#31 New Year, New Vision

Welcome back to the Fearlessly Authentic: Sash & Soul Podcast! As we step into 2025, I’m sharing honest reflections from the past year - big wins, tough lessons, and personal growth that shaped my new vision.

In this episode, we'll dive into:

• 2024 Recap - The highs, the challenges, and the evolution of Fearlessly Authentic
• Health & Well-being - A candid look at my recent health journey and the mindset shifts it sparked
• New Vision, New Growth - How personal growth fuels brand success, plus a sneak peek at what's coming in 2025!
• FREE January Masterclass! Get the details on my first live session of the year: Goal Setting & Vision

Chapters

• 0:29 Reflecting on 2024 and 2025 Vision
• 15:41 Evolution of Personal Growth and Vision
• 25:41 Developing Self-Awareness and Growth

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:29

You guys, sash and Soul is back. Welcome. Oh my gosh. It feels like it has been forever since recording an episode for all of you. The last one was episode number 30, where, where we interviewed Miss America 2015, kira Dixon, and I'm like I'm floored. You guys still have been listening to the show and it's just like I just I can't even tell you how much that means to me that you are interested in what I have to say and invested in yourselves enough to be coming back every week and wanting more. So hopefully you are just as excited as I am for Sash and Soul to be returning.

Speaker 1: 1:21

It's going to be a really good year and that's what we're going to talk about. This episode is we're going to talk about man like recap from 2024 and diving into 2025 and what this year is going to look like for you, how to set up your vision for yourself, and I'm going to share some stuff that I've been through that is really shaping what my vision for 2025 looks like for me. So hopefully that will be helpful for you as you're listening. So let's dive in. Let's talk about 2024. I had somewhat of some good times in 2024, but I'm not going to lie to you it was a rough year. It just seems like ever since 2020, which was like the dooms year that everybody said was just like the worst year it just seems like ever since, like 2020, which was like the the dooms year that everybody said was just like the worst year I just don't feel like I've bounced back completely. Like every year just seems to be kind of filled with yuck. So it was a pretty rough, especially end like second half of 2024.

Speaker 1: 2:30

For me, my family experienced a really tragic loss in our immediate family and I'm not going to go into details about that because it's a pretty sensitive topic, but if you're one of my clients or you know me, you'll know what I'm talking about. But that really clouded the rest of my year, my family's year, with very intense grief within that loss. And then I had some personal health issues that I will get into a little bit later as well as we kind of talk about how to maintain your own well-being and health as you set up your vision for 2025. Because I learned a lot through those health issues and I'm still learning as I continue healing. I also experienced some unexpected changes in Fearlessly Authentic that required me to pivot and it also required a lot of healing because it was rough. It was not exactly what I thought was going to happen within my program and the leadership within my program, but that's why we pivot. That's why we know that resilience that you have built up over things that you've been through, that you know that resilience that you have built up over things that you've been through can get you through those types of things. So that wasn't, that wasn't ideal.

Speaker 1: 4:01

But let's dive into the highlights of 2024. Obviously, one of the biggest highlights was the launch of Sash and Soul last March. So some key things. With that, I mean we had only 30 episodes and in those 30 episodes we interviewed three national title holders, which was so much fun. Over 4,500 episode downloads. You guys, kudos, thank you so much. We've reached almost every state, almost all the 50 states. We've been in 37 countries and territories and even though Sash and Sol went on this hiatus, you guys still continued listening and I am just, I'm so grateful for you. In 2024, I also launched the Fearlessly Authentic app, which you should download If you haven't yet. You can find it in the iOS and Android stores.

Speaker 1: 4:52

The Fearlessly Authentic mastermind, the FAM as we call it, grew exponentially and we had one of the most successful years for the Fearlessly Authentic clients Just really proud of them and so grateful that they have given me the opportunity to work with them and be a part of their journey to success. I also had like this was crazy, you guys I had my first international coaching inquiry, which was wild to me it was the craziest thing. Nothing has come of it yet, but I was just like man did I make it because, like literally someone from across the world is reaching out to me asking about Fearlessly Authentic was just so cool. And then a personal highlight for me is we had our. My husband and I had our one year anniversary trip to Italy where we went to Rome and we went to Sorrento and Positano and Termina and for two weeks it was just the most glorious, beautiful trip. So really grateful for that beautiful trip. So really grateful for that. So, with all of that said, I definitely learned a lot in 2024 about staying in my own lane.

