79. New Season, Same You: How to Choose Joy on Purpose and Stop Waiting to Feel Ready

You’ve Been Becoming All Along: Make Room for Joy, Growth & the Life You Were Meant to Live

Have you ever looked at your life and thought, "I should be further along by now" or "I'm tired of starting over?" If so, this episode is for you.

In this deeply honest and soul-stirring conversation, Hazel is joined by returning guest Keondra (first featured in Episode 66) for a powerful exploration of personal growth, emotional healing, and stepping into your next season with intention and joy. This episode is a continuation of the journey that began with our most downloaded conversation—and it’s even more raw, freeing, and transformational.

Together, Hazel and Keondra unpack what it really means to "spiral upward"—to evolve, even through confusion, grief, change, or uncertainty. They discuss how many of us live life like a rough draft—always editing, doubting, or deleting parts of ourselves—when the truth is, we’ve been becoming all along. The seasons you thought were wasted were actually planting seeds. The moments you wanted to hide are now the foundation of your healing. This is the episode where we stop shrinking, stop apologizing, and start reclaiming our joy without needing everything to be perfect.

Inside this episode, we talk about:
 – Why your personal growth doesn’t need to look like a highlight reel to be valid
 – How to recognize emotional clutter and clear space for what really matters
 – What it means to transition from surviving to thriving in your own life
 – Signs you’re blooming, even when it feels like you’re behind
 – The importance of being proud of yourself in real time, not just in hindsight
 – How letting go of who you thought you had to be creates space for who you actually are
– The connection between emotional healing, purpose, and joy
– What happens when we stop editing our journey and start trusting it instead

This episode is especially for anyone navigating change, stepping into a new chapter, or dealing with the tension between “still becoming” and “already enough.” Whether you’ve been feeling stuck in self-doubt, emotionally overwhelmed, or just tired of waiting for the right moment to be happy, this conversation is your reminder: You don’t need to be a new version of yourself to live a new season. You just need to give yourself permission to feel proud, feel ready, and feel joy—now.

Listen if you’ve ever asked:
 – What do I need to let go of emotionally to grow?
 – Why does it feel like I’m always in transition?
 – How do I embrace the season I’m in instead of rushing past it?
 – What does it look like to truly choose joy and not just wait for it to happen?

This is one of those episodes you’ll want to come back to. It’s part motivation, part mindset reset, and all real talk—just like the moments we often keep to ourselves. Keondra’s return brings warmth, wisdom, and laughter, while Hazel offers heartfelt reflections that

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to the Human Experience Podcast
• 1:13 Keandra Returns: Living from a Place of Joy
• 5:35 Revisiting Seeds You've Already Planted
• 10:13 Energy Work and Breaking Old Patterns
• 16:18 Proud of the Journey: Spiraling Upward
• 22:14 Finding Keandra and Event Announcement
• 29:15 Final Thoughts and Episode Closing

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: 1:13

Hey, hey, hey. You are now tuned in to the it's the Human Experience podcast. I'm your host, hazel Brown. Today we have Keandra back on the podcast. Keandra was on on episode 66. So if you haven't tuned into 66, go ahead and scroll on back and listen to those episodes after you're done listening to this. So if this is your first time tuning in, thanks for tuning into the podcast. We're going to go ahead and jump right into the episode because we don't do any fluff. Keandra, welcome to the podcast.

Speaker 3: 1:41

Hi, thank you so much for having me back. I'm so excited to be back.

Speaker 2: 1:45

Absolutely. I feel like singing welcome back, welcome back, welcome back.

Speaker 3: 1:53

Yes, yes, it feels good. Thank you so much.

Speaker 2: 1:57

Absolutely. I used to love me some Mase right.

Speaker 3: 2:00

I know all his songs, so it's just perfect, I'm on, I'm on.

Speaker 2: 2:05

So in episode 66, we dived into some themes around personal healing, rediscovering your identity, afterlife's major shifts. We also talked about just powerful directions and redirections and how we move through life. We touched on the cost of ignoring your inner voice, reclaiming your worth, choosing yourself without guilt, all the things. Where are you now, Keandra?

