AUDIO ISSUE — See Ep. 30: From Setback to Comeback: The Audacity to Tell It Like It Is with Dana Hunter Fradella

⚠️ Audio oops — If you grabbed this episode right after it dropped, you may have the version where, after the intro, it goes silent. The fixed, full conversation is now live in Episode 30.

In this conversation, Dana Hunter Fradella shares how one raw, unapologetic story cracked her wide open in the early days of sobriety — and set her free. We talk about the courage it takes to tell the truth about your life, why doing so can be the ultimate act of service, and how owning your mess can spark the most beautiful comebacks. If you’ve ever wondered whether your story could actually help someone else, this episode is your proof.

Connect with Dana Hunter Fradella
Podcast: Girls Who Recover
Instagram: @girls.who.recover

Want More?

Grab your Human Design chart here

Want to unpack it together? Book a 1:1 session here

Subscribe to A Beautiful Fix on Apple or Spotify

Ready to feel more alive and aligned? Grab my free guide, Finding Your Beautiful Fix: Simple Shifts to Rediscovering Your Inner Power !

Sign up for Thought Gems at abeautifulfix.com—your weekly inspiration to help you reset, reconnect, and rediscover what’s possible.

Support the Show

💕 Love this episode? Follow & leave a quick review—it helps others find A Beautiful Fix!

💬 Join the conversation on Instagram & Facebook @ABeautifulFix or find me on LinkedIn: Tracy Hill. Have a thought to share? Reach me directly at ...

Transcript

[Audio issues: See Ep. 30] From Setback to Comeback: The Audacity to Tell It Like It Is with Dana Hunter Fradella

⚠️ Audio oops — If you grabbed this episode right after it dropped, you may have the version where, after the intro, it goes silent. The fixed, full conversation is now live in Episode 30.

[00:00:00] Take their setback. The thing that they're like, well, I'll never overcome that, or I'll never heal from that, or whatever it is. And then we transform it into what a gorgeous comeback. But we've gotta tell the truth about what's happening. And so I'm in this room, I'm newly sober, and there's, there's this woman.

Who tells this wild story about who she used to be and what she used to do, and then what she did and what she's like now. And I was set free. I was set free because that woman had the audacity to tell the truth about her own experience. And that doesn't have to just live in the rooms of recovery. That can be, we can be lighthouses just by telling the truth about our experience.

[00:01:00] 

...today I'm joined by someone whose energy is as uplifting as her story is inspiring. Dana Hunter F is a transformational coach, speaker, and the host of The Girls Who Recover. Podcast, A powerful space where women are reminded that their biggest setbacks can become their greatest comebacks. Through her podcast and coaching, Dana empowers women to rewrite their narratives, embrace their worth, and build lives they absolutely love.

She meets you exactly where you are, [00:02:00] sees your full potential, and somehow makes you believe in it too. Her authenticity is magnetic, and her story is one that will move you. Dana, welcome to a beautiful fix. I'm so excited to have you here. I am so excited to be here, Tracy. It's like all my dreams are coming true at the same moment.

You guys just don't understand. I love this woman. Okay, so Dana, quick story. I'm gonna share this and if you don't want me to share it, we'll just, we'll just take it out. But last week I was supposed to meet with this fabulous woman. We were gonna do like a little business session together, and I have never been so excited.

I was so excited. I was telling my husband, I'm like, I'm meeting with Dana. Like, I was literally just skipping around the house and then at the very, just as I was getting ready to go on, I saw your note that we weren't gonna be able to meet. But Dana, I have to tell you, I was like, Fosh, like my energy just, I was so like, I wanna meet with [00:03:00] Dana.

You just, it's like I'm an energy vampire and I just, I just wanna suck all your energy. It's just, it's so good. It's so good. I wanna say something that one of my mentors said about that because there, the energy that I have comes straight from the source, so it's limitless. Mm-hmm. So suck away, girl. Like it's all for you.

There's more where that came from. I'm literally the channel. I don't know where, I'll tell you that it's not mine. I do feel like I am a channel for the energy from the source. So please, whatever I am able to share, it's it what's mine is yours. Okay, well I'll take it. Well, let me ask you this and this.

I'll, I'll jump into the my questions, but have you always, has your energy always been like this or is this new? That's a great question. I think. I think so. So you said like this, which [00:04:00] leaves the door wide open. Right. And you mentioned that we didn't get a chance to meet, um, last week. And it was really because at that moment my, as you know, there's some, there were some things we're experiencing in our household and I just like couldn't get my energy to the place where I love it to be whenever I'm meeting with other humans.

And so I gave myself the grace to just say, you know what? I'm not ready to have this conversation. And it had nothing to do with the conversation or you, it was just literally my, I, you and I both know how powerful energy is. Yeah. It really is everything. Mm-hmm. And so when I'm thinking about should I do this or should I do that, I often check my energy because if it's not at least neutral to positive, there's, there's nothing that's good that will come out of the conversation.

I love it. And so it will become more of like, of, of suck a dream. And, and that's something that I'm, I've learned, I just wanna say that is I never would cancel. Like I used to be a [00:05:00] sufferer. I don't know about anybody else, but from good girl, um, syndrome. Are you familiar with this, um, the Good Girl syndrome?

I, yes. I, yeah. I should be, yeah. The leader of that attended attendance all a's follow directions. Yes. Exceed expectations. Yes. And so to cancel a meeting for me that I initiated would've really, I mean, torn me all the way down inside. And so I just wanna say out loud to you and really to myself, that, that I feel proud.

I'm sorry that I canceled, and also before the pre awakened version of myself that like needs to be perfect and needs to show up, and needs to be the one that's always on time and on point. Um, we're letting some of her go in favor of what do I need right now to take really great care of who I am right in this moment?

And that was a gift that I gave myself and a gift that you graciously gave me in your, in your response. And I too was very disappointed. [00:06:00] Well, Dana, thank, thank you for saying all of that because you just touched on several things. Number one, energy, hands down is the most important thing. That is our job is just working on our energy.

That is something that I've learned. Um, I, that is my highest priority. It used to be, you know, do I have my slides right, my script right? And uh, my podcast notes, whatever. Now I'm like, none of that matters until I get my energy, right? Like, I need to meditate, get still work on that, because if that shows up, the rest all works.

So thank you for reminding me of that. And when you touched on giving yourself the grace to say, today's not the day. That is, I think another really important thing that we can do that I'm learning. I love when someone reaches out and says, you know, I need to, I need to reschedule because we beat ourselves up and we get in our heads and [00:07:00] we go through all of these things.

And I think when we give ourselves the grace to say today, it's just not the day. It's, it's a beautiful thing and it works out across the board. And there's this graciousness on the other end too, that I have expanded, I have expanded into because, because I took myself so seriously and showed up like a plus all the time, even though it was forced and I wasn't able to be genuine, but I was there, um, I wasn't able to, I took other people canceling very personally.

I was like, oh, I can't believe you would do that. Like, how dare you waste my time? And I, I gave up this for that, you know, it was like lots of noise in my head. And it wasn't until. Uh, really recently that I was able to just say, the universe controls the time. Like we make plans, and then sometimes they shake out and sometimes they don't.

And it's always in our favor. Always, always. And so I still tend to stack by schedule. And so when [00:08:00] people cancel, I receive that as like a gift. Now I'm like, woo, that means like I get that hour or two, slow down and spend more spaciousness in my own day. And then the other thing I wanna say, I know I talked about the, the lower energy, but yes, I would say like going back all the, about as far as I can remember, there has been, I'm not, as you've known, I'm a projector.

