new music. So they're all always existing, but they do have a rhythm and a flow of what's getting more of my time, energy and attention depending on that time of the year. And that actually works really well for me with a while. I'm very consistent, like there needs to be some type of of time for restoration, like time to not be onstage and to refill my own cup. So would you say you're introverted or extroverted, or am I? I'm nobody. Yeah, it's interesting because I am. I am a lot more extroverted, but energetically I can get really burned out, and I like to spend a lot of time on my own. And as much as I love being with people, I need a lot of downtime and my own time to refill. So I think it depends on I am extroverted, but some people understand extroverted as someone that has energy all the time and wants to be with people all the time, and that's not actually true. Right. Because you can be an empathic extrovert or, you know, someone who's an energetically sensitive extrovert. And I think that so that's what it is for me. You just find yes, you find your flow and your balance. You have to come back to myself. Well, in terms of like, I have no issue striking up a conversation with someone, or if I walk into a room full of strangers that doesn't make me nervous. That makes it. Sometimes that lights me up. So that's kind of, I think, an extrovert quality. But if I did that all day, especially a few days in a row, I would crash. So hard for a few days after that. Yeah, I know when I go to, you know, a networking thing in Madison, I usually actually need a whole day there for the next day. I feel like I got hit by a truck, and I wonder if you're okay. Introvert sure is super introverted, but I love meeting new people and love connection and having deep conversations. But I just know the next day I'm going to feel like I like I am over. Do you know your human design as well? No. Okay. I think I have done it. That's okay. That's just been a piece of the puzzle for me. That was. It was a really cool awareness piece. Since I, I do identify as a high achiever, but the more I learned about how I can get so burned out, and I got to start reframing what being a high achiever looks like for me on my terms. And that was like a piece of the puzzle. So I always get curious to know if people know they're open or closed centers or they're human design type, but I've done it. So if I don't do something often, it's in one ear, out the other, unless I force myself to take a class. But I think it's interesting. Yeah, but I think a lot of stuff is interesting. Yeah. So with with all the things that you're doing and. Oh, and you also wrote a book, which is amazing. Thank you. Where you work. Was there a moment in your life where you were like, I want to I want to be a public speaker. I want to be an author. I want to do all these things. I want to be on stage and with my band, but I'm afraid to do it. And you had to. Was it just one day that you put the line in the sand, or was it a process, or is it still a process where you have an inner journey of self-discovery? Yeah. So I laugh because there's this whole thing around sometimes the thing that you feel you're meant to do, even if you don't always feel like you want it, but you know it's meant for you. That's just a constant dance, because I am. Both things are true where I 100%. No, I meant to be visible on stage is helping people. But then there are days where I could completely go the opposite and literally live in a cabin in the woods and never be and engage in society again. I don't think I'm alone in that. So honestly, some of my earliest memories from the time I was very young was that I always felt felt I was meant to do music. I just loved the feeling, the freedom that rock and roll music in particular. I really connected with that. So that was really true for me. And also, I mean, I don't even know how as a kid I learned what public speaking was, but I started signing up for things like forensics and these speaking contests from pretty early on, like second grade. And I felt like I was meant to do that. And then a lot happened in life, and I think I told myself a number of different things. You can tell yourself, like, well, what do I have to speak about? What's this? I don't have life wisdom or experience. Who wants to hear me talk? So I focus on other things for so many years and the last few years and and for years. And so, you know, I went to college, I had different jobs. And then when I started my business, I would speak as a means of growing my business. But the last few years, I got really clear that I meant to speak, to be transformational in and of itself, not to grow my business like I meant to speak, to make an impact, but let that be my business. There was a key moment. It was in 2019 and I was at Arc Summit in Toronto. They had some amazing speakers, including Lisa Nichols, and I'm not remembering her business name, but she's been around for years as a like motivational speaker, just helping people see the power in themselves. Okay. And when I watched her speak on that stage, I said, I'm going to speak on that stage someday, just like Lisa. But she also is a very much a transformational speaker where she's not really teaching you exactly how to implement something in your business or giving you some mindset hack. She's speaking from her soul that helps you just see yourself in a new light as a person. And that was so empowering because that's what I feel like when I speak. What I meant to do. But for years I struggled with more. Will they only hire you to speak? If you're going to teach people how to do social media, or how to do X, or how to do Y, which I do have a lot of those skills that I weave