Reclaiming Me Podcast

Having The Courage to Begin Again: Finding MAGIC in the Unexpected with Lacy Enger

• Ariana • Episode 9

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Embracing Transformation: Uprooting, Trusting the Universe, and Living Authentically with Lacy Enger

In this episode of 'Reclaiming Me,' host Ariana Reinhart welcomes her friend Lacy Enger to discuss the journey of ceasing to play small, surrendering to the universe, and trusting that everything will work out for the best. Lacy shares her personal story of uprooting her life, leaving a long-term relationship, changing careers, and moving cities. They explore themes of authenticity, emotional safety, the Law of Attraction, and the importance of letting go to let new opportunities flow in. Lacy's experiences underline the power of inspired action and making space in life for new beginnings. Join Ariana and Lacy for an insightful conversation on transformation, self-worth, and the sacred process of becoming your true self.


Connect with Lacy:

FB: https://www.facebook.com/share/172ZWKAMzU/?mibextid=wwXIfr

IG: https://www.instagram.com/sensewithcents_?igsh=MTJ0bXA2b3o4d21pZw==

Website: http://www.mysensewithcents.com/


Get your free Unshakeable Confidence: Rediscover Your True Self Workbook here

Leave a review on Podchaser here

Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/balancedsoulawakening

Ariana:

Hello, beautiful soul and welcome back to Reclaiming me. Today I am joined by my amazing friend, Alicias Enger. And we're going to be discussing how to stop like really playing small, and how to start to just surrender to the universe and trust that everything is going to work out for the best. That the universe really truly has our back and that things are going to work out far better than we could ever imagine. Lacy has recently completely uprooted her life, so she is going through a whole transformation and process, and she is going to share with us the challenges, the adventure of it, and the successes, the wins, all the fun and all the difficulties about it. I'm hoping that you find so much value in this podcast episode today, so grab your favorite drink, settle in, and let's get started. You are not too much. You are not too sensitive. You are not too late. Welcome to Reclaiming Me, the podcast for the woman who's ready to stop shrinking and start coming home to herself. Whether you're driving home from another long shift, walking your dog under a quiet sky, or trying to outrun that voice in your head that says You're not enough, this space is for you. I'm your host, Ariana Reinhart, speaker, coach, and your guide on this journey of undoing the noise, shedding the pressure, and rising into who you are always meant to be. This show explores what it really means to heal from toxic patterns, rebuild your confidence, and reclaim the love and life you actually deserve. Here we talk self-worth, healing, boundaries, power, and the sacred process of becoming. Because you were never meant to fit in. You're on the journey back to who you were before the world told you who to be. This is your invitation. Let's begin. So Hey Lacy, I'm so excited to have you here on the podcast today. Me too! Awesome. Can you start by telling us a little bit about yourself and what you do? I guess first of all, Lacy and I met at, um. We were part of a book club actually, and Lacy lives in the States. She is currently in Portland and I live in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, which a lot of people don't know where that is. But yeah, we became good friends through this book club and we kind of just ended up forming our own connection and hanging out and found that we vibed really well. And so friendship developed.

Alacias:

Yeah, Ariana has become one of my dearest friends. Um, and it was all born out of a virtual book club, so there you go. Sometimes you meet the best people in the most mysterious places.

Ariana:

Yes. That is so very true. All right, so do you wanna tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do?

Alacias:

About myself and what I do. You know what, that's supposed to be a really straightforward question. But given the uprooting of my life currently, that's not straightforward at all. So who I was and who I am there in transformation. I am currently residing in the US in Portland, Oregon, but I just came here via New York City. I was a full-time school teacher teaching high school in New York City at a nice cushy, tenured position, and I dumped my life upside down on its head. Well, really, I did that about three years ago when I left a relationship that no longer suited me. Um, but it's been about a three year process to me quitting my job, semi retiring, focusing on me, my art, my business, buying a condo and moving to the west coast. So I'm currently on the west coast. I am working part-time. I'm semi-retired and I coach in the law of attraction finance space.

