How High-Achieving Women Can Create a Fulfilling Career Without Burning Out with Carrie Fabris

What if the problem isn’t your job… but how you’re approaching it?

In this episode of A Beautiful Fix, Tracy sits down with leadership coach, speaker, and author Carrie Fabris to talk about how high-achieving women can build a fulfilling career without burning out trying to do it all.

After two decades in leadership roles at companies like Google, Travelocity, and Sabre, Carrie reached a turning point. One afternoon while pushing her daughter on a swing, she asked herself a powerful question: “If I could do absolutely anything, what would it be?”

That moment sparked a reinvention that led her to launch CareerFrame, where she now helps leaders and organizations redefine success through energy, alignment, and sustainable leadership.

In this conversation, Tracy and Carrie explore why so many women feel pressure to “do it all,” and why managing your energy may matter far more than managing your time.

Carrie shares practical tools and mindset shifts including:

• Why success without energy alignment leads to burnout

• The difference between managing time vs. managing energy

• Her Return on Energy (ROE) concept

• The VIBE Checklist, a framework for evaluating where your energy goes

• Why putting yourself first isn’t selfish, it’s necessary

• How emotional intelligence shapes leadership and decision-making

Carrie also shares insights from her book ALL IN: A Working Mom’s Unapologetic Quest for a Juicy Life, where she explores how women can pursue ambitious careers while creating lives filled with energy, purpose, and joy.

Connect with Carrie Fabris

Website, Instagram, LinkedIn 

Free Resource

Download Carrie’s VIBE Checklist.

Get Carrie’s Book

ALL IN: A Working Mom’s Unapologetic Quest for a Juicy Life

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Transcript

How to Create a Fulfilling Career Without Burning Out with Carrie Fabris

A Beautiful Fix

I am so excited for today's conversation because we're diving into something I think every woman wrestles with at some point. How do I create a life that fill full without burning out, trying to do it all? And today I'm joined by Carrie Fabris, a corporate veteran turned leadership coach, speaker, and the author of All in a Working Mom's.

Unapologetic quest for a juicy life. I love that. After two decades in leadership roles at companies like Google, Travelocity, and Sabre, Carrie hit a moment of clarity asking herself, if I could do absolutely anything, what would it be? That question sparked a complete reinvention and led her to launch career frame.

A coaching and consulting firm that now supports teams and executives at companies like AppFolio, Boingo Wireless, and Axios. She's known for blending real world frameworks with the unfiltered truth of what it's like to navigate both boardrooms and bedtime routines. She helps high achieving women and leaders create sustainable success, success that's defined by energy alignment.

And joy, not just time and titles. And just to add one more layer, I also peeked into Carrie's human design. She's a four six manifesting generator with sacral authority, which means she's wired to move fast when something feels right in her gut, and to inspire her community by experimenting, learning, and then sharing what works.

Carrie, welcome to a beautiful fix. Thank you so much. It what? What an introduction. Thank you. Your story really inspires me and I'm excited for today's conversation 'cause it's a little bit of a different angle than what I typically look at. Typically, I have women come on that have been in corporate America and they jumped.

Or they've built a life kind of outside of it. Um, but what I love, and correct me if I'm wrong, is it feels like you are working with women who are in corporate America and saying, you can thrive there. You don't have mm-hmm. To make that leap. You don't have to find joy elsewhere. We can work with where you are and help you thrive.

Is that. Correct. That's absolutely correct. Yes. I think that a lot of us women do get stuck in that I, I can't do it all. And I think we just have to redefine or reframe what do it all means for ourselves. Uh, a lot of times we get into comparison with other people. We're on social media and we're like, their life is so perfect, I promise you their life is not perfect.

I agree. And, and yeah. And it, it really is. About just going all in on you, and only you can define what that means for you. That's right. So yeah, it, it is, uh, it's been a, an awesome wild ride that no one is more surprised that I'm on than me, um, of working with women and, and men as well, just in a corporate environment, which I, I love being in, but I love being that external support.

That can really say the things that probably need to be said, ask the questions that really need to be asked to help someone really balance their leadership and life. Mm-hmm. I think that we really can have that balance. Carrie, what you do is so necessary, and I wish I had to carry back when I was in corporate America because I made that leapt back in, I think when they were calling it the great resignation.

Yes. Back in 2020. Yes. I, I started the trend. I, I, I leapt before everyone else, but I. I always think about if I had managed it a little bit differently, if I had had someone like you or if I just maybe thought of that definition of success or, um, did things outside of work, just there's so many things I could have done differently.

Mm-hmm. I didn't need to make that leap. And what I'm always trying to tell people when they listen to my story is. What I'm not trying to do is encourage anyone that you have to follow the way that I found joy. That's right. You know? Mm-hmm. Um, so I, I love this conversation, but before we get into, um, a little bit more detail, can you kind of just take us back a little bit?

What, what led you here? Yeah. Um, what led me here was I had a moment of space. Space and time, and that's what I would also recommend. Like when someone is like, what? What am I doing? Where am I? Where do I wanna go? You really do need to find a little bit of space, quiet pause, and again, whatever that looks like for you.

For me, I had been the sole breadwinner at some times. The lead breadwinner sometimes. Um, my husband launched a startup and so he was doing the startup thing. I was like, I've got this. We're we're good. Um, and then when he got Series A I was like, dude, I am tired and it's kind of my turn to pause and, you know, and you take the financial baton.

And it was during that pause I lasted being a full-time mom for six months. I am. Absolutely obsessed with my amazing, incredible children at the time they were one and three. Yeah, they're now 13 and almost 15. Um, but I, I was like. I really, I need something for me. I'm gonna, that's the unapologetic part. I need something for me.

And it was literally in the backyard pushing my daughter on a swing where I asked that question of if I could do anything, what would it be? And it was so clear to me. I loved being in leadership. My leadership career started at Google back in 2006 years ago, which is crazy. And, um, and I'm, I missed it. I, I had built either, I had inherited.

And nurtured badass teams, high performing teams. Um, then went on to the next company, same thing, but we always had higher, high performing really great teams. And we were remote before remote was remote. Mm-hmm. And so we, we had this thing all figured out. And so when I stepped away from that, I really missed it.

