When The Calling Outweighs The Fear With Liv Bowser

In this episode, Chelsey is joined by Liv Bowser, Founder and CEO of Liberate, the first-ever mental wellness studio. The studio practices a flow of yoga, reflection, conversation, and meditation, to expand and empower you into your best self. It’s called the “Working on Yourself Workout".

Originally published Nov 10, 2020

Transcript

We're just working on ourselves,

Period,

End of sentence,

Whatever it is you've got going on.

We're not here to judge or even unpack.

We're just here to help you and support you as you work on yourself.

Welcome to the And The Net Appeared podcast.

I'm your host,

Chelsea Benzel,

Intuitive mentor for thought leaders,

Coaches,

And content creators.

In this podcast,

You'll hear from badass humans who have taken big leaps of faith and the net appeared.

Enjoy.

Hello.

I'm here with Liv Bowser,

Founder and CEO of Liberate Studio.

I am so happy to be here with you,

Liv.

Thanks for joining me.

Of course.

I'm so excited.

I think this is going to be super fun.

Yeah.

So for anyone listening on a podcast,

We're actually doing this as a live stream on Facebook right now.

So just bear with us.

It's the first time that we've actually done this and live streamed it at the same time as recording the episode for the podcast.

So yeah,

We'll just see how we go.

Lots of technical things happening.

Yeah.

I think we've done pretty good though.

And we're here now.

And so you run your whole business right now,

2020 on Zoom,

Right?

Yeah,

Actually,

That's a good point.

If anybody needs any Zoom pointers,

I spend a lot of time on Zoom.

I am like the go-to person in my friend group and my family.

All of our virtual classes are hosted via Zoom.

So it's really been an amazing platform for every human being to connect in the past eight months.

And a lot of people had never even used it before.

So yeah,

It's been great.

Yeah.

Can you imagine if we had been thrown into everything this year has entailed without any means of connection with people?

Right.

Well,

If this had happened,

We didn't have FaceTime or anything.

I have friends who live five miles down the street and I don't see for months because we're not really hanging out or anything like that.

So FaceTime and Zoom has been key.

Yeah.

Can you tell us a bit about your business?

So I know,

Libri,

I just did my first class with you guys the other day and I loved it.

Yeah.

So I know,

Maybe I'll just let you give the lowdown and kind of introduce what Libri is all about.

Sure.

Yeah.

So Libri is the first ever mental wellness studio.

And you know this,

You've been to class,

But our classes blend a flow of mindful movement with reflection,

Journaling,

Conversation,

And meditation.

And they're all group style classes.

So if you've ever been to a physical fitness studio like SoulCycle or Barry's Bootcamp or any yoga studio,

Really,

All of those classes,

Which are wonderful,

I've been to them,

Spent a lot of time at them.

They're all really focused on your physical health and Libri's classes are all focused on your mental wellbeing.

So while there is movement,

While there is some physical benefit to it,

We're really focused on breaking up the habitual patterns in your mind,

Giving you the tools you need to work through anxiety or stressors,

Cultivate more self-love,

Just kind of become a more mindful,

Present human being.

And really the goal with every class is to leave feeling like a better version of yourself.

So we use Zoom to host all these classes and it's super fun and a whole new way of exercising that none of us have ever really done before,

But the imbalance between what we're investing typically in our physical health and mental health is just way too wide of a gap.

So we're really focused on closing that and making our mental wellbeing more of a priority.

I love that.

I like how you put it,

That it's like the working on yourself workout.

Yeah,

That is what we,

That's what we launched with.

And I love that because you know,

There are like songs,

Alyssa has a song,

Working on My Fitness,

And it's all about your physical fitness.

And we're just working on ourselves,

Period,

End of sentence,

Whatever it is you've got going on,

We're not here to judge or even unpack.

We're just here to help you and support you as you work on yourself.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I love that.

And it's interesting.

I want to get into the story of like how the studio came to be and how,

Like it wasn't planned to be a virtual thing at all,

Was it?

It was not,

But life happens,

You know?

And I find that really beautiful actually,

Because it's so needed right now that we do that work on ourselves and we work on our mental health and like what an awesome opportunity that you've given people through Liberate to do that.

Yeah.

It's actually really interesting because,

You know,

This was an idea I had before COVID and,

You know,

Even then as I was doing my research and making a business plan as a type A business student does,

There was so much supporting data about,

You know,

The rise of loneliness.

Millennials are the loneliest,

Most anxious generation.

Everybody's stressed,

Everybody's anxious on a daily basis.

America has it the worst compared to any other country.

And that was all before COVID.

So this was an idea that I had,

And I wanted to open an in-person studio in LA,

Which is where I am.

And then,

You know,

The world really shifted and of course it was not safe or reasonable to be opening an in-person studio.

So I just decided to start leading the classes online and it was honestly such a blessing.