Ariana:

Amazing. Yeah, you've had like a crazy uprooting of your life recently.

Alacias:

So, yeah, that the answer to that question's supposed to be super boring. That's the part where, um, you say where you live and um, you know, whether or not you have a dog and, and what you do for a living. But mine's all in flux.

Ariana:

So honestly, I hate when people ask that question when they're like, oh, tell me a little bit about yourself. And I'm like, I don't know. Like, I don't know how to answer this question. I honestly find it one of the most complex questions sometimes'cause well, also what people expect is.

Alacias:

Please state your name, your zip code, and what you do to earn money, right? Yeah. But there's so much more about who we are than our name, our zip code, and what we do to earn money. In fact, those are probably the least interesting parts of us. Maybe the zip code is relevant if you wanna actually meet for real coffee instead of virtual coffee. But otherwise, they're the least interesting aspects about us.

Ariana:

Very true. Yeah. And given the fact that you're in Portland, I definitely, your zip code is interesting to me because I really wanna come visit.

Alacias:

So we're gonna make that happen and, and then it'll be all the beverages. I know this is a podcast and you can't see what I'm doing, but I'm drinking tea. But the coffee, the wine, the tea, all of it, we've got it all here, and we're just gonna do all those things.

Ariana:

Awesome. Okay. So I would like to know where did you grow up and how did that affect who you became?

Alacias:

Hmm. That's so interesting. So I've been coast to coast my entire adult life, flipping between Oregon and New York, but I grew up smack dab in the middle, in the Midwest of the US in North Dakota. A actually fun fact. Um, well, I wasn't born in the town because there wasn't a hospital'cause it was too small. But when I was born, I lived in a town of about 100 people and now there's not even 100 people there. Okay. Um, and then after my parents split, my mother decided to move to a bigger neighboring town, but we're still talking like 30, 40,000, um, so she could get a degree. So I'm from the Midwest, from North Dakota. And it's definitely had a big influence on developing who I am, but also who I am not. I really did get, um, a very, a very safe upbringing. I could run around in ways that, that kids in bigger cities really couldn't do safely. Right. Um, you could leave your door unlocked. You know, I kind of had to learn about knocking because, you know, you could kind of just appear at people's houses in tiny little towns like that and you're a little kid and you're kind of letting yourself into people's houses. I was fortunate in that my high school was, had a really, really good theater program, so I was able to develop my love of theater. And even in the town of 100 when I was still there, it was very quickly discovered that I was a kid that could sing. So I was singing at every church thing and, um. While in small places, there may not be big opportunities, but there can be opportunities because maybe there's less competition for them. So I maybe got pushed to the front of something where I would've gotten lost in a crowd in a bigger place. So I had the opportunity to develop myself in those ways. However, I also very quickly learned that, um, I am not necessarily the conservative being that is, is really common there. Like the, I'm, I'm very different. My beliefs, my ideology is very different from people there. Now I've, I met wonderful people and I still have wonderful connections there, but I did, I did discover for myself that I was somebody that would need to live my life a little differently and be willing to go somewhere else, um, to be somewhere that was a better fit for me long term.

Ariana:

That's very fair. Yeah. I grew up in like a little village as well, and Hmm. 100% understand what you mean there. And it was, that was something that was weird for me too. Um, moving to like a bigger city and stuff. Especially, well even Saskatoon, honestly. It was like, I had lived with my cousin for a while and her niece or her daughter, my niece is, I guess maybe she's not my niece, but anyway, um, she was like three and four years old and yeah, like I was the same when we were growing up. You just ran around wherever, you did whatever and like everyone watched out for you. And then I moved to Saskatoon. I was in university and it was like, kids don't even go in their backyard without their parents watching them. And I was like, what is this? Like, this is so weird. Yes. Small towns are often very conservative it seems like.