But I don't think that I would have allowed myself to admit that. To myself when I've allowed myself to admit that to myself, um, I'm like, is, was that even grammatically correct? Um, unless I would've had that moment to slow down for a second. Now, some women might be listening to this going, Carrie, you're cute.

I don't have any time to slow down. Slow down. Could be clo. Find a room, close the door. Um, if you are, if you have a partner, tell the partner, please. And you have kids. Watch the kids, I need 15 minutes, or I need 30 minutes, please. If you're single and you have kids, whenever the kids are not in the house, take your time.

If there's a moment where you, like, I literal, literally don't have any time without my kids. Find someone who can watch them and somewhere where you can go to get that. Pause because I think we knew we need the, the noise to quiet down for a second. And on that day, when I asked my question, that question, it was a day in March.

It was beautiful outside. Sun was shining, and my daughter's just in the swing, one years old, just smiling and laughing. And that was my environment. When that, when that revelation happened. Hmm, Carrie. I love that because I agree. I think that space is so important, and I love that you said we can't all take the same kind of space.

Mm-hmm. We have different situations, environments, but what you can do is you can choose in any moment, what could I do right now? Could it be an hour? Could it be a minute? Could it be breath work? You know, something to quiet your mind so that you can hear yourself, speak yourself, speak, go for a walk. Yeah, or go for a walk.

And I always, I always recommend go for a walk without AirPods, like just you and nature. So you can look at the trees, hear the sounds, you know, even just stare at the sidewalk, look up, look at the clouds. Like I do that often. I try to go on two walks a day. One is with my dog, and then the other is just me to just think and feel.

And that's the thing too, for all the beautiful thinkers out there, it's, you know, the longest journey you'll ever take is from your head to your heart. But we've gotta, we do have to get in that heart and again, allow ourselves, give ourselves permission to do that so we can actually, what does this feel like?

I don't care how it sounds. I don't care what I'm thinking. Like what do I feel that I, that I, I really want? And then, and then once you understand the what, the why, the how will show up. Yes. I've also heard that the, how's not your business? Just figure out, you know, just go, the universe will help you with the how.

Totally. But there's so many things you said, so. Things that I wanna make sure that people get is this idea of feeling. Mm-hmm. We sometimes, especially as women, we're labeled as too emotional, emotions are good. They're indicators. Oh, we have much say on that. Okay. I mean, because I just wanna, I wanna reframe this like, it's powerful when you feel emotions.

The thing is you don't. Want to, you wanna be intentional with everything in life. And I'm a very emotional person. Sometimes I have to make sure my emotions don't get the best of me. I let myself feel them. Mm-hmm. I get the, the, the message from it and then I move on versus spiraling. But I love to hear your thoughts on that.

But the other thing is, Carrie, I'm on a mission. My, my theme this year is I'm bringing selfish back. Yeah. It's, I mean, it's like the, the Justin Timberlake thing, but I'm bringing selfish back. I love it. Yeah, because I love what you said. You made this decision unapologetically for you. You mm-hmm. If you had said in that moment, Carrie, you are a mom.

This is what you're meant to do, embrace it. Yes. You feel this pull to do something else. You've got this expansive heart that's calling for something more. But no, you need to do this and you need to do that. You're not gonna be a better mom in that situation, but you. Acknowledging what you felt and doing it, it makes you a better everything.

Yeah. Something that I, I really wanna share with the listener and, and it's, it's direct on purpose. Okay. And that is if we, you know, every time we're on an airplane, we hear the pet your mask on first before assisting others. But most of us ignore it. Okay? Yes, the. A reality. I don't wanna say the reality, I'm not the authority, but a reality is if you are not taking care of yourself first, you are half-assed taking care of everybody else.

Mm-hmm. And women forget that. Moms forget that. It's it's grind, grind, grind. Go, go. And then you wonder why you're exhausted. And this is why I talk a lot about energy, your energy. Physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, has to be full in order for you to fully support the other humans that might need you.

Otherwise, you literally are half-ass doing it. And when it comes to emotions, I'm like, you, Tracy, like I, I'm like a champion cri. Champion gold medalist Olympic style. Yeah. Yes. And, and it is, um, I, I'm always intrigued by people who think that crying is weak, and I'm like, no, I, I talk about this in my book.

'cause actually, probably one of the first tips I give someone, the, the reader, is cry until you cannot cry anymore and you will, like, when you physically feel lighter, that's telling, that's telling that you're just. Holding all this stuff in, you're carrying all this stuff and you gotta lighten the load.

So cry, cry, cry. And you know, in corporate environments, I, uh, I listen a lot. I am a communication expert, but with communication or I should say, and with communication. Active listening is the most important part. So I'm always listening for how people address emotions in the, the boardroom, let's just say the conference room, whatever.

And anytime I hear someone say, okay, we gotta remove all emotion from the situation, I literally go, hold up. I put my hands up, I'm like, time out, time out. And I interrupt it. I go, um, just so we're all on the same page. Humans cannot remove all emotion. It is not. Possible. And I'm like, so there's not removing emotion, there's using your emotions intelligently.

So I'm also a certified emotional intelligence coach in addition to Gallup Clifton strengths and situational leadership and the eq, emotional intelligence. I mean, that is just something that we all have to keep in mind. It's about using our emotions intelligently, especially women. 'cause you know, we love I I I, can I just tell you one of.

The most genius songs ever written was Taylor Swift's, the Man, the lyrics of that song. If anyone, if you have not heard that, please go listen to it. The lyrics, I mean, I'm just like, she's so brilliant. She's so brilliant. Um, we, we get so labeled as aggressive, as emotional as all these other things. And I also listen for if someone says, well, everyone thinks I'm aggressive.

I'm like, well, I hope your rebuttal is, I'm assertive. Hmm. Because assertive is sexy. Yeah. Aggressive is not, passive is definitely not right, but assertive. Assertive is, is sexy, is confident. And so it really is about being your own champion. Um, don't get overly defensive because also something that I heard recently that I was like, oh my gosh, mind blown is when we are defensive, it's admission of how we're being.