And so I project, and I didn't even know what that word was until in the last year. And so, and I Can we talking about human, human, just for the listeners, we're talking about human design, Dana, as a projector. Yes. Okay. I'm sorry, go ahead. So instances in elementary and middle and high school, and then I started to become like in leadership positions and I really liked that 'cause I was able to project even more.

And, but it's been, I've never been so awake to the importance of positive, authentic, aligned, excited energy as I have been in the last couple of years. So, well, you've done the work and [00:09:00] we're gonna dig into all of that. But first I wanted to start with, can you tell us a little bit about your journey from a corporate nine to five role to becoming a transformational coach?

It's, it's, it's remarkable. It's a remarkable story. Can you share a little bit about what prompted the significant shift in your career path? Absolutely. So it was a very hot July day and I found myself basically when self-induced carpet burn sobbing all over my face in the floor, in the fetal position, in the middle of a work day.

And I am bawling and crying. And I just remember the way that that carpet just grated against my skin because I was crying so hard. Wait, Dana, were you working from home or were you in the office? I was working, no, I was working from home. Okay. Yeah, so it was home carpet. Okay. Okay. Okay. And I, you know, minutes before I had just gotten a text from the, uh, nanny who's [00:10:00] watching my three girls for the summer.

I'm supposed to be vacationing with them and enjoying the soft slow summertime. And I, and I got this text of them, they're on a horse, a horseback riding, and I realized, I promised them again that I would be there for their writing lesson. And I wasn't. And I wasn't. And I wasn't. And something inside of me just broke.

And, and, and the hence the carpet burn. And the snot sobs. And I had this moment, right, because I'd said, I can't have to work. I've got this meeting, I've got this project, da, da da da, and my kids are small. At that point, they were eight, six, and three. So they're super, they're still small. That, that was two years ago.

And they needed me and I wanted to be with them. But I also thought, well, I have to do this. I have to be the a plus person at work and I have to be there and work really hard. And you have not, you and I have talked about this and something just broke in a really good way. And part of me died on the floor that day covered [00:11:00] in snot and gross carpet, you know?

But I heard something. I heard it was a very simple thing because I said I, I'm, I can't do this anymore. I cried that out loud. I can't do this anymore. I don't know if you relay, but you've had that experience. Yes. And then this, this really soft still voice said, you know what to do. Mm. And it was super quiet after that.

It didn't say it twice. There was no marketing, there was no emphasizing. There was no encouraging. It just said, you know what to do. And so I pulled myself off that floor and I did know what to do because. What I'm doing now had been calling me and calling me and calling me. If you have young kids at home, you likely know the Disney movie Frozen.

You probably also know Frozen two. And in frozen two, there is a a voice that [00:12:00] sings from far off. You don't know where it's coming from, and only the Queen Elsa can hear it and it starts off small. And she's like, what's happening? And she ignores it and it gets a little louder and she ignores it. She's the only one that can hear it, and it gets a little louder.

And finally she's about to go crazy. She's like, I have to leave everything and go find this because it won't leave me alone. And that voice had been singing to me and calling to me and saying, you know what to do, you know what to do. And I wasn't listening. And so instead, even before I found myself on the floor, I was experiencing weight loss.

I was experiencing anxiety. I was irritable all the time. I was never happy even when I was around my kids, my marriage wasn't doing well because I'm barely there. And when I am in a, I'm in a bad mood and I spent so much energy pushing that voice away. And you know what the voice is? It's the calling into your assignment.

It's, it's the still small voice of your intuition that knows what you're supposed to be doing and whispers and then sings [00:13:00] and then says, and then shouts, and then gets you on the floor and cracks you open. And maybe that's the thing that makes us willing, and it was for me. And so I didn't immediately that day quit my job, but I did start doing the research.

It started with a simple internet search. What does it take to get certified as a coach? Mm. Because I knew I'd been working with women in the recovery movement for a long time. I've been a coach for as long as I can. I mean, I was coaching my siblings, the, my coaching, my college, uh, colleagues, coaching my sorority sisters.

When I was a teacher, I immediately became a teacher coach, and then a principal, and then a coach of principals, and then a coach of superintendents and coaching, coaching, coaching. So I have this long career, not just in corporate, but in education. And the corporate was, listen, I have been in the classroom.

I have been in the school walls. I've had my own coaching consulting company for education, and now all my kids are in school. They, a ed tech company has offered me more money than I can [00:14:00] say no to. Mm-hmm. And so I'm gonna capstone this and then that, then I'll finally be okay. Right. I've got the job. At home.

It pays me a lot of money doing work that's like, it's okay. Great people. I loved all the people, they were fantastic. But my soul died a little bit every single day that I showed up. And it wasn't, it had nothing to do with the job, right? It was like, I'm off assignment, I'm not on purpose. I'm not doing what the voice is asking me to do.

Yes. And the voice, the souls speak. It's the voice of God. The one that's like, Hey girl, we had a plan. You agreed to it before you got here and you're in your forties off the plan. Mm. And unfortunately, you know, and I think I was, I was chuckling about, now I really understand what a midlife crisis is. It's finally we are waking up to what the actual plan is, this midlife experience that we're having.

Absolutely. And, and the voice, as you mentioned, it will never get quieter. It, Nope. You can [00:15:00] try to ignore it. You can try to push it down, but it'll find new ways to get your attention. It will. And it's a beautiful thing. It doesn't have to be a crisis, it's just letting you know you are out of alignment. Um, we need to make some changes.

And so that is, so from the time that you were, you know, snot crying on the carpet to you leaving, what, what was that timeframe like? How much time did it take for you to make that leap? I think that was the end of the summer, the end of the summer of 23. And then I started to research what it would take to coach.

I got really brave and I, I, that time I had a finance coach and so I, I said to her like, how did you become a coach? She also had a full-time job and she was coaching as a, as a side business. And she said, listen, I'm gonna give you the best advice that if you take it, you can't fail. Are you ready? And I said, yes.

This is two years before this. She said, start, just start. Oh my gosh. Don't worry about a website. Don't worry about [00:16:00] an email list. Don't worry about marketing, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like, just start, put it out there. And I waited years to take her advice. I did a lot of thinking about her advice, but I never took her advice.

But I got up off that floor and I think it was the end of the summer, and I put my first, I launch soft launch my business the week of my birthday, which was like two months later. And I got on Facebook, I did a live, it was so awkward and my energy was not where I needed to be, but I did it. I started, you did it.

And it was totally crickets. And I said, I, I, I don't, I can't go back. I heard what the voice said, this was crap. I'm gonna keep going. And this is like best life advice. This was crap. Keep going. And then the second time it was a little better, and the third time it was a little better. And by the fifth time someone reached back out and said, I would love to coach with you.

What? When do we start? And I said, well. Let's got on the call and see how I can help you. And I did. And that [00:17:00] woman had so much success. This is my very first client. Wow. That woman had so much success. But by that, by the end of our, our, um, it wasn't a program, it was a partnership. By the end of our partnership, which I think ours was maybe three months or four months, she, out of the blue got landed her dream job plus a $70,000 contract on top of that, working for the United States Congress.

Now, however you feel about Congress does not matter. It was her dream job. And she was offered money on top of that. And her marriage transformed and she's entered the middle of her dream house. And so I saw the work that we did together and I was like, we are onto something. Yes, we are onto something.

And Dana, while you were coaching her, were you still working at that time? Was this I was kind of on the side. Okay. Yes. So the long and short of it was when I had my first client, the energy was like, okay, we are in, we're in movement, we're in momentum. And then the second one came, [00:18:00] and then the third one came, and I was in momentum and all these women are having these massive transformations.

And at that time I was coaching everything, right? Like love and relationships, health and wellness, career and creative expression, and time and money freedom. Now I specialize because I've figured out what I absolutely love. I love helping women do exactly what they're called to do and make a ton of money doing it.