Alacias:

There are wonderful, wonderful things about them, like it's a very safe way to be brought up and a really strong sense of community. But they're oftentimes very conservative. So if you're kind of the artsy type, like I am, I'm a very liberal oriented person. Yeah. Um, and I identify as bisexual. I, I am queer. And those can be, um, those can just make you feel a little bit like you don't belong or on the outside. Like I said, I've had wonderful people in my life, but certainly staying there would've never allowed me to be, um, among more like-minded people.

Ariana:

Right. And possibly would've kind of hindered you from like fully expressing your true, authentic self.

Alacias:

Absolutely. I, I don't know that I could have, I couldn't have blossomed into who I was meant to become had I stayed there. It would've been a bit too stifling for me based on, on who my authentic self is.

Ariana:

Yeah. Very fair. Okay. And so I just wanna have a little bit of fun here. So I brought this up in one of my previous podcast episodes and I'm curious, if you had to describe yourself as a drink, which would it be and why?

Alacias:

Oh, gosh. I love this question and it's hard to choose just one, but off the top of my head, I am a beautiful glass of wine, but I'm probably the boxed kind. I'm, I'm the boxed kind, but the good box kind like Bota Box. Not that, um, I'm not gonna say the brand, but we all know that like bad brand. That was the first kind that was in a box, the only kind that you could find in a box. But I'm like the Bota Box where you're like, oh, this thing, this thing comes in a box. It's pretty modest. It's, you know, it's down to earth. It's not this like, you know, super expensive showy thing, but then you get to what's inside of there and you go, my God, they put really good stuff in there. That's some really good wine in there because Bota box is super modest in terms of the price point and the shell and the aesthetic and the whatever, but they really put great wine in there. So I think I am, I am that because I'm a blend of somebody that can be very classy and upscale and know a lot. And I can be, you know, in that world. But I come from a tiny little town and that's still a part of me and my feet are very on the ground. And um, I can do the uppity thing, but I also really like to go camping. Okay. You know? So I feel like I've got both of those parts. And so I think if I'm a glass of wine, but a really good kind, probably in a box, that's gotta be it.

Ariana:

I love that. That's awesome. Boxed wine. Keep it in your pantry. Just saying. That one actually, when we got asked that on my coaching call, it took me a minute to figure out what I thought I would be. And I was like, Hmm, you know what? I think I have a combination of a. Dirty chai latte where it's like a little bit spicy, got some kick to it and stuff, but then also this vibrant, delicious, citrusy drink that's just like loves life and loves adventure and all of that. And I'm kind of just this weird combination of the two of'em.

Alacias:

I could totally see that with you. And that's a fun question. I guess if I thought about it a little longer, I could come up with another one, but I'm satisfied with my answer.

Ariana:

I like your answer. Okay, next question. What is one of your biggest challenges in life?

Alacias:

Oh, wow. We're gonna just dive right into that, aren't we? So, as I've already said, I dumped my life upside down about three years ago. Um, about three years ago I had just moved into a beautiful condo in New York with my partner with an overlook onto the Hudson River and the George Washington Bridge. And if any of you know, New York, you know, that's the view to kill for. This place had everything, a pool and a gym, and it had everything. And just on the outer edge of New York City. And it was like, this is where everybody wants to live. I've, I've checked the box of partner, I've checked the box of beautiful place to live. I'm in a city that has all these fun things to do. And I was doing, starting to do well with, with my business, my coaching business, my law of attraction coaching business. And you know what happens, Ariana, when you are in alignment and then something, some like one, one thing isn't. And you just have that feeling. Mm-hmm. Well, I felt something out of alignment and I exited that 15 year relationship because I came to the realization that part was not aligned for me. And as a result, I moved out of that beautiful condo. And out of that relationship I'd gotten very comfortable into, and I entered a stage of major transition. Unfortunately, um, I felt that I had to stay pretty quiet during that time as a way of keeping myself protected. I, I didn't say a lot to a lot of people about what I was doing and where I was going and all of that. I really, I felt the need to protect my privacy for a while to feel like I was, that I was fully safe. I just, I didn't, I didn't wanna have everything out there. Right. So now that I've transitioned, it's been a few years. I am somewhere else, and my life is really great. One of my big challenges is, is to let myself open back up in terms of people like sharing my emotions, sharing things that are going on in my life with people, because I got really used to keeping that stuff quiet. I don't know that it's necessary anymore, but now it's, it's a habit, it's a challenge. And I find myself not wanting to tell anybody anything I'm doing. And not wanting to share how I feel because I feel like my, my body remembers that that didn't feel safe at one point, and now I have to retrain myself and, and I'm having challenges with that. I'm having to actively try to consciously tell myself that, that I can do that again.

