68. Unlocking Fulfillment: The Power of Autonomy and Supportive Relationships through Intentionality

What if reclaiming your autonomy could unlock a more fulfilling life? Join us on this thought-provoking journey as we explore the profound impact of community, self-worth, and personal growth. Through the lens of my own experiences, including the heart-wrenching loss of my mother, we delve into how the right community can propel you toward your true potential. Together, we challenge societal norms and emphasize the importance of forming deep connections with those who share our core values and goals. Whether you're navigating career transitions, motherhood, or simply seeking personal growth, this episode is a powerful call to live authentically.

Imagine making decisions based solely on your instincts and values, free from the weight of societal expectations. This episode underscores the significance of reclaiming your autonomy and embracing self-worth as essential components of navigating life's complexities. We discuss the transformative power of journaling and reflection, which can help you stay anchored to your principles. Additionally, we highlight the crucial role of a supportive community—be it family, friends, or like-minded individuals—in empowering your journey. Tune in to discover how aligning your actions with your true self can lead to a more meaningful and fulfilling life.

Chapters

• 0:00 Community, Autonomy, Self-Worth & Growth
• 9:28 Embracing Autonomy and Self-Worth

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to. It's the Human Experience Podcast Hosted by Hazel Brown, a healthcare leader, wife, mom and career coach. If you're big on authenticity, personal development, perseverance and transparency, you're in the right place. Get ready to be uplifted, inspired and empowered as you become fearless in pursuit of the life you desire and deserve. Our goal is to help you level up by creating a safe space to learn and reflect, while listening to transparent stories from our host or successful professionals and business owners who've agreed to share the parts of success that typically gets X'd out on social media, because that's the part you need to see and hear the process. Go ahead and subscribe. You don't want to miss out on these transparent stories and discussions that reveal highs, lows, aha moments and nuggets that'll help you to grow and glow.

Speaker 2: 1:12

Hey, hey, hey. You are now tuned in to the it's the Human Experience podcast. I'm your host, hazel Brown. Today we're jumping into some things. We're talking about community, autonomy, self-worth. I am a growth coach. I'm an empowerment coach. I create events for go-getters that are trying to grow into their highest self with community, with people around them that really care about who they are.

Speaker 2: 1:41

At core, there's some commonality in the community to where we are all authentic, heart-centered and really betting on ourselves and each other to win. Before I start the episode, I wanted to jump into the definition of community, right? So it's a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common, and then diving deeper into that, it's a feeling of fellowship with others as a result of sharing a common interest, attitude, goals or what have you. So this had me thinking. It had me thinking like is it more important to be in a space where you're around people that know of you because they grew up with you, they understand who you are based on your past, or is it more important to be around people who understand who you are today and where you're going? So it really had me really deep in thought, because it's something I hadn't thought about before. Right, I was thinking to myself over time that in developing community, I needed community of having friends, family members, people who have known me through the years. Right, and I think that really came up to play because of the passing of my mom. If you don't know, go back to episode two. I have a tribute to my mom. Lessons from my Mother is what the episode is called. But I really felt like after losing my mom, that the connection to family and friends was very important, because she was my best friend, she was my family, she was my world, she was my everything. Because she was my best friend, she was my family, she was my world, she was my everything.

Speaker 2: 3:33

And so, in thinking through how important it is to make sure you have people around you that really care about you, it automatically unfolds that maybe those people are family, maybe those people are friends, long-term friends or what have you. But then it had me thinking that maybe those people are people that share common interests with you, have the same attitudes towards life and goals as you do. In terms of creating that community, it doesn't necessarily have to be family, it doesn't necessarily have to be long-term friends, and so I wanted to preface with that so that you could kind of understand the mindset of this episode. And so having people around you that truly understand you really is goal, because it's so funny how people say, like you don't know me, but then other people are like, well, I know you. And it's like, wait, hold on.