So I, I, uh, a client of mine posted on one of my posts recently and she's like, you better take that breakthrough call. And she did a, a screenshot of 8,000 plus dollars that, that she got as a result of working. You know, we had two calls. She's like, oh yeah, here's this where we negotiated that she got this contract, and I said, oh, you're speaking my love language to me.

More money in the hands of brilliant women. Yes, please. Oh, yes. Alright, so I know you've intrigued my listeners, so we're definitely gonna share at the end about how you can get in contact with Dana. That is [00:19:00] phenomenal. Those numbers are incredible. I mean, and if the timeline was, I had the, uh, on the carpet in end of July, launched Softly and Messily in September, and then submitted my resignation in May of the next year.

Now, in the meantime, I did decide to get certification because I wanted to be a great coach, not just a good one. Yes. And I wanted to have, I wanted to specialize in the, the kind of coaching that I want to coach, wanted to coach in, which is not from the mind. If you want a mind coach, go get a therapist.

God bless therapy. I love one. I have a team. We got one for marriage, we got one for us. But I wanna coach transformation, which comes from the spirit and the heart, because if somebody would've worked with my mind, it's like a broken computer trying to fix that broken computer, and that was never gonna get me away from, well, if I work hard, these ideas that I was subscribing to, if I work really hard, then I'll be successful.

And when I have this much money, then I'll finally have it all, and then I'll finally feel okay, which is why I went [00:20:00] through almost, I'm so glad I broke open on the floor because for the decades prior to that, I kept thinking, if I just do this milestone and this achievement and this degree and this foreign country and this wealthy man and this rah, then I'll finally be up.

What? Okay. Successful enough. And I got to the top of every single mountain and a couple of things happened. One, I was normally by myself and it's so lonely. That's why they say it's lonely at the top. It's lonely at the top. Like yeah, it is. If you led your mind to get there. Mm-hmm. And then the second thing I felt was totally unfulfilled and confused.

I said, I followed the recipe that you gave me and the cake tastes terrible. You understand? Yes. You get it? Yes. I did everything you said. I got a 4.5 point GPA, the top of the class. Incredible friends, travel abroad. Started my business, let a school, I did all the things. Why do I still feel so empty, [00:21:00] Dana?

Okay. I was writing notes while you were just talking 'cause we need to, we need to go back. You touched on so many things, so I need people to really hear some of the things that you said. The best advice that your financial coach gave you was to just start, and I can't, I can't say this enough, taking action and just starting doing it messy being a C student, however you wanna say it.

I agree. I think it's so key. I just had this conversation with a friend of mine the other day. She's like, Tracy, I'm inspired. I want to do it, but first I need to get my website up. I need to da da, I, she just went through the list and I was like, just start. Just start. So one of the things that I wanted to ask you is now that you ju that you started, it took you, it took you a little bit, but you finally did start.

Do you agree with that? Do you agree that she was right by saying, just start. [00:22:00] I do a hundred percent and I wanna make a book recommendation. Is that okay? Yes, please. I haven't even finished it, but I'm ready to recommend I get about 30 pages in and I'm like, I recommend this or I don't. Yes. But I'm in the middle of Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic.

Oh my gosh. And right hands in the air. Both of 'em Love it. And let me suggest the audio version because listening to her talk to you is phenomenal when you're going on walks. Okay, go ahead. So the first chapter is all about fear. And yes, as you can imagine, what do you think stopped me for those years between her giving the advice and me taking it?

Okay. Fear the, the worst F word there is, which is a fear. Totally. It's behind everything. And she gives such great advice about what to do with fear. Because a lot of times I think, at least in my experience, and listen, I've worked with a lot of women in a lot of different capacities. I think we're taught wrong.

We're taught to fight the fear or forget the fear, like push through the fear. And really it's like, no way, Jose, that fear's a part of you. You can't get rid of it. You [00:23:00] don't wanna get rid of a part of you. You tell fear to get in the car, but she's gotta go in the backseat. She's coming. You have to come.

You can't leave her behind because she has a magnetic pool that when you try to forget her or fight her, she just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. And she sits not in the passenger seat or even in the driver's seat, but in your lap. Looking in your face while you're trying to drive until you say, okay, you can come, but get in the back.

You can't touch the radio. You don't get to decide where we're headed. You don't get to decide where we're eating, but you can come, you're welcome. Buckle up. And then the second, which is. Which is really where we're going here. The second chapter is all about ideas and she says, you know, we are all asleep at the wheel and we're all worried about our, our bills and our, what our kids are doing, and like, why did my husband not put the laundry in now with mild Dewey and like the cat sick, like all the things that we worry and there in the meantime, there's this whole big, [00:24:00] beautiful reality.

None of that stuff's reality. What is real is what I just did before this call was like, I could get all this done, or I could go put my bare feet in the yard and watch one of my bunnies just run around the backyard and have a blast eat my roses. Like that's what I did. That's reality. That task that I could have accomplished wasn't, but what her point is, is that when we're awake and we make even just a little bit of space for reality, there are all these ideas out there.

They're from source, they're from God, they're from universe, whatever you're calling it, it doesn't care. And they are waiting for your window to open just to crack so they can slide in. Now that number one, your window has to be open, which means you gotta wake up to open. And number two is when the idea comes in, you need to say yes.

And it'll stay. It'll stay, it'll stay. It'll stay. It'll stay. And if it's your idea with your name on it, it will continue to stay. And then it will do things like not just get you broken up on the [00:25:00] floor, but it'll show up as things like depression, repression, anxiety, cancer, like whatever. All that is repressed.

You're not listening to the assignment. And then the other ideas will just leave and they'll go to somebody else who's open for them. Yes, we talked about that this morning. I said, you better make that offer because somebody else is going to, and yes, it's so needed. And someone said that to me, Dana, you better make that Facebook post because your longing in your heart is simply the echo of all those women who are ready to transform their lives and want you to be their guide.

It's an echo. You're doing them a, a service. When I was in the position that I was in, in corporate America, Dana, I would've given anything to have found someone who offers the kind of transformations and guidance and coaching that you, you offer. You have to offer it. Someone out there needs it. And I was gonna say again, you're just.

The big magic book. I'm gonna have to listen to that again. 'cause I remember when she had the chapter on ideas and when she said that, that [00:26:00] when you get that idea, that is, that is yours for a limited amount of time because mm-hmm. If you are not gonna do something with it, if you're not gonna be the one to see it through, then it's going to go to someone else.

And hearing that just Mm, it makes you realize how precious these little ideas are that come to you. And they're, they're, they're temporary. If you're just gonna waste them, you know, then why will they move to something be expressed? Exactly. Someone, and, you know, we've all experienced this. You have an idea for something and you don't do anything.

Oh, I can't, I whatever. And sure enough, three months later, six months later, someone has done it. Yeah. So let's talk about that just for a hot second. Okay. Years ago, I thought to myself, I need to start a podcast. I wanna start a podcast, right? Oh, I wanna start a podcast. This is years ago. Mm-hmm. And then the idea came, and then it left, and I totally forgot about it.

And then my buddy started a podcast and I was like, oh, he started a podcast. Oh my. And then I, now that [00:27:00] I know, I'm like, oh, my idea we're, we're close, we're in the same community. It went over to him and he was like, sure. Thanks. And he took it up. He got, he didn't have to wait for, it was perfect. He just, and then he invited me to be a guest and I was like, oh, thanks universe, I appreciate you.

And here we are. My multiple years later, his has probably been going, I don't know, three or four years maybe, maybe even longer. And now I finally, it came back to me and I said, okay, I'm ready this time. And here we are, 20, I think mine's 22 episodes in. Um, and then here's the other thing she says. If you're like me, you got a lot of ideas.