Ariana:

Yeah, that is, so many people talk about the challenges of being in the toxic relationship, but it is so uncommon to actually discuss the challenges after getting out of that toxic relationship and trying to train your nervous system that like, hey, it is safe to do these things again because like once you're, once you get out of a toxic relationship, if you've been in it for so long. And you've been t taught to shut up and to be quiet and to, you know, all of these things and you're talked down. If you speak up and if you set boundaries and all of that and you're just penalized or punished for it, it, it becomes very hard to one, once you enter into a healthy relationship, a lot of people find that it's actually boring because they're so used to that toxicity and that up and down and that roller coaster. And so they end up finding that a healthy relationship is like, it seems boring to them at first. And so then those things that are actually healthy for them, they let go of when really they just need to allow their nervous system time to adjust. And it is really hard to just teach your nervous system like, okay, this is safe and it is safe for me to speak up again and it is safe for me to share my thoughts and to just be myself and I'm not going to get shut down. I'm not going to get like punished. I'm not gonna get abused. I'm not gonna get verbally assaulted for doing these things. And that's so incredibly hard to do. So I completely empathize and hold compassion for you on that because yeah, that's something that is not talked about near as much as it should be. And I think that that is something that is really good for people to really understand is, hey, there's more to it than just getting out of that relationship. There is things that need to be done and healing that needs to take place afterwards as well.

Alacias:

And can we like zoom in for a second on that word safe? People think about it as being this big dramatic thing where clearly you are not safe if somebody's hitting you. We think about like the abuse in the much larger sense, but sometimes I think we don't realize that we don't feel entirely safe in some of our relationships in life, and it can be in much smaller ways that we struggle to identify. Yes, I think sometimes the lack of safety is, you know, that is not emotionally safe for you to talk about certain things or be as outgoing or these tiny, tiny little things. No, nobody's gonna smack you when you get home. I mean, maybe somebody have has that life experience, but I'm talking about the person who's experiencing a lack of safety on what sounds like a micro, um, scale versus somebody hitting you in the face, right? Mm-hmm. But the lack of emotional safety forces us to play smaller and to perseverate to fold in and be less than who we really are. Um, and I carried that and I felt it necessary to carry that for a while after relationship.'cause we know just because you end a relationship doesn't mean everything is over. There's a transition period, and, and it takes a while to. You could have split or divorced with a person, but it takes a while to fully extract and untangle everything. So during that time, you can be holding on and your body can be holding on because it's still not positive that it's safe. Yes. And then retraining ourselves to be safe again, and that we no longer have to hold so tight. It takes time. It takes time, and it takes a lot of effort and energy and even realizing we're doing it.

Ariana:

Yes. That's a big thing is a lot of the times we, we do things without actually realizing, oh, hey, I'm doing this thing. Or like, this is, this is not great for me. But sometimes it's like, it seems so minimal compared to what we're used to, that it doesn't seem that bad, even though it's still harmful to us.

Alacias:

Yeah, absolutely. I couldn't agree more.