Okay. So just say that again. When we're acting defensive, it's admission. Of how we're we're being. So don't get defensive with something, because then it might be you subconsciously admitting that you might be a little aggressive. It's more of just, my intention is to be assertive versus I'm not aggressive.

What do you mean I'm aggressive? You don't say that. You're just, my intention is to be assertive and confident and speak my truth. Mm. So I love it. I love it. 'cause yeah, it's you. No one can make you feel a certain way. Only you can, unless you're in agreement with that statement. Thank you so much. Oh my gosh.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much. I mean, I, I, I, Tracy, I, I can't even tell you how many times I tell people those exact words. Like you are 100% responsible. For yourself. One of the most amazing books I think that everyone should have on their shelf. It's almost like the Self-Help Bible, if you will, is Jack Canfield's success principle.

Mm-hmm. Success principles, multiple principles. Um, Jack Canfield. Jack Canfield is the Chicken Soul, uh, chicken Soup for the Soul Guy. And his Success Principles is such a phenomenal book. And chapter one is 100, you're 100% responsible for you. No one can tell you how to feel, how to think, what to say, what to do, and when we blame somebody for how we're feeling, we are immediately going into victim mode.

And like, again, that's, that's not sexy. That's not, that's not confident. No. That's, that's, um, it's, well, it's victim and, and that's not a place of from, that's not a place of power. That's a place of force. And that's what I was gonna say. Some people get triggered by this, Carrie. Mm-hmm. Don't tell me that this life that I have is because of me.

This person did that to me. And what about this? But the power side to it is if you can, it's kind of like you have to accept both. Yeah. If you can accept that you are the creator of your reality, and that you are the only one who's responsible for your life, then there's also you are the one who can change it.

Yeah. If I'm a victim and say, well, my life is this way because of X, Y, and Z, that's coming from a place of victimhood. There's no power in that. That's right. I'm at the whims of everyone else, so. I'm just saying that for people, if they're looking at their life and right now, they don't love where they are and they don't love this idea that I am responsible for this.

I get that. I do. I do too. I do too. But I just urge people to say, but look at the power behind. If you can accept that, you can also change it. There's, um, I feel like I'm tossing a lot of books out here. I hope this is helpful. Um, toss 'em, toss 'em. Here's another one that it will, is just a life changing book.

And, and when you ha if you have it, uh, chances are you'll reference it multiple times over, over years. And it's David Hawkins letting go. And it goes through various emotions, you know, anger, surrender, gratitude, shame, you know, all, all of the things, the whole spectrum. In that book, he talks about the map of consciousness.

From a power versus force perspective, the highest, um, the highest level of consciousness is enlightenment. The lowest is shame. And to your point, it. It, it really is. I mean, it's, it's up to us whether we want to admit that or not. It really is. But this book is a really great, another great reference. Uh, so again, success Principles by Jack Canfield, letting Go by David Hawkins.

Both have such amazing nuggets on how truly to claim your life and, and be and come from a, a powerful position, not. Um, dictatorship. Powerful. More just soulful. Powerful. So you are getting what you need and want from this beautiful life that we're living that sometimes feels like crap. I mean, let's just call it like, we all have those moments where it's like, are you kidding me?

Absolutely. Um, hit me again. Those are the, those are the moments when we really, um, we kinda get tested with our resilience and then there are people like, well, I don't know how to be resilient. I'm like, yes, you do. Yes you do. All the answers are within you. We just, we just gotta get you there. We just gotta get you there, Carrie.

You just, yes. I, my head, I'm starting to, it's, it's getting painful, the shaking that I'm doing over here. But you talk a lot about managing energy, which I love. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Because human design, it's all about, everything's about energy. Yes. And so managing your energy, not just your time. I couldn't agree more.

Mm-hmm. We have this beautiful energy, you almost need an energetic hygiene program. We need to protect our energy. But can you tell us about your return on energy framework? What is. Yeah, so, so it's a concept I started playing with. It's not a concept I coined by any means. Um, I just don't it. But it has been interesting as I've talked about.

People are like, that's brilliant, that's genius. I'm like, I mean, I wish I came up with it. I just kind of popped in my head one day. And then I went and researched it and found that, yes, there's some other folks out there talking about this really powerful concept, but it's really, uh, it's, it's kind of what you would think because if we talk about ROEI think a lot of our brains immediately go to, well, I know what ROI is.

Sure. So when you're investing your money in something, you want to get a, a good return. On that investment, when we're investing our energy in something, we'd like to get a good return on that energy. And so I have this vibe checklist, this framework where you basically, the V is verify the feeling or the emotion that you're having about this, this thing, this thought, this action, this, whatever, um, that needs to take place.

And so then you're going through that. Then you're like, okay, now let me go to the I, which is. Um, identify the impact. So if I do this thing or say this thing or feel this thing, um, what's gonna happen? Then It's go to be, which is balancing the cost. What do I need to spend? Am I spending my time? Am I spending money?

Do I have the money? Uh, can I get the money? And also that's also where you pause and you go, and how much energy am I gonna be spending? This? Is this in my, my zone of genius and I'm excited about this? Or. Is this gonna be a total beat down? Then you go to E, which is either execute or eliminate, and this is where you gotta be real honest with yourself and there's no gray space.

It's a yes or a no. There's no may, there's no maybe. And then once you get that clarity, then you can, you'll know how to move forward. So that is one framework of how you can manage your energy. Um, sometimes, you know, you may need to spend a little time thinking about the impact and the, and the, the balancing, the cost.

Because one example I give are startups, right? It's like someone launches a startup. Unless you have the most brilliant idea and get discovered really early, which will is very rare, like what we call, that's what we call unicorns in the startup space. Mm-hmm. Um, your ROE is gonna be long term. It's not gonna be a, a quick return.

So then you gotta be able to see, okay, am I in this for the long haul? Like I can see this going somewhere. I could see a company buying this product or service, um, or technology, but like. Am I, am I committed? So that's also part of, that's kind of layered on top of the vibe, if you will. So it's kind of what's your vibe?