Speaker 3: 2:29

Oh, my goodness, it's so funny that even this moment is like a welcome back right You've been going into welcome back right. That is so funny right now because there has been so many full circle moments that align with not only that time, but just full circle in total to certain places in my life from a elevated perspective, and I'm enjoying it here. I'm enjoying seeing my growth. I'm enjoying seeing where certain decisions have led me, whether it has been easy or hard. All of them have led me to such a beautiful place right now and I'm just so excited and grateful. I'm so excited and grateful for everything that is happening.

Speaker 2: 3:35

Yeah, I love that. I love that sentiment of it all matters, and I think it's so important that we talk about that openly and we really share that. I think that there's so many times I just know for me, like as a child, you would see things happening and you would think, oh my God, like what did they do to deserve that, or why is that happening and what can I do to prevent things like that from happening in my life. And while some of those things may have been preventable, what we don't realize until we get into it is that it does all matter. It does all matter.

Speaker 3: 4:06

And not only does it all matter, but it's all for us. It's all for us to get to the things that we desire. So where I'm at in my journey now is living from a place of joy. It's really exciting and challenging all at the same time. Living from this place of joy and I say that because, you know, going back to episode 66, there was a lot of challenges that I was dealing with right. So, to fast forward now and be in this place where it's like, okay, keandra, where can you be more joyful? Where can you come back to yourself and express that with you and with your community, with your relationships, with family and friends and all of those things, showing up as myself, from this empowered state of knowing what I am capable of. It is so different. It is so different and I love it, but it comes with its own set of learning curves.

Speaker 2: 5:16

Yeah, no, absolutely, it really does. It's like when you're in the middle of the process, it's like I know how good I am, but at the same time it's like what am I supposed to do next? Sometimes I was running the ball, I was running the play, but was I supposed to pass it to somebody, or did you want me to run it the whole way? Refresh my memory, please.

Speaker 3: 5:43

Yes, it's like a loading screen that comes up. It's like, okay, I got it, now what? Now what? And again, the presence is important to figure out what that now what is?

Speaker 2: 5:55

yes, absolutely, it's so funny, like in the episode right before your episode, we talk, talk a lot about and I say we, but it's me just about how sometimes we're in our season right, and we're ready for things to happen so quickly in terms of what we want to stand up, but the reality is the things that we see in front of us, like the trees, the plants, everything that is blooming they were planted in the last season. So we're trying to see things harvest in this season that were not planted in the last season and we're wondering why we're like why is it not happening fast enough? Because you took too long, honey. You've got to wait till the next season to see the reward.

Speaker 3: 6:41

That's so funny and you know what I started telling. When I coach, one of the analogies that I use actually is about planting that seed right, and it helps me take pressure off of myself and I've seen how it helps my clients take pressure off of themselves, because a lot of times we have these things, like you said, that we want to have them. We feel like, okay, this is my growing season, but we just planted the seed last night. It doesn't have to happen Like you don't plant the seed and then get a tree. There's things that have to happen before that tree happens to grow, and a lot of it is in the dark, it's underground, it's where can't nobody see anything yet, where you can't see it yet. But it's still very powerful work and it doesn't mean that it's not happening. So relax a little. You did what you had to do.

Speaker 2: 7:39

Yeah, absolutely Go water it. Make sure you're not over watering it, right. Make sure you pull out the weeds around it, right. Make sure you know it's like the soil is good in that space. All the things that we need to like, really like, revisit and just make sure we're learning from the process and we're just so focused on the reward when it's so much more than the reward, it's to your point being able to be still enough to recognize that it was just yesterday. I'm going to need you to go look back at some of the seeds you've already planted and clean that up, finish those things and give this time, just like you've given other things time.

