Welcome to episode #203 of the Own Your Best Life Podcast. When you’re standing at the precipice of change, knowing that you cannot imagine yourself doing the same thing 5 or 10 years from now, you know it’s time.

It’s time to move onto what’s next. 

Even if what you have today is amazing, everything changes and ends. Whether it’s the old way you’ve been doing things or feeling like you’re not truly utilizing your gifts – you feel something shifting inside.

Today’s podcast will help you understand what it looks like to be ready to let go of the old version of you and what will change for you when you truly let go.

This past week I was talking to some new friends and sharing what it’s been like to go from corporate warrior to entrepreneur and how my husband once said to me, “You’ve completely reinvented yourself.” The funny thing is that I’m now more me than I ever was before and yet, so much has changed in order for me to make space for myself to come through.

If it wasn’t for some driving force within me, the wake-up calls and deaths or my daughter asking me, “why are you so tired?” I don’t know if I would have let go of the old version of myself, career and life.

What is so normal for us humans is homeostasis. We don’t want to change. We want to be safe and change creates a feeling of not being safe. 

We’re more scared of the unknown than we are of the known so even when we have a life we don’t fully love or work that we know isn’t really fulfilling our potential, we stay. We don’t think the grass is greener, we don’t want to rock the boat.

People don’t love going outside of their comfort zone, even if it means they’re holding onto outdated versions of themselves. I think about it this way – when I was younger, I would see these women who still had the same hairstyle and makeup as when they learned it in their teens and twenties. I wondered to myself why they wouldn’t try new things and I realized that it was likely because of the status quo and inertia. It took time and effort the first time they learned and then they never changed it since the time they first learned. That imprint was so strong and it stayed. It’s not bad or wrong, but it helped me understand how similar we humans behave with our careers or ways of behaving.

We are creatures of habit and our identity is another habit we have. The letting go of the past feels like we’re letting go of a part of who we are and there can be so much nostalgia there for the good times or the way you used to do things. When you keep bringing the past into your future, it’s like a perpetual loop that cements and then tomorrow becomes like yesterday.

There’s also the fear of failure. When we let go of the old version of ourselves, we think we let go of the past successes as well. We worry we won’t succeed in our new identity and that means we’ll lose our reputation that we’ve worked so hard to build. When I thought about stopping my pattern of taking on burnout roles, I was worried about not utilizing all the experience or education from my past. What would have it all been for?

Yet I knew that even if I switched jobs or started a business, that I would take myself everywhere I go. I was the common denominator. My overworking tendencies, perfectionism, and people-pleasing would all come with me.

I also knew that if I didn’t let go of the old version of me, that I wouldn’t be letting in the more authentic version of myself. This was the reason I was here in the first place, at a crossroads in my career – wanting something to change. The old version was not sustainable and the old version was also a version of myself where I was hiding the full expression of my gifts. I was doing work that I was good at and most people would consider great or best in class, but I knew within myself that it wasn’t the best of me.

What is entirely mind-boggling to me is that if we’re this successful at things we don’t truly have passion for or are endlessly curious about, how much are we leaving behind of ourselves? What are we not tapping into in terms of our full expression?

You’re not just bored, you know you’re ready for a different version of yourself and your career. You just don’t know what it is next.

You know that change is coming and that you don’t want to be on your heels wishing you made the first move. Companies will restructure and you won’t have a place anymore. Your leaders will change and you’ll want to find a different leadership style to work with in the future. Your business will also change and you are ready to be strategic and see around the next corner.

If you don’t think you’re ready to let go of the old version of yourself, it’s likely not true. You might not know what you want to do, but you know that something has to change.

This is why we’re more ready than we realize. You’re used to being in charge of your own life and your destiny, so this is why you’re willing to investigate what’s next now.

So how do you know you’re ready?

Some of the signs will look like dissatisfaction with your current situation. You might be grateful for so much in your life – your family, partner and even your work experiences. Yet, you know that you want to be even more fulfilled and that it would help your confidence, your stress levels, health and relationships if you were really living the life that you know is an authentic expression of who you are, what drives you and what you want to do with your time.

Another sign will be that you’re open to change. In the past, you weren’t as open but now you feel like you’re curious about what could be next for you and you’re thinking about exploring new ideas, trying new things or even taking some risks in pursuit of discovering more about yourself.

You may also know that you’re ready because you’re starting to seek out self-development or personal growth on your own time. You’re starting to try on some new beliefs about yourself and the world around you. You’re also learning some new skills or stepping out of your comfort zone in different ways.

You also start seeing that if you keep staying the same, you’ll soon be a smaller version of yourself because your self-doubt keeps growing. You start to wonder, is it really true that I want to keep things the way they are? It’s like not growing our income and realizing that there’s inflation so we want to grow income beyond the pace of inflation, otherwise our money is worth less as time goes on. This is not necessarily the intentional or purposeful life you desire, is it?