I know COVID has been this horrible,

Horrible thing,

But for me with Liberate,

I was fully prepared to just raise capital and find other people to be the class leaders.

I wasn't really interested in doing that.

I just wanted to be the CEO.

And the turn of events had me in the driver's seat,

Leading the classes,

Getting the feedback,

Really creating like a test run of what this could be.

And the best part about digital stuff at this point is you can tune in from Canada.

And I have friends who tune in from New York and people from Wisconsin and,

You know,

Human beings we would never otherwise be able to connect with that thanks to Zoom.

This is an ad for Zoom.

I'm kidding.

I think on Facebook it even says the little Zoom logo.

But I mean,

You can use any platform.

It's just a great way to be able to connect with people you would literally otherwise never be speaking with.

So it's been interesting for sure and unintended,

But it's been really great.

Yeah.

I've been having that conversation with a few people recently.

I think it might've been on one of the latest episodes that I just recorded actually about how we've met more people,

Myself and whoever I've been having this conversation with,

Met more people in the last year that otherwise those connections probably wouldn't have been formed because it's almost like we've been like forced into this online way of connecting.

But it's been really interesting to watch that happen.

And,

You know,

Like with me starting this podcast and I've reached out to guests and like connected with the guests that have been on the podcast and listeners and just expanding my audience that way.

But it's been really cool to see how I've been able to connect with people that I otherwise never would have met.

Totally.

And I mean,

If you were launching this podcast and the world wasn't this way,

You might just be doing it locally and like meeting and recording in person because you don't need to record everything digitally.

So it just like changes the way you even think about all of your interactions.

Yeah.

And it's like it broadens the whole,

Our whole opportunity to reach people.

Like you gave the example,

I'm in Canada and that's far to tune in,

But like,

Really you can have people join your classroom anywhere in the world.

Couldn't you?

Yeah,

Actually we just did an event,

A wonderful event with Chronically Cheerful,

Who is just this beautiful woman on Instagram,

Really beautiful soul.

And we had an 80 person event with people tuning in from South Africa,

The Philippines,

Someone was tuning in,

They were like,

It's 1am.

We were like,

That is dedication for your mental health.

But we had people in the UK,

People in Wales,

We asked everybody to share where they were tuning in from and that would not have happened.

We wouldn't have been spending our Saturday morning looking at a Zoom screen if this way of life had never changed.

So definitely taking the glass half full approach there,

Obviously.

But yeah,

I mean,

May as well make the most of it.

Yeah.

And then the plan is like down the road,

We don't need to talk about what the future may or may not hold on to,

But the plan is to eventually do like in-person classes.

So take what you're doing right now and have an actual studio in LA.

Is that right?

Yes.

Yeah.

That's the goal.

And then,

You know,

There's a lot of different studios,

Yoga studios and meditation studios in the area that are leading outdoor classes now in parks or on the beach.

So toward,

You know,

The end of the year,

We're going to be testing that out ourselves too.

And I just went to an outdoor yoga class the other day and it was so nice.

I mean,

I do yoga every day,

But just to be able to do it,

Even with like people six feet apart from each other and you could barely hear the instructor,

But it was so nice to be really practicing in person.

So we want to try to do that outdoors in LA.

If anyone's listening in there living in LA,

Definitely join.

And then,

You know,

Once things are safe,

Whether that's 2021 or 2022,

Then we'd be hoping to open a studio in LA.

Yeah.

Cool.

That's awesome.

I love how you just went ahead and did it though,

Even though that original plan got kind of thrown out the window,

But you still persisted and you still did what you knew you had to do.

Like,

Let's talk about that,

How it's like you had this calling,

Like something in you was like,

Yeah,

Okay,

I need to do this.

Tell us how that whole idea came to be.

Yeah.

I think it might be similar for you with your podcast.

I'm not sure,

But it kind of just starts as like a ringing in your ear or like,

This is going to be a really ridiculous example,

But if you've ever seen Frozen 2,

She gets like literally called by the spirits and nature to go on this adventure,

Which is the whole plot of the movie.

But I had a conversation with a few friends about a year and a half ago.

We were just kind of talking about how a lot of our friends and ourselves are feeling really stressed with work and life itself.

We are feeling super anxious and don't even know why.

And we're feeling really lonely.

I mean,

I have some friends who are smart and funny and fun and have a lot of love in their lives,

Yet they're really uncomfortable sitting in their apartment by themselves on a Friday night and like,

Would rather just get up and go for a walk because I can't be in my own skin.

And I've been there a lot.

And it was kind of a thought of,

What do we do about this?

Like,

How can we work on ourselves the same way we do at an exercise class?

Because again,

I'm really big into boutique physical fitness.

Pre-COVID,

I was going to studios five or six times a week to box or do Pilates.

So the original idea my friends and I had was there should be a confidence camp on class pass.

And it's like seven credits and you go and you just work on yourself and feel confident.

