Sprint Isn't a Sprint: Building What You Asked For

Spring isn’t a sprint—and this episode is your permission slip to stop rushing the bloom.

In “Spring Isn’t a Sprint: Building What You Asked For,” we’re grounding into the energy of slow, sustainable growth. We’re talking about why over-fertilizing your dreams can burn the roots, how to build a solid foundation before you surge forward, and how to keep your nervous system regulated while your life expands.

We’ll also reframe “bad days” and unexpected loss as sacred clearing—sometimes the Universe moves things out of your way that you couldn’t move yourself, making space for the aligned path to unfold. You’ll be guided through a future-self embodiment practice to help you stay devoted to what you asked for, without forcing the timeline.

You’ll leave with practical, repeatable anchors for your day:
 Morning: “I am grateful for all the things aligning with my dreams/goals today.”
 Night: “How will my future self move tomorrow?”

If you’re in the in-between—growing, changing, becoming—this one will help you root deeper, move slower, and trust that what’s meant for you will hold.

Awaken Your Soul

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back to Whispers of the Witch. Today we're going to be stepping into a truth that spring always teaches us. If we're willing to listen to it. So spring isn't a sprint. It's not a race to become. It's not a rush to prove that you're changing. And it's not a pressure cooker season where you have to get it right before the light gets too bright. So spring is slow rooting. Spring is that emergence. Spring is the moment where the earth says, we're moving again. And your nervous system quietly asks, okay, but is it safe? So if you've been feeling that familiar spring energy, that sudden urge to do everything, fix everything, change everything, become everything just because the sun is coming out. This episode is for you. Because what we're talking about today is not motivation, it's devotion, not rushing, but rooting and building what you asked for, and doing it in a way that doesn't burn you out, it won't blow your life up, and it doesn't sabotage the dream because you tried to force the bloom before the roots were ready. So take a breath with me. Inhale and exhale. And let's begin. So before we go deeper, I want you to feel into something with me. So imagine a seed under the soil. No one is clapping for it. No one is watching it. There's no applause, there's no validation, no likes, no proof. And yet everything is happening. The seed is not behind, it's not late, and it's not failing, it's doing the sacred work of rooting. And that's what we're doing today. So let's talk about why spring makes us feel a little feral. Because in all honesty, it really does. So after winter, after that stillness, the slow days, the darkness, being inside your own cave, spring shows up. And it's like your body remembers life again. So you might feel a little more restless, inspired, more impatient that need to fix everything now. More of I'm running out of time, or I should be further along. And that energy isn't wrong, it's movement, it's life returning, but it's the thaw. And here's what happens for so many of us. We confuse movement with speed. We confuse growth with urgency. We confuse, I feel energy again with I must act immediately. And spring, when misunderstood, can turn into that spiritual caffeine crash. So you start pushing, you start overbooking, overcommitting, you start making 10 new plans, you start saying yes to everything. You start fertilizing your dream so hard that you scorch it. And I want to give you a metaphor that I keep coming back to. If you put too much fertilizer on fresh roots, you don't make the plant grow faster. You burn it, you overwhelm it, you disrupt the delicate process of it establishing that stability. And a lot of us do that with our lives. We call it ambition, we call it getting serious, we call it I'm finally doing it. But sometimes it's just fear wearing a productivity costume. Fear that if you move slowly, it won't happen. But the truth is the dream you asked for requires roots. So not just excitement, not just vision, and not just a mood. Roots. Because the bigger the bloom, the deeper the roots need to go. So today we are practicing spring the witchy way. Slow, intentional, seasonal, devotional. So let's shift into the real message of spring. Slow blooming sets a solid foundation. So I want you to imagine your life like a garden you are building. So not just a single plant, not a single goal, and not just a single manifestation of a full-on garden here. And your garden doesn't need you to panic. It needs you to tend. And this is the season where you ask, What am I growing? Think about that for a second. What am I growing?