Ariana:

I remember when I, um, left I guess my last two toxic relationships, I was frigging terrified to have a controversial conversation. Like to even say anything that might be somewhat construed as controversial. I was so scared to say it or to speak up about it because there were things and so many times where, you know, I could literally thank my partner for doing something for me. And suddenly that got turned around into this whole other thing where I am just this incredibly ungrateful person and I am just so horrible and I've created this huge fight and I'm an issue. And you know, it just spiraled into chaos. And it was like, what the hell? Like I was literally just thanking you for this. Now all of a sudden I'm getting shit on for saying that like, what is going on? And so I was terrified to speak my truth or to, you know, have any of those conversations where there might be a difference of opinions for quite some time after those previous relationships. I don't know. Did you find that too?

Alacias:

I did. One of the things that I found in terms of, in terms of fear is I was afraid to, um, really tell anybody how I felt about anything because I came to a realization that I had gotten used to my feelings being brought up again later about something and weaponized against me. Yes. I'm guessing you probably had that experience too. Yeah. Where two months later, you know, you'd been trying to be a good partner and discuss how you were feeling about something, something that was problematic, and then two months later it's being brought up in a way that's used as a weapon against you. It made me feel, um, feel like it was just not safe to say how I felt about something. Even though that's what we wanna do in healthy relationships, romantic or otherwise. Right. To be able to say how we feel about something, to be able to sort of talk it through and work it out. But if those feelings are gonna be brought back up later to you and used against you, you shut that down. Yeah. Uh, so I mean, that was, that was one of, that was one of the things I found myself carrying forward that I'm still working on. Trying to shed because our, our body systems remember that.

Ariana:

Yes, our bodies are incredibly intelligent and they have so much memory in them. That is another thing that we do not discuss enough. And yeah, they're way more intelligent than we give them credit for. Mm-hmm. Okay. So are you good to move on to the next question? Okay. Yep. Um, what do most people, or what do people misunderstand about you?

Alacias:

Oh, I love this question. Um, so I coach Law of Attraction Finance. I write in the law of attraction finance space. There have been people in my life, and it surprises me. There are people who have known me for a long time. They're clearly not paying attention, Ariana. But there are people in my life that have thought and said, Lacy is obsessed with money. Hmm. And honestly, it couldn't be further from the truth. The truth is, money is not terribly important to me other than the fact that money is time and energy. I, what I really, really care about is having ownership of my time and life experience. Not about having money or, or people thinking I have money or any of that, but I care very much about having ownership of my time. But it's been misconstrued. By many people to think that I'm just obsessed with dollars and cents and, and it couldn't be further from the truth.

Ariana:

That's so interesting.'cause I have like never perceived you in that way. You are so down to earth. I don't know if we've really ever had, and I mean the funny thing is, our book club that we met on was actually, um, on the book, it's called, it's Not Your Money. But I've never known you to like yeah. Be one to be all about money or to really be focused on money or have to have the lecture like you're minimal, like you've never had. Right. Multiple, the luxuries of things or the newest thing or whatever. And so it's so interesting that a lot of people perceive you in that way.

Alacias:

It's a funny thing because some of, some of the habits that I have that I think get misconstrued, I, I either want to spend real money on something that's either a really good quality or really fabulous experience or I wanna try to like, not really spend any money at all. Like I either wanna go to like the pro baseball game or the Broadway show. I've seen a ton of those. I'm super into it. And, but you know what? I got ways to find inexpensive seats, but they're still con expensive, you know, inexpensive seats there are still expensive comparatively. Right? And go out to a, a nice dinner beforehand or. I wanna go hiking somewhere I could walk to that was free, that cost me absolutely no money, right? I don't, I don't walk into the coffee shop unless I really just want to, like if I'm meeting you for coffee and we're having that as an experience, then I will do that. But I'm not typically somebody who wants to spend$5 on a coffee out because the experience wasn't great. I can make coffee that's just as satisfying at home, unless I'm just like, oh my gosh, this is the once a year. I totally want a peppermint mocha.'cause I do it once a year in the holiday season, right? If it's not that whole thing, I don't wanna spend money in that way. Um, so I think sometimes people have misconstrued my lack of desire to spend money on some of those seemingly smaller things. Um, as me being obsessed with money, but when I think about it and I think about how many minutes of my time that coffee that cost$5 was, I don't wanna spend that kind of time to have gotten that. And that's how I think about money is I think about it in terms of my time and energy. Um, and it's either worth it or not, but I think those things can be perceived inaccurately.