Speaker 1: 6:02

Because I wasn't staying in my own lane, I experienced some burnout by the end of competition season that really had me questioning, like, what direction I wanted to take with my business. I was seriously considering stepping away from coaching pageant clients because I was way too emotionally invested in the things that I can't control and just really getting frustrated with some of the things within the pageant industry and leadership and, honestly, just not in my lane. I set out to coach women on mindset, communication and service because I wanted to empower them in their own right and their own capabilities to succeed. And that's where I want to stay that lane. And even though I continue to grow and my vision changes and my branding gets updated and I have new programs and everything coming out, I still want to maintain that value of staying in my own lane, protecting my peace while I continue my mission of helping young women from all walks of life.

Speaker 1: 7:18

I also know that my burnout was coming from really high expectations of myself and because I had those high expectations of myself, that was followed with a lot of guilt and a lot of shame, especially when I was going through a rough patch of both like mental and physical health issues Because I wasn't as productive as I wanted to be or expected myself to be. I was really hard on myself and I felt so much of that guilt that I think it like prolonged my healing experience too, because I couldn't just like release that energy, and that's part of our 2025 vision conversation coming up as well. So, after all of the challenges and the crap that I went through last year, my intentions for 2025 are to focus on the joy of creativity, which I've started doing, especially this week. I'm healthy again and feeling a lot better, so I'm like diving in and I've been like waking up, stepping out of bed and like come into my computer and I've been sitting here like all day, which is really refreshing for me, because there was quite a few months there that I was avoiding this space in my house at all costs and that didn't really help the confidence or self-esteem very much because I just felt like a potato. So I'm going to focus on creativity and the joy of creativity, and I also want to focus on my clients and coaching really incredible clients from all over the place. I know that that is my joy, that is my passion. I just like I truly love you guys and I love the perspectives that you bring to the table when I'm working with you and I love the group conversations that we have in the mastermind and like that's what's fueling me, and so I'm going to stay focused on that. So I kind of mentioned some of these like physical health issues in 2024. And unfortunately they followed me into 2025, which is bringing me to the new year, new vision point in the conversation for health and well-being in general.

Speaker 1: 9:33

So in October and November I had three separate emergency room visits and a whole heck of a lot of conversations with my doctor's office, and I'm not going to give a whole lot of the details about, like the personal health stuff that I was going through. But this physical health scare, on top of grieving this family tragedy like really really upset my overall and mental well-being. And just when I thought that I was through that and we're starting you know, happy New Year, january 2025 on a fresh start, I found myself again back in the emergency. I was there two days in a row and then that led to an overnight stay in the ICU Really really scary. I lost consciousness a couple of times. My husband was there, my blood pressure dropped. They called in a stat team. It was like sounds really really dramatic, but like it was actually really really scary and overwhelming. And last week I just spent the week being grateful and recovering and taking it easy and asking my husband every time that I had to go up or down the stairs so that I didn't fall and it was just like it was a lot. You guys, sometimes life really really hits you hard.

Speaker 1: 10:56

So I really had to let a lot of things go near the end of 2024 when it came to business growth and all of my ideas and my plans and my intentions for 2024. All of my ideas and my plans and my intentions for 2024. I had to be really flexible and just kind of like step aside from that and really had to practice as much grace and radical acceptance of my circumstances and my capabilities as I possibly could, because I am an emotion first being. In that there's three modes of operation. There's operating from your emotions, operating from your thoughts or operating from action. First and my primary mode of operation is emotional, which honestly makes a whole lot of sense about my personality, and I'm a four on the Enneagram if you know what that means. It's one of the most emotional personality types on the Enneagram. So action is either second or third on my list of modes of operation. So it's really difficult for me to turn off my feelings and to focus on tasks.