Check around this thing, this feeling, this emotion, this task, this you know, initiative. And that just helps you really pause for a second and feel good. Or you feel good about the energy you're investing, or just go, this is a terrible idea. This is a terrible idea. Like again, it sounds good. My ego loves it.

Yes. But everything else is telling me no. So, Carrie, how does this apply to someone? In their professional career for work, they are. When I was, um, getting ready to, to make the leap, I was just burning out. Yeah. Um, so when I think about my energy and thinking about how could I have used vibe or how could you use vibe in a professional setting, yeah.

I don't know that a lot of people will like my answer to this. Okay. Um, I am. Passionate about helping people love their careers. Mm. So if they're not loving their careers, I, the first thing I wanna ask is a question that triggers a lot of people. And that's when I go, why? Why don't you love it? Uh, why are you in it?

And then I love to go, okay. Title and money aside. Oh, now why are you in it now? Why do you love it? Why do you not love it? Because life is too short for us to be miserable in the space that we spend most of our time. Yeah. Um, now I am not naive to. Unemployment rates, uh, the, the market, the, you know, here in the us the country, the state of the country is, you know, half the time we're like, what is happening?

Other days we're like, it's a great day. Other days we're like, wow. It's a shit show. Yes. So I'm, I'm not naive to that. Um, and it's not a black and white answer. It's more of just. I would want to encourage someone to really like go through. Do I? Do I love what I'm doing? Do I, what parts do I enjoy doing?

What parts do I not enjoy doing? Am I using my strengths? I mean, I am so geeked out, passionate about Clifton strengths because it truly self-assessment. You're not lying to yourself about what lights you up and everything within Clifton strengths is about energy. From what energetically you do better down to what drains your energy.

And so I always tell people, I'm like, if you're frustrated or pissed off, you are either your, your strengths are probably being blocked and you're not able to use them eventually. That is not sustainable. If you are, if you really love what you're doing, but there's so much on your plate, this is where it's, I hope you're having a conversation with your leader and I am.

It's why I have all the workload that I do. There's a lot of leaders that don't wanna listen and don't care sadly. But hopefully if you have a leader you can talk to just about, um, managing your time with things and, and just understanding that a lot, most of the time we're not ever gonna be caught up.

We're only gonna be able to get through so much in a day if you're working 12, 14 hour days, again, not sustainable. So this is where you've got to stand guard to the door of your mind and be able to. Continue to do great things at work in that corporate environment while also communicating about what you need to succeed.

Um, setting some boundaries, making sure that it is a company you wanna work for, it's the career that you wanna have, and be able to just get done what you can that day. You know, there's this, um, it's called the Eisenhower Matrix and it's basically a four quadrant, uh, grid, if you will, around urgent and important.

Okay, so you got important on one axis and urgent on the other. Lot of people love to just put everything in the urgent important category. Um, a heart attack is urgent and important. Something on your to-do list probably is gonna be one or the other. There will be those rare cases where something is urgent and important.

Oh my gosh, if we don't do this thing by noon tomorrow, we're losing a million dollar deal. That's urgent and important. Yes, but everything is in that urgent and important quadrant. Then that is going to lead to burnout and overwhelm. So prioritizing, based on that model, you literally can go to Google, type in Eisenhower Matrix, click on images, and pick a framework that works for you.

They're all similar, just different dialects if you will. Um, and that's just a good way for people to really prioritize. So their energy stays focused, I guess I would say. So Carrie, I'm working with you and you ask me why. You asked me that question, why, why don't you love your job? Or if you strip the title and the salary mm-hmm.

What if my answer at the end of the day is just, I really just don't enjoy it anymore, but I am the breadwinner, or, you know, I just, I need to work. What would you, how would you work with someone from that point where they realize maybe this just isn't the right place for me anymore? Well, I think a couple things.

Um, and I certainly have coached people like that, and that's a real thing. That's absolutely a real thing. A lot of people feel like I have no choice. Um, we do have a choice. Sometimes it really feels like we don't. Mm-hmm. Um, and I would ask that person. Okay, so if you do you, do you truly, and just answer honestly, do you truly feel like you cannot, it's not a will not.

Hmm, you cannot leave this job. And if they say yes, then I go, okay, then let's back up and let's lay everything out that you're doing and what we have to work with. Then we go into full on reframe mode. I was with, uh, a team yesterday and, um, we kept, you know, I kept hearing the word change, change, change, and.

Their organization gets triggered by change because they haven't had a lot of change. So when they get change, they're, they immediately go to the negative, right? Like, oh my gosh, what's gonna happen? What bad, what, what, what do you mean change? There's just the unknown and the uncertainty. So I was like, there's a word swarming around in my head.

I just kinda wanna see what you think. And I was like, what about the word evolve? What if we use that word? And they were like, and I go, what? What is evolve? What comes up for you when I say that word? And they were like. Improvement growth forward. Mm-hmm. You know, like unfolding. I'm like, doesn't that feel better than change?

So much better. So, so that's the thing too. It's, it's really like, change the narrative. I just said change, evolve the narrative. Um, so it, change is a hard word to get out of your head, I can tell you. Um, evolve the narrative, right? Um, of, if you truly feel like you cannot leave, then this is where you're at.

You've gotta do something different with it. It's like Viktor Frankl and the Man Search For Meaning. There's another book, um mm-hmm. You know, just seeing his entire family killed in the, with the Holocaust. Um, and he chose his mindset. He chose it in the most ridiculously painful, scary, awful insert. All these other not awesome adjectives, environment.

And he, um. Got through it, you know, I mean, it, it takes, that takes a lot of strength and will, which again, we all have all, all the people listening, they're like, I don't have that. Yes you do. You just gotta tap into it. So that's what I would do for someone who feels like they truly cannot leave. Um, I would say, well then what?

Then how do we reframe it and make it where you can start to enjoy things better? You can, um, or, or, and sometimes it's, you can just be okay. If Okay. Is good enough, um, until you can get to a point where you can find something. That is great. Yes. And, and I would also encourage that person, like, you know, keep looking.