And then you like do it on a Friday night before you go out,

You know,

It was just kind of spit balling ideas to make you love yourself more.

And the conversation kind of ended there,

But I kept thinking about it and I was thinking,

Okay,

Well,

We all need more self-love and confidence,

But we also need to be like-minded and we also need to be less anxious.

How can we be less anxious?

And we also need to not be so stressed about things that don't even exist.

Like we're ruminating all the time.

And it was just thinking about all of these different themes that we struggle with as human beings.

And again,

Specifically millennials are really tough.

I think Gen Z is going to be having even harder time.

So I started just doing some research on the weekends,

On the week nights and looking into mental health resources.

Are there groups for people to exercise their mental wellbeing?

Are there communities like almost like group therapy,

But a bit more active?

And couldn't really find anything.

So I started talking to some psychologists.

I actually partnered up with a sports psychologist who is so wonderful.

His name is Carl Daubert and he actually works with,

Or more actively pre-COVID worked with collegiate athletes who were running track and field at a college.

And these coaches would require the athletes to take Carl's supplemental mental health curriculum because these coaches knew that all of these amazing athletes are only going to perform better and be more likely to win if their mental health is in a good place.

If they feel confident,

If they feel like the boss that they should be,

If they don't feel anxious or stressed the night before and get a good night's sleep.

So talking to him about it,

I was like,

Wow,

How wonderful that these athletes get basically a life coach or life performance coach.

But what about the rest of us?

I want somebody to help me with that when I'm super stressed with a project at work.

So we really worked together with the help of some other experts in their industries to create what our curriculum could look like and what evolved into the liberate method.

So just how we can blend different wellness modalities like movement and meditation and reflection and also conversation,

Because it's important to share and grow together into something that could be really effective for everyone.

And I've said from the beginning,

Liberate is for everyone with an open mind.

A lot of the fitness studios I've gone to,

Like,

You don't want to go to if you've never boxed or you don't want to go to if you've never been on a former Pilates machine,

Because it doesn't feel like it's for all levels.

You almost feel like you have to be fit just to go.

Or at least that's how I felt.

I had to work out and get in shape before I could go try a new studio.

And liberate isn't like that.

I mean,

We're doing gentle stretching,

We're doing a little bit of sun salutations,

But the emphasis isn't on performance.

It's more so on recreation.

So I call it recreational mindfulness.

There's no pressure to perform.

You don't have to get better every time.

You probably will.

But the point is just to have fun and to grow in a playful way.

I think mindfulness deters a lot of people because the idea of sitting with your thoughts in a meditation studio for 45 minutes is like a heck no.

That sounds so daunting and not fun,

Which I get.

And people make up their minds that they're not interested in yoga too,

Which is totally fine.

But this is just a little bit of all of those different modalities to create an experience that everyone can get behind.

And you don't have to be in the best shape of your life to go.

Literally all you need is a body and an open mind.

And we'll take care of the rest.

So I think that that's really different compared to anything else that exists.

Yeah,

I really like that.

And I like how you explain it being a little bit of everything because that's it.

It's like we did a bit of yoga in class that I did.

And the one thing that I really loved,

And I clued into this before the call,

I was like,

You're actually going to be like sharing like this isn't some yoga class you might just put on and then you're there,

Whatever.

And you don't have to really participate in that sense.

But I was like,

No,

Okay,

Yeah,

This is like actually connecting with people.

And yeah,

And it came at a good time because I think I've been just like completely on my own that entire day.

And it was nice to have human connection.

We talked about like real stuff,

Not just fluffy,

Like soft,

Like,

You know,

Like,

Like,

Fluffy,

Like small talk kind of stuff.

I did the get fearless class.

So you have a few different ones,

Don't you like get grateful?

What are some other ones?

Yeah,

So we have five themes of the class themes are all around different areas of mental well being.

So get present,

Which is all about connecting your mind and body,

Get fearless,

Love that theme.

That's it.

You took it really focused on anxieties and breaking through them to feel better,

You know,

With whatever you're going through,

And then get grateful all about shifting to a more positive mindset.

Get proud.

Self love is the theme here.

It's really powerful class for anyone who deserves to show themselves more self love,

Which is everyone for the record.

And resilient.

I feel like resilient is kind of the buzzword of this time in in society.

And it's a great class to help us realize we can overcome anything and find our strength within ourselves for whatever we're going through in life.

And with those five themes,

We have different,

You know,

Variations.

So every time you come to get fearless,

It'll be a different exercise.

And you'll kind of be building on your practice each time,

Which is super fun.

But yeah,

There is a sharing element and no one has to share it's not required,

But you hear other people share their fears or their dreams or what they're grateful for.

And it's impossible for you to not feel inspired by that from,

You know,

My experience and the feedback we've gotten is just like,

It's eye opening.

You're like,

Whoa,

I am not alone.