Speaker 1: 12:19

So self-care was really really imperative. So for me, my healing has looked like a lot of extra rest and extra hours of sleep. I've also been going to therapy, if not weekly then every other week, and really maintaining that schedule with my therapist so that I'm keeping myself in check with someone that is objective and a professional. I have been focusing on doing as much healthy physical activity as I can possibly muster, but when that goes out the window, trying to practice healthy nutrition and hydration. So the basics, like that's where my self-care was in order for me to heal and get back to functionality for myself, where I can start taking action and actually like being productive. So with all of that yuck comes like a necessary mindset shift.

Speaker 1: 13:19

When you're going through, when you're through the trenches and you're really trudging through it, there's a necessary mindset shift and I mentioned like having to practice a lot of grace and radical acceptance of your circumstances and capabilities. And when I say practice, I know that I've talked about this before on Sash and Soul. Practice doesn't mean perfect. Practice means like you're actually practicing the act of giving yourself grace, practicing the thoughts associated with giving yourself grace and radically accepting where you're at. Practice is not going to mean that you're going to be great at it. Practicing it does not mean that it's going to instantly make you feel better by any means Practicing it. It's a slow progression and you know I mean for not really knowing how to explain it better like you have to have grace about giving yourself grace. It's one of those things that's so difficult to explain.

Speaker 1: 14:23

But practicing the grace and radical acceptance, plus leaning into this, like this really deep faith that, like I know, I've been through hard things before and I've bounced back and so I will bounce back again. And then the other piece of that faith for me is really learning, at least in hindsight, that I appreciate the trudging through the yuck that I've had to do, because I see how much I've grown and the person that I've become because of it and the value that I provide the world because of the things that I've been through. So when you're going through it it's a lot more difficult to practice that appreciation and that gratitude for how much you're growing and how much you're changing in that yuck. But for me, leaning into that faith really allows me to see it even when I'm going through it a little bit, which helps a lot because you can't rush healing. It takes time, it's not a linear process, but you can certainly slow it down by being more hard on yourself and being frustrated with the circumstances and not recognizing that you will bounce back, just not knowing, maybe, when that bounce back is going to happen.

Speaker 1: 15:42

And that's the frustrating piece, right Like, we as human beings want to have control over things that we are uncomfortable about, and when it comes to like physical or mental health and you're in a place of illness or injury, that takes time and that's not something you can you have complete control over. You only have control of the things that you can do about it, which is practicing grace and radical acceptance, doing the self-care stuff with the extra rest, therapy, physical activity, nutrition, the basics, the basics, the basics. Therapy, physical activity, nutrition, the basics, the basics, the basics. So now that we've kind of assessed 2024, and it was a rough one for me I'm hoping that yours was way, way, way more better. But with all of that yuck came a lot of growth, and with that personal growth comes new vision, which also means I I gotta change some things up within Fearlessly Authentic, and subsequently all the other programs associated with with my brand. So personal growth equals brand growth.

Speaker 1: 16:56

So, after reflecting on last year and, like the roller coaster even of 2023, was that I have changed significantly because my life has forced me to change, and then my biggest realization is that I need my business to change with me. So 2025 for me is a year of rebranding, with a new vision and brand new projects that actually reflect the person that I am today. Evolving as a person fuels success in business, in pageantry, in leadership, in all these aspects of your life, if you like. Even go back to like episode 16 of Sash and Soul, where I talked about service initiatives and building your platform. I talked about how my platform needed to evolve with me and needed to change and grow, with reflecting on where I was at at that point in my life.

Speaker 1: 17:53

So when I first started competing, my initiative was drug use prevention and awareness and I was, you know, hitting the ground running with trying to prevent addiction and tragedies like what my family experienced of losing my older brother, tyler, to methamphetamine and ultimately, ultimately, he ended his life in August of 2005. So I was like so gung-ho on changing and saving the world and saving people in my community from this tragedy, and I did. I burned myself out Like I did that for three years and as much as I would say that doing that work was helping me grow or helping me heal rather, I don't know that it actually was I think it was keeping me stuck and I reached a point of essentially breaking, and that's when my mom told me that I needed to let it go. I needed to walk away and lean into some of my other passions, which for me at the time I was in college and I was really into my women and gender studies courses, and so empowering women just seemed like a natural initiative for me to dive into. And so I launched Empowering Women Mind, body and Soul and that was where I healed.