Speaker 3: 8:20

And enjoy some of that other fruit too, because you got stuff you can enjoy Exactly you can enjoy. All of that is so valid and so necessary, and I think that's where that stillness and that presence comes in, because there's so many different things that we can do after we plant the seed right. This is what I want, this is what I'm expecting, and there's so many things that happens after that and just being able to be present and saying, hey, this is where I am now and this is what's required of me in this space. Maybe it is nurturing myself a little bit more. I'm in a space where I need to pull weeds, or maybe it's not time to touch anything right now. Right, maybe it's time to just pull back and let it do its thing, so that you can see what that next step is. And I think that awareness of knowing that all of those things may be required of you at some point and being willing to go through that it makes a huge difference.

Speaker 2: 9:26

Yeah, it's just something that really comes up for me, so much when I hear you say that you know revisiting some of those seeds you already planted. I talked a little bit about that and you elaborated and it really just resonated from the perspective of many times you hear people saying they want like a new circle of friends that get them. They want a new position, a new job, a new career. They want a new lot of things. Right, they want everything new, but what have you done with the old things, like what trends have taken place over?

Speaker 2: 9:59

in that space, like were you a good steward of the things that you've already received through God. And many times people don't check up on their friends. They don't really try to foster healthy relationships with those friends. They don't want to talk to those friends but they want new friends. But the problem in life is many times if you treat the old friends that way and you have issues with the old friends, you're going to have some issues with the new friends. If you had issues with the jobs, you don't have issues with the new job. And I think it's just so important that, instead of always running to the new seed, to the new plant, to the new harvest, that we really take some time to reflect on the trends within our old harvest and learn to enjoy it or see what we've done wrong, so that we don't bring those same hardships and those same problems and those same trends over to the newness of whatever it is that we're planting.

Speaker 3: 10:57

Absolutely, absolutely, because the energy and this is the thing I love talking about like energy, work, right, because it goes with you.

Speaker 3: 11:05

It's not the relationship, it's how we're approaching the relationships, the mindsets. It's how we're approaching the relationships, the mindsets that we have when we're in the relationships with a friend or a family member, or romantic interests, what have you? It's the mindset, the energy that we carry in it that causes us to repeat certain patterns with them, right? So if we go to another relationship and those things are still the same, then, yeah, it may start off in a certain way, but they can start to unfold as well. So it's super important to go back and do that energy work with what you have going on, with the things that you know already exist, and then making space for what you're calling in, because it's okay to want those new friends, but, okay, what energy do we have in the area of friendship to begin with? What's there? How do we operate, you know, and just taking that time to really care about it so that when you do call in more, whether it's from your current friends, past friends or future friends that you're making space for what you actually want to experience.

Speaker 2: 12:19

Yeah, I love that and I think it's important for the listeners to really pull from that what they need and apply it to what makes sense for them, because it may not be a friend, it could be a job, it could be a job, it could be a business, it could be whatever. And many times, how we do anything is how we do everything. So, if we're ready to run from the things that are not working out, whether it be in a career, whether it be in a business, whether it be in whatever it is that you're working through- I had to do that just recently, going back to visit old drafts.

Speaker 3: 12:50

you know old drafts, old pictures, you see things, and it's like when I was looking at my old drafts there was so much. That was in those moments where it really did require that I sit with that energy for a moment. Because why are the drafts still here? Right, what was that feeling where, you know, I wasn't able to produce them? And then going into a place when I refer to jobs, I mean like content being created or like social media, right. And then going back and sitting with hey, I'm actually trying to move forward in that. And now, what was stopping me before from fully expressing myself?

Speaker 2: 13:29

Listen, I'm going to have to post something that's in my drafts because I got too much. It's so funny. I was on the phone with Apple recently and I was telling them that I got the cloud package and all the things, but it's still saying that I'm out of storage. And so he's going through everything with me and he's like okay, let's go to your apps and like within your apps, let's see what's taking up a lot of space. And he was like what shows up as number one? I'm like Instagram and he's like okay, like how much space is it taking up? And I say it to him I can't remember off the top of my head.