I can do anything.

And there's so much to be grateful for,

You know,

Just a few examples.

But yeah,

It's really powerful.

Yeah,

Yeah.

Anyone listening,

Definitely go check it out.

So what's the website they can find?

Is it liberatestudio.

Com?

Yep,

Liberatestudio.

Com.

And it's liberatestudio on Instagram too.

So you can check out all of our content.

We have fun tips and tricks on living mindfully,

Things like that.

Cool.

Yeah.

And we'll link to that in the show notes as well.

So that'll be easily accessible.

Perfect.

And I want to talk about the transition going from,

Because you used to work like a traditional corporate job to then like,

Okay,

Hey world,

I'm doing this new thing now.

What was that transition like for you to just like own this new identity?

Yeah.

I mean,

I think that's what it is.

It's like an identity change,

A change in identity.

So I was always working for startups.

It was familiar with the startup world and,

You know,

Always a marketer.

So I was maybe known as that with my community,

But we talked about this a little,

You know,

You have your own personal Instagram and it's your brand.

And I am,

You know,

A woman living in LA.

My content was like me on hikes and me with friends and me by myself on the beach,

You know,

Like just content of me just as a human being,

Not as a anything else.

And when I was going to start liberate my close friends knew,

And,

You know,

I was working on developing some content and things like that with them.

But the idea of promoting liberate on my own,

Or even like coming and speaking with you as,

You know,

The liberate founder versus just another human being who likes mental wellness was a big mental transition for me.

And I had a lot of anxiety about starting to share liberate on my personal account and had the thoughts like,

You know,

This is,

Would have been good for me to take,

Get fearless.

I was having thoughts like,

Oh my God,

Everybody's going to talk about me.

They're going to see my Instagram following and think it's not very good.

And they're going to think this is lame or they're going to feel bad for me because I'm not successful.

Like all of these fears.

And I hadn't even done anything yet.

And then I knew that if I started posting about it,

Then I was going to have to reach out to everybody and,

You know,

Invite them to class.

Like I think that's most how,

How most founders start is within their own network.

And you know,

My Instagram profile is my own network.

So the idea of reaching out to people and people not responding or people just having their own judgments,

Oh my God,

I didn't even want to deal with that.

I was like,

I just rather do it on my own.

I don't need that network.

I can find a different network.

I don't need to be the face behind anything.

But ultimately,

You know,

I had some friends be like,

You need to be posting.

You need to be active on this.

And it was really,

You know,

A leap as you would say of just,

Just like leaping and knowing that you're going to get on the other side of whatever you just slept from and be different is how I felt it and how I saw it.

So I'm no longer live who has this,

This and this from college or,

You know,

Does this,

This at this brand,

This is live.

She started her own company and she hired people and she's really into mental wellness,

Et cetera.

And that was a huge leap,

But I'm fully committed.

I mean,

I am on the other side of the rock,

Like miles down.

But it's,

You know,

It's,

It's just a whole,

You think about,

You know,

When you found your own company and you think,

Well,

The leap is deciding to do it or the leap is deciding to leave my full-time job to pursue it,

Which are absolutely both leaves.

Don't get me wrong.

But the biggest leap for me was just like a literal leap in my identity.

Like you're going,

We did a meditation last night for a challenge that we have in October and the meditation was all about opening up and you're kind of like a chick exiting its shell.

And like you become new when you do that.

And that's kind of how I felt like I was coming out of this shell and coming into myself and this new identity and so happy about it.

But honestly,

That's why our classes are so necessary because there was so much fear inside of me that I almost didn't do it.

And you and I probably wouldn't even be speaking now if I hadn't,

Because I would be much smaller.

And,

You know,

It takes the power of your commitment to really show if something is worth it to you.

So I think when you take a leap,

It's like you're off to the races,

You know,

You can't go back,

You can't jump back.

You're out of energy that way.

So yeah,

It was,

It was definitely something I kind of worked myself up over for a minute,

But I feel,

Feel really good about it now.

Those leaps usually feel good after you take them.

Yeah.

And I find the longer we resist them on the front end,

Like not taking the leap gets exhausting after a while.

And it's like,

We can spin our wheels and think and,

And ruminate in all of this fear and the worries and the anxiety.

But like,

Ultimately,

I think we reach a point where that becomes more painful than just going for it and just doing the thing we know we need to do.

And then you get to the other side of it.

And yeah,

There's still work involved.

And yeah,

There's still the inner work of like,

Overcoming all of that,

The fears like that still come up as you continue to get visible,

As you post,

As you show up as this new version of yourself.

But it's like,

Oh,

I did it.

Like I fricking did it.

And now I'm doing it and I'm going to continue to do it,

But I'm in a completely different place now than I was before.

Totally.

And I think that is what's so powerful is you,

I'm in a different place now because like,

This is my new identity,

But also in that journey,

Like I'm in a different place now because I'm in a completely different place now than I was before.