How do you let go of the old version of yourself?

I take people through a process where over the course of a year together, we work through a process that helps figure out what their Superpower Edge – and their gifting, how it fits into their biggest goals around career or life, how to embody it and then how to lead themselves and in their relationships. They create new careers or dream jobs as they really get clear on what it is they want and why.

This kind of transformation helps people have increased confidence in their abilities and strengths as they see themselves finally doing the things they’ve always wanted to do and were maybe worried or even scared of doing – and seeing themselves handling these new and different challenges builds a new self-image of themselves. They figure out what they’re not only best in class at, but how it benefits their lives when they live that way.

It also provides more clarity and direction in life as they know what their priorities and values truly are – and not just on paper but in the decisions they make about how they lead, the work they take and the way they are with the humans in their lives. How they spend money and time becomes more aligned with their purpose and they even have a sense of what they believe purpose is and their own personal definition of success.

They also release emotional burden and feel so much more emotional freedom. There becomes a lightness in how they make decisions and how they handle failure. They have so much more compassion for themselves and others which improves their relationships with themselves and others as well. When you can let go, you’re more fully present and aware of what truly needs time and attention instead of worrying about everything in the past, present and future. This brings so much more calmness and focus to your daily life.

One of the most transformative results of letting go of the old version of you are the myriad of opportunities that open up because you’re ready. Your energy feels different, others notice and they start to see yourself the way you see yourself – capable, resilient and honest about who you are and what truly matters. This energy feels so clean to others and embodies a sense of leadership because they see that you’re embracing change, new ideas and growing in ways that are multifaceted – personally and professionally.

Now the question becomes what do you want for yourself? Are you ready to let go of the old version of yourself so that you can become even more authentic and give the best of yourself to the world? Or do you want to continue to hold onto the past version of yourself?

If you want to let go, you’re on the path of self-transformation and discovery and I can help you actually figure out exactly how to create fulfilling work that you love to do, get paid well and spend time with loved ones.

If you’re curious about experiencing these results for yourself, I want to invite you to watch the free training on how to Stand Out and Lead, using spiritual, high-performance strategies: STAND OUT AND LEAD.

You can apply to join my Spiritual Achiever® program, where you’re going to create your next chapter with spiritual and high-performance strategies to achieve time and financial freedom using my proven method. It’s risk-free. You either start seeing results within your first month or I give you your money back. Schedule your call here at www.mayempson.com/contact.  We’ll see you inside.

Want to know more about what happens when you join?

1. When you join Spiritual Achiever® Coaching you’ll be supported for a full year: Career Revelation Academy: A 5-step career change process (if you have a job you want to stay in, I’ll show you how to love it even more) that can launch you into your next career chapter in 30 days.
2. 2x/month group training and coaching on Spirituality, Achievement, Earth Energy and Harmony. You’ll know how to design your days for breakthroughs, create a personal brand and community, lead yourself and others through change, become more physically and mentally fit, reduce stress and reinvent what’s possible in this next chapter of your life.
3. Discover your Leadership Strengths and Branding Workshop: Increase your awareness of what makes YOU different from others and how to become even better at your genius zone.
4. Your Best Year workshop: Create your one year plan and design this next year, no matter what time of the year it is.
5. Your Next 5 Years one-day virtual retreat: Vision what’s possible 5 years from now and break out of your old routines so you can step into new habits, behaviors and routines.
6. Tickets to all in-person Spiritual Achiever retreats (discounted rates): Highly immersive and intimate gatherings where we spend time in nature, experience energy work, eat and move well – all while making big decisions and committing to what’s next for us.
7. Monthly 1:1 Coaching Sessions: To help you break through obstacles, define your individual path, and to work on both strategy and mindset.

The next step?

Schedule a consultation to get clarity on how coaching can help you on your journey.

Once you’re accepted into the program, you’ll receive a calendar invite for a 2-hour deep dive 1:1 session to map out your personal goals and your own year-long journey.

You’ll have immediate access to the Spiritual Achiever process and philosophy – how to achieve your biggest goals and reinvent your life.

You’ll have immediate access to 5 modules of Career Revelation Academy – to love your career even more and launch that next chapter of your career in 30 days.

You’ll have the calendar invites for the upcoming group calls and retreats.

If this speaks to you, I can’t wait to talk to you live: Schedule a consultation.

Reach out at www.mayempson.com/contact for more information on my Spiritual Achiever coaching program. You’ll figure out what’s next and actually go and do it. 

That’s it for this week. Have an amazing one and I’ll talk to you next time.