SPEAKER_00 6:54

What am I nurturing? What am I saying yes to?

SPEAKER_01 7:10

What am I saying no to? What is sustainable? What is rooted? What is real? Because when you move slowly, you can actually feel what you're doing. When we move slow, we notice what drains us. We notice what inspires us. We notice what we're forcing. We notice what is flowing. We notice what our body says yes to, and we notice what our body braces against. And this is how you stop rooting into those old patterns because old patterns thrive in speed. Old habits, they they love that urgency, and those old survival mechanisms, they absolutely love chaos and drama. But your future self, your aligned and healed self, they move differently. Okay, they don't sprint to prove themselves worthy, they don't burn their roots, they don't choose what's just or they will choose what is sustainable, they will choose what they can actually maintain, what nourishes them. And this is your permission slip. You do not need to rush to be real, you do not need to rush to be worthy, and you do not need to be rushed to be chosen by the universe, the universe responds to devotion and not desperation. So here's an April question for you. What would it look like to grow at the speed of safety? If you've listened to past podcasts or are part of my school community, I talk about your body having a yes or a no. So feel what this is. What ask your body, what would it look like to grow at the speed of safety? And then ask it what is safe for you? Start listening where it's showing up, not to the thoughts in your head, not to that ego, but what is your body doing? So, this question again: what would it look like to grow at the speed of safety? What would it look like to build what you asked for slowly enough that your body can actually hold it? Now let's talk about something that can be a little bit harder to swallow, but it is so deeply liberating when you understand it. Loss isn't always bad. Sometimes what feels like a bad day or a setback, cancellation, an ending, a rejection, a door closing. That's the universe moving things out of your way that you could not move. Those are the things that are harder for you to notice. But again, the universe knows what you're wanting. So if you're not going to move these things out of your way, it's going to do it. Because here's the thing: there are people and patterns, timelines, and attachments that we cling to even when they're misaligned, because we don't want to be the one to let it go. We don't want to disappoint. We don't want to feel the guilt. We don't want to make the hard decision and we don't want to face the grief. So the universe does what it does. It rearranges, it removes, it clears. And sometimes it feels cruel in the moment, but later you look back and realize that ending saved me. That loss redirected me. That rejection protected me. And that delay preserved me. So I want you to practice something called radical gratitude for the clearing. So it's not bypassing pain and not pretending that it didn't hurt, but recognizing if it left, maybe it was never meant to root with me. If it ended, maybe it was blocking what's next. If it fell apart, maybe it was built on the old version of me. And spring is a clearing season. So what breaks down becomes nourishment, and what leaves will create space. So on those bad days, I want you to try this thought. What if this is making room? Or what if something is moving out of the way for me? Or even what if my future self is being protected right now? Because sometimes the universe doesn't hand you the dream, it clears the path to it. So let's talk about gratitude, but in a way that isn't cheesy. So with this grief, again, we're looking at it as a gratitude. So gratitude is not always positive vibes only. Gratitude is a spell, it's an energetic instruction, and it tells your subconscious what to look for. It tells your nervous system what to expect. And it tells your spirit what timeline you're choosing. So gratitude says, I believe it's already moving. I believe it's already aligning. I believe I'm being supported. And the deeper level here is this: you have to give yourself gratitude to. And not just gratitude for external things, but gratitude for how you're trying, how you're showing up, how you keep backing, or how you keep getting back, how you keep choosing yourself again and again, and how you are not who you used to be. Because you only give gratitude once the dream arrives. So now you're training your nervous system to only feel safe after there's proof. But if you give gratitude while it's building, you're training your system to feel safe during the becoming. And that's how you become someone who can actually hold what they asked for. So I want to give you a practice here. So right now, in this moment, name one thing you did recently that your past self would be proud of. And let that land. Let your body receive that. This is the slow rooting. This is the foundation. So now we're going to do the heart of the episode. This future self-practice you asked for.