Ariana:

Yeah, that's a good way to think about it actually. I'm kind of the same way too. Like, I, I will splurge on experiences because like, I love going on adventures and if it's something that I think will really enhance my life or if it's an experience like our life is meant to be lived, it is not meant to be just hold up doing nothing, but, you know, and so those experiences, like I will splurge on. But I'm not really the type of person either to, you know, go outta my way to spend excessive amount. Like I don't have to have the newest thing, I don't have to have whatever, like the most luxurious things in the world. I've never paid for something that's like a designer handbag that's ridiculously expensive or designer glasses for myself. But I like the concept of your time is money, or how did you say that your time is money?

Alacias:

Um, yes. But I think about it kind of in a more literal sense. I think about, um, how much of my time it's taking to get certain things versus the experience I get from it. Um, and actually I do buy designer handbags. I probably only buy one about every few years. And I actually started doing it because. I did it once as a splurge to myself, and I realized that it held up much better for so much longer than what I had been buying before. And then I came to realize that for me that was a worthwhile exchange because then I was, I was good for a few years. I wasn't gonna have to, you know, revisit that. Um, I do spend good money on shoes and I don't, I don't mean fancy shoes, but like, listen, I'm not getting another set of feet. I'm not buying the cheap, no support, whatever I want. I want decently supportive shoes, but they also last me longer that way. Yeah. Um, but I think about it in terms of my time and that$5 coffee at the coffee shop most times is not worth the time expenditure for my enjoyment.

Ariana:

That's very fair. I like that. Okay, so how are you different than your old self last year and what did it take for you to get there?

Alacias:

Oh wow. Yeah, this is a good one. Uh, because everything is different. Last year at this time, and we're recording in September if you're listening to this, um, at some other time, September of 25. But the year is less important to the story here. In September, I would be starting a school year again as a teacher in a high school in the South Bronx. And I have to say, I still love those kids. I love my former colleagues, I love my administrators there. I have nothing but love for all of them. But I would've been spending so much of my energy doing that. That it was very difficult for me to leave and do any of the other things in life that I loved. Right now, I am, I'm in the process of sort of sorting out, you know, redoing my blog and, and focusing some things on my coaching business because I, I didn't have the energy to do it. Teaching was very, um, demanding of my energy, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, all of it, because that's the kind of thing that deals, deals with people. And I was struggling to really have the energy to do any of the things that I truly cared about doing outside of that job. And the truth is, I felt like I couldn't say I was being inauthentic in that job, but I feel like I was being a sliver or a fraction of my authentic self.'cause I couldn't, I couldn't be me fully because me fully has these other parts of life I need to be living that I was not capable of living while I was doing that. So I, it, it, it's, but it's, it's true. And that's an exploration I think more of us need to have. Mm-hmm. And your answer might be different from mine, but I had to look at myself and say, what, what does it mean for me to be fully authentic version of me living my best life? And. What does that mean? That meant focusing on law of attraction finance. It meant leaning back into theater and it meant giving up my full-time job to make space for my life. Hear me again. Giving up my full-time job to make space for my life. And it might not be a full-time job for whoever is listening to this, but what is taking up all the space in your life and is it keeping you from being your authentic self? For me, the logical logistical steps I took to get there was I decided to purchase a property that I was going to live in before I stopped working full time. I made sure I had that lined up. I made sure I. Was still okay in terms of my savings, even after a purchase of that sort, because I knew I was about to undergo a very major life transition and I started, um, sorting out what my alternative income sources would be. So I wasn't just pulling the plug on things with nothing to jump to, right? We don't just randomly jump, we jump to things and, and we don't have to have every single part of it planned, right? We make the space and things will flow in, but there is something in law of attraction terms called inspired action. If your path is inspired, there should be some actions just sort of burbling inside of you, and you'll know them. You'll know them when you feel them, right? Ariana, you've done this, you've done this before in your life. You can feel them. Yes. Percolating 100%. So I. Started taking the inspired actions. I knew that would line me up to the path I was wanting. But what was amazing is that every time I started clearing the path, one of the things I wanted flowed to me. Clear away the path and the things start flowing into you. Yes. Because you have to make space for them to flow into you. Yes. So

Ariana:

that is why purging things can be so beneficial because you're inviting in that space or making that space for new things that you want to come in.