in because, you know, when you're going into speak like there needs to be an impact on an outcome. But a lot of times the outcome that people seek is a transformation within themselves to see themselves in a new light, you know? And so that was a really cool catalyst moment when I set that goal and vision. And then I worked for that goal for five years. And this last September, I did speak at Archangels Summit, Canada's biggest business and leadership development event, with some amazing speakers that were there. And so that was a really cool manifestation moment of seeing someone that really spoke to me and I was like, I meant to do that, and now I'm doing it. Yeah. Have you had a lot of those moments in your life where I'll give an example. So when the first time I went to Sedona ran across this like random art studio, the artist was there and he had these beautiful images in gold frames, places around the world. And I started to cry because I, I realized that that was what I want to do. This is what I'm more. Was it meant to see those places, know to photograph them, and have my own studio? However, life has changed and I don't have the desire to travel to all these places and have an art studio. I want to make an impact as well on a different level. So it's have you had those moments where you think, okay, this is what I want, and then then they change and you just kind of pivot? Yes. Well, definitely. And I think it's also the more that we learn ourselves and really what matters most to us in that new stage of life. And I don't think it's as like black and white as like, oh, I don't want that anymore. It's like acknowledging there's a part of you this for me. There's things I've maybe wanted and a part of me can still want it, but it's a matter of priorities, you know? And if there's something else that becomes higher priority in terms of how. So I look at things a lot from how do I want to feel on the day to day, and how do I want my life to look. And then I build my business backward around that. And so, you know, ten years ago when I started my business, I had to be willing to do a lot more hustle and take on a lot more different kinds of projects. And I was building a team, and I had to be willing to show up for them all the time. Where then five, six, seven years into the journey, I started to realize there's aspects of that I love, but there's aspects that are draining me or the vision's just shifting so very. Yeah. So yeah, so that's I guess that's and it's maybe like fulfilling it in a different way. Like I still take beautiful images. Yeah. They're to some people I know now I have this image of having this gallery even if it's just for a day of these beautiful images of women, you know, that are just like shining in their glory. So, yeah, I guess thank you for that. Clarifying it. Has your vision shifted the things that you thought you wanted change in the last couple of years? Yeah. And it's like a yes and no for me because I'm always there's and everyone's different. So when I share my vision, I don't expect or I encourage people to personalize it to themselves because I have always had a bit of this North Star thing that I know of. My license. I feel I'm fulfilling a purpose, but I also acknowledge that the way it feels true for me, I don't think is actually true for a majority of people. And that's okay. Yeah. But for me, from the time I was very young, I felt like I was meant to be here to help people in their evolution. I didn't have the language for it when I was a kid, but it was an aspect of helping people live more authentically and more free of fighting and fear and anger and ego. And so I have always felt like that's my my life's purpose in terms of how I make that happen. That's the thing that shifts. So it's like both and it's like, yes, I have a vision of what I'm here to do, and I've had to get comfortable with allowing the way in which I fulfill that to shift. Yeah, that's such a huge thing that I think, well, if who's ever listening needs to understand that to it. When, you know, when you make a choice to start living a more aligned life that you don't know what that's going to look like. Yeah, you have no idea what alignment even means. And then when you start doing it, you take these little pieces and, and you kind of just follow this path of alignment and where you end up is going to look completely different than where you think you're going to end up. Yes, yes. So that totally and I think I always walking that journey like right now as an example. So the last few years I really focused. I'm very much a quality over quantity like focus on deep impact with the less amount of clients. And I kept really getting this whole toward expanding my message wider through more and more stages, and almost like this idea of transformation for the people. I think sometimes the transformational work, personal development work can only be available to. It's maybe a bit more elite to be able to work with a coach or invest in yourself in that way. And so I felt like I meant to connect with more people and bring these messages forward. So I gave myself permission loosely to say, I'm going to pursue this very focus for 2 to 3 years and see where I end up. And I'm like, halfway through that, right? Or I'm like, I'm not, even though I might self-doubt. I'm not taking myself off course at all for the next year. I'm not really I'm not launching or creating anything new. I may have offers within the realm of what I'm doing, but I'm not starting new businesses. I'm not changing my mind in terms of that. Speaking is the majority of where I'm focused. Well, fair to say so. Yes. Yes as yes on stages. Exactly. There's different types of speaking in your. And you're fuzzy. Yes. Yeah. Like and on stage is what your focus should be. Thank you. Yes. Yeah. And and it but it's not always necessarily like there's more it's I know I'm meant for it and I'm like okay it's there's still moments where I'm still doing some of that deep personal work or retreats. It's just that it's maybe it's not where I'm spending as much of my time, and that doesn't mean I might get to the end of this next year and a half cycle, and I might change my mind. I may be like, okay, I'm doing this. I'm doing speaking out. Or I might say, that was amazing. And now I want to go back to working with three people at a time. I'll see when I get there, right? But I'm giving myself permission to just stay extremely focused on this for the next year. Yeah. And so you're midway through. When did it start? Was it was it like a January 1st thing was a no. So I had been making small steps, but a real big shift was the summer. I'm coming up on two years. Summer, summer of 2023. Yes. Summer 2023. Yes, that would be it. Because that while it's like that's wild, thinking about how fast the years go, I just want to make sure I'm like, I'm like, wait a minute. That was when my oh, so I had built a brand strategy marketing firm. I had evolved into doing more coaching, consulting, speaking. But it's kind of a long story. But as some things shifted through the pandemic and as some team members were leaving, I stopped rehiring those roles and I started referring some business out as certain clients left. I didn't replace them because I knew I was shifting away from as much of the done for you marketing work to allow myself to step into this work. And June 2023 was when my last full time employee who had been with me six years depart, and that came with so much gratitude and grief. It's not as simple as like people leaving are moving on to the next thing. Like, I grieved for a few years about this transformation. Transition with my team. Yeah. And so but that was really when I started putting more of the effort toward how do I step up and be booked by new types of groups consistently, the groups that I'm wanting to pay. Yeah, I had somewhat been involved with the National Speakers Association and the Wisconsin chapter that I really went all in with them in September of 2023 with joining. I've since gotten involved on the board. I go to as many meetings as I can. I'm involved in masterminds, and that has helped grow my career a lot, like invested in redoing my speaker reel. And so it's taken that year and a half of really networking and building my online assets. But now this is the year where I really see it, like I'm traveling, you know, to multiple states. This year I was in Canada. Last year I had five talks in April. I don't always have five every month. But like it's finally getting to be really consistent. And I'm traveling to three different states and countries in April in order to do that. So it took the intentional planting of seeds and putting myself out there for a long time before now it's all coming to fruition. And what would you say to somebody that is listening to this? And they're like, well, that's great for Amber, but that I couldn't do that, right? How do you how do you help people with that mindset like that? It it's always meant for somebody else and themselves so that the I couldn't do that is something that they feel called to do. Yeah. You know there's so many people that are, you know, even in my position as a single mom photographer on my own business, like, well, you're really strong. So that's good for you. Yes. There. And, and a lot of people struggle with that. But you get what you give your attention to. So we can give ourselves reasons why me? Or we can give ourselves reasons why not me. And that's not to take away from the very real fact that, yes, some people have more obstacles to overcome and that is what it is, right? The other thing is that we truly don't know what's going on behind the scenes for other people. Yeah, there's some things we can see, right? We can see. Are they apparent or not? You know, the color of our skin, like there's certain things we're aware of. And I truly believe, like, every person's navigating their own battles, their own invisible, all things that we aren't aware of. And so I think that's also where it can be supportive sometimes. First of all, you've got to have that support network that's going to help you see, like here's all the reasons why. Yes, instead of I know. And then also that helps to find someone who someone can relate to in some form or fashion. You know, like if someone's saying, well, I'm a single mom and that person's not maybe then their mentor or someone that they need to look to to get inspiration is find some other single moms that you can see yourself in right? And I love that as you're speaking to, I don't think you have heard you say the B word, but what you say and okay, yes, I feel like that's a mindset shift too. And there's no but it's a n yeah, yeah it's a yeah this is hard. But it's not that. It's like, you know it's hard and. Yeah. And I'm going to keep pursuing it anyways and take these little steps. So that's cool. You caught that because I do think that was something like five, six, seven years ago. I became aware of how much I had butts and so which is a blessing and a curse because I'm someone who can see like a whole picture and very strategic. So I'm able to see potential reasons why something won't work out. And I wanted to give myself it was more intentional, and now it's probably just ingrained in how I am being. That was cool that you comment on that and when you say and because I wasn't always that way when you say and it's giving, it's a permission when you say, but it's an obstacle I feel. Yeah. As you're speaking. Anyways, those are the visual reasons that I have and is opening a door, but is, you know, like those things you have to jump over and track that. I was deathly afraid of. What are they called the hurdles? They are hurdles can be scary and we don't know. We don't try. Right. And if you fall, you can get up and make the next one. Yeah, you all have a story to tell and give yourself a smaller hurdle where you can have an easy win and then you can go for the bigger one. Exactly, exactly. So you've kind of taken this, this role. And also there's another thing too, that I just read that it almost after a big life change, for instance, your business transforming it actually does take three years to kind of get over that process. So you are now almost two years. And so now this third year you're going to that first year is just allowing second year learning and third year off. You're you're out, you're gone. You're a while to this I love you share that. Because something I struggle with and I think a lot of people do are these ideas around timelines and thinking things are supposed to happen faster than they can and poof, yeah, it's I mean, yeah, there is no timeline, but I have and however but getting it right and just acknowledging that it's okay if things take some time and space as we're still stepping into the the next thing that we're doing. And yeah, I would say it was about 3 or 4 years ago when I switched from doing family photography to headshots and corporate, and it takes time. I thought I'd put a couple posts out there, hey, I'm doing headshots. No idea what I was doing with headshots, but now it's the majority of my work and it's a process. It's following those leads. It's yes, navigating what that looks like and and not giving up is a huge, huge piece of the puzzle too. I absolutely agree with that. Yeah. Where do you see yourself in an ideal world? Five years from now? Where do you want to be? I want to keep having this space to spend time in the relationships that matter the most. I have a whole bunch of nieces and nephews that I love, so much, and I want the freedom to be present for their life. So with that, again, I always start with the how do I want to feel, what I want my life to look like? Yeah, let's stop and talk, you know? Yeah, that's what I want to feel. That's such an I want to feel healthy. I want to feel like I'm aging backwards in a healthy way. Yeah. I have recently really been noticing some of those, like, pains and creaks in my body. And so I want to feel that I'm taking care of myself, that for me, that looks like going to the gym and making food. So this is how my mind works. I think about how I want to feel, and then I say, okay, well then what do my days a week seem to be structured like? And then I look at I need these times to go to the gym, or I need the work I do to allow me to operate like this. So that's how I work with backtracking all that. But then I do have some my, you know, bigger, fun things like I want to be traveling the world and so with that, it's focused on work that allows me to continue choosing my schedule. Yeah, I see myself at that point, probably leaning a bit more into something that involves certain months of the year where I'm completely off, so I have full rest and recharge like a sabbatical month. I don't know if I'll stick with this, but I roughly think it's something like December to January and July will be my months of no clients, no projects. Yeah, I'm thinking about leaning into that. I think that's super important to take that time and just breathe and eat tacos or, you know, whatever it is that you need to do. Yeah. You know, I think for me, I was I wanted to visit all these places. And I realized that all these places that I wanted to visit, I was just doing it to kind of check off a box and so this year, I've really decided that I'm not going to travel as much. I'm going to stay home and I'm going to or I'm going to go camping and really just leaning into this calm, this, that my nervous system has never had. Yes. Because I've been so busy checking boxes and now I'm at the point where I realize how unfriendly that's been to myself and really just honoring who I am. So I love that for you. Health and taking those steps back. Okay. What does that look like? Because for me, what is what is being kind to myself look like like, okay, I like being out in the woods. Okay. And what do I need for that? Well, I need a tense. Yes. And I need a cooler. And taking those steps back so that I can go out into the woods and feel calm and not hungry or scared and all the things. So it's it's an interesting ride that we're I love that, I love that I will join you camping. I'm thinking about trying it in an RV or camper of some sort. I would love to have an RV or camper. Yeah, again at some point. And but for now it's it's really just taking these little moments these weekends. My dog is now almost two, so I feel like I've been raising a puppy for a few years, and now it's my time to to take him with and go for the ride. Us. Oh, so we're just talking about traveling and I would love you to talk about your retreat that's coming up because I have. So here's here's the thing with me and maybe you're similar sort of kind of like you are. It's like kind of like dabble here. It's like, oh, that doesn't quite feel right. Pullback dabble here until you figure out the it's like a maze right. You know like when we as kids it's like you want to follow the thing. And then all of a sudden you're at the end and you got to backtrack. And so I've been wanting to hold transformational retreats as well. And I realized after I had one booked that it just didn't feel right. And I, I realized I need to do it in Santa Barbara because that's where I had this huge transformation. You know, it's funny you I've heard you talk about Santa Barbara and at a retreat, like in some form. Yeah. Spoken about these two things parallel for the last 4 or 5 years. Yes. Amazing. And I haven't done it yet. And so this is what's going to happen. It is because I wrote a book and again, I've had to reset it a few times. It should be on its final author's copy coming out a couple days. And it's all about this transformation that I had. So I really want to take people there. There's a huge unknown in that, right? Yeah, scary but exciting. So how did you kind of get over that hump of, okay, I want to be a retreat leader. I'm sure you didn't know how. We don't know how we're going to do things. We just figure it out. Yeah. So I started you at Smalls. Not even the word. I started local, and I started more with my intimate circle where rather than marketing something and pre purchasing everything, instead I went to and communicated with women in my network who had been connected with my work for a while, and I think this was around 2017, 2018. I had done other like day workshops, but this one I did. So I'm based in Wisconsin and I did it in Lake Geneva, and I had seven women, and I don't even know if I had like a public information page about it. I think so, and this is a big way that I coach people as well, is what are the the lowest hanging fruit, smallest thing that we can feel most comfortable stepping into and then building it from there. And so I tried it on. It was a two nights. It was profound, but the whole time I was going through it, I was self-doubting, wondering if people were getting what they needed. I had to keep like an every moment, bring myself back to self-trust. It took everything in me to accomplish it. And on the drive home at the end of the retreat, I just started sobbing with an energy release and I cried for hours. I'm just like all the energy I had been holding and all how hard I was on myself. And then it was mind blowing. In the coming days, I started getting messages about how that was one of the best things I've ever done in my life. Here's the action I took. Someone went for partner status in the business they owned. Another person who had been in an uncoupling journey like had confidence, clarity, vision of how she was going to move forward. Another person up leveling in her business. Like even after that, several years later, I'm in touch with most of them. They have told me about the things that have come as a result of that being a catalyst. So the way I started was talking to the people that I most had some level of comfort with that I was like, I think I meant to do this. I think you're meant to be there and let it be easier, let it be more intimate, kept the price down, and then I just kept taking it incremental steps from there. In terms of how do I make this wider? Do I want to now go out of state and now out of country, you know, but it was step by step by step over the last 6 to 8 years. So it is clear to me that that will is meant to remain an aspect of my work. That is, I do feel that's important and I love it. And and you have one coming up. Yes. Yeah. Yep. And so for the last four years, the only retreats I have are a part of coaching programs. So I have not done stand off on one off retreats. Those can be really awesome, but it just didn't fit with my model. And for a lot of other reasons, and because I like to work with people where we really have lots of safety and like we can really go deep with the experience. So my yearlong coaching program right now, usually we have 5 to 7 clients and our group is small with three amazing, awesome people. Which normally I wouldn't be able to run it for that with what we put into it. And I have a coach on my team where she also works with me in the program, but we decided to run it for these three awesome women. We're like, this is a small group, but if you all are in, we're in. And then we had a virtual retreat and then a retreat in Sedona. And I was already thinking, you know, for our last retreat in Mexico, I was already feeling like maybe we're meant to open it up to other people, and I didn't want it to feel like it was impeding on their journey because it was the end of their year long and it's their closing retreat. And it was so cool because the clients brought up to me in Sedona, they said, well, what would you think about? Like, we think this would be great to expand all of our circles if you opened it to more women. And it also financially helps because if we have more people, we can do more for the group. And so that was beautiful. That I was already feeling it. And then the client suggested it. We have several two women so far that signed up. We have space for up to two more. I'm not sure if we'll get to more or not. The retreats in less than a month in Mexico. Yeah, yeah, yeah. In the Nyeri region we're staying at an awesome little eco lodge, which so far only our group is booked there. There's there's one like Casita open. I don't know if it'll get booked. So we basically have the whole place to ourselves. We have a it's a ten, 15 minute walk down to a private beach. We're in the jungle. There's yoga, we have a private chef, we're doing a photoshoot experience. And so that was a really awesome that it was just a way to open it up for people who haven't been able to come to a retreat with us. Yeah. And two women said yes so far outside of our group program. And and you have room for a few more. Yeah. So hopefully somebody that's listening you that fast. This will air, by the way, next week. Okay. So someone is watching and you feel it could be them for you. I always say to people, if you feel something's meant for you, like listen to that. There's a reason that that's speaking to you. Yeah. I rather I'm not trying to say, oh, you have to work with me. It's in whatever, whoever, whatever way or whoever you rent to work with or. Right. It's right. Yeah. That's our soul speaking to us, which we should talk about that in one second. Okay, well, it's kind of nice if people do want to go to your retreat now is you're getting not only you and another coach, but you're also getting women that have just been through your coaching program. They're amazing. So you and it's all yeah, I mean, and it's got to be super. Yes. It's and it's, it's so they all have shared a common thread about saying there it was. They started sharing intentions for the retreat. It's about showing up as their true selves and having the space and total acceptance for everyone else to show up as their true selves. It's an unleashed retreat and I every group is so special and unique in their own way, and I just feel this massive uplevel, around this complete acceptance of each person being who they are. Yeah, they don't all believe the same, think the same, have the same wives, and there's complete openness for how do we each be in our own sovereign being and still support each other and potentially co-create like people always leave, retreat and stay friends, do business together, support each other. Some go to work together like it's really amazing what I see happen coming out of these experiences. Yeah, that sounds amazing. Thank you for asking about the retreat. Oh my gosh. Yeah. One of these times I will be able you're meant to be there someday. I know if I had a passport, which I don't right now, I would probably have just sold me on it. Do you want to be a risk taker? You can get it expedited in 2 to 3 weeks if you want to take a risk. I mean all about if it can come in time. Yeah. You know, maybe that would be a sign to see if I can get it. Obviously I have all the experience to do my passport picture. Okay. Anyway, that would be a story I know. So you kind of brought up something that I think, oh, actually, you know, we've been kind of navigating this whole journey thus far in this conversation is sold sole purpose. And I know that's a huge theme in everything that you do. And it's a huge theme in my life, too, because some of the hardest things I've had to do, I've had to do because my soul wanted wanted it. And you have to follow those signs. So we talked about a support system, having people around you that support you, but what are some other ways that you kind of feed your soul, nurture your soul so that you it feels that it can come out and play and guide you. These might sound like such basic things, but I have learned that it is sometimes the basics like being in nature, eating healthy, getting good sleep I have, surrounding myself with people and knowing who the people are that I can have the totally real conversations with, where I can even say to them, I just want to talk right? Or we kind of we understand how to support each other or will ask permission, like, do you want me to just listen, or do you want me to offer you questions you can think on? Right? So it's the things I call lifestyle basics. I know they sound basic, but they were so huge for me because when I was overworking, I was tired, I was reactive, I didn't feel great, therefore I just couldn't connect with my higher self. And then it was once I started surrounding myself and feeling safe to trust friendships. Relationships that people weren't going to try to fix something, fix me because I didn't need fixing and weren't going to come at it with their own perceptions or limiting beliefs. Right? It's those things helped immensely. Yeah, I would say for me it's journaling and then meditating and and now what I'm working on is kind of honoring my 11 year old self, because that's about the time that I kind of shut off the creativity. Okay, so I was doing the Macarena. Do you remember that? Yeah. I don't know how old you are. So so I have these remembering of somewhere around that age doing the Macarena. So I just put it on Spotify and I'm creating a Spotify station for my 11 year old self. Good for you. Yeah. And it's just reconnecting with. Yeah. With that childhood innocence that I think we forget how important that is. Yeah. And that's what you're talking about. Nature and friendship and good food. It's like that's that's all stuff that we took for granted when we were young. Yes. And that is and is so powerful that you're doing that deep look at where maybe did you start to shut something off or. Right what however it showed up for you. That is beautiful. Yeah. That's. And then you just ask and what do you need right now? All I need the Macarena. I need a dance. I need to have body. Yeah. You do not be inundated by these so-called all these other things in life. Yes. Yeah, well, and I think and thank you for saying journaling because I kind of completely skipped over that. It's something I have gotten away from like the last year, but that was huge for me a few years ago when I was really in some deep ish is stuff. And it's, I think I've heard like the science is that it's proven that it has also helps sometimes process things in our subconscious. Yeah. The things we don't realize. So I think that's important. I think there are cans have energy of them, of themselves. And I don't know if I was to describe that other than sometimes when you're writing, it's like they have their own thing they need to get out to. It's like they're they're a tool. Yeah, a tool for self-expression, just like speaking. And I find that through journaling, sometimes they just need to write and also let them, let them write. And also, the last thing I want to talk about before we kind of wrap things up is this notion that because we do hard things and for instance, you've made some you're now you're a public speaker and you're you are traveling the world doing this, that that's it for you. I'm this was my dream. I'm doing my dream. And the reality is that there's going to be another dream after that. Yeah. And I think I kind of wish that I could settle on one thing being it made my life easier. Yeah, but we don't. I mean, we can. Yeah, but nothing's wrong with it as someone does. And I know I've got a lot of work to do. Yeah. And I see multiple things coming. More books, making a movie. There's like a lot there's a whole version. I've always had a passion for elephants, and I want a point in my life where I can afford to be on full sabbatical. I want to donate like a year or two to working for an elephant sanctuary in some form or fashion, like donating myself to help that cause of protecting African elephants. Yeah, yeah. So there's like there's definitely other things coming, right. And and just being open to that process in a way that's super healthy where it, you know, for me, I worked so hard to get to this point to my own place and my business is running well enough that I can afford my own. But all the things I wanted to do for five, ten years, and now I'm at the point where it's like, oh yeah, like there's so many more things to do in a in such a positive way. It's not like, oh, I have to get out of this relationship. Yeah, I have to work really hard. It's, it's like allowing the new things to come in and creating space for that to happen. So, you know, I love that you. Yes. So I'm like these big dreams. And even though your dreams are coming true, you it just opens the that opens the door for more dreams. Yes, I love that they brought that up and a shift for me, because the me of five years ago was very much because I am so goal oriented and I have all these visions. The me a few years ago would hustle through and would be working so hard to get that thing and like, run to the next level. Now I really embraced. I worked on falling in love with the process and falling in love with the journey. Yes, and it's had to be an intentional thing to focus on because that's not my inherent muscle. Some people are so good about loving the journey in the process. No, why? Like natural way of being is accomplishing things and having big scary sounding goals and dreams, then tackling it to prove I can do it, or a team I was working with can do it. Yeah, and I still enjoy that to an extent, but not making that my everyday all the time. Like not racing through, right? I'm slowing down to savor the things as they're happening right and enjoying the process versus hustling through the process. Yeah, right. Yeah, I think that's what it kind of opens the door for the next, the next beautiful thing to happen versus it's just the scarcity versus abundance mindset. Jake the podcast therapy dog is Jake, right? Jake the podcast therapy dog supports this. He says slow down and pet me. Well, it's thundering out and so you can hear it. So okay, we're a little scared. Okay. Oh, see, I like to I all of a sudden wanted to make it about me like he liked me. He does like it does, but I think he's scared. Okay. So how can people kind of follow along in your journey? What's the what's the platform that you're most active on and enjoy doing the most, if any, LinkedIn and Facebook for different things. I am somewhat on Instagram, but I am making a concerted effort to have a much more consistent presence on YouTube going forward. Awesome with weekly videos that will be coming. So for more professional and leadership guidance, definitely LinkedIn. Say that one more time starting out for more from for more professional leadership guidance. Definitely LinkedIn, and for more of a mixed bag of a little bit of everything, a little old school with my Facebook, but that would be the place. Awesome. And any parting advice for my listeners today? Maybe not. Advice, guidance, words of wisdom. Well, we didn't talk a lot about authenticity, but there's. Yes. Well, so the true definition of authenticity is when your beliefs and values are in are in alignment with your actions, what you're saying and what you're doing. And so I want to encourage people to not write off authenticity like it's an overused word. What does that mean? Anything anyway? Because when you start unpacking it, it really involves looking at your beliefs. And when you can look at and examine any limiting belief or judgment you have, really start looking at where did that come from and is it yours or not? Because that's when you start unpacking it. That's what it means to truly be authentic. And when you're truly authentic, you on tap a level of personal self-love and freedom that I think is what most people are actually seeking, which is to feel at peace within yourself. And that's how you get it through. Authenticity is by unpacking your beliefs and your values. So that was like longer than a like a one takeaway sentence. But that's I feel it's important for people to really go deeper with what does it mean to live authentically. Yeah, it is a overused word for sure. And I want to rephrase that because I think the people that need some people watered down, I suppose I would say maybe it's watered down a little bit, but yeah, you know, and honestly, we haven't talked about it, but we've been talking about it the whole time. Yes, exactly. Different words and. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. All right. Well, thank you so much for being here. Thank you.