unknown 16:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

How to embody the person who already lives inside the dream without rushing the timeline. Because your future self isn't just a version of you with different circumstances. She's a version of you who with the different habits, the different energy and choices, and the different relationship with time. So we're going to do this in three layers. How she moves, how she lives, how she chooses. So first, how does your future self move? Not what does she achieve? Not what does she own? Not what does she have? How does she move? Does she rush? Does she scramble? Does she spiral? Or does she move with steadiness? Does she move with certainty? Does she move with devotion? I want you to picture them. Picture how she walks into a room. Picture how she breathes.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

How she speaks. How she eats. Picture how she laughs.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

And here is the key. She's not forcing her life. She is tending it. She is rooted. Now, second, how does she work? What does her workday feel like? What are her boundaries? What does she say no to? What does she prioritize? Does she try to do everything? Or does she do what matters? Future you doesn't burn her roots. Future you understands that fertility isn't force, it's nourishment. Now, third, how does she have fun? This one really matters. Because if your dream life has no joy, it's not your dream life, it's just a prettier cage. So ask, how does she play? What does she do for pleasure? What does she do for rest? And this is how you build what you asked for by living in a way that your nervous system can actually sustain. And now we anchor it in. Sorry, we anchor it with two daily questions. So in the morning, just affirm I am grateful for all the things aligning with my dreams and goals today. You can say this out loud, or you can just think it. And then at night, before sleep, ask, how will my future self move tomorrow? And it can just be simple, like not what will I do, but how will I move? Will I move with softness? Will I move with clarity, devotion, trust? Will I move in a way that protects the roots? So picture that. Or you can come up with your own affirmation spell in the morning and your question for your future self the next day. And when you ask better questions, you live in better times. Timelines. I want to take this just a little deeper because there's a part of building what you asked for that no one talks about enough. And it's this your dream doesn't only require belief, it requires capacity. Not just can I imagine it, but can I hold it? Because what happens so often is we call something in, and then we get scared when it actually starts to come. Or it starts to come and our nervous system doesn't recognize it as safe. So we self-sabotage, we overthink, we rush it, we over, we overcontrol it, we try to force it to come faster, or we just burn ourselves out trying to prove that we deserve it. And this is where the plant metaphor becomes real. You know, if those roots aren't strong, the bloom can't stay. So that you can build this life that you want in that nervous system safety. So I want to talk, go back and talk about building capacity. So slowly, gently, and consistently so you can actively live inside what you asked for. So let's call this root system work. And the root system has three parts. So you have stability, sustainability, and safety. So the stability in your life hold the dream. Really think about what you're wanting, what you're trying to call in for that stability. Can your life hold the dream? Then we come to sustainability. Can your body maintain the pace of the dream? A lot of us building businesses, you know, we want to be at that top, we want a full schedule, we want that rush, but can the body maintain that pace of your dream? What would feel safe in that sustainability? And the third, the safety. Does your nervous system feel safe being seen, receiving, expanding, and having more? What does that safety feel like? Do you want to be seen big out there in front of everything, expanding so quickly, having more of that stuff? Does that make your nervous system feel safe? So those are really good. Stability, sustainability, and safety. Really think about those because sometimes we are manifesting from the mind, but the body is still living in survival. And if your body thinks more equals danger, then more will always feel like pressure. So let's soften that. So stability is not boring, stability is not settling, and stability is not less than. Stability is the container that makes expansion possible. And this is where the don't over-fertilize lesson shows up. Because over-fertilizing often looks like over-booking your schedule, creating 12 new projects, trying to fix everything at once, saying yes because you're afraid the opportunity will disappear. Overgiving because you want to be chosen, over-explaining because you want to be understood, or overworking because you're trying to outrun