You know, you can always, you can always look, you know, it doesn't mean you have to leave, but you can always look. Yeah. Yes. And the other thing that I talk to a lot of women about is what can you find to love about where you are right now? Mm-hmm. Exactly. It might be something little. It might be my commute into the office.

It could be, I do like going, you know. Walking around and going to, to lunch or when I'm there, I get to sip my tea or you know, it's just little things because if you can just start focusing on those little things, then maybe you can focus on a little bit more. You might realize. I also know a woman, um, she's an executive, um, and high, high, high powered role.

Mm-hmm. What she has done is outside, completely outside of what she does. She's also a certified yoga teacher, and she has. She bought a home that actually hosted a retreat there and she named it the House of Healing. And she, I love that escapes there. It's two hours away from Chicago. She escapes there for her weekends and that is how she has found balance.

It doesn't, she doesn't have to make her job do and be everything for her. She's created a whole life outside of what she does that fills that spiritual part of her. So it's, it's kind of back to what we talked about with the victim mode. It's, we ha we, we must focus on what we can control and we spend so much energy on things we cannot control.

Um, I had a similar thing recently, uh, so I love that advice you're giving where, you know, we, we've rented our home for years now. We live in the 1% neighborhood of Dallas. At the time we moved in here for my son for schools, this is how my book starts. So if anyone gets the book, they'll, they'll get the whole story.

Um, and we're still here, by the way. We're still in the house. Um, and you know, I would love to have a beautiful new house that's light and bright and smells great. Didn't have, you know, 10 families before us living in it, all the things. And a couple years ago, energetically, I was like. There's a lot of brown in this house.

The kitchen's brown. Um, the cabinets are brown, hardwood floor. There was just a lot of brown and brown's beautiful. For me. I wanted lighter, brighter, and so did I wanna go paint the kitchen and invest in a rental property that was not mine. No. Um, did I want to change and lighten and brighten things? Yeah.

So what can I control? I can control the fact that I said no to painting the cabinets, so I have to own that and stop complaining about it. Mm-hmm. The other thing I can own is. Furniture. So I got all new furniture. I got like a light blue couch and I got rugs, and I got a new kitchen table that was like whitewash and basically just made everything light and brighter with furniture.

So now the brown cabinets are a beautiful accents. It's not, not everything's dark because beforehand we had brown table, brown couch. We were just contributing to the brown, and everything was so dark. So yes, it is really stopping and going, do I have control over this or do I not? And, and again, you gotta be honest with yourself and if you have control over it, then, then reframe it and do something with it if you don't have control over it.

We have to go into acceptance mode. Acceptance is probably the one part of David Hawkins letting go that I have read the most. Just accept, you gotta get to acceptance. Um. Yeah. And, and Carrie acceptance, that word holds so much to it. Mm-hmm. Because I agree completely. Um, and I think what people need to realize accepting your current situation doesn't mean you're giving up.

It doesn't mean you're throwing, or that it's. Or that it's permanent. Yeah. That you even maybe are agreeing. I think people feel like if they say they accept something, that they're throwing their hands up and saying, this is all there is. No, it's just, I think in Buddhism, that's one of the things they talk about suffering is just not being able to accept the Now.

You're just accepting it for now. Totally. And you're finding something maybe positive about it, like you did with the cabinets in your home for now. And then what happens with that is your world expands and suddenly maybe you notice something you didn't notice before that you can feel good about or love, like it starts to open up new avenues.

Totally. Yes. It's, uh, it, it is. That is beautifully said. I, uh, I also, like when I did career frame the first time, I failed awesomely. Um, failed awesomely and I went back to corporate and, um, I, that was, that was an acceptance, uh, moment in, in time. And in, in my book I talk about how I basically had to. Trade what I knew I was supposed to be doing, but at the time just didn't have the energy to keep selling.

I was just like, I'm so tired, I just want safety and security. So I now I need to do what's responsible. And I went back to corporate for two years and kicking and screaming and cried all the time. This is not where I'm supposed to be. And then of course, jumped back into career frame and then things took off.

'cause I did it differently and I did it better. And then I was like. I am so grateful for that corporate job. Like I wouldn't be here if I had not gone to that corporate job. I had ama an amazing boss who was so supportive. She knew that this is where I was gonna end up. She knew it. So when I resigned she was like, there it is, there it is.

You know? And she was like, go, girl. Go. Um, and yeah, we're still still good friends. And so yeah, like we, it, it's. If you do need to do what's responsible, or you do have to pause or pivot. Maybe that's what you're supposed to do because you're not on the right track where you are right now. You've gotta pause, you gotta pivot in order to get more soul aligned because you will know when you're on that soul path of what you're supposed to do.

The universe is just like, here you go. Here you go, here you go. And you're like, wow. Everything's just, I'm, I'm, I'm so attractive. Everything's like, I'm attracting everything. And you're like, why is that happening? It's 'cause you, you learned and you did, you learned you did the right thing. I, I, I, all of us just have to give ourselves a lot more grace Yes.

On what we do and how we do it. Mm, I love it. And we have to stop labeling things good or bad, which is not easy to do. Mm-hmm. But sometimes you having to go back to work, you could have looked at that like, oh, this is really, really bad. Well, was it though? Yeah. You went and you met your boss and for two years you got additional experience and a different.

Point of view and you can, so it's like, um, my son goes to iu. IU just won the national championship. Yes. It's amazing to even hear me say this because I'm not a sports person. That's so great. Um, these are words that normally don't come, but Fernando Mendoza, the quarterback. Mm-hmm. Um. He, his story is simply amazing.

The whole IU story is simply amazing. They, they ended up winning that season 16 to zero. They were like the most losing list team. I don't even know if that's a word ever. But the point is, Mendoza, he just, you know, beat the, um, team from Miami and he wasn't accepted into that school. He lived right down the street from them.

Yeah. He could have easily looked at it like, this is bad. This is, I'm, I'm gonna throw the towel in. Like, this is no good. But he just kept. Going. Mm-hmm. Found his own path, ended up at IU at the same time that this amazing, amazing coach came in and it turned him into the Heisman Trophy winner. So it's just an example of sometimes when life is feeding you these things.