They're coming in fast. Yes. Especially now that I'm awake, I'm like, well, this sounds good and this might be good and this might be good. That doesn't mean that I'm need, the direction is to follow all the ideas. I'll give you an example. So I'm in recovery. I've been sober for 15 and a half years. I'm very active in the recovery movement and I'm excited and grateful to be a part of it.

And so something that has been coming [00:28:00] to both me and my husband is you should open a holistic healing center. Kinda like you have a rehab, but I don't know if you, I don't know if you know about rehabs, but they're mostly, and don't come at me. Okay. But this is just my personal experience. They're mostly super short and you get a burnout therapist and a group program where everybody just like tries to hold each other accountable except for everybody's so sick what's even happening, and then you get put on some meds and then they say, here's your sober living facility.

Good luck. Mm. And so the idea is, well, with an open one, open one that's really holistic and really caters to healing and real. And the thing is, is like I checked my soul on that one, and it is a beautiful idea, but it's not for me. It's not the thing that makes me think, oh, yes, I would love to do that.

Okay. Yeah. And so that's the importance of being awake is many ideas are good, and you and I [00:29:00] are both brilliant, motivated women, and we can make lots of things happen. But the work I do, both with myself and with clients is to say, okay, well, let's sit with that. Let's see how your heart feels. Let's see how your solar plexus feels.

Does it open wide? Does it feel expansive? Can you see yourself living your fullest, most expressed version of you leading a holistic treatment center? And when my body responds to that, it's more of a closing, it's more of a constriction. And now that I'm listening to her, I know that idea is not for me.

And I wish whoever takes the idea and runs with it well, I'll come be a guest speaker. Absolutely. And you know, it sometimes it's a no for now, but I wanna touch on again, when you talk about the mind, rarely if ever has the answer. It, it, it's, again, it's only your lived experiences. It really is your bo when you can start trusting your body, that is where the true, you know, the, the true answers come from.

[00:30:00] Um, but the one thing I wanted to add was, we talked about just being ready. And again, I just want people to hear this that are listening. I, I was, um, I heard this the other day from Gary v. He said, I don't care when you're ready. I, I could give two F's. Um, when are you ever ready, were you ready when you were gonna get married?

Were you ready when you were gonna start Ha. Starting your family and having children? Were you ready when you decided to move, um, to a different town? When have you ever been? You're never, what about your first job when you got promoted, when you started podcasting? You're never ready, so you just have to go.

So I, I just wanted to, I just wanted to make that point because I think so many of us are waiting to be ready and it's the action that gives you the clarity that gets you going. And it also helps with fear. 'cause like you said, bring fear along. It's not something to fight. There's a message there. But the best thing to combat it is to take that action, is to fill it.

Take the [00:31:00] action. You can come along, you gotta be in the backseat, but I'm going. And the more you go, that fear gets smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller. Absolutely. Well, I can't, I think a, along with many other concepts that we've subscribed to, readiness is an illusion propagated by the patriarchy.

Yes, I really do. Mm. Because do you think men, like, let's be real. My husband has never been like, okay, well let me wait till I'm ready. That, no, he just does it. He goes, he's like, I'm either gonna do it, I'm not gonna do it. And we stick mired in this stew of, oh, I'm gonna feel ready. I'm gonna feel ready.

Like, I'm pretty sure that's something that we've been sold. So let's return it and just go, just go. Just go. And this is the other thing I, I'm so glad this got downloaded back to, say again from Elizabeth Gilbert. Here's what she says. When you say Yes, then everything's already worked out for you. All you have to do is take the next step.

Mm-hmm. The universe loves a yes. And when you say yes, [00:32:00] it all lights up the path. Lights up one step at a time. And all you have to do is keep going, keep going because you did the thing that you needed to do. And that's say yes to your assignment. And I also think that we get stuck. I, I do think this is specific to women, don't come at me make like, is that we wanna know the whole drive.

We wanna know that all the green lights are gonna be green. Yes. Before we leave the driveway. Yes. I'm even need know where the construction is and this and that, like. Uh, then you never leave. The driveway never leave. And so it's like, back your car up, put it in drive and go. And the universe has already planned the route.

You just have to stay awake and have a great time. Oh my goodness. In the middle of it, the universe will conspire. It will, it will help you. It will send you people opportunities. Someone asked me the other day about my podcast and they're like, Tracy, where are you getting these guests? I'm like, when I first thought about having a podcast, that was one of my biggest questions.

Where am I gonna find [00:33:00] people? I am pretty much booked at this point through the year. Like it doesn't stop it. People keep sending people to me. I keep running into people. I stumble across someone's page on LinkedIn. You know, it's just this, it's amazing how it all kind of comes together. But on the other side of not starting my podcast, I couldn't have answered that question.

You, you have to go. You have to start. It will appear. And you, that's such a beautiful testament to you said yes to the calling and this clearly is your calling. Please hear it from me. My favorite, my superpower is this. I can watch somebody for 30 seconds and tell you if they're doing what they're supposed to be doing.

And you are. Mm. Because we light up because we're plugged in, we're plugged into the generator. We're totally lit up. That doesn't mean that we, our verbs match our, our subjects and it doesn't mean we're wearing the right things. And it doesn't mean our slides don't have typos. It means we're totally lit up.

Yes. And alive. And because you said yes to the assignment, [00:34:00] you look totally alive and the universe has, has already sent you all the guests and will continue to do so. Hmm. Dana, same with me. I was like, I don't know, I'm gonna, you know, and a lot of times I, um, this is the other thing about letting a lot of things go, is I used to have a plan and a schedule for every single thing.

Yes. And a lot of times I will record and release my solo episodes in the same hour period, record and release. It's all coming out on Tuesday. And so I have felt so carried both in the solos and in the guest as well. And it's just lined up. I, I always have something to say, who never feels like it comes from here?

That's your magic. And I think people are starting to realize why I love you so much. But your podcast is phenomenal because for sure you're so authentic. And if you guys go and listen to just one episode, pick. Pick any of her episodes. I promise me, I promise you. You're gonna laugh with her. Cry with her when she laughs you laugh right there with she's, it's, it's so, you're such a great storyteller.[00:35:00] 

You are so open. You just shared, and I don't wanna brush over it, but you just shared about, you know, your struggle with addiction and recovery and I'm, I'm curious, where did that openness come from, that, that level of authenticity and how do you bring that into your coaching style with helping women, you know, um, with their own transformations and their own journeys.

Can you talk a little bit about that? That's a beautiful question. And so before I got sober, I felt very much like I was in a cage, in a box. And I, what I realized through this recovery process is that I created the cage and the box. Yes, we, and I was very concerned with looking like I kept, had it all together.

Ha packaging, like it was all together, right? I had the things, I had fancy degrees, I had a beautiful resume. I own owned a house. I had this prestigious job, but I also had really terrible alcoholism and like, couldn't tell the act the truth. I didn't even know what the truth is. I could barely, [00:36:00] um, I could barely keep the packaging on and the packaging didn't stay on, which is why I got sober.

Like, I wish that I could be the kind of person that's like, oh, there's a problem. I should get to that. Nope, it's gotta be on fire, cracking open on the floor

because I'm so, I realize how tethered I have been to old ideas, these old ideas that weren't even mine. Mm-hmm. They didn't even come from me. No blame, no shame. But I wasn't awake. And so this is one thing I really wanna honor the recovery movement for, is that once you get in it. It's basically, it's two things.

One is depending on where you are, um, I, I have a personal preference, but you pick whatever route is yours. Um, and there is a, there's a process. There's a 12 step process that you go through, and it does create transformation. Okay. So that's the model. But the thing that really set me free [00:37:00] was in the gatherings, in the meetings, in the communities.