doubt. And if we're being honest, over-fertilizing is usually fear. It's fear that if you don't do it all right now, it won't happen. It's fear that you have to force the outcome. It's fear that you can't trust time. And it's fear that you can't trust yourself. So here's a question I want you to sit with. Where am I treating my dream like an emergency? Where am I treating my dream like an emergency? Because your dream is not an emergency, it's a relationship. And relationships need tending, not panic. Second, sustainability. This is where we look at your pace, your daily rhythm, your weekly rhythm, your ability to keep going without losing yourself. Because sometimes the biggest reason people don't make it isn't that they aren't talented. It's they can't sustain the way they're trying to grow. And I want you to hear this part very lovingly. If your dream requires you to abandon yourself, it's not aligned. So sustainability sounds like: what can I actually keep doing? What can my body keep holding? What can I repeat without resentment? What can I do and still feel like myself? And this is where you build the foundation. Because foundations are boring until you say until they save you. So they're boring until they save you. Foundations are boring until the storm hits. They're boring until life happens. They're boring until you're tired, emotional, hormonal, stress, grieving, overwhelm. And then the foundation is what keeps you from falling back into old patterns. So the question becomes: what is one sustainable habit that supports the dream? So not ten, one. One habit you can repeat like a ritual, because repetition is how you root. And when you root, you do not need to rush. And third, safety. This is the most spiritual part and the most practical because so many of us think we want the dream. But what we really want is the feeling the dream will give us. And if you don't practice feeling that now, your nervous system won't let you stay there later. So I want to offer you this. Your future self isn't just someone who has more. She's someone who feels safer. She feels safer receiving. She feels safer being seen. She feels safer being loved, supported, safer having joy, and she feels safer having ease. So a lot of the work of becoming is literally teaching your body that good is safe. That's crazy, right? Because some of us, good doesn't feel safe. Good feels suspicious, good feels like it's about to be taken away, and it feels like you're waiting for the other shoe to drop. So if you relate to that, you're not broken. Your pattern and patterns can be rewired. And this is where gratitude becomes very powerful. Not gratitude as a performance, but gratitude as a nervous system cue. Gratitude says I am safe to notice good. I am safe to receive good. I am safe to expect support. I am safe to believe the path is aligning. So I want to expand your gratitude practice beyond the morning and night questions. And here are three rooted gratitude prompts that you can start using, especially on the messy days. One, what is being protected right now? Because sometimes a closed door is protection. So again, what is being protected right now? Two, what is being made easier because this is leaving? Because sometimes loss is relief that hasn't landed yet. So what is being made easier because this is leaving? And three, what is being revealed to me about what I truly want? Because sometimes the disappointment shows you you deserve or you desire more. Now let's talk about bad days because there's something very important. Noticing again that loss isn't always bad. I want to add this. Sometimes the universe creates bad days to interrupt a timeline you would have stayed stuck in. Sometimes you would have kept forcing something. Sometimes you would have kept showing up where you were not appreciated. Sometimes you would have kept choosing the familiar pain instead of the unfamiliar piece. And then something happens: a cancellation, a falling out, a sudden no, a mistake, a delay, a plan that collapses. And the mind says this is bad. But the soul says this is redirecting. So here's a practice you can speak out loud when things fall apart. Even if I don't understand this yet, I trust that something is moving out of my way. Even if it hurts, I trust that I am being realigned. Even if this feels like loss, I trust that I am being made available for something better. And you don't have to force belief. You can just say it like a spell, like a doorway, a possibility. Now let's go back to the future self for a moment because I want to deepen that visualization you already did. When you think about your future self, it's easy to picture her success. But I want you to picture her micro moments. How does she respond when something doesn't go her way? How does she respond when she feels tired? How does she respond when someone misunderstands her? How does she respond when she gets an opportunity? How does she respond when she receives money? How does she respond when she receives love? Does she spiral or does she soften? Does she scramble