So many examples like that. So many examples I got. Yeah, there's, uh, my, my, my favorite, um, I mean, you can't really see my shelves, but there's owls all over the place and I'm a, I'm a huge Harry Potter fan. That's the, that's the 9-year-old old girl in me and loves, loves Harry Potter. And like, I love JK Rolling Story.

That's another example, right, of just someone who was, you know, homeless and now she's. Her. Oh. And, and we all have our own version of that story Again, if we, if we can just get outta victim mode Yes. And claim our power from a, a place of just confidence and trusting ourselves. I mean, one of the things, and, and I, I am guilty of this.

I, I have to often remind myself everything's okay. Everything is as it's meant to be right now. Even the stuff that you're like, again, are you kidding me? It's like the universe is like, Nope, not kidding. It's all by design, you know? And, and then, and then we wonder when things start to work out. And then that's why it's like, that's why it's the hindsight's 2020, right?

It's like, huh, remember, remember when I was freaking out? You know? And, and so I, I have to remind myself of that. A lot, sadly, but it is just like, you're okay. You're okay. Sometimes you're way better than okay. And you're just being a brat. Um, but you, you, it's, everything is how it's supposed to be right now.

Yes. And every, every second is right now. So it's just, there's a lot, there's a lot of self coaching that we all need to do, basically. That's it. Yeah. And I will throw in my phrase, everything is always working out for you. Yeah. That's not always an easy one to accept, but when I started to really accept it, I started to believe it.

And even if something was looking not great, and I was like, Hmm. I just kept saying, but Tracy, but everything's always working out for me. And then that would make me just calm down and realize that, you know, I just have to wait to see how this turns out. But everything is always working out for me. But Karen, I wanted to talk about, I love reading about your energy audit, which is, it sounds like it's a practical tool to identify energy leaks.

Mm-hmm. Is, is that, is that the ROE or is that something, something different? Yeah, no, that's, that's really the ROE and the vibe. Checklist. Okay. It's, it's really about, um, just seeing where you are energetically and, and how you're ap, how you're approaching something. Um, we also have a, uh, we have a quiz, um, which I'm not sure if you have that, but if you don't, I can certainly get that to you for your, for your listeners, we have a quiz that's, um, that kind of goes through.

There's a little bit of the energy audit in that as well, and it's more for leadership as far as how am I showing up as a leader? And it's like 20, 25 questions and then it tells you which, which phase you're in. Like you're either not. Where you could be, you're, you're in a good place, but you could elevate or you're nailing it when it comes to the foundation.

So with career frame, when we work with leaders, we love to customize our experience. 'cause we wanna know what's, what's the problem. So we can tell you if we can help you solve it. And we're not gonna diagnose, we're not gonna prescribe before we diagnose. We do have. Our Frame It methodology, which walks a leader through a journey, and it starts with the foundation, which is all about energy.

And so we do wanna look in the foundation, which is the F, and then the responsibility and relationships, which is the R of Frame it. And that is where we are looking for how are you showing up physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually. Spiritually in this case means. Meaning purpose, and are there any leaks?

So then when we go into responsibility, it's, let's look at your calendar, let's look at your meetings. Let's look at how you're managing your team. Are you the kind of leader who is doing everything for your team? Because you don't wanna give them more work, so you're not delegating that that's a problem.

Okay. You know who you are, that's a problem. Um, and, and so in, in those areas, we will also do that. So the quiz that we have is, is another good way just to kind of see where am I showing up as a leader? Perfect. Well, we will definitely include that in the, the show notes. Um, yeah. Great. So in your book you mentioned you help women.

Um, find their juicy. What does juicy mean to you? Oh, Tracy. That word can mean so many things. Um, I thank you for asking that question in, in this regard, the juicy part. Well, I'll, I'll give you a quick little backstory and then I'll tell you what juicy means. Um. My son, uh, Lucas, when he was a little boy, he, you know, would snuggle up to me and like have his face right against me and he would just smell my cheek and he would tell me that I sm mommy, you smell so juicy.

And so that it was just this whole thing. So we started at our family talking about Mama juice. This is mama, mama juice. Mama juice. Well that could, you can take that any way you want also. So I was like. It probably doesn't need to be the name of the book. 'cause people are like, well what kind of mama juice are we talking about?

Is this breast milk? Is this wine? Like, where are we going? Um, and, and so I was like, but I do love the juicy part. And I did years of Tony Robbins, which again, no one more surprised of doing Tony Robbins than me. Um, but it did change my life. I will tell you. And it's, it's, there's a couple chapters in the book that's all about the Tony work that I did.

Literally changed my life. Um, and he talks a lot about juicy. And in this case, it's lively. It's lively, it's amped up, it's bigger, it's better. And so that's, that's what the juicy means in the title of the book. Ugh. And at the end of every chapter, I, I give like, how can you know, here's how you can have a juicy life.

You know? Go, go take a, a trip by yourself. Go, um, you know. Go cry until you can't cry anymore. Like things like that. Like I will give at the end of each chapter things that are kind of highlights from that chapter of like, go try this and see if it helps you get that juicy slash livelier, uh, life. I love it.

I want that for all women have. I do too. This juicy, beautiful life. Our heart wants an expansive life. You know? I feel like our mind, most of us live from the neck up 80% of our lives. Oh yes. But our heart wants an expansive life, and I think that's where we sometimes get down. Mm-hmm. When we're trying to lead this life from our mind of.

Being responsible and just, I don't need to do that. And, but your heart is gonna keep talking to you. It's got, that's why I love the idea that you're saying cry, cry your your eyes out. Yeah. Because if you don't do something with those emotions, they don't go away. They're trapped inside. They're gonna come out in some form and, and, and usually it'll be like pain in the body.

Yes. It's, it's, we, it is, you know, the body keeps a score and it does, we will have pain in the body. And um, you know, I went through. To one, one of it's, it's a, it's a sad chapter, but it's actually my favorite chapter in the book, and it's called Grief Will Rock You. Um, and it, there's a little bit of, uh, Michael Jackson, a little bit of Freddie Mercury in that, in that chapter.