It's a bunch of people telling their stories and peop like, I will say I, I'm not gonna make it about me. But when I came in at the beginning, there were women telling the truth about what it was like to struggle with alcoholism. The places they ended up, the things that they carried, the shame and the guilt and the remorse.

And they just said it like it was, ain't no thing like a Sunday brunch, and we're just having a conversation. Yes. And I was so baffled with the freedom of that, that they would just tell a whole room of people they probably didn't even know about these wild escapades and about how they should be dead.

But instead they get to live again because they did this work. And so I, you know, we stand on the shoulders of giants and that didn't come from me. It came from me watching men and women tell the truth about what it used to be like and what happened for them, and then what the miracle looks like right now.

And it's not, you know, nobody's perfect. And that's a cool thing is like, we're still all growing. And so I got it from [00:38:00] there and I carried it forward. So I started to tell the truth in my job and people were like, oh, she's real. And then people would come to me and say, you know that thing you said, me too.

And then other people start to open up. So I'll say this last thing is that, and this is really what spurred me out of education into, uh, my businesses called Girls Who Recover. Because ultimately what I love to do is help women, uh. Take their setback. The thing that they're like, well, I'll never overcome that, or I'll never heal from that, or whatever it is.

And then we transform it into what a gorgeous comeback. But we've gotta tell the truth about what's, what's happened, what's happening. And so I'm in this room, I'm newly sober and there's, there's this woman who tells this wild story about who she used to be and what she used to do, and then what she did and what she's like now.

And I was set free. I was set free because that woman had the audacity to tell the truth about her own experience. And that doesn't have to just live in the rooms of recovery. [00:39:00] That can be, we can be lighthouses just by telling the truth about our experience. And so I did it outside of the recovery communities and people were like, well, that's a lot of information.

Thank you. But then. They would reach out and say, can you help me? Can you help my sister? Can you help my aunt? That thing that you said that you, I thought I would never be able to tell anybody about that. And then many people, in fact, I think every single guest, and I don't just interview people in recovery, recovery is just this beautiful umbrella of set back to come back, set back to come back, set back to come back.

They'll say, I don't think I've ever said that out loud to anyone on the podcast. And the reason they're able to do that is because I learn how to crack it open and tell the truth about my experience. Even the deep, dark, ugly, and what other women say is me too. Yes, me too. And that is so [00:40:00] liberating. You give people the space to just exhale and see themselves in your stories and.

Seeing the authenticity of someone telling the truth, raw truth, something that most people might, you know, pause. I can't even tell you what that does for someone. And it's true. I've been on your podcast and I was like, why am I saying all of this stuff that I've never told anyone? So I mean, you definitely, it's because there, there's so much trust being in your energy because of who you are and the way you share.

And you, you do that same thing. Well, you will, you will say something and laugh about it. And I'm like, wow, that was a lot that she just shared. But it, it makes, it almost makes it, it, it gets into that Brene Brown shame thing. When you experience something in life and you tuck it down and you don't speak about it, it [00:41:00] grows, it, it doesn't just go away.

It's stays with you. It weighs you down. But when you. Voice it and put words to it. It, it starts to just lighten. I mean, it, it doesn't have the same grip on you. When you can say it out loud, the shame kind of goes away. First of all, there's no reason to even have shame. These are just life experiences and everyone has something in their past.

But Dana, I I just wanna say thank you for, for your authe authenticity. Honestly, it's one of the things that draws me to you is you are so real on every level. Um, so it's a beautiful thing and I, I love what you're doing and I love how you are helping people, and I think we can all kind of learn from it a little bit.

Yeah, shame. Shame cannot survive in the light that may be bne, BNE Brown. It can't. And so how do we get in the light? Well, we talk about it. We talk about, about, we tell somebody. And then when you're really practice, you start laughing [00:42:00] about it. And that's what I love about recovery too. That's probably where I get all these, like, what is she laughing about?

She just said like, something that was so crazy. Uh, and that's the freedom, that's, that's the sound of being free is laughter. Laughter and silence. The spiritual sounds of freedom and the, and then also, hold on. It came and then it left. Let's see if it'll come back. Ah, yes. Our body can metabolize many emotions.

It can metabolize happiness and sadness, fear, like all the things we can metabolize it if we really feel into it. They all move in about 90 seconds, but our bodies cannot metabolize shame. And so it sticks around like a poison because we can't process shame by keeping it inside. And so this is why this is like not, I'm sure this is not researched, but I've been around and I know thousands of people in recovery [00:43:00] we're pretty healthy.

And the reason because we are is because part of the recovery process is you get really thorough and really honest about all that stuff you were holding onto all the deep, dark, dirty. You get really honest with at least one person and through that there's transformative freedom and the shame is released.

And four, I, you know, not that I'm wishing addiction on anybody, although I do believe everybody qualifies for some sort of support program when we don't meta, when we don't set ourselves free from the shame by sharing it with another person and that other person, by the way, especially if you're among souls that are similar to you or that at least love you, they're gonna say Me too.

Me too. Mm-hmm. I had that thought, that thing. And let me tell you the story, or my sister did, or my, this did, in fact, I just had a client, she was so ashamed because she, uh, she was scammed and she was like, I'm never gonna tell anybody. I said, you better tell everybody. You better make a post [00:44:00] about it and start talking about it, number one, so you can be free.

Number two, so you can be supported. And number three, so you can let that other person who feels so ashamed out of the cage. And that's exactly what happened. She was brave enough to tell the truth about her experience and she was flocked with people that said, either that happened to me and I'm so embarrassed.

I'm so glad you shared. Or, how can I love and support you? So everybody got a chance to feel better and, and more on purpose in their own life because she had the bravery to tell the truth about her experience that she was going to stomach as shame, which will make you sick. Yes. Yes. It will make you sick because you can't metabolize it.

So physical manifestations will happen. And the other thing is she probably saved someone else from being spammed or scammed, you know, once the story out there. She absolutely did. Yes. Yes, she absolutely did. And can I just sing a little bit? I have to go, I have to go back to my Elsa, right? You know the famous Elsa song?

She sings it. She's got it. Let it Go. [00:45:00] Let it Go. Right? Can't hold it back any, she's talking about shame. We gotta let it go. And that not, doesn't mean just I'm gonna let it go. It's done. That's not how it works. Shame cannot survive in the light, which means you need a partner to help you in to into the light, which means you gotta tell somebody.

Tell somebody, somebody you trust, a priest, a therapist, it doesn't matter. But that person is gonna help you make so much light that the shame dissolves. Mm wow. And as you can imagine, and it just this, this is women anywhere, right? Set in the middle of a setback that you're awake to or in the middle of a career that's not assigned to you, there is suffocated shame.

Yes. What would they say if I left? What would they say if I trans, if I quit my six figure career and went to be a coach, like what would they say? And I've coached [00:46:00] women who are attorneys and they've been practicing law and they're like, I hate law. And I was like, let's get to what you would love. Let's get to what you would love.

And there's light there and freedom. And that suffocating shame dissolves. You knew we were gonna go here. Tracy, this is, oh my gosh. This is a big con tech conversation we're having. I love it though. I'm just letting it flow. I'm just letting it flow because I mean, I think, I think though people that are listening are hearing things that, you know, they need to hear, and it it, it makes me think of Mel Robbins book.

Let them, you know, there's been so much discussion about it, but we hold back from doing things that we love or wanna try or we're curious about. Because what would happen if someone said, or what are they going to think once you can embrace that whole idea of well then let them, it, it just, it gives you just permission to play again.

To just try to go who? You know, we, we, we live our lives so [00:47:00] small and we think that, and the, the saddest part is most people are not thinking of us. They're thinking of themselves. I mean, people are so self-involved, you know, and maybe if they are, it's, it's a second and they're moving on. So why, why give any space in your precious life to the what if?

And that one small person who might say something who's probably not even gonna say anything. Yeah. And if they do, just know that's a total projection of the way they feel about themselves. Totally. And so, I wanna say this, I think it's important. I doubt he'll listen to this episode anyway. But my husband had a lot of fear about this.

A lot, as you can imagine, like I'm the breadwinner and I also have a pretty box career, a shadow career. I call it a shadow career. Do you understand what that is? It's where you're doing something that you're really good at, but it's not your zone of genius. Mm. You're really good at it though, and you've probably been doing it a long time, but it's not where you're, it's not your zone of genius.

It's your zone of excellence that comes [00:48:00] from. Gay Hendrix and beautiful author. And so he was very upset for two reasons. One is the financial component, and two is, uh, people are already talking about you. They think that you shouldn't coach on recovery. They think that you shouldn't coach women. They think that you shouldn't market like this.

And he would even say like, people are judging you. And I was like, listen, two things I wish I could have been like, well let them, I did ultimately judge away, please, because here's what Mel says, she's on point. They're gonna judge you anyway, and then they're gonna go back to thinking about themselves, and then they're gonna judge you whether you do it.

They're gonna judge you whether you don't do it. And here's where my work comes in. We ask this question over and over and over and it has to come before let them. It's what would you love? What would you love? Would you love to be a coach to help women transform their lives? Someone asked me that, and my whole body, it's doing it now.

It was like felt filled with light, like [00:49:00] yes, it was almost orgasmic, like, yes, that's exactly what I want do. My heart opens. I've got goosebumps, and that's the universe reminding me that's exactly what you're supposed to be doing. You agreed to this before you got here. We know you don't remember, but look at your face and you're totally lit up and now you remember what your soul came here to do.

And so it doesn't matter what he says, because I got clear on the answer to the question, what would I love? So even the person who's loves me the most and wants to protect me, when he says, they're all gonna laugh at you, right? Adam Sandler, please tell me you've seen that baby. They're all gonna laugh at you.

I knew what I was supposed to be doing, so I said, let them, let them laugh at me. Let them judge me because I can't go back to the carpet. And listen, don't get me wrong, I've been outta that job for a full year and I've thought about going back 'cause I did good work for them. I'm sure they would take me back and I've thought about it a lot.

Well, I'm sure they'd take me back and maybe I could go [00:50:00] back. And it's much easier to just have someone pay you. Mm-hmm. Than it is to go out and be visible and say brave things and mess up in public. And like all this stuff, it takes a huge, brave soul. You know that you're nodding 'cause you're doing it too.

We're doing it together. Totally, totally. We're doing it together so it doesn't matter. Even when the closest per person closest to you says, well what are they gonna think? And we say together resoundingly Let them. Let them. And then second part of that book, this is actually what I think the book should be called, but Let Them is much more marketable.

Let me, let me go on the workshop. Let me start the podcast. Let me coach the clients. Let me. Because it's not about them. It's between me and God. And God told me on the floor what to do. And so now my job is to go work for God, work for source. I don't even work for myself. It says that I'm the CEO, you know?

But the real CEO of my business is the [00:51:00] creator of the universe. It's the only reason why I'm doing it anyway. And sometimes I'll wake up at four in the morning filled with fear and say, are you sure this is what you want me to do? Because it feels terrifying. And then my heart opens and I search that part in my solar plexus, the middle of my stomach, and I hear a yes.

And it's not a scream. It's not a shout. It's not a song. It's a simple yes. Keep going. Yes, keep going. Notice it comes from heart, solar plexus, sometimes the root chakra. It does not come from here and I'm pointing to my brain. I'm gonna give my brain a massage. She's helpful, but she's boring. She wants to repeat the past.

Yes. Into the present and create the future that looks the same to keep me safe. I'm not mad at her. She's just doing her job. That's right. Okay, lemme sit down for a minute. I went off a little bit, but I hope I said something that resonates that it doesn't matter who says what If you are on assignment, which means you got to get clear on that answer.

What would I love? Not, what's the plan? Not what [00:52:00] do I want, not what do I think I should do? Not what's did my web website look like? No ma'am. We get quiet together. I mean, if you want help, I'll hold space for you in a breakthrough call. That's what we do. What would you love? What would you love? It's like your 2-year-old who won't stop asking the same question.

Where are the Cheerios? Where are the cheers? What would you love? What would you love? What would you love? And then we take the same amount of time, maybe even a little bit less than we take to do the laundry and plan the vacation and get the kids to school. And we spend it answering the question, what would I love?

And you can ask that in every area. My specialty is in your purpose in life, which typically shows up as your career or your creative expression. And then my favorite thing to talk about is money, honey, because money is a symbol for freedom and power and love, and women deserve. All of that. Money's just a symbol of that.

And so [00:53:00] more hand, more money in the hands of brilliant women on purpose on assignment. Yes. Please talk dirty to me. Come on.

So, so Dana, I guess my follow up question to that is asking someone, you know, what do you love? I know when I was going through my period, um, in corporate America and I was asking myself that, lemme pause it. It's not, it's not, what do you love? Okay. It's, what would you love? What would you love? And let me, um, let's see if it's available.

It is. Hold on. Okay. Okay. So I'm gonna pull out, you're gonna need this because your mind will, um, your mind will start to grow and step in. So you're definitely gonna need this. I'm just gonna pass it to you through the, uh, screen. You see what it is, right? Yes. It's an Elsa one. Listen, I have three girls. We have Elsa, everything.

But this Elsa one represents two things, okay? It represents the power that you have to co-create your reality. And it also is to move things out of the way, like challenges, obstacles, [00:54:00] your own fears, your own mind. And you know, Elsa taps things and they turn to ice, or they turn to snow, but they transform just with a simple wave and a simple touch.

And so this is what we're gonna need to answer this question. So we take our wand, which is the focus of our attention, the seed of our awareness, and then we put it on our heart. And we ask our heart. Sometimes I invite my, my women to close their eyes, hand or wand on heart. Mm-hmm. What would I love? What would I love?

Say that out loud with me. What would I love? What would I love? What would I love? Yes. And we're asking our heart. And our heart will answer. Notice the difference between these two questions. Say this next one with me. What do I want? What do I want? Now, say this, what would I love? What would I love? And which one makes your heart expand?

What would I love? Yes. Because want comes from mind, which tells you there's not enough and you don't have what you need and you don't have what it takes. Scarcity mindset. Yes. And what would I love comes from the center of [00:55:00] your heart, which is the generator, the portal, the vessel of the soul, your connection to your creator, the universe.

All that is speaks through the heart. And so we go there and we ask the question over and over until something comes maybe you know Julia Cameron, the morning pages? Yes. And if you don't know, you ask. And then you start writing your morning pages. That's three pages of just whatever comes up. Even if you have to write, what would I love?

What would I love? For three pages. For three pages. For three pages. Then it's gonna start to pour out. But we have to bypass the mind because your mind will try to tell you what it thinks is possible. What is what this, A woman at my workshop this weekend said, you know, I've never set a goal I didn't already know I could achieve.

And exact knew exactly how to do it. Mm-hmm. And I was like, you are living small, my friend. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You don't even know what you're capable of. We've gotta bypass the mind, get into the soul and ask that powerhouse question, what would I love? And when it starts to come up, then we let it [00:56:00] Yes. And then we let ourselves take one step and one yes.

And one movement, small five minute moves, and then we can let them. Yes. And Dana, the other thing I was gonna say is. The woman who said, I've never written down a goal that I couldn't achieve. I, I understand that because it's playing it very safe. But what you really want in life, where life gets very expansive, it's not safe.

It's on the other side of your comfort zone. I was thinking about when you said you wake up at four in the morning and you're terrified. When you feel a little terrified, you're probably on the right track. It's, you, our our dreams are big and so many of us, I think, have pushed it down and we've, especially as you become an adult, I mean, you, you play things safe and, um, let's be smart about this.

And you, you start to really curb that dreaming that you used to do when you were a little girl. But man, all of our dreams, I think, are expansive. They're big, and they should feel a little scary. When you feel that fear, you're, you're, you're probably on the right track. It's your [00:57:00] growing edge. It's great.

Fear is great news. Yes, it means you're onto something. It means you're ready to expand. Yeah. And then, right, so let's say it's a boundary, it's a safety boundary. It only comes up when you're growing and then your only move is to take one step over the boundary. Yes. You don't have to fight it, you don't have to jump over it.

There's no pull vault. It's one step, and then the boundary dissolves and one more step and the boundary dissolves and one more step and the boundary dissolves. And then you've expanded one little step at a time. My, um, mentor Mary Morrissey says, if you wanna go to Mount Olympus, the only way to get there is one baby step at a time.

Even if you take baby steps in the direction of Mount Olympus, you will get to the top. You'll get there. Mm. Well, Dana, this has been phenomenal, which I knew, I knew it would be, but, um, I think it's time for our, our beautiful fix speed round. [00:58:00] And then we will tell everyone how they can get in touch with you.

Are you ready? I am ready and I wanna say this to you the first time I got the questions, 'cause we, we scheduled this previously. Interesting. Right? The universe knows what the right time is. Yes. And the first time you sent me the questions I said, I don't know. I don't know any of these answers, but this time I didn't even have to think about it.

All the answers poured out. So I don't even remember what the questions are, but I remember when I looked at them yesterday or the day before, my soul was like, we're ready. It's time. We're always ready. We're always right on time. What makes you come alive? Two things. Number one, exactly what we're doing right now.

Yes. Brilliant women talking to brilliant women, sharing the truth about our experience and the possibility for expansive transformation. I feel so fully alive. I can't, my whole body is resonating. And then the other thing, which you also got to do with me this morning is I love running. I love it [00:59:00] when I'm in the, in the middle of a run after 12 minutes, right?

For my people hate runners. Just running like, please just try it for 12 minutes because something kicks in. Right? It's brain chemicals. It's a soul shift. I will start a run and I will hate everyone and everything and think it's gonna be the worst day ever. And then in 12 minutes, something happens in the middle of my soul and I look up and I'm like, oh my God, today's the best day of my whole life.

And it happens every time, every time. It's like a drug. 12 minutes. 12 to 15 minutes. Yes. The, the key there is getting to 12 minutes. Yes. I'm a walker, not a runner, but I may, I, I, now I'm curious to try that. 'cause I wanna see what that feels like after 12 minutes. I don't know if I can do it, but I'll try.

Well, you, it starts one minute at a time. Just start there. One minute, right? One minute at a time. One block at a time. One two blocks, then three blocks, and then, yeah. Don't worry about 12 minutes, worry about two blocks. Okay. Okay. What's a song that instantly shifts your mood [01:00:00] or makes you feel something?

She's laughing. It's called You Sexy thing, my hot chocolate. And it goes, I believe in miracles. Where you from? You Sexy thing. And when I had my miracle membership, I always opened the call with everybody listening to that song because it's hilarious. It's really about this guy who's hitting on this girl, right?

But he's talking about miracles and he is integrating like how sexy we are. And then it gets a little inappropriate, which is also why I love it. But I cannot put on that song and not feel like a million bucks and that it's gonna be the best day of my life, or it is the best day of my life. So the other, I also open client calls with music and often we start with that because the business of transformation is also the business of miracles.

And you can't create a miracle unless you're sexy and you know it. Okay. Music is transformative. It is one of my favorite things. And I normally open my calls with, um, [01:01:00] music, but you know, I'm using New Tech today, so I was like, I don't know how to do it. Um, is there a book that cracked you open or stayed with you long after the last page?

There were so many, but the book that keeps coming up for this one is Ask, and it is given by Esther Hicks. Yes. Life Changing Ask and it is given by Esther Hicks, life Changing. And if you wanna do yourself and your soul a favor, you're gonna get yourself a copy of Ask. And it is given by Esther Hicks. And we can have a whole podcast episode on Esther Hicks and Abraham Hicks and who they are.

But essentially it's the best advice and it's the most aw awake, um. It's the most awake counsel that you can get in order to create a life that you absolutely love. Okay? So I have to tell you a quick story. This is why this is the longest speed round ever. Love it. But that book, single handedly start at my transformation to where I am today.

But it's [01:02:00] so interesting. I love to read. I read probably five books at a time. I just, I'm always nose in some book. And that book is so Tracy, but my cousin brought that book to me while I was working at my last job. I was just in, I wasn't, she knew that I was struggling. And she walked over and she met me in the lobby and she handed that book to me.

She had signed it to me and I was like, thank you so much. And I read the title and I read. I thought, oh my gosh, I, this is me. I would love to read this. I could not read that book. I've never had this happen ever before. I couldn't read it. I don't know why I didn't have any problems with it. I would start to read it and I would put it down.

I would start to read again. I would put it down and then I would misplace it, and then I would take it with me to the beach. Yes. And then I would never open it. And then that went on for five years. And then finally I was cleaning and I came across, I thought, oh my God, this is that book. And I sat down, and this time I read it cover to cover probably within a few days.

And it's just so interesting me to, 'cause I've never had that experience of the book before. I mean, sometimes you just don't like a book. You're like, okay, this is not for me. But that's not what was happening. It [01:03:00] was like I wasn't, even though I needed it so badly, it was like I wasn't ready for it the first time.

But when I got it, and then I just rabbit holed into Esther Hicks and she taught me the phrase, everything is always working out for you. Which she would say all the time. And I would be really irritated by it as I was driving to work because I thought, no, it's not. No it's not. And then I start thinking, what if I believe that?

What if I just told myself, I'm gonna believe that And. My world started to change. But anyway, I digress. So yes, I, that's probably my number one book. What happened when you decided to change your belief? Oh my gosh. I, everything changed literally. It changed instantly when I started saying, Tracy, what if we just, and I'm gonna probably do a podcast on this, but what if we just chose to believe that everything's always working out for us?

Even, even if, let, let's just see what happens. Suddenly I would drive to the grocery store and the first parking space would be open and, and the difference is I would. [01:04:00] Recognize it. I would acknowledge it. I noticed it. And then I would walk through the grocery store and someone would open up a brand new line for me and I'm like, oh my gosh.

Then I would go home. You know? It was just these sequence of events and it just changed. It changed so much that on my website I, it was the first thing I ever sold. I created a vinyl cling that just says, everything is always working out for you, believe. And I got that so I could put it on my window. I could put it in my car because I want it.

And I started saying it to all my, my children, my mom, everyone. It's powerful. And Esther will tell you if that feels like too much, you can say sometimes I'm aware that everything is always working out for me, but it's, it's always yes. And do you know why you couldn't read the book? Have you, do you understand that?

I still don't know. I wanna say it's 'cause I wasn't ready, but I needed it so badly at that time. I don't know why. I wasn't, I don't why. That's right. You weren't ready. You weren't awake and you weren't ready. [01:05:00] And the book, you, you can only read the book. It's almost like, do you, have you seen Wicked? Yes.

You know how only Alphabet can read the book? Yes. Only, only the person who's ready for it, who's got the gift. It's the same with this particular book. And that's why it will repel you and you'll lose it and you'll forget about it. And it's like, that's not conscious. That's your whole being. Be like, we're just not available for this.