I'm in a completely different place now because like,

This is my new identity,

But also in that journey,

In that leap,

I was,

I mean,

You know,

I'm human,

But letting go of,

Of caring what other people think to a degree,

Like that was the reason why I wasn't doing it.

Cause I was afraid of everyone else's perspective on my baby and this company and myself and leaping is like,

Okay,

I still probably care,

But I care less because I was willing to do this.

A lot of personal growth too,

Honestly.

Totally.

And I think that I just wrote a post about this this morning,

Actually,

But it's like that fear is still there.

Like I still think in the back of my mind,

It's like a much smaller part of me,

But I think that may always just be there because it's hardwired into us as humans that we like need the village to support us for our survival and whatever,

But those days are long past.

Like now we get to shine,

Get to do the things,

But there's the fear of what people think like this super survival mode type thinking.

That's like,

They're all laughing at you.

This isn't safe.

You're like,

You're making a fool of yourself.

You just should probably just not do it.

Just like,

Go get back and get into bed and climb under the covers and stay.

It's like a completely made up narrative.

Like literally nobody said any of that.

It's just the devil on our shoulder talking us down.

I'm so happy you have it too.

Nobody cares.

They love you and support you,

But nobody really cares.

And it's like,

I just,

I shift it into,

Okay,

Think about the people that I'm going to be able to help with my message,

With my work,

With like helping people step into like,

That's my whole,

I'm launching a whole course right now around answering that call.

So helping people step up into that,

But also like,

I'm kind of bad-ass to be like the one who's doing it and like leading the way for other people,

Whether that's your whole business.

Like I actually help people do that or not.

Just the fact that your peers see you doing this and they're like,

Yeah,

You go girl.

Like that's so bad-ass to be able to own that and to overcome those fears that are so crippling to so many people still.

Totally.

And I think you make a good point.

Like for anyone who's listening,

It doesn't mean that everybody responds and is like,

You go girl.

Some people do,

But you know,

I DM'd every single one of my Instagram followers,

Friends,

Whatever we call them.

And maybe a third replied and at least two thirds read it.

So that can,

That can hurt a little bit.

And that can maybe give a little bit of power to your fear.

But then,

Like you said,

It only takes one person to be like,

You go girl.

I love that you're doing this good for you.

Or,

Oh my God,

I love your purpose.

This is such a good idea.

Like,

I'm so happy you're doing this.

Or,

You know,

Just anybody to kind of give you that assurance and give you that support.

It like completely outweighs anyone who maybe just didn't have it in them to respond at the time.

So my,

My tendency is to work on focusing on those,

You know,

Maybe smaller,

But really powerful,

Positive moments and let all those other moments just roll off your back.

Yeah.

And kind of give people the benefit of the doubt maybe.

I don't know if that's exactly the way I would frame it,

But thinking that there are people who are supporting me,

Even if I never hear from them,

Even if I see them watching my Instagram stories and they never respond or whatever.

You might not hear from a lot of people,

But I had an experience a few months ago,

I think where there was like a semi-trolly comment on something I posted on Facebook.

And then I poked fun at it or I like brought the comment to the light and did this whole other post.

And so many people replied to my post to say,

Oh my God,

I saw that comment.

I saw what he said.

And I was like,

You know what?

Like the biggest takeaway out of all of this is people see your stuff more than you realize.

Like people are there watching you.

And I like to think this is the benefit of the doubt part,

Like believing that they are cheering you on behind the scenes.

They might not always be vocal about it and like,

Yeah,

You go girl,

Whatever in your DMs,

But people see your stuff.

And that was really encouraging.

That whole experience.

I'm like grateful for that troll comment that I got,

But yeah,

It was a lesson in like,

Just keep showing up.

There are people who have your best interest.

And then there's the whole conversation that could be had around the people who maybe aren't cheering you on and so be it.

It's kind of like when you reach a certain point,

To me,

That's like a marker of success.

If you've got like groups of people out there that are talking about how they hate you,

Like,

A,

They need to get a life,

But B,

Girl,

You made it.

And if you've gotten to that point,

I'm willing to bet you've done the inner work to not let that affect you.

I'm sure like I've heard stories of some big names about how they come across like hate groups about them and it's like messed them up for a little bit.

And I can imagine,

But ultimately when you've gotten to that point,

You've done enough inner work,

You're like doing the thing,

You're killing it,

You're whatever,

Kind of,

You're in your power enough to be able to handle that.

I say that now,

Let's talk in a few years when I read it.

No,

No,

I take that back,

Universe.

I don't want that.

We don't need it.

No,

We don't hate groups.

We're doing good things.

No one will hate us.

But I think we're in such a feedback culture.

Like,

How many likes did I get on this?

Did anybody comment?

Did anybody share it?

And then I think that's how we determine something's worth.