Um, but it's all about my mom who died when I was nine. And it, you know, grief just kind of comes out of nowhere. And I tell people, this is another thing. And one of the things like, how do you have a juicy life when you feel, when the wave of grief hits you, you have. You must ride the wave. You cannot get in a boat and paddle your ass off to outrun the wave, like you have to go through it.

Um, I had two waves of grief hit me. One, I cried for eight weeks. One, I cried for eight. Months. And at that, the other one, at the other one, the, what I realized is the first wave was I was grieving for the little girl who lost her mom. The longer, uh, eight months was, I was grieving for my mother who was 38 and was losing her life and she had two little girls and all the things, and I was not a mom the first time.

I was a mom the second time, and I just was feeling all of her emotions. You know, you just gotta go. You gotta go through it. But I will tell you I did. I physically felt li lighter and then when I just was done crying, I just didn't cry anymore. But I didn't hold it back. I just was like, there is some shit that needs to come out.

So I just let it out and let it out. And I even told my husband, I'm like, listen. Just love me. Don't solve, I know what this is. No, I didn't expect it. Uh, I definitely didn't expect Freddie Mercury and Bohemian Rhapsody to launch this. And so now people are gonna go read the book and be like, what the heck happened with Freddie Mercury and Carrie's grieving cycle?

Um, but I was like, I just. Just hug me. Love me. I gotta go through this. I, I think this is about mom. I'm not totally sure and, but just let me do it. And, and I did. And again, you, you feel so much lighter. So. Cry, cry, cry, cry, cry. Have you seen the, um, Dane, Dane cook's? Um. Um, I can't remember what the special's called, but he has a bed on, I did my best.

And he just talks about like, you just, you get to work and you just know I gotta cry. Like I, you just, you could feel it coming on. You just know. Yeah. And he goes home to his apartment and he just, he does everything to make himself cry even harder. And he's looking at his face and watch him cry, but it is hilarious.

But it's something that I just tell my kids a lot of times. Just go dane, cook it like it's turned into a verb. Yeah. Sometimes you just, you just need that good cry. You just need to, and yeah. And yes to the grief thing. Um, I often tell people when they join this horrible club of losing someone close to them that, yep.

You, the only way through it is through it. You have through it exactly like you said. Mm-hmm. You have to just feel the feel. But here there's a little bit of, I lost my father. It'll be 19 years, um, in August. Mm-hmm. And the most painful thing I've ever gone through. Yeah. And I, I cried for him the other night.

Like, it's, it's just this, it's this dance you do with grief. But I will say the silver lining, if there is one, is grief teaches you so much gratitude. Oh yeah. My children just recently lost their grandmother, um, my father's mom, and, you know, watching them go through the pain of losing her, the, the one thing that I tried to just impress is it shows you how precious this life is and the people that you look up and see all the time.

Mm-hmm. You realize when you, when it finally knocks on your door that it's temporary. And even though you were grieving her. And it's, you know, there's, the finality of death is overwhelming. Yeah. And you can look around at who is still here and have a completely different perspective knowing now that it is truly temporary.

You know, I I I love what you said about just the gratitude of it because, um, because yes, we have the grief, because we had the pleasure and delight. Of loving that human now I can. Absolutely. 'cause after I lost mom, I also lost a boyfriend in high school five years later, and then I just kind of shut down.

I was like, I can't love anyone 'cause you'll die. Sure. So I'm sure there's people listening that are like, yeah, no, I just, I just close my heart so I don't have to feel that pain. And I just wanna encourage, you know, anyone who feels like that, being able to love someone. It is like the, it's the greatest gift.

It's the greatest gift. It is literally the greatest gift we are given on this planet. And so with, you know, with up there's down with loss, there's. Found with, you know, death, there's birth, everything's infinite cycle, right? And, um, and yeah, the, the pain really sucks, but if you reframe it and just go, but I'm feeling this pain because I got the joy to love this person and all the memories I have of this person.

And I can laugh about certain things that I talked about with this person and then, you know, cry when you need to cry. You know, it's just, it's, it's all so beautifully complex. Yes. I love that. Well, Carrie, before we move into the speed round, is there anything that we haven't covered that you'd like to share or one message you'd like to leave with the women listening right now?

I, I love where this conversation has gone. We've kind of just gone all over the place and, and I think that's, which I think is so fantastic. Um, yes. I think it's just to, to recap, it's. You know, you are 100% responsible for yourself. So choose you. Like you said, you're in your selfish era, um, which is great, unapologetic, you know, bringing it back.

Yes. Um, and I think that a lot of us forget that that is completely okay and a lot of times it's necessary to really put yourself first. Um, I also think sometimes it's good to announce. What you're doing, because anyone that is trying to grow, trying to evolve their behavior shift, anything those around you that are used to you being a certain way are not gonna like it.

Mm-hmm. Um, well, too bad. So sad, right? Because you've gotta do what you need to do for you. And I think just announce it because it's owning it. It's just owning how you are and what you're gonna do. And it doesn't matter what. Other people think it does not matter. It matters what you think about you and how you feel about you.

And so I would just wanna put that out there as a, as a reminder to everybody. I love that. And you're, when you announce, you're not asking for permission, you're just simply announcing, here's what's happening. Heads up, heads up, everybody. This is what's happening. I'm coming through. That's, that's exactly right.

Yes. Well, Carrie, what makes you come alive? Oh gosh. I mean quality time with humans. I love Really? Yes. I mean, quality time is my love language and I, uh, and just laughing to where I cannot breathe and where my stomach hurts. Yes. And I want to do that more. Um, but when I do get the chance to do that with really great friends, it's, it's the best.

Um, you know, my, our friends we call our, our, we've got this really tight group, but we call ourselves chosen family. Um, obviously my husband and my two kids, we call ourselves the Fab four. The Fab four makes me come alive because they're part of that chosen family. Um, so yeah, it's that, it's just ti time with the beautiful humans that light me up.