Speaker 2: 4:22

How can you say that you know someone simply because you know their temperament, you kind of have an understanding of some of their likes and their dislikes, but you don't understand their essence, who they are at core, their values, who they stand for, what they stand for, the things that are important to them at core. And so, without that relatability, you don't necessarily know a person. You know, oh, maybe they don't like talking about this, they don't like going to this place, they don't like wearing this, you know, or whatever the case, they don't like wasting time on this or whatever the case may be, but you don't really understand, like, the foundational values that that person has, and so, therefore, that commonality in terms of interest, goals and just attitudes towards life is not shared. And so it was just like, oh, my goodness, when I came to this realization, I'm like, let's talk about it, because I'm the kind of person that truly dislikes being boxed in. I don't like societal expectations boxed in the end, when you really think about it, if you are conforming to society's expectations and what other people are doing with their lives, you are not living out your true potential. You're not unlocking that potential. You're concerned with what other people are thinking about it, and the more that that is a thing is, the more you move away from who you are at heart and who you're destined to be. So in today's episode, we're going to push past surface level in terms of how we explore life and really make sure that we're changing lanes in a way that shapes us into becoming the kind of person that we're really looking to become.

Speaker 2: 6:08

If it's your first time tuning into the podcast, go ahead and scroll up to the top and hit that follow button. When you're done listening to the episode, be sure to leave us a comment so I can hear your greatest takeaways, but I'm going to go ahead and jump right back into the episode. So, whether you're coming from a standpoint of like maybe you've shipped careers, maybe motherhood, maybe relationships, personal growth just kind of understanding that those things can either shake you. They can strengthen you when it comes to your self-worth and the way that you move forward with going after your goals and just feeling like you're deserving of living the life that you know you're deserving of living, because you know deep down you're deserving of living that life.

Speaker 2: 6:50

And so some of the frustrating things I feel like that really minimizes our struggles or concerns is when we're sharing things with other people and they may say things like oh, it's going to be okay, it's probably not that bad. And I feel like when people say things like that, it's like their way of trying to make you feel not so bad about what you're going through. But in that moment you're probably just venting. You just need to be able to showcase what you're feeling, and I think that people don't understand how hard it is for people to even open up and speak to someone else about their struggles, about their concern. And I just think it's so important for us to claim and celebrate our uniqueness. I don't think that we have to dim other people's situations, their light or what they're experiencing to make it feel like something we can actually digest. We should be able to hear someone out and just understand that that's their truth and how they're feeling, and not try to get them to see things from another lens.

Speaker 2: 8:08

It's not okay for someone to be stuck in a mindset that's very fixed or one that doesn't allow them to grow and develop, while at the same time, it's like so important that you're not over here, like oh my God, hazel, I think that you should paint your nails every three days, because I do it Like nah, I'm cool with doing it every two weeks, like who is to say that one person's way's better than the next person? Now, don't get me wrong. If the person's toenails are growing out like rapidly, then maybe we should right. But if we're just doing things for circumstance sake, because of another person doing it one way, we need to get to a point where we can really celebrate our own uniqueness, because that constant push towards conformity instead of just honoring your individuality, that is like not it Like very suffocating, very stuck in a box, very crabs in a bucket, like it's not cool. We need to make sure that we realize that our strongest desire is to break down societal trends, barriers, and to really elevate ourselves and be free so that we can be the person that we know we're destined to be.

Speaker 2: 9:28

You have to reclaim your autonomy and, knowing that you get to make decisions about your life. You get to live a life in the way that you want to live it, because on judgment day, it is how you chose to live your life. You can't go back and be like God, but such and such that I should be doing this and that's why I started doing this. But what's in your gut? What does your instincts tell you you should do? What do you feel like is right for you? That is how you move forward, the way that you live your life, not based on what Susie's doing, what Nancy's doing, what anybody is doing. It has to be based on what makes sense for you.