So,

I just watched the social dilemma on Netflix,

As I'm sure a lot of people have already.

And obviously,

Grateful to social media to give us a platform to reach more people.

I don't know a thousand people without Instagram,

But it doesn't determine the worth of something.

Someone's followers or the likes on a post don't determine its value.

And that's something I really want to carry with me throughout every aspect of my life forever,

Because it's so easy to be like,

Oh,

Well,

This post of this didn't better.

And so,

That means that this should be a pillar of everything we do.

But maybe it's not.

You have to listen to what is true and what is actually valuable versus letting other people decide for you what you think is valuable.

And that's something that I am constantly reminding myself of,

So I don't get wrapped up in the feedback loop.

Yeah,

Totally.

And it's like,

Keeping in mind the impact that you're having,

Like kind of the bigger picture,

Zooming out from the small picture being like that post,

This engagement,

Like whatever,

Into like,

But what's the overall impact of me showing up continually and just like doing the thing?

You know,

I think I know I work with a lot of people who are doing big things like making a positive difference in the world.

So if you're here to help people like you,

You may never know that full impact,

You know,

But it is it's just kind of like standing in your power and owning that and doing the thing.

Yeah.

And I come back to that,

Too.

You know,

I want feedback from everyone who comes to class and tell me you love it.

But I it goes back to inner,

Like everything should be inner focused.

And if I lead a class or have one of our amazing leaders lead a class and they felt good about it and they witnessed change and I felt the change,

That's funny,

You know,

Like no one else is under any obligation to feed my ego.

So it just is more inner focused and like constantly coming back to that.

Yeah.

And that's the thing.

It's like you you touch those lives on in like class and then you'll never know that full that impact that person received.

They go about their life in a different way.

The strangers that they interact with,

Like on the way to the grocery store or whatever it might be like that interaction has changed the interaction with their family,

Their partners,

Their whatever.

And it's that ripple effect that like that will be infinite and unknowable.

I have a really great ripple effect short story.

We do something on our Instagram called Mental Moments,

Hashtag Mental Moment.

And essentially our community members share anything that they do that brings them joy or calm or like helps them with their mental well-being.

And they DM us their submission we posted in our feed.

So one of our really wonderful community members shared her biking outdoors,

This cute little selfie with her and her helmet on.

And you know,

Her caption was all about cycling to find peace in her mind and connect with nature.

And we posted it.

She shared on her story.

And then a few days later,

She got a message from one of her coworkers saying,

I just started to ride.

She posted,

The coworker posted this on her Insta story.

Like,

Thank you to the woman's handle for reminding me to get on my bike for anyone who says,

You know,

It's like riding bike.

They haven't not ridden a bike for 10 years.

It was such a great way to find myself.

You inspired me,

Something like that.

And that was just,

I was like beside myself the entire day because maybe those ripple effects have happened before.

I'm sure they have when we share those moments,

But I've never,

You know,

Witnessed them or been in tune with them.

And our community members shared it with me because she was so excited.

And I was like,

Wow,

You know,

When you think about that and you think about everything that you post,

You never know what's going to inspire someone,

Resonate with someone,

Change the way someone is living out that day.

I think I just,

I thought that was so powerful.

I'm so into ripple effects,

Even if I don't know about them.

Yeah.

It's so cool when we do see evidence of them,

Because I think that's so rare.

We just,

We can't fully see that entire picture,

But then when we do get glimpses of it,

It's like,

Oh,

Cool.

I'm like,

I wonder who the coworker inspired when she shared that.

Someone saw her riding down the street and they're like,

I'm going to get my bike out today.

We'll never know.

No,

We'll never be able to trace it back.

It's devastating.

But deep down inside,

We know we've played a part,

Right?

Like,

And that's the thing,

Like that connects to so many things that we've talked about today.

Like the whole being online more now connecting with a worldwide community.

So that ripple can like stretch far and wide.

And then the piece around,

Like,

You never know who sees your stuff.

It might not be the person who was like in your DMS or commenting on your posts to say they loved it.

It was the person that was just kind of creeping silently,

Scrolled by your thing.

And it was like,

Oh my God,

You know what,

I'm going to go and do this thing today because I read that post or it's just in the back of their mind or whatever.

And it's just further confirmation for me to just like continue to do the thing to inspire you.

Like if you're listening and you're like,

Okay,

I'm feeling that call.

It's time to start stepping up.

A,

Know that,

You know,

You've got evidence right here of two people who still feel the fear of like,

What are people going to think,

But are doing it anyway.

Like that,

I think it's just human nature.

If you let that stop you or you wait until it one day goes away,

It's not going to like,

It's time.

It's now that nudge doesn't go away.

As it's something that you were put here to do,

It's going to start to like,

Get at you in some way.

Right.

Right.

It does.

And like you said,

It doesn't,

We still have the fear.

I'm still like,

Man,

I wish I had salaries to have,

But it's when that calling outweighs the fear,

Like it gets so loud in your ear that you're like,

Oh my gosh,

I'll just do it.

I'll do it.

You can stop now.

You know,

It,

It,

It's over,

It overpowers anything else that you have going on.

Yeah.

It just becomes the thing that you need to do.

And I think it's cool to know that like,

If it's something that's meant for you,

It's going to keep knocking on your door until you finally answer it.

You know,

I,

I do think it gets less and less gentle and pleasant.

And eventually it's like,

You know,

You have no choice,

But to heed to the universe's warnings or nudges or whatever.

But it is cool that like,

You're going to be guided.

Like it,

It is,

I want to say it is going to work out.

It is going to happen.

But with that,

It's like kind of have to take that almost with a grain of salt because yes,

It will happen.

Yes.

That reality exists where you're doing the thing,

But you still have to take the action.

You still have to take whatever like mini leaps over and over and over to own it,

To show up,

To step into your power,

To shift back into your power when you start to lose it or give it away.

And that's continual,

But we do have to take action.

Like I call it creating the net.

You know,

The net doesn't just magically appear from us sitting around hoping that it will,

We have to co-create with the universe to allow it to show up for us.

Totally.

I say that about,

You know,

Like we,

We took the leap and started,

You know,

You started a podcast.

I started a mental wellness company.

We took the leap.

Woo.

And I had this idea that,

Well,

If it's a good idea and if you mean really well,

And if you follow your gut,

You know,

If you build it,

They will come.

And sadly,

That is not the case.

And that was something that every time you leap,

I feel like you're like,

Okay,

Well,

If I get to the other side,

We'll be good.

If I get to the other side,

They'll be there.

They'll be there waiting arms wide open.

And the more I leap and the more,

You know,

I invest in this,

This path for myself,

The more I realized you're creating everything.

You're creating the net underneath you.

You're creating the next rock to jump to.

You're,

You know,

There's no,

If you build that,

They will come.

It's like,

If you build it and work really hard and believe in it and work your tail off,

Like then maybe they'll come.

But it's also about deciding what you're building,

Because I would be,

You know,

I would argue that I would be fulfilled if Liberate was a small community where a few people came every month and they had a really wonderful time and they felt personally fulfilled and expanded by every class.

And it was a side hustle that I did,

Not really for money,

But,

You know,

Just because I was really passionate about it,

That would still be a success to me.

That would still be worth the leap.

That's not my goal.

My goal is like,

You know,

World domination.

Liberate is in every single city in every single country,

But it's determining what you think is successful for the leap that you're taking.

So if you're going to,

You know,

Take this leap and you really want something big to happen,

Maybe you need to give yourself a slightly smaller initial goal so that you can feel good along the way,

Instead of,

You know,

Quitting your job and being like,

Why don't I have a million followers yet?

I just quit my job.

That's going to be tough for you.

I'm not going to lie.

Yeah.

I like that you said that though.

I'm all for big goals,

But the mini celebrations along the way are so important because if we don't stop and celebrate the small achievements,

We just live in a perpetual state of like feeling like we're not there yet.

But it's like,

If you actually stop and take a look around,

Like you're killing it,

But it needs to be acknowledged.

It's almost like it needs to be acknowledged and celebrated so we can like reflect it back to ourselves.

And we like,

Instead of it being this,

How do I want to describe this?

Instead of just using my hands so people can,

People who are listening can actually picture what I'm saying,

But it's like,

Okay,

We take it to the next step and pause on that step and we celebrate it.

And then the next step is going to be there and we can take it to that next step.

But otherwise it's just this uphill battle.

And we're constantly trying to get up to the top of the mountain,

But it's like,

There are steps,

There are little plateaus that you can stop and catch your breath and be like,

I'm doing this.

I'm a quarter of the way up the mountain.

I see the peak.

It still seems far away,

But like,

I'm doing this.

I'm further ahead now than I was before I started.

And then you get closer and closer and it's like,

Eventually you get there and you're like,

I did it.

And that's maybe,

I'm sure there's more holes after that,

But it's like you reach that first peak and you own it.

Yeah.

But celebrating along the way is key.

I mean,

I love that stairs analogy.

I'm going to steal that from you.

There's like hikes that you go on and you're hiking up and then you look over to your left and you're like,

There were stairs.

Like why was I hiking?

Like everybody's experienced that,

I think.

And that's what it is.

Like you can choose to take this way where you're really making everything harder for yourself,

Or you can choose the way where you get to forgive yourself a little bit.

And like,

Maybe there's a guardrail at some points and you can take breaks on the little steps and it's just the better way to do it for your mental health,

Honestly.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Cause you have to feel good on the journey or else you won't feel good when you get there.

You won't get there.

You'll stop halfway cause you're like,

I'm so miserable.

I don't even want to do this anymore.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I like that analogy cause I think that's happened to me,

Like the hike and then you're like,

Oh,

Or people drove to the top or whatever.

Or people drove to the top or whatever.

You cheated.

Or there's a road.

The goal is to find the road.

Yeah.

Let it be easy.

Like allow yourself to find ways to make it easy as long as you're still doing it.

You know,

You're still heading in that direction.

You don't have to find the hardest way there so that you can justify being successful.

Cause I think it's so ingrained in us that we have to bust our asses.

We have to like near burnout in order for it to be a success or for us to be worthy of the success of the money or whatever.

But it's like,

There are ways to be gentle on yourself along that journey and to still continue to take the action and then to feel better as you go.

And just the whole process all around feels better.

Yeah.

That's like,

I think Tim Ferriss has a four hour work week and everybody knows he's successful.

So we have to change the narrative from the more hours you work,

The more successful you are to,

You know,

Work smarter.

If I only have to work,

You know,

20 hours a week.

Incredible.

I hope one day that is the reality.

And I still feel super productive during that.

You know,

It's not just about sitting in front of your computer and typing blindly for 10 hours and you get to shut it and say,

Well,

That was a successful day.

Like it's about what you do,

Not the time I spend on something.

Yeah,

Totally.

Yeah.

Working smarter,

Working on like things that I'm big on,

Like stay with doing the things that only you can do and the things that someone else can do for you and take off your plate.

Let them,

Because especially if you are like,

I work with a lot of leaders,

Like coaches,

People who are the ones that are going to be doing the live streams that are going to be doing the showing up part.

So then like,

Okay,

Delegate the pieces that drain you so that you can stay in your light and you can be that inspiration for people and you can show up as the leader that you're meant to be.

Right.

And I get that not everyone has that freedom right out of the gate,

Financially or whatever.

But if that's kind of the goal to work towards,

That's like,

Yep.

Okay,

Cool.

I'll show up.

I'll do the things only I can do.

You guys do the rest.

We'll go to the beach.

I'm out.

See you later.

I'm all for,

You know,

I,

I like love as I'm sure you do.

I'll watch dancing with the stars with my roommate,

But I'm also,

You know,

Setting up meetings and like doing a million things on my computer,

Which I fully believe in,

You know,

Time to turn off,

Which is usually what I do on Saturdays,

But I'm happy to work,

You know,

12 hours a day on this because sometimes,

Especially in the beginning,

It is just about putting in the hours,

Like the more you can put in the faster,

Maybe you'll get to the next step.

So that's what I'm doing now.

But who knows?

One day I'll just be smooth sailing.

In like 10 years.

Oh,

I think we'll shorten that.

I think it was one of my first or my second guest and she's a life coach.

And she talks about my clients come to me with a 10 year plan.

And we say,

No,

We're going to make that one year and just like shorten that gap and work with like mindset energy,

Like quantum theories and whatnot to just like step into that next level to embody that now.

And like cool shit happens when you work with energy beyond just the productivity,

Like the very like doing mess when you work with like universal energy and yeah,

It's something to think about and take on.

I think for all of us that can lose ourselves in the doing this and the fighting and the hustle,

You know?

Yeah.

Break it up a little bit.

Yeah.

Yeah.

This has been so good.

I have so loved chatting with you and yeah,

I'm just really excited to like get your work into the world,

Get liberate into people's minds and to like open the door for them to come and check you guys out.

Thank you so much.

Yeah.

I know we actually kind of had a pretty serendipitous meet cute,

I would say.

And I would also say that,

You know,

You can attribute those moments where you're meeting other people as universal and that's been one of my favorite parts about working on liberate is all the amazing human beings I get to meet that are also working in a similar space and just trying to make the world a little bit better.

So thank you so much for having me on.

Yeah,

It's been a pleasure.

And I just want to say to that too.

It's like,

Yeah,

I think because you are in your purpose and you're doing something amazing for the world,

Like of course we connected,

Of course you're on my podcast now and getting in front of my audience and like,

Of course these things are happening for you,

You know,

And that's kind of it.

It's like,

Cause you're not just sitting there like forcing things to happen.

You're just kind of like,

You're living an awesome life.

You're doing awesome things for the world.

And that's how doors open for you.

And that's kind of like that shortening the gap.

So yeah,

Keep doing what you're doing and keep shining your light.

Yeah.

It's been so good to have you on.

Thank you so much.

That was so kind.

I feel the same way toward you.

So happy we got a chance to chat for this time and hopefully,

You know,

We can continue to be partners in crime over the next 10 turned into four years.

Yeah.

I'm all for that.

Thanks so much for being here and I will catch you guys on the next episode.

Thank you so much.

Thanks so much for listening.

If you enjoyed this episode,

Please subscribe to the podcast.

We'll be releasing a new episode each week,

So I'll catch you again on the next one.