Ep 69 2021 Story

Hey, friend! I’m ba-ack! 
I want to give you some bulleted highlights of my 2021 story in this episode!
Last year, I had decided that I wanted to write my own story, and I encouraged you to be in control of the narrative of your own story and your year instead of just letting life happen to you all willy-nilly. 
I'm talking about writing it in the sense that you are intentional about what you want, where you want to go, who you want to meet, how you want to live, what outcomes you want to see manifested in your life.
Some of the events in my story were circumstances that I did not anticipate and did not ask for. But, I intentionally made decisions in order to turn the narrative in a different direction than it would have gone had I accepted defeat and dwelled on the negative. 
After reflecting on your story, get ready for a brand new you in 2022! 
If you aren’t sure where to begin, then I propose you go to my website and sign up to download my 3-step vision guide! 

CONNECT WITH MANDY:

• mandysawyer.com
• insta @mandycreativevision 
• facebook @mandyscreativevision
• Mandy's Vision Gig fb group

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Transcript

MANDY:
Hey there! You’re listening to the Dream Big & Kick Ass Podcast.  I’m Mandy, your host and I’m so glad you’re here! 

If you want encouragement, inspiration, support, empowerment … Join me as we talk about real life stories of finding and following your purpose, overcoming adversity, and living out your dreams. 

If, like me, you believe life’s too short to be caught up in insecurities, fear, and feeling defeated, then hang out with me here and let’s Dream Big & Kick Ass together!

Hey, friend! I’m ba-ack! If this is the first time you’re tuning in, then just to let you know, after a year & a half of the podcast, I needed to take a break for about a month to rest, regroup, reassess, that kind of thing. So welcome!

If you are a regular listener, then hey, I missed ya! So glad to be back!

So, after having some reflection time, I want to let you know what is going to happen moving forward in 2022. I will post new episodes each week on Tuesdays in January 2022, then starting in February, I’m going to post every other week instead. I’ll try that for a while. I think it will be more sustainable for me. And if I decide to change it later, I can totally do that. 

In today’s episode, I want to give you some highlights of my 2021 story. Last year, I had decided that I wanted to write my own story & I encouraged people to be in control of the narrative of their story & their year instead of just letting life happen to them all willy-nilly. I’m not necessarily talking about writing an actual memoir of your life, though you can totally do that, and publish it too! But, writing it in the sense that you are intentional about what you want, where you want to go, who you want to meet, how you want to live, what outcomes you want to see manifested in your life, etc.

Now, I do recognize that not every circumstance is in your control, but what you do with an unforeseen circumstance or how you react to it IS in your control. I’ll talk more about that in a bit. 

Now, I believe it’s important to reflect upon the past year and the things you’ve accomplished, the people you’ve met, the relationships you’ve established, the kindness you have shown or has been shown to you, the personal growth you have experienced, or the obstacles you’ve overcome. When you put pen to paper and actually see those things written down, you get a different perspective on yourself and the world around you. So, if you haven’t already done an exercise like this, then I encourage you to do so.

I did this exercise and I’m going to go through the bullet point highlights (not in prose) of my 2021 story right now, not necessarily in any particular order. 

Bullet Highlights of my 2021 story:

• Sold my house (Thank you, Julie, my realtor friend.)
• Paid off debt (this was on my vision board)
• Got covid vaccine
• For weeks after, I was so fatigued after 2nd shot, I went back to the doctor
• After some extensive lab work, I received a diagnosis of Hashimoto’s, which is an autoimmune disease where your immune system attacks your thyroid (This is one of those circumstances that I did not anticipate & did not want to be a part of my story, so I’ve been working hard to change the narrative of that diagnosis. It was a rude awakening, but it shifted my main overall focus to my health (because it’s difficult to pursue your other dreams and goals when you feel like doo-doo)
• In that process, I hired an AIP certified coach to help me because I got to a point where I didn’t know what to do next. (I will most likely have her on the show eventually.)
• Learned a TON about AIP, thyroid & how it functions, Hashimoto’s
• Through my focus on healthy eating and calming down my immune system, the inflammation & pain & soreness in my body has reduced significantly. I also lost inches and weight, which was a bonus because losing weight wasn’t my focus; feeling better, feeling human again was my main focus.
• Another happy byproduct of losing weight, I can now zip up and fit into a snazzy red dress that I bought 2 years ago online, but couldn’t wear because it was too small. I kept it anyway & added a picture of a red dress to my vision board.
• Began creating an outdoor oasis in my backyard that included elephant ear plants and canna lilies (BTW, creating an outdoor oasis is also on my vision board) Why, because it’s a happy place of serenity for me. It’s healing to my soul to sit and take in the calm and beauty of the plants and flowers. And to watch the butterflies and bees dance around on the flowers. It’s part of my self care.
• Published 68 podcast episodes (a year & a half) with 50 guest interviews (8 of which haven’t published yet)
• Participated in an online Summit where I met other online entrepreneurs (and interviewed several of them on this podcast.)
• Presented a How to Dream Build with Your Teen session in an online Summit (Thank you, Tanya Goldfrad for the invitation & opportunity. You can hear her story in ep 45)
• Took mastermind course from Karyn Greenstreet who has facilitated masterminds for over 20 years, which in turn, helped me 
• Host and facilitate my own mastermind with other teacher friends of mine (you can hear more about that in ep 50) I’m also planning another mastermind.
• Signed up with a branding coach, Mike Kim, from whom I am learning a lot about branding my business.
• Reconnected with some former students & colleagues, which is meaningful to me
• Met so many people & entrepreneurs online from all over the place (Israel, Australia, Florida, Texas, New York, Colorado, etc, some of them have been guests here.
• Created a teacher resource (Black out poetry) & it was because I had my mastermind going. I most likely would’ve been distracted if it hadn’t been for the mastermind and the accountability and motivation piece. 
• Created vision board poster templates (You can get those and my teacher resources on my website at mandysawyer.com/shop)
• Worked with friends & educators, dream building with them, helping them to discover or rediscover dreams that have been lurking around inside ready & waiting to be unleashed.
• Learned a TON about setting up & operating different software & have helped other women biz owners with some tech & design projects
• Was able to be with my mom for her medical appointments and able help her with my 93-year-old Memaw, without having to worry about prepping for a sub or asking for time off
• Learned a TON about myself (lots of personal growth) and I want to continue that into 2022
• Started using a gratitude journal & during my most recent session with my therapist, she told me that I had said the words gratitude or I’m grateful about 4 times during the conversation. Which shows me that such a small practice (it just takes 3-4 minutes) can have huge positive effects. Just like talking out your vision board every day, doesn’t take that much time, but changes your perspective and your mindset in such a positive way. (You can meet my therapist in episode 15.) 
• Got together with a big family Thanksgiving this year & for a cousin’s Christmas party, which we haven’t been able to do in a long time because of Covid. 
• And I prepped my food ahead of time so that I could stay compliant to my diet without feeling deprived and left out because I did not eat what I’ve eaten all my life at Thanksgiving.
• We have not been able to have a big family gathering for Christmas yet, due to Covid, which bummed me out; but we will make it happen as soon as we feel it’s ok to do so.

So, there’s my quick, bulleted summary of my 2021 story. Some of it was circumstances that I did not anticipate and did not ask for. But, I intentionally made decisions in order to turn the narrative in a different direction than it would have gone had I accepted defeat and dwelled on the negative. 

So, long story longer, you can do things, set things in motion to purposefully make your life better if you’re willing to face the fear and do the hard things. Doesn’t mean it’ll be perfect, doesn’t mean you won’t cry & throw a fit sometimes out of frustration (ask me how I know), doesn’t mean you won’t make mistakes. But, you CAN write your own story & I’d love to hear your reflections on your 2021 and your aspirations for 2022.

If you’re ready for a brand new you in 2022, but aren’t sure where to begin, then I propose you go to my website & sign up to download my 3-step vision guide! 

It will help you decide what to display on your vision board. 

I’m a believer in using a vision board as a tool to help you manifest your dreams and goals. Since I’ve been using one, there have been several things manifested that I mentioned before & that I’ll go into more detail on later episodes. So get your vision board up & running by going to mandysawyer.com for your free vision guide!

If this episode has encouraged you, then please share it with 3 of your friends so they can be encouraged as well. Thank you so much for listening & remember … to Dream Big & Kick Ass.