Speaker 1: 19:15

Working in that space of empowerment and community and creativity in a more positive, uplifting light that wasn't so deeply rooted in my trauma was actually very healing for me, and I found a lot of success with that initiative. I lightened up so much like the weight off of my shoulders that that's when I saw real success at Miss Wisconsin as first runner up that year. And then a couple of years later, when I came back as my last opportunity, I was in a place of really wanting to bookend my experience of competing, and so I relaunched kind of my original initiative, but updated to Tyler's legacy the impact of substance abuse on the family. It was an evolution of like trying to save the world when it first started to just wanting to build connections with people and not feel as alone and inspire people to take care of themselves and inspire people to understand that their actions affect other people. And I had some of the most empowering and and memorable experiences and privileged experiences of people telling me about things that they were going through in their lives that, like I just that they probably just didn't share with people. But because I was so willing to be vulnerable about my experiences, I opened the door for them to feel comfortable with me and it was just. It was such an epic experience that you know, looking back, I use that example now with all of my clients and with all of you to encourage you to like assess where you're at with your initiative. I have a couple of clients that we have completely changed their initiative, their platform this year because it just it was a, it was draining them, it wasn't giving them life and be like it wasn't really a reflection of who they are and what they're deeply passionate about today or even like where they want to go with their life. So, so don't be afraid to change, to change what you're working on so that it reflects on exactly who you are now. I think the other really solid example for me in terms of like recognizing that evolving as a person is going to fuel your success in all other areas was my competition journey.

Speaker 1: 21:48

So my first year I competed for Miss Wisconsin four times. My first year I was green, I was a newbie, I was the youngest contestant at like, I had just turned 18 and um, so much fun. I just I went in and it was a confidence building and it was intimidating, but, like I, I didn't really have any expectations of myself and I just like let it go and I was pretty successful. My first year I was a top 10 finalist and and it just like it lit that fire for me to come back and help. First year I was a top 10 finalist and and it just like it lit that fire for me to come back and help me see that I was capable of achieving that. For the first time in my life, I felt like I was actually capable of achieving something much bigger than myself and being able to like take that next step to making an impact throughout my entire state, not just the communities that I live in. And then the two years later I took a break in between. Two years later I came back and I was too confident.

Speaker 1: 22:43

It was like my second year of college. I had had braces in between, you know, during those that year off and I really I came back to Miss Wisconsin that year like really thinking I was like top dog, which was like it's so embarrassing to say now, but I was a rat, like I was too confident but but externally confident, I actually had a lot of inner insecurities that that like personified in in my behavior, in that like I was overcompensating for the comparison that I was doing with the other girls and and these high expectations that I have of myself. It was just, it was a rough year. I was successful in that I won swimsuit preliminary and talent preliminary. So then of course, that's like fueling my ego even more and I'm like, oh five. So I was a top 10 finalist, but I didn't break into top five, even as a double prelim winner which sidebar you guys, prelim awards don't really matter, okay, and sidebar.

Speaker 1: 23:54

So I walked away from my third year or my second year at Miss Wisconsin, like recognizing how much I like shot myself in the foot by being so overconfident but also not really facing my insecurities and I needed to. I needed something needed to change. I needed to change and that's when I found the coach that I worked with. That completely changed my life in terms of how I communicate, how I approached interview, set me on the right direction, the right path towards a healthier mindset in competition, and was ultimately like one of the biggest reasons that year that I was first runner up at Miss Wisconsin. My third year there, I was a different person. You guys.

Speaker 1: 24:39

So you see how success is going to follow your personal growth if you allow it and if you lean into even the things that, like the setbacks and the mistakes that you may have made, the obstacles, like the embarrassing experiences that you just like can't get out of your mind, like those things all actually cause this beautiful change in you that will drive you towards success, as long as you allow it to. And then, long story short, miss Wisconsin won Miss America. That year I got to take over for six months, had hands-on experience of the job, came back two years later as a college graduate and won Miss Wisconsin and earned my chance to go to Miss America, which is a whole other story and I'm pretty sure there's a podcast episode about it. But so back to this personal growth and your vision for this year. You want to make sure that your brand and your vision is growing with your own personal growth.