I love it. I literally have a little tear my, um, a song, a song that instantly shifts your energy or makes you feel something. Yes. Um, I will say, uh, it's, it, it's Calvin Harris and Neo, let's go. Mm. Um, that might not be, maybe someone was expecting something, you know, beautiful and, you know, whatever. But that one, I love the lyrics of it.

It's not about what you've done, it's about what you're doing. It's not about where you've been, it's about where you're going. Mm-hmm. Um, and I just, I continue to listen to that song often just to remind myself. And of just, yeah, let's go. Let's do it. Let's go, let's go, let's go. What's a book that cracked you open and we talked about so many today or stayed with you long after the last page?

Yeah, I, I'm gonna revisit David Hawkins letting go for sure. Okay. Because I mean, that is, I, I've all the books and I've got tons on my bookshelf here. Um, that one I do revisit often. And of course my own book. All in. Absolutely All that one too. Care you've got letting go the book and the song is, let's go.

Yeah. Now I, all we need to do is add frozen in there and then, you know, let, let it go. You know, it's like there's definitely a theme here. Love it. What is your favorite little indulgence or guilty pleasure? Dove chocolate. Ah, with almonds. Specifically?

Yes. Yes. Like I have, I literally have dove chocolate every day. Oh my God. There's a candy jar. That was my mom's. It's down in the, in the living room. It's every day. So, yes. And I always loved the little messages in there too. Oh. And the wrapper. I didn't know that. There were, I'm gonna have to go check that out.

Yes. Chocolate brings so much joy. It is. Has to be one of the, it's gotta be 90% of the answer to that question. Yes. Chocolate in agree. It makes the world a better place. What's something you're genuinely curious about right now? Maybe something you're exploring, rethinking, or waking up to? Um, it's not a very sexy answer, um, but I'm really curious.

I mean, I could have. I could go down a deep philosophical rabbit hole, um, around where AI is taking us. Oh. So, like I said, it's not a sexy answer, um, but I, I am, you know, I've got kids who are gonna be going into high school next year, a kid going into high school, and I'm like, how is AI gonna infect? Their college journey.

Um, how is AI gonna affect now? I I also think that AI is going to work with us. I, I don't subscribe to the school of thought that it's going to take over. Um, I definitely think that we will be able to work with it, um, if we train it right and that it will be a compliment to what we're doing. But I am very curious and fascinated about where it's gonna be.

I mean, the thought of having, you know, remember Rosie, the robot from the Jetsons? The thought of having my own Rosie the robot kind of blows my mind. I'm kind of excited about it and it kind of blows, it kind of blows my mind. Yes. And it's totally gonna be named Rosie. 100%. Yes. So, yeah, I, I ag I agree. I embrace AI so much.

Um, it has, it's, I just love it. It just, I use it in so many different ways. Um, the idea of having it in the form of an actual robot, I'm here for it. I understand the fear behind it, but I think it's like everything in life, it's, it. It's an amplifier. Mm-hmm. If you are using it for good, it can do so much good.

And then yes. If you have evil intents, I mean it's, you know. Yeah. That's right. That's right. Well, what is one thing that reminds you how beautiful life really is Nature. I would say, um, it's why I said like earlier, I, I try to go on two walks a day, and when I do, I am purposely, intentionally looking at trees.

And um, I had the pleasure of going to Costa Rica twice last year and went on this amazing hike to the Celeste Waterfall and saw this tree that just stopped me in my tracks. Um, looked like I was just waiting for the ferries to come out and the little gnomes to come out of their door. It was amazing. Um, but nature.

Reminds me of how things are not linear. Um, how there's always the cycle of death and rebirth. Um, always growth. Again, if you look at a tree, it's, if you look at a tree, it's just like this, you know, just like arms up to the sky. Um, and I, I find that very cool. So I just like being around nature and all of its beauty.

I would say. Hmm. I agree. Thank you. Well, Carrie, before we close, I'm trying something new this year. You're actually the first recipient of this. Oh wow. Yay me. Yes. At the end of I, I've decided that I want to just love on people. So in human design, I'm they, I'm what they call the vessel of love. Okay. Love of self, love of body, love of humanity, love of spirit.

So that's kind of what I'm here to do. It's something that I'm like, Hmm, I, I'm, I can see where I'm here to work on that, but I just wanna love on people and, what's the saying? Be the change that you wanna see in the world. Yeah. I want there to be more love. So what I've done is I, I'm sharing a little love note that's passed along from the last guest, so the last guest off air.

I just asked her without knowing who's coming on next, because that's kind of the beauty. This is just universal. Yeah. If she had a tip or reminder, just some kind of encouragement, something to just carry forward for the next guest, and I wanted to share what she shared with me for you. Perfect. Today's note, it comes from Kim Costa.

So she was a former guest and she's a lifestyle designer and author who helps women create homes and lives that feel aligned with who they truly are. And her message for you, Carrie, was, it was simple but powerful. It was just don't waste time being something other than who you were made to be. Hmm. I love that.

I'll take that. Simple and beautiful. Yes. I love that. Wonderful. Thank you so much. So Carrie, before we close that, how can people stay connected with you or learn more about your work? Yes, so I am on LinkedIn. I am on Instagram, um, I'm on Facebook, but I keep that personal, strictly personal. Um, we are launching our new website, a new branding in February.

Um, you can find us, however@careerframe.com. Um, just know if you go today, it'll take you to carrie fabrice.com, and then in about three, four weeks, it'll be, it'll look totally different. The website will look totally different, uh, but career frame.com, we have a. Contact us on that website if someone wants to reach out.

We have a small and awesome mighty team of three other coaches in addition to me that really, really enjoy and thrive on working with leaders. We're all Clifton Strength certified, um, and really wanna help people be in their zone of genius. So Instagram, LinkedIn, career frame.com. Yeah. Perfect. And we'll put all that in the show notes.

Well, yeah. Thank you so much for your time today. This conversation. It was just full of beautiful reframes and delightful. Delightful. Thank you to everyone listening. If you're feeling stretched too thin or or caught in the grind, just take a breath and ask yourself that pivotal question. If I could do absolutely anything, what would it be?

And let carrie's story be the permission slip to just explore that on your own. And until next time, keep getting high on life one beautiful fix at a time.