Speaker 2: 14:03

And he's like Instagram is not supposed to take up that much space. Like why is your Instagram taking up that space? You need to go ahead and delete it. I'm like no, I can't delete it because it's going to delete my drafts. And he was like okay. And I was like oh, my drafts. I got all these different Instagram accounts and then I have drafts in all of them and I'm complaining about like, why is my? I got all of them. And I'm complaining about like, why is my? I got all this stuff.

Speaker 3: 14:41

And it's like let go of them. Drafts, girl, that's it. And those are different versions of us that are needing to be released as well. Right, like, get that out, let's do the clearance. That's exactly what had me releasing my dress Because I'm not paying for another storage upgrade, but I am. All of it is needed in this point Making space, receiving new space, clearing out old space. All of it is so valid when you're trying to call in more. So listen, I found me a whole message for myself in clearing out my drafts.

Speaker 2: 15:12

Yes, at the end of the day he told me either I needed to go ahead to your point clear out those drafts or I need to get a phone to hold more space. He's like you can Apple upgrade your storage all day long, but it's not going to fix your problem and I'm like ooh child.

Speaker 3: 15:26

Listen, listen which one you about to do?

Speaker 2: 15:30

I'm like are we gonna delete those drafts? Are we gonna post those drafts? Are we gonna get a whole new phone?

Speaker 2: 15:36

exactly clear the energy yeah, but that leading with intention and really taking control over your life, like, is really important. So I love that you're in the season of reflecting and making sure that, as you make your next steps, you really vetted through what has come up for you and what makes sense in terms of the next steps that you take. How do you feel within yourself, looking back at past versions of Keandra to your point, like the ones that are in the draft, and comparing to where you are now just in terms of, like, your mindset and the way that you look at life, like sometimes? What are your reflections around that?

Speaker 3: 16:16

My goodness, I cry. I cry because there's so many versions of me who didn't know how I was going to get to where I am now and there were a lot of again challenges that I was dealing with. But I was. I feel again those joyful tears that I was talking about earlier because it's like, girl, look at what you went through and how much dedication and faith you had in your vision and how much of it you're actually living now and that fills me with so much joy and encouragement, even for the moments now where I feel similar feelings but from it seems like a higher. I talk often about spiraling upwards, right, and so we feel ourselves in these spirals and spiraling can feel really scary, right. But realizing that I'm spiraling upward, I'm moving upward, fills me with so, so much joy and makes me really emotional. Because it was, it was faith, it was that internal faith. Shout out to me for having it. Shout out to me for having it. That means so much to me. It makes me proud of me. That's what I feel inside, really, really.

Speaker 2: 17:43

I'm so glad you shared that, because I feel like so many times you go through to your point the spirals and the circles of life and the reiterations of ourselves and you forget just how far you've come.

Speaker 2: 17:56

And, separately, you forget that no matter what you're working on, it's going to require you to be stretched, and so it's to be expected that in the next circle or iteration of yourself, you're going to go through some stuff. It's not going to all be easy, despite the work that you've already done. But it's also being able to recognize that, yeah, you could do hard things and then, aside from doing hard things, that you'll be able to come out of this like you've come out of everything else. And so I wanted to really have you share that perspective, because I feel so many times, as people are just growing their personal development journey, it's a lot. It's a lot from the perspective of there's no, you've arrived, and it's intentionally to your point of what we talked about earlier looking at the trends in your life and the seasons and then making sure you're loving on the seeds that you've already harvested right. It's really making sure you sit within the things you've already done and appreciate that, having that gratitude so that you can actually smile, you can be happy.

Speaker 2: 18:59

We hear a lot of things and people talk about happiness, but happiness is really a choice and it's really making sure, yeah, you look at the roads that you've traveled and the growth and the progress that has taken place and you find happiness in that, Because if your happiness is going to always be based on results, there are going to always be things that you need to do or can do to improve. And until you can sit with yourself and look at it's okay to be still To your point, do I need to be pulling the weeds right now? Is there something else that I truly need to be doing? Or is this my still season?