Speaker 1: 25:42

So with that, your own objective self-assessment is critical, and when I say objective, I mean nonjudgmental right Like I'm embarrassed by how I behaved my second year at Miss Wisconsin and probably the reputation that that created of me. But I can look at it objectively and see that mistakes were made. But it was an opportunity for me to grow and change, because I don't want to be that person. How will you know what kind of person you want to be if you don't know what kind of person you are right now objectively? So that's really important, but it doesn't have to be painful, it doesn't have to be hard. That goes for your self-assessment and that also goes for growth and life and doing things. It doesn't have to be hard. That goes for your self-assessment and that also goes for growth and life and doing things. Like it doesn't have to be difficult, it doesn't have to be painful in order for you to grow. Baby steps are still going to get you where you're going, and then it's also necessary to take those giant leaps and challenge yourself. It's in taking those leaps of faith, in stepping outside of your comfort zone, that's where growth happens to. It doesn't have to be trauma, it doesn't have to be yuck, like you know.

Speaker 1: 26:50

I know that we glorify, like the people that took the path less traveled, but we don't. We don't have to have bad experiences in order to be awesome and grow, awesome and grow. So, all that being said, I have recognized that the value that I bring to my clients and to Fearlessly Authentic and to Sash and Soul is my experience. However, my experience led to this burnout and, at the same time, led to this epiphany of how much more value I can provide in my programs, because I'm objectively assessing and looking at the experiences that I had last year, the mistakes that I maybe made, the opportunities that I that I had but didn't take. The value that you bring through your leadership opportunities and pageantry is going to come from your experiences, and I mentioned, you know, your setbacks, your mistakes, the obstacles you've faced and overcome, the trauma you've experienced, and also your achievements and your education and like all the successes that you've had. Like, we have to look at the whole big picture to see, like who you are and what you bring to the table, what value you bring. So, with that being said, I want you to reflect on your experiences from 2024. And I want you to use those experiences as you develop your vision for 2025.

Speaker 1: 28:21

In 2025, are you finally going to, like, launch your own podcast, because you've been thinking about it and wanting to forever, but maybe you've been too afraid. Are you going to change or update your service program to reflect what you're passionate about, regardless of what the judges or anybody else might think? Are you going to find a new job, because what you're doing right now is draining you and it's keeping you stuck? Like, what are you going to do in 2025 because of what you experienced in 2024? Change is necessary to continue to grow, but you have to bring that growth with you in all things to find true constant success. To find true constant success.

Speaker 1: 29:03

So, with all of that being said, I'm gonna do the big things in 2025. I, like I had a lot of big expectations of myself last year, but none of them were really fun, and so I have a sticky note on my computer with all of my 2025 projects and you guys, I'm going to go all in like it's. It's going to be awesome and I've already started this week and, like I said, like I've been at my computer just like, hungry for for more opportunities to, to pour my heart and soul into the work that I'm doing. So really excited. So, with that, here's what's coming up for Fearlessly Authentic in 2025. We've got new content, we've got exciting collaborations, we've got expansion plans all the things. So, first and foremost, one thing that you've already been seeing on Fearlessly Authentic, on Instagram and on the app, is that I've been updating my branding to reflect the woman that I am today, not the woman that I was when I launched Fearlessly Authentic. So that's going to include a new website which is in the works. I'm also working with a digital content creator. I'm so excited. We have our first meeting on Monday. I'm going to up-level my web presence. I'm going to have really beautiful done videos. That's going to bring more of the fearlessly authentic content right to you guys and so that more people can explore the program as well. Like I'm just geeking out over it. I'm so excited. I am also in.