Speaker 2: 10:07

Actualize the life you would like to live by analyzing the way things are happening and understanding that the feedback that you're getting, the criticism that you're getting, the positive feedback that you get, whatever noise you're getting, good or bad you have got to make sure that you are tuning that noise out, good or bad, and thinking to yourself is this the way that I want to live my life? Because you can't be a people pleaser, you can't be the kind of person that's like oh well, everyone loves the way I'm living my life, so I'm going to keep living it this way, don't nobody care if they love it, like that's cool, that's nice, but do you love it If people are saying, oh my God, like, why do you live your life like that? Like don't nobody care? They're not living your life. They don't cry to themselves to sleep. They don't smile when you smile. I know I talked about that in a previous episode at some point, but I always like to use that as an example because it is so true. In your saddest moments, where are these people? In your happiest moments, they don't even understand how happy you are. So why are you conforming to the way that other people think you should live your life? You have to reclaim your confidence, your self-worth, autonomy and live life.

Speaker 2: 11:23

Every season is not going to be the season of harvest. Every season is not going to be the season where everything feels right. Sometimes things are going to be uncomfortable. Sometimes things are not going to make a lot of sense. Sometimes things are going to be cloudy. Sometimes you're going to be following trends that you're going to have to realize that you're following. That's why journaling is so important, so you can recognize like, ooh, it's a real trendy. This is not even in line with my values. This is not even in line with the way I want to live my life, and I want you to really really think hard about the way that you are living your life. Does it align to you? Does it align to the kind of person that you know you are at heart, at core? Your value system, your principles, the way that you're living your life Does't align.

Speaker 2: 12:15

You cannot be concerned with what anyone else has to say about the way that you're living your life. When it is time for us to go on up to heaven, up to yonder, you have got to be able to look back and know that it was worth it, know that you've done everything that you can to be able to live a fulfilling life. It's all about evolving evolving in your relationship with self, with self-love, how you're prioritizing self-care, how you're empowering yourself to just be the version of yourself that you know you are at core. You're embracing your flaws, you're embracing everything and you're honoring your truth. That's where the autonomy comes in. You're honoring your truth, your self-worth, you're claiming your confidence and going after the life that you know you should be living, not no one else's life. You're not looking at everybody else's lanes. You're really trying to make sure you understand that, and I want you to recognize that you may have to do this multiple times.

Speaker 2: 13:26

It is not just a one and done. Sometimes things change. Your career may change. Your situation may change. Your location may change. Your situation may change. Your location may change. Your relationships may change. Personal growth is just a little different based on your season. Motherhood may be mothering.

Speaker 2: 13:41

Whatever the case may be, I just really need you to think about what that looks like for you and make shifts to live the life that you know you deserve to live. Live the life that you know you deserve to live. Give yourself permission to take up space and to rewrite your self-worth on your terms. It's time to reclaim the autonomy and step boldly into your power, free from the limits of others that the people try to place on us. I need you to claim it, I need you to go after it. I need you to live your life.

Speaker 2: 14:17

That's why I talk about community so much, because, with community of fellow heart-centered go-getters that are betting on themselves, they're doing the work, they're healing, they're rooting for you to win as well. And you may not always find that in the community that you share through family, friends and loved ones. When we do, we are blessed to find it, but most of the times you have to create that community for yourself so that life is worth living, so that you can feel like you have people that get you. And so don't feel alone, don't do the journey alone. If you happen to be in a situation to where you don't have a set of family, friends, loved ones who get you, find a community, go on Meetup, go on Eventbrite, come to one of our events Workplace Therapy Experience. It is a thing. We are in Atlanta. We are in Vegas, in DC.

Speaker 2: 15:15

Listen, if you know of a city that you want us to come to, let me know in the comments. We are all about making sure that you are growing into your highest self with people who are dedicated to helping you see your self-worth, to helping you win. It is our passion, it is what we do, because it's in our hearts to do it. It's who we are at core. Our foundational value system is helping other people embrace their light, go after their goals and live the life that they're called to live. Now I need you to bet on yourself. I need you to do it. I need you to get out your way and know that the life that you want is yours to live.

Speaker 1: 15:58

We hope you caught all those gems. So here for all of it. Be sure to subscribe so that you don't miss a gem. Write a review so that we know to keep bringing you episodes like this. And check us out online at itst, the human experiencecom, to keep up with us. Keep growing and glowing. Catch you on the next episode.