Speaker 2: 19:35

If you can't sit with yourself in your current state, regardless of where you are in the spiral and, like I said on past episodes, you kind of don't want to pull over in a bad area but as long as you're not in a hood or you're not going to get lynched, I want you to pull over wherever you are within your spiral and just take a pause and recognize the greatness that has to come because you've intentionally worked on becoming the best version of yourself. So I'm happy that you can vocalize that. I'm proud. I'm proud of Keandra.

Speaker 3: 20:11

Yeah, absolutely, I love that for you, Thank you. Thank you. I really appreciate that because it took a moment to even be able to get to that space where I can say I'm proud, you know, and not you know, like you said, focus on okay. Well, this is what I could be doing. It's okay to be proud right here, right here, where I am. It's not only okay, but it's important to be proud right here, right now and show up right here, right now, regardless of what things I'm working towards and still needing to build. This moment in itself is powerful.

Speaker 2: 20:50

Yeah, and I wanted to sit there because I feel like that muscle is such an important muscle to build, the one of gratitude, reflection and really just loving who you are and what you've become. Because, as you're getting more downloads and more visions, if you're a visionary listening to the podcast, you are going to have so many things that you have to stand up. And in standing up a lot of those things and taking the actions and having the faith to the point of our conversation just a few seconds ago, you're going to have to be okay with the process and where you are in the moment. In the spiral and without being able to be thankful and be happy with your now, it's going to be hard to continue to level up because your mindset is going to be to where how can I do that? Because the bigger projects he gives you, if you will, is the longer they take.

Speaker 2: 21:44

So if you're the kind of person who wants to plant the seed yesterday and see the results tomorrow, you're going to be miserable on that spiral. Every place is going to seem like the hood in the area, when the reality is he has so much greatness for you and your future and you have to be able to be thankful that he can trust you with it, that you can see it, that he's putting the right people in place to make it happen. It's not happening as fast as you want it to happen, but that's why that muscle to be able to say I'm proud of myself, I'm happy with the life I've built, I'm nurturing those seeds that I've already planted that becomes imperative. Otherwise, ooh child, you mad and you're being blessed. It don't make no sense.

Speaker 3: 22:30

Listen, listen. And that's where choosing happiness comes into play, because we'll be doing right exactly because it's like.

Speaker 2: 22:41

It's like you know they talk about the lulu, like it's the lulu land. You gotta decide, like, how you're gonna position your mindset, because you can't ask him to trust you with things and you can't want to build a life of peace and true freedom to where you have boundaries and you're not living your life according to societal expectations. But now you're following a spiritual journey and through that spiritual journey there are no timelines, it's are you ready and have you decided that this road makes the most sense for you? And on the road it's not rushing to make things happen, it's not putting things in the microwave, it is really letting things marinate to the point of an earlier episode. It's really making sure that you understand that everything is important and we can't skip levels, my goodness.

Speaker 3: 23:29

I love it, I love it, I'm here for it. And you know what? It's so funny because we say I heard you say we can't skip levels and all of it is important, right, but it's also so amazing how non-linear it is when we are taking that spiritual path to your point of spirit, as it's time for you to show up, right, it's not oh, I want to do this, I want to do that it's are you ready to do this? Right, and it may not make sense linearly and logically to you. However, you were called to it and when you're called to it.

Speaker 3: 24:09

it really just becomes about do you have faith in yourself to show up and to feel good enough, as you are? And that's when being able to look at the seeds that you've already planted is going to be so important, because, yes, you will have the seeds that are still growing, and the ones that you still need to plant, and the ones that you have to do this, the ones that you would like to do this, to plant, and the ones that you have to do this, the ones that you would like to do this. However, look at where you are, what you've been called to and what you have already done, and know that that is more than enough to make you qualified and capable.

Speaker 2: 24:45

I love that. I love that so much. Listen, I want to make sure that we take some time for the listeners to be able to follow you on socials and all the things, so where can they find you online?