Speaker 1: 30:38

This may be really exciting for some of you who want to finally launch your own podcast. I am working on the pilot stage of a brand new coaching program to help you bring your voices to the world through legacy podcasts. So long story short, the name of my business is actually legacy presentations and it came from my my platform. Here's another you know story about evolving with change. My platform is Tyler's Legacy and I wanted to bring the word legacy in because so much of my work had to do with sharing my personal story through the loss of my brother and other traumas that I had experienced in life. With my platform and through legacy presentations, my ultimate goal was to bring other voices to the table and share lived experiences and inspiring stories, and so one opportunity for me to do that is through launching legacy podcasts under the legacy presentations umbrella, so that maybe you could launch your own podcast about the things that you are passionate about and build a community around that.

Speaker 1: 31:45

I'm also going to be adding resources to the Fearlessly Authentic app in the all access membership. The all access membership is it's a subscription a monthly subscription it's $99, but you can try it out for a seven day free trial. There's lots of different valuable things in there. But I'm going to be adding working on like daily interview questions for you, because I know that that's always like a top priority, is like part of interview preparation is diving deep into big issues and thought provoking topics and like understanding yourself better and how to describe like your leadership qualities and and the person that you are today. So those daily interview questions will be really awesome. In the all access membership, also adding a Fearlessly Authentic's favorites book, like favorite book list, because I have like all of these self development books that I love and then I just want everybody else to dive into because they're, you know, they just have changed my perspective so much. And, of course, I have other ideas. And then I am launching monthly live masterclasses for you guys so that maybe you can't afford like a coach consistently but you want a little bit extra just to up level your preparation, up level your life.

Speaker 1: 33:06

I'm offering these virtual live master classes once a month. Each of them has a theme. I'm going to talk about it here in a little bit, but just to wrap up this, this idea of you know, new year, new vision, is that it's really important to stay flexible. Okay, so this is kind of my final message to you about setting setting your vision for 2025. Like I know that my vision is going to shift, like all these beautiful ideas, like my interests might change a little bit. I'm probably going to get tired and I'm also obviously, like too well, aware that life happens. So staying flexible is really important, because when you're flexible, you go easier on yourself, which means that then there's less pressure on yourself. When there's less pressure, you open yourself up to more creativity and much more energy, and so when you have that energy learning how to then manage your time and your energy in tandem, ultimately you're going to get more done. So flexibility is incredibly important.

Speaker 1: 34:13

Okay, so back to the masterclass. If you want to dive in and actually do some of this work about setting your goals and your vision for 2025, the very first masterclass is happening on Tuesday, january 28th. That's going to be from 7 to 8 pm Central Time or 8 to 9 pm Eastern Time, and the other time zones Do the math, because I can't do that right now at the top of my head. So this masterclass is going to include proven strategies to set your goals and set goals that actually stick. You'll also work on a step-by-step roadmap to create a vision that inspires action, and we're going to talk about mindset shifts to stay motivated and to stay on track. So this very first masterclass on January 28th is the inaugural masterclass, and I want to offer it to you completely free of charge because I want you to head into 2025 with the intention of absolutely crushing your goals and having a solid plan that's going to help you do that.

Speaker 1: 35:18

Okay, so don't miss out on this opportunity. There are limited spaces, but you can sign up at the link in this episode overview, or you can check out the Fearlessly Authentic Coach on Instagram for more updates. Dm me, of course, if you have questions, and then you can find the monthly masterclass schedule on fearlesslyauthenticoachcom. I'm going to have all of the topics listed there so you can kind of plan ahead for your year and see like if there are certain masterclasses that you absolutely want to sign up for. It's going to be great. Like, all the masterclasses are all outlined. It's all ready to go. The only thing left is for you guys to show up and to like experience them yourselves. So, oh my gosh, this has been fun. It's so good to be back as we wrap up this episode.

Speaker 1: 36:10

I have been ending each group coaching call with the main takeaways from the session, and today, my main takeaway is to set a really big vision for 2025 for myself, with the permission to be flexible in accomplishing my goals. So if you got some really good takeaways or if you want to share your intentional goals with me, feel free to DM me and, of course, don't forget to subscribe and share Sash and Soul with your friends. Let's build this community of empowerment and healthy mindset and success and, of course, sign up for the January Masterclass. All right, okay, you guys, let's make 2025 the year we grow, fearlessly and authentically, all together. So until next time, which is next Friday, stay bold, stay, you, and thanks for listening. Bye.