So come back later. And then when you were awake to it and you were ready, then it fell in your lap. And it's sang to you so beautifully that you finished the book in short time. Yes. And then you chose to believe, and here's for my science people, my people who love the Brain. I love the brain too. Love it so much.

Another book recommendation. Can I make another one? Yes. Into The Magic Shop? Into The Magic Shop. This is the, it's called Into the Magic Shop and it's written for. Well everyone and also specifically for the science based, it's really for everyone. So even if you don't like science, read the book. [01:06:00] It's great.

Um, into The Magic Shop is written by a neuroscientist, neurosurgeon. Thank you. Uh, thanks mind. Thanks body neurosurgeon. Lemme see if I can pull up his name. James Doty. That was from my mind, so maybe it might be wrong. James Doty and he speaks into his experience learning manifest manifestation as a really poor, um, underserved.

Kid from a, an underserved family. I'll just say that. And then how some woman took the time to love on him and teach him the secrets of the universe, which he used to create all the things that I think manifestation gets a bad rep for, right? Like he got the mansion and he got the, he became a surgeon and he got a bunch of money, and then he was all at the top and he was totally alone and his life was on fire.

But the whole second part of the book is how to actually use the manifestation and the neuroscience to create a life that's for the highest good for all, with your heart wide open. And [01:07:00] so where are we going with this? The, the brain. Okay. So you decided, and here's the powerful, you did this, I just wanna say this, I, I isolate it.

You decided to change your belief. The only person that can change your belief is you. Mm-hmm. And you made the decision to change your belief, maybe even for a short time. And then your brain started to work for you using the reticular activa activation system, your ra. Yes. RA is sexier than reticular activation system, which means you started to be awake to what was always there for you.

You woke up and saw the parking spot and the line in the grocery, and the thing that worked out for you, and an affirmation that I like to say both hands on heart, is it's all working out for me. It's all working out for me. It's all working out for me. And then some of my clients will say, it's all always working out for me.

Or whatever energy that you put behind it. Yes. Right. Don't take my energy. Create your energy. And it's a [01:08:00] reminder of what your soul already knows is that it's already handled and it's in your favor. That's gonna be my vinyl thing. It's already handled and it's in your favor. Let's go. That's their. So, yeah.

Powerful belief is so powerful. I love that story. I love that when you were awake to it, the book fell back in your lap, you devoured it and then it all woke up. You woke up to what was available. Okay. And love it. And, and the, and also when I started listening to her, like I would just listen to her on my drive, on my commute to work.

And I was obsessed with her. And I would try to play her for my husband. And it was like Charlie Brown. He, he was, he was open to it, but it was like he couldn't hear her. He was like, Tracy, I'd rather for you to just kind of summarize. Can you hear this? My, they're cutting, cutting the lawn. Okay, good. Um, he was like, I would rather for you to just kind of tell me what she's saying.

'cause he couldn't, couldn't hear her. So it, there's something to that He's having same experience. Yes. Mm-hmm. Okay, because you, you know this, right? The six Kathy talked, Kathy Heller talks about it, the six or seven degrees of residence. [01:09:00] Yes. Your soul only resonates with people who were six degrees in this direction and six or seven degrees in this direction.

And everybody else cannot hear you. Yes. It's, it's very much Charlie Brown. That Charlie Brown series is brilliant Uhhuh not resonating. Yes. And interestingly enough, I don't know if you were on the pen call with the hypnotist this morning, the, the penny call. Yes. But my husband was also on the call with me and he had to get up and leave.

'cause he was like, I don't understand what's happening. I cannot do any of this. Yeah. Yes. The importance of finding the people who resonate within your six or seven degrees critical. And you know what Dana? I, I don't even know if you need to find them. I think once your energy is there, once you're at that frequency, they come to you, they find you, and the, and the other people just kind of fall.

You know, fall to the side. Yeah. Thank you. Um, what's your dreamies destination [01:10:00] like? Where you, you've been and you just absolutely love it, it just moves you or, and, and what's your everyday spot, your everyday life, um, spot that grounds or recharges you? There is a small beach in the south of France near Exxon, pa and I had the privilege of visiting that, um, it's called Cais and there are caves and there's this crystal blue water.

And I remember, you know, I wasn't awake for a long time, awake, meaning like in the present moment, really enjoying, but it was the first time in my. Awareness as a young woman where I was completely aware and awake the whole time, I could feel the sand on my toes. I was enjoying the French company beside me.

The appreciating the flow of the water and the wind and the birds. And so that's my dreamiest [01:11:00] space. Mm-hmm. And honestly, it is beautiful, but it's my dream of space because that was a moment where I remembered to be awake and fully alive. And that's what streamy for me, so probably could create it anywhere.

In fact, answer B to your question is in my hammock in the backyard. Oh, so dreamy. Yes, because I can be with the backyard, the nature, and we've got bunnies there running around and we've got birds and we've got, you know, it's New Orleans, so it's really hot. Yes, and just to be held in the hammock, which allows me to feel totally present and fully alive.

I look at the clouds and be with my breath and often hide from my children and take a quick nap.

Yes, yes. It's a win win, win win. Exactly. What's your favorite little indulgence or guilty pleasure? Something that just brings you joy? Yeah. [01:12:00] I love massage. Tracy. I've been a licensed massage therapist for, this is sort of a very small side business. A little turn I made as I was trying to transition careers way back.

So it's been about 15 years I've had my license, but I love massage so much. Yes. And so I. I know that's not really an indulgence because I is ad gift. I try to give myself, I try to do twice a month as like a part of my self-care. Mm. Um, and I also love whipped cream in my coffee. Yes. So massage twice a month and whipped cream in my coffee once or twice a week because there's joy there.

Yes. I love it. Well, Dana, thank you so much for sharing your journey and your insights with us today. But for those who wanna connect with you and learn more about your work, where, where can they find you? Yes. So my favorite place to hang out is on my own podcast Girls Who Recover. So go, let's hang [01:13:00] out.

Let's have a blast. Tracy was featured as a VIP guest not too long ago, so look up her episode. I think it's. I don't wanna get the number wrong, but like 18 or something. And so that's my favorite place to hang out. And then also you can find me on Instagram where I kind of like to hang out. I kind of like Instagram.

I really love my podcast. But I would love to hear from you and you can DM me on Instagram if you wanna be in touch and ask questions about any of the things that we talked about. I literally can talk about this all day long. I love it. And your Instagram handle is also girls who recover, correct? Yes. At Girls dot Who dot recover.

I'm sure you'll drop it in the show notes. I will put it in the show notes. And you also, you can also Google me. We live in 2025. My name's Dana Hunter Ella. Just stick me on a search engine and you'll find me, and hopefully you'll see all the good stuff, but also you might find some other stuff from before I got sober.

That might be an adventure to have. Okay. I'm Googling tonight. I am Googling Yes. Do it, do it, do it. It's been, [01:14:00] um, almost 16 years, so before the age of social media, thankfully. Uh, but let's be friends no matter what. Right. I don't want you to just find the, you know, where I am now. Like it, I haven't always been this totally lit up doing exactly what I was doing.

There's a reason why Alcoholics drink. You know, we're off assignment. So I'm grateful to not only have recovered, um, and also transformed and to be on assignment, but I'm deeply grateful to have had this hour with you, Tracy, because the universe knows what she's doing and knew exactly what to do when she synced us together.

I thank you. I couldn't agree more. I'm the luckiest woman ever. Thank you so much for sharing your story, being so honest, bringing your beautiful energy. This conversation has certainly been a beautiful fix.

[01:15:00]