or does she ground? Does she rush or does she return to trust? Because building what you asked for isn't one huge moment. It's thousands of tiny choices. So here's a mini check-in you can do daily in under one minute. What would future me do next? Not all day, not the whole plan, not the ten-step process, just next. Future me would drink water instead of doom scrolling. Future me would send the email instead of waiting for confidence. Rest instead of pushing through resentment. Say no instead of people pleasing. Take a walk instead of spiraling. Eat a real meal instead of skipping. Create one thing instead of trying to create everything. Future you is built through next choices. And that's why spring isn't a sprint. Because you're not trying to create the dream in one leap. You are rooting into it. Want to talk about something else that sneaks in during spring. Comparison. Spring wakes up everyone's timelines. You see people launching, people traveling, posting, glowing, winning. And comparison is just impatience mixed with fear. It's the nervous system saying if they have it, maybe I won't. But the truth is your timeline is not competing. Your roots are not competing. Your garden is not competing. And when you compare, you start rushing, you start over-fertilizing, you start burning your own roots to try to catch up. So if comparison is coming up right now, ask yourself, what am I afraid will happen if I go slow? What am I afraid will happen if I go slow? Because this question will show you the wound. And then you can speak to it. You can say, I am safe to grow at my pace. I am safe to build slowly. I am safe to root deeply. What is meant for me will not miss me. Now let's bring it home with a practical rooting plan for the next 30 days. I'm going to give you a framework and you can adjust it to your life. So a 30-day rooting plan, one devotion, one boundary, one pleasure, one devotion, the practice that builds your dream. So this can be 10 minutes creating, one outreach message a day, a walk for clarity, one page of writing, or an aligned action that you repeat. One boundary, the thing you stop feeding. This could be no doom scrolling before noon, no saying yes without checking your body, no over-explaining, no working past a certain time, no checking numbers constantly, and no talking yourself out of the dream. One pleasure, because pleasure is fertilizer that doesn't burn you. Pleasure nourishes the roots. And this could be a tea ritual, a dance for one song, a bath, gardening, a sweet treat, wearing something that makes you feel amazing. Laughing, calling a friend, watching something light. Devotion builds, boundaries protect, and pleasure nourishes. That's rooted manifestation. Now I want to add one more layer to your morning and night questions. In the morning, after I am grateful for all the things aligning with my dreams and goals today, add this. Show me one sign that I am supported. And then let it be small, let it be gentle, let it be normal. And support looks like the right person texting, a parking spot, a calm moment, a client inquiry, a new idea, a good conversation, a sudden relief, a door closing that needed to close. And at night, after you say, How will my future self move tomorrow? Add, what do I want to release before I sleep? Because sleep is also a ritual. And you can release the day. You can say, I release urgency, pressure, I release needing proof, I release the fear that I am behind. And then you let your body rest into becoming. So now as we come toward the closing, I want you to remember your dream is not asking you to rush. Your dream is asking you to root. Your dream is asking you to become safe enough to hold it. And if things are falling away, if things are shifting, and if you've been having bad days, might not be punishment. So you can align, so you can build, and so you can bloom. Spring isn't a sprint. Your dream does not need you to burn yourself to arrive. Your dream needs you rooted. Move slowly enough to feel your life. Move slowly enough to choose differently. Move slowly enough to notice what's misaligned. And move slowly enough to let the universe clear what you couldn't clear yourself. And when the bad days come, when things fall away, when you feel the sting of a loss or shift, try even gently to whisper, thank you for making room. Because what is leaving may be protecting what is coming. And what is coming requires roots. So tonight, before you sleep, how will my future self move tomorrow? And tomorrow morning when you wake, I am grateful for all the things aligning with my dreams and goals today. Keep tending, keep rooting, keep blooming, because slow growth holds. Thank you for being here with me, and I will see you next episode. And if this episode supported you, share it with someone who needs permission to slow down and still trust their becoming. And if you want to work with me through healing, readings, or guidance, you can find my offerings linked in the show notes. Until next time, stay rooted, stay soft, and keep listening for the whispers.