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It's been a full year since I sat behind this mic.
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I'll be honest, it felt a little strange setting it
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up again, because there was like this brief moment where
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like the USB chord was not working, the MIC would
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not connect to the computer in true trace fashion, and
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I was getting frustrated, and I was like, something is
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wanting me to not set this up right now, but
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I'm determined to get this done. I got it done.
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Here we are. I'm just reminiscing on the nostalgia that
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came back and just sitting in my little office space,
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just talking, just talking freely. A lot of life has
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happened between the last episode and this one. I did
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not plan to disappear for this long, but honestly, I
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really needed the time. I needed the time to think.
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I needed the time to strategize. I needed the time
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to recharge and to regroup, and honestly, I had to
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figure out my identity again after an incredibly challenging year.
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I noticed in my absence that I was still getting downloads,
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which was one of my motivations for coming back. It
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kind of surprised me in a way that people were
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still listening to the same old episodes that I posted
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a long time ago, and I was actively getting downloads
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by the week. So I'm going to take this time
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to reintroduce myself for my og listeners. Welcome back. I'm
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so sorry that I have been gone for so long.
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And if you're new, Hi, I'm Trace and I'm so
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glad that you're here. Just a regular person who wanted
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to create a space where I could talk about life, marriage, parenthood, money,
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all the things openly and freely, without judgment. I started
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this podcast a year ago and I think weird at
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about episode twenty eight. I think this will be twenty nine.
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But this podcast meant a lot to me because I've
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been able to connect with people all over the world.
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At one point in time, we were listed in the
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top fifty podcast on Apple Podcasts, and for some reason,
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that rocked my world. I'll be honest. After that, I
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got imposter syndrome. I would have people reaching out to
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me on a weekly basis they wanted to be guest
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speakers on the show. I had podcast producers reaching out
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wanting to connect and to work with me, and for
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the longest time, I could not figure out why that
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was all I kept saying to myself was why do
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they want to sit and talk to me? What was
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so special about what I'm doing that would make people
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take time out of their day to have a conversation
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with me? Why? Just why, why would anyone want to
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listen to me? You have for hours and hours and hours.
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And so I was having all these internal conflicts every
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single day, and it frustrated me. I was frustrated because
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I wasn't happy with work. I wasn't able to think
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or be creative. I doubted every piece of content that
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I was putting out, from TikTok to Pinterest, and I
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had so many internal battles every single day that I
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just could not come up with any fresh or new ideas.
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I remember telling my husband that I just was not
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sure about the stuff that I was creating, and I
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felt really scared being listened to and heard in a way.
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Does that make sense? I don't know if that makes
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any sense at all, but that's how I felt. I
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understood the power of the impact that my voice had,
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and for some reason, no, lie, you guys, that felt
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so heavy. My husband sits there, of course, and he's
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listening to me go on and on about why I
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shouldn't make new content or why I shouldn't record any
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new episodes and I'm just like making excuse after excuse
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after excuse, and why I should not be doing this anymore.
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And then he did what he always does. He knocks
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the fear right out of me. He made sure to
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remind me of the things that I've done, what I've accomplished,
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the rooms I've been in, the rooms I've been a
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part of, the rooms that I will be in, and
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just how powerful my influence is to those around us
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and beyond. And then he also took a second to
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remind me of exactly who the fuck I think I am.
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This audio was created with async dot Com.
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All Right, so the last time we talked, we talked
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about how marriage is not like a sitcom and not
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gonna lie the way the year went from my family
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that I've been gone. It's a thousand percent giving sitcom.
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We have gone through some things as a family that
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can only be written on either reality TV or some
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sort of TV show. I'm not gonna go to my
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into detail, but we have been through some things over
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the past year. Okay, when I started this podcast, though
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we were kind of in a new season, we were
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new entrepreneurs. Recently just launched a fitness and wellness business,
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and I think I started to feel the weight of
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that and that kind of scared me a little bit.
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My mindset back then was like, just get it done,
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Just wake up and get it done. Get it done.
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But also, you need a regular job. And I don't
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know where that came from. I think just the spirit
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of entrepreneurship kind of freaked me out a little bit,
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because you know, when you start a new business or
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you start something new, it can feel a little bit uncertain,
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and I wasn't really sure where that would go, and
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so I started looking for a job in addition to
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the business that we had started, which was interesting because
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within the first six months of us starting our business,
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we had a gym space, we launched a fitness app,
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and we were featured in a magazine here, and so
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we were doing fine, like we were doing great. But
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I think something just was telling me, you need a job,
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you need a job, you need a job. And I'm
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now realizing that that is kind of where things went left.
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Starting that new job was a huge adjustment for myself
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and my family. My priorities ended up shifting. I put
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all my focus and time, attention and energy into working,
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and I was really having a hard time filing finding
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that balance between work and creativity because I didn't have
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the energy. I literally did not have the energy to
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do anything. After I worked. I stopped making content, I
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stopped doing all the fun things that I like to do.
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I stopped going out with my family, like on the
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weekends and just doing things that I loved and enjoyed
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because I literally did not have the energy. I moved.
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I moved, I want to say twice since I spoke
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to you guys last, and that was unsettling. We had
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to rebuild our routines. We kind of lost consistency in
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some areas such as working out and things like that.
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So that was a really big adjustment, trying to navigate working, moving, parenting,
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wifing all the things. That was really really difficult for me.
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I'm a person who thrives on consistency and routine, and
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so to have everything kind of like uprooted, damn near
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overnight felt really insane. I also lost one of my
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family members over this time period, over the holiday break,
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and I will spare you the details, but grief taught
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me that not everything is worth your energy and that
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we are truly on borrow time. This loss affected my
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motivation and my energy. I was already drained before, and
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I think after that I was I can't even explain
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to you how I felt after this. I wasn't sleeping well.
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I lost all motivation to do pretty much everything. Like
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the day after the news, I had to work, and
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I had to put my big girl panties on and
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just smile and grin through meetings, but my internal world
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was physically drowning. I didn't know how to feel. I
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felt really numb for several several weeks. I wasn't sure
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how to navigate that because I had never gone through
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anything like that before, and so most days I just
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had to ground myself because it would knock the wind
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out of me and it just felt like the rug
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was pulled out from under me often, and so that
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was really difficult to navigate on top of moving and
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losing the balance that I had previously established. And then, girl,
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get this, I got laid off. In the midst of
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all of that. I got laid off. I got laid off.
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Got the news a few weeks ago, and my initial
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reaction was pearshock. I was let go due to budget
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cuts and restructuring and all the things. And at the time,
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my two year old niece was over. She was hanging
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out and she wanted she wanted a snack, and so
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she didn't care that her tea te just got laid off.
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She she wanted to snack. And so my initial reaction was, damn,
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that's crazy. And then it was, oh my god, what
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are we going to do? And then it was wait
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a second, I think this is a true blessing in
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disguise because now I can refocus on the things that
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I need to focus on. I can focus on my business,
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I can focus on my family, I can focus on
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my creative projects. And so once I shifted the narrative
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of this is happening to me, I was like, this
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is happening for me because now I can do the
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things that I was set out to do before I
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took this job. Now I am working out, Now I
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am cooking meals. Now I am I am going outside
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and planting flowers in my garden and getting ready to
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start growing my fruits and vegetables again, because y'all know me,
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y'all know I love a vegetable.
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This audio was created with ACYNC dot com.
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Knowing my fruits and vegetables again, because y'all know me.
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Y'all know I love a vegetable. But I learned a
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lot over the last year from navigating loss, from navigating moving,
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from getting laid off, and just I learned that rest
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is necessary. I learned that I need to maintain my
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identity outside of being productive. I learned that my creativity
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changes in different seasons. And I also learned that I
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can pause without quitting, and starting over does not mean
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that I failed. I think that I thought for the
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longest time that when you stop, or when you pause
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or if you have to start over, I was viewing
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that as a failure rather than a reset. And so
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for me, it just made sense that I started over,
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and it's perfectly okay to start over. My vision now
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is to pick back up on all the things that
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I was working on before. Y'all know, I'm all over
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the place, and I've got my hands in many different pots.
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But from a creative standpoint, I am focused on the future.
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I'm focused on connecting with the people who have reached
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out to me and want to be able to offer you,
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guys some words of encouragement or offer you guys some
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insight that I may not have. I want to have
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conversations that are impactful and meaningful. So coming up in
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this next season, we are going to have guest speakers,
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but we've got many people that are really interested in
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being in this space and really building community. So I'm
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really excited to connect with all these people to talk
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about new topics, new themes, and just coming up with
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new plans for consistency. I'm learning that I don't want
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to create from pressure anymore. I want to create from purpose,
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and all of the things that I've endured over the
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past year have just pointed me more towards my purpose.
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I'm so excited to have these conversations. I'm so excited
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to have these upcoming topics and the future guests. And
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I thank you guys for still being here. I think
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you guys for still being patient with me, whether this
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is your first episode or this is you listening to
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me after being gone for so long. But we are
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going to be starting a new chapter together. We are
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going to be moving forward in the best way possible.
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Life pulled me away, but it also reshaped me. After
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a year of being away from the mic. I am
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finally back, I'm finally where I need to be. I'm
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navigating loss, change, moving being laid off. But my perspective
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is different. My perspective is different. I see things from
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a completely different lens. And so I'm hoping that you
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are excited to be on this journey with me and
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I cannot wait to see what the future holds for
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all of us. So I will see you in the
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next episode. And I missed you. I missed you a lot.
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This is not goodbye. I will be back, I promise,
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But we're back. We made it, we made it. I'll
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see you in the next episode.
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Trace This audio was created with ACYNC dot com.
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It's been a full year since I sat behind this mic.
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I'll be honest, it felt a little strange setting it
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up again, because there was like this brief moment where
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like the USB chord was not working, the MIC would
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not connect to the computer in true trace fashion, and
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I was getting frustrated, and I was like, something is
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wanting me to not set this up right now, but
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I'm determined to get this done. I got it done.
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Here we are. I'm just reminiscing on the nostalgia that
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came back and just sitting in my little office space,
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just talking, just talking freely. A lot of life has
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happened between the last episode and this one. I did
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not plan to disappear for this long, but honestly, I
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really needed the time. I needed the time to think.
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I needed the time to strategize. I needed the time
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to recharge and to regroup, and honestly, I had to
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figure out my identity again after an incredibly challenging year.
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I noticed in my absence that I was still getting downloads,
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which was one of my motivations for coming back. It
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kind of surprised me in a way that people were
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still listening to the same old episodes that I posted
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a long time ago, and I was actively getting downloads
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by the week. So I'm going to take this time
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to reintroduce myself for my og listeners. Welcome back. I'm
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so sorry that I have been gone for so long.
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And if you're new, Hi, I'm Trace and I'm so
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glad that you're here. Just a regular person who wanted
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to create a space where I could talk about life, marriage, parenthood, money,
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all the things openly and freely, without judgment. I started
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this podcast a year ago and I think weird at
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about episode twenty eight. I think this will be twenty nine.
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But this podcast meant a lot to me because I've
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been able to connect with people all over the world.
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At one point in time, we were listed in the
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top fifty podcast on Apple Podcasts, and for some reason,
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that rocked my world. I'll be honest. After that, I
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got imposter syndrome. I would have people reaching out to
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me on a weekly basis they wanted to be guest
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speakers on the show. I had podcast producers reaching out
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wanting to connect and to work with me, and for
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the longest time, I could not figure out why that
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was all I kept saying to myself was why do
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they want to sit and talk to me? What was
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so special about what I'm doing that would make people
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take time out of their day to have a conversation
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with me? Why? Just why, why would anyone want to
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listen to me? You have for hours and hours and hours.
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And so I was having all these internal conflicts every
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single day, and it frustrated me. I was frustrated because
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I wasn't happy with work. I wasn't able to think
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or be creative. I doubted every piece of content that
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I was putting out, from TikTok to Pinterest, and I
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had so many internal battles every single day that I
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just could not come up with any fresh or new ideas.
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I remember telling my husband that I just was not
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sure about the stuff that I was creating, and I
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felt really scared being listened to and heard in a way.
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Does that make sense? I don't know if that makes
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any sense at all, but that's how I felt. I
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understood the power of the impact that my voice had,
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and for some reason, no, lie, you guys, that felt
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so heavy. My husband sits there, of course, and he's
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listening to me go on and on about why I
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shouldn't make new content or why I shouldn't record any
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new episodes and I'm just like making excuse after excuse
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after excuse, and why I should not be doing this anymore.
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And then he did what he always does. He knocks
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the fear right out of me. He made sure to
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remind me of the things that I've done, what I've accomplished,
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the rooms I've been in, the rooms I've been a
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part of, the rooms that I will be in, and
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just how powerful my influence is to those around us
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and beyond. And then he also took a second to
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remind me of exactly who the fuck I think I am.
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This audio was created with async dot Com.
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All Right, so the last time we talked, we talked
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about how marriage is not like a sitcom and not
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gonna lie the way the year went from my family
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that I've been gone. It's a thousand percent giving sitcom.
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We have gone through some things as a family that
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can only be written on either reality TV or some
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sort of TV show. I'm not gonna go to my
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into detail, but we have been through some things over
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the past year. Okay, when I started this podcast, though
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we were kind of in a new season, we were
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new entrepreneurs. Recently just launched a fitness and wellness business,
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and I think I started to feel the weight of
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that and that kind of scared me a little bit.
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My mindset back then was like, just get it done,
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Just wake up and get it done. Get it done.
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But also, you need a regular job. And I don't
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know where that came from. I think just the spirit
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of entrepreneurship kind of freaked me out a little bit,
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because you know, when you start a new business or
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you start something new, it can feel a little bit uncertain,
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and I wasn't really sure where that would go, and
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so I started looking for a job in addition to
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the business that we had started, which was interesting because
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within the first six months of us starting our business,
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we had a gym space, we launched a fitness app,
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and we were featured in a magazine here, and so
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we were doing fine, like we were doing great. But
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I think something just was telling me, you need a job,
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you need a job, you need a job. And I'm
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now realizing that that is kind of where things went left.
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Starting that new job was a huge adjustment for myself
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and my family. My priorities ended up shifting. I put
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all my focus and time, attention and energy into working,
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and I was really having a hard time filing finding
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that balance between work and creativity because I didn't have
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the energy. I literally did not have the energy to
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do anything. After I worked. I stopped making content, I
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stopped doing all the fun things that I like to do.
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I stopped going out with my family, like on the
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weekends and just doing things that I loved and enjoyed
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because I literally did not have the energy. I moved.
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I moved, I want to say twice since I spoke
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to you guys last, and that was unsettling. We had
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to rebuild our routines. We kind of lost consistency in
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some areas such as working out and things like that.
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So that was a really big adjustment, trying to navigate working, moving, parenting,
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wifing all the things. That was really really difficult for me.
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I'm a person who thrives on consistency and routine, and
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so to have everything kind of like uprooted, damn near
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overnight felt really insane. I also lost one of my
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family members over this time period, over the holiday break,
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and I will spare you the details, but grief taught
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me that not everything is worth your energy and that
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we are truly on borrow time. This loss affected my
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motivation and my energy. I was already drained before, and
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I think after that I was I can't even explain
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to you how I felt after this. I wasn't sleeping well.
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I lost all motivation to do pretty much everything. Like
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the day after the news, I had to work, and
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I had to put my big girl panties on and
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just smile and grin through meetings, but my internal world
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was physically drowning. I didn't know how to feel. I
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felt really numb for several several weeks. I wasn't sure
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how to navigate that because I had never gone through
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anything like that before, and so most days I just
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had to ground myself because it would knock the wind
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out of me and it just felt like the rug
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was pulled out from under me often, and so that
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was really difficult to navigate on top of moving and
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losing the balance that I had previously established. And then, girl,
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get this, I got laid off. In the midst of
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all of that. I got laid off. I got laid off.
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Got the news a few weeks ago, and my initial
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reaction was pearshock. I was let go due to budget
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cuts and restructuring and all the things. And at the time,
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my two year old niece was over. She was hanging
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out and she wanted she wanted a snack, and so
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she didn't care that her tea te just got laid off.
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She she wanted to snack. And so my initial reaction was, damn,
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that's crazy. And then it was, oh my god, what
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are we going to do? And then it was wait
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a second, I think this is a true blessing in
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disguise because now I can refocus on the things that
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I need to focus on. I can focus on my business,
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I can focus on my family, I can focus on
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my creative projects. And so once I shifted the narrative
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of this is happening to me, I was like, this
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is happening for me because now I can do the
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things that I was set out to do before I
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took this job. Now I am working out, Now I
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am cooking meals. Now I am I am going outside
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and planting flowers in my garden and getting ready to
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start growing my fruits and vegetables again, because y'all know me,
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y'all know I love a vegetable.
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This audio was created with ACYNC dot com.
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Knowing my fruits and vegetables again, because y'all know me.
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Y'all know I love a vegetable. But I learned a
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lot over the last year from navigating loss, from navigating moving,
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from getting laid off, and just I learned that rest
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is necessary. I learned that I need to maintain my
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identity outside of being productive. I learned that my creativity
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changes in different seasons. And I also learned that I
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can pause without quitting, and starting over does not mean
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that I failed. I think that I thought for the
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longest time that when you stop, or when you pause
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or if you have to start over, I was viewing
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that as a failure rather than a reset. And so
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for me, it just made sense that I started over,
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and it's perfectly okay to start over. My vision now
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is to pick back up on all the things that
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I was working on before. Y'all know, I'm all over
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the place, and I've got my hands in many different pots.
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But from a creative standpoint, I am focused on the future.
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I'm focused on connecting with the people who have reached
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out to me and want to be able to offer you,
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guys some words of encouragement or offer you guys some
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insight that I may not have. I want to have
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conversations that are impactful and meaningful. So coming up in
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this next season, we are going to have guest speakers,
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but we've got many people that are really interested in
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being in this space and really building community. So I'm
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really excited to connect with all these people to talk
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about new topics, new themes, and just coming up with
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new plans for consistency. I'm learning that I don't want
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to create from pressure anymore. I want to create from purpose,
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and all of the things that I've endured over the
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past year have just pointed me more towards my purpose.
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I'm so excited to have these conversations. I'm so excited
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to have these upcoming topics and the future guests. And
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I thank you guys for still being here. I think
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you guys for still being patient with me, whether this
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is your first episode or this is you listening to
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me after being gone for so long. But we are
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going to be starting a new chapter together. We are
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going to be moving forward in the best way possible.
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Life pulled me away, but it also reshaped me. After
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a year of being away from the mic. I am
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finally back, I'm finally where I need to be. I'm
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navigating loss, change, moving being laid off. But my perspective
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is different. My perspective is different. I see things from
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a completely different lens. And so I'm hoping that you
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are excited to be on this journey with me and
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I cannot wait to see what the future holds for
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all of us. So I will see you in the
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next episode. And I missed you. I missed you a lot.
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This is not goodbye. I will be back, I promise,
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But we're back. We made it, we made it. I'll
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see you in the next episode.
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Trace This audio was created with ACYNC dot com.