Speaker 3: 24:58

Absolutely. You can find me online on Instagram at Keys Goddess House it's K-E-Y-S Goddess D-O-D-D-E-S-S house like within and you can also find me on TikTok soulhealingkeys S-O-U-L. Healing keys and really what I want to leave you guys with. If any of this feels like something that you're being called to and something that you're looking for guidance with, that creates spaces for things like that, because it's something that I felt that I wanted to have along my journey and I saw how many of my peers that benefited from these type of conversations that help us grow and help us feel safe enough to trust ourselves, to have faith in ourselves and to let this journey unfold. If that's something that you are interested in, I encourage you to visit my website at he's Got Us Health for the energy recalibration course we talked about so many good things.

Speaker 2: 26:09

I think when we go back into the draft part it really just helps you recognize that sometimes we feel like we're stuck or we have problems that are happening in our lives and we've created them for ourselves. Like girl delete the drafts, post the drafts or buy a new phone. It's not that deep.

Speaker 2: 26:25

We don't need to spend so much time on it. So it's like really reflecting, to recognize, sometimes like what is stuck and what are you being held to as a result of you choosing not to let go, whether it's by putting it out there or by deciding that this no longer serves you. Oh my God, I love that so much. I also wanted a shameless plug workplace therapy events, because you've come to two of them. So tell the people how has the experience been?

Speaker 3: 26:53

because you've come to two of them. So tell the people, how has the experience been? Listen?

Speaker 2: 27:02

when is the next one? That's how it's been. I'm already ready. So the next one's on October 11th in Las Vegas. We actually have some really good speakers. Like we have some really good things in store. I don't know if you follow podcasts, but I have Lisa Marie Lovett. She's the podcast host for Seasoned Dialogue. She's going to be at the event, yeah, so we're really.

Speaker 3: 27:22

Okay, I'm familiar with Seasoned Dialogue and that just makes me even more excited because already I feel like your events bring so much. The first time that I came, I was floored because it was like real connections, right, and not just from the networking, not just from the mixers, but from the panelists the whole way around. Regardless of who you are talking to, there is a connection there and your cup will be poured into and I come pouring into my own cup. So that was just a recipe for it to overflow. Oh my God yes.

Speaker 3: 28:04

Yes, absolutely. So I can't wait, I will definitely be there.

Speaker 2: 28:08

It's going to be really good. The goal for this event is transformational that's the word in my mind. So we'll have someone who will be teaching people how to invest in real estate not just how to buy your first home, but how to actually invest in real estate. She worked at McDonald's 10 years ago and now she owns 28 different properties. Okay, yeah, so you're actually hearing from people who've done it and understand the cycles and spirals and, laying out on the side, I truly get it right and could help us navigate that whole part of the experience. And that's really important to me to make sure that every event was getting better. Every event is allowing people to really grow, not just spiritually, not just their mindset, but also our bank accounts right. Also in terms of the kinds of people that we're meeting, so that we can really grow and elevate when we think about our next ascension and just kind of coming to the highest version of ourselves. So I'm really excited about that.

Speaker 3: 29:10

Absolutely. Me too. I can't wait to be there.

Speaker 2: 29:13

Listen. If you listen to this episode and you thought to yourself man, this is so relatable. No, this is Keandra every day and so definitely go follow her, reach out to her, dm her. And so many times we sit by ourselves and we say we're stuck and we can't do this and we need support and we wish, and there's nobody in our family and we don't have no friends to understand. But there's support out there and so just know that if you need support in this Resonate, go get you some support right, yes, I got you.

Speaker 3: 29:42

I got you, felt it and I'm here.

Speaker 2: 29:45

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for tuning into the podcast. Thanks again, keandra, for being here. Hey, hey, go ahead and bet on yourself, do it and know that you have everything you need to actualize your goals, your dreams, and make it happen.

Speaker 1: 29:59

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 itsthehumanexperiencecom to keep up with us. Keep growing and glowing. Catch you on the next episode.