Alacias:

Sometimes on our spiritual journeys, um, decluttering challenges are really good. Mm-hmm. It's a very, very physicalized form. But if you look about your house, and, and this could be a metaphor and it, it can be literal'cause I mean it both ways. When you look about your house, do you see. Do you see only things you really love and or are super, super useful?'cause you might go, I don't really love my hammer. Okay. Like, I'm not in love with my hammer. I don't, I don't. But I do periodically need a hammer enough to where one does need to live here. Right. Okay. So fine. Is it really useful or you love it or are the really useful things you have and the things that you absolutely love buried under a bunch of things that you don't really care about either way and only use sort of? Those are the things that have to go.

Ariana:

Yeah, they do say too that, um, like the, I don't know what, like, I wanna say appearance, but that's not all it. Like the, um, state of your house that's a direct reflection of the state of your mind. And so if your host is a cluttered mess, then your mind is likely a cluttered mess. But if your house is neat and organized and you don't have all this shit that you don't need or you don't want, then that's likely a reflection of your mind where you're in a good state and a good space.

Alacias:

I could not agree more and honestly listeners out there, if, if you are saying, I really need a transformation in my life, start with your house and I don't mean spend 25 grand redesigning your bathroom. I mean, start by clearing away the things that you do not love or are not incredibly useful and that you use because you will, you will start to feel differently. Yes. There will be more things. It's like you sort of pulled a string and, and more string kind of keeps coming.

Ariana:

And I just wanna say too, good for you for making all these changes in your life because that's not an easy thing to do. And um, I know so many people who, you know, they just hold onto that job because they're, or that relationship or that whatever. Even though they know it's not aligned for them, even though they know it's not in flow, that it's not right. Maybe that it is toxic or abusive. They hold onto it anyway because they're scared to let go. And we have such this fear of the unknown. We have such a fear of surrendering to the universe, but I don't know about you, in all of my experiences where I have finally just like let go of those things that aren't aligned for me. It has not been. Like, maybe in the moment, you know, my ego takes over and it's a little bit scary, but everything just flows naturally. It ends up being a million times better than I could have imagined. And it is like just all the right things come in. And so we're always so terrified to do these things, but, and I do, I do believe that it's very important to take the inspired action. Um, you can't just be like, yeah, I'm giving this up and hope for the best, kinda like type thing. But we need to stop holding on to those things that do not serve us and to those things that are not aligned with us, because that's keeping you from living your best life.

Alacias:

So I feel like I, I just wanna reiterate something that you said that feels like it's absolutely key. And listeners, I wanna challenge you. I want to challenge you all to take both of your hands and squeeze them into fists. Now imagine somebody throwing a ball to you. Catch it, but don't. Don't open your hands, keep holding on exactly the way you were. What's gonna happen to that ball? Ariana? What do you think is gonna happen to that ball? I envision it just like bouncing off my boobs. Yeah, it's gonna hit you. You're not catching that ball. You can't, you were so busy holding on. Mm-hmm. You can't catch what's coming to you if you don't open your hands, and that means you have to let go. You can't keep holding onto the thing you were holding onto and then sit and ask yourself why the thing you're asking for isn't coming to you. Well, it's trying to, you won't open your hands. It's all coming. It's all coming. I didn't answer the now part of that question though. The down and dirty part of the, now part of that question is what flowed to me, Ariana is suddenly somebody sort of put a little five hour a week sort of job. And I, I don't wanna work full time. I, I am very fortunate in that I am semi-retired, but, um, but I, I wanted and needed to have a few little income opportunities sort of appear and they just appeared. They appeared. So I have, I've now collected three little, um, income opportunities that are flexible to my schedule, that are extremely part-time, but, but regular enough that I can work around my schedule, um, and spend time doing things like recording this podcast with you, working with coaching clients, working on the theater. I just produced this year, the first annual Portland Pride Play Festival. We ran the festival in coordination with Pride, Northwest's Pride Weekend. We did staged readings of eight queer plays by eight local playwrights with eight directors over the course of three days. And that all just flowed all the people that I needed flowed to me. So I'm leaning back into theater. Another producer from another company was like, oh my goodness, you're back in town. Wait, we need to talk. Send me your resume, because we definitely need to be doing something together. People, people are inviting me to be in the spaces I want to be in now because I took the leap into the unknown. But I didn't leap stupidly either. I took the inspired actions along the way to make sure I'd, I'd have a relatively safe path. We never know when life sometimes craziness happens, but that I would have a relatively safe landing.

Ariana:

I'm so proud of you for, um, like producing and putting on that play all the plays, I guess. And I love the fact that it was 8 8 8.

Alacias:

That's the number for abundance. Yes. I love that. Yeah. That's what that is. I love that. That was 8 8 8 date.

Ariana:

Okay. And then, so I'm just curious what, like in this whole process of uprooting your life and you know, just all the changes that have gone on in your life, is there anything that you've learned about yourself that has surprised you?

Alacias:

So, so well? I don't know if it surprised me, but I think it was a reminder that I needed. What I learned about myself is even now, even though I'm older, I, I'm in my forties right now. I can still completely change my life and I can still have a brand new life flow to me. I can still attract that brand new life to me because sometimes we think Ariana, once we've left our twenties, and I'm not particularly old, I don't think I'm old, but you know, when, when we were in our twenties sometimes we were moving every year, sometimes we moved like three times in a year. You know, people, people didn't have roots that went as deep in places and so they would move more easily. Um, they'd quit jobs more easily. The older we get, the more we feel, oh, this is just my life now. I'm settled into it and I've always. Well, for many years now anyway, been the law of attraction girl. I believe that you can attract into your life what you want to. Um, you just have to take the inspired actions along the path. But it's easy to say that and it's not so easy to put it into practice. And I have learned that I still can, and this isn't the first time I've done it in a really, really big way. I've done it in many important and incremental sort of smaller ways along the path. But yeah. This one was a really big one, and the last time I did a really big one, I was in my twenties and now I'm in my forties and I did another really big one and I was like, listen, I've still got that. I've still got that. I still have the ability and the power and I'm still that, um, malleable, right? We don't always feel so malleable as we get older, but, but we still are and we still can. And I learned that about myself and um, so I guess that's not a super tangible thing, but it, I didn't think I couldn't do all of that, but I hadn't put my feet to the fire, so to speak, to really trying to in a long time anyway.

Ariana:

And I think that's so inspirational because like you said, there are so many people who, you know, they're like, okay, well I'm at, I'm at this point in this stage in my life now where. I'm too old to do this thing and I'm too old to start over, or it's too late for me, or whatever. Right? And so they stop themselves from doing things that are aligned for them, and that will make them so much happier because they feel like, well, no, I can't do that now. Like, oh, if I, if it was, you know, back when I was 20 or in my twenties, then I would do it, no problem. But now I'm at a point where I can't, but it is never too late. There's 80 some year olds who still do frigging triathlons or run marathons and stuff, right? Like my, my partners, um, grandma has a friend who is 97 and she still golfs every other day in the summer or something. Like I, mm-hmm. I can barely, I can barely even do that with my body now at 32. And she is 97 and doing that. And so it's never too late.

Alacias:

Listen, and that. The longevity of time you had been in things and how it relates to, um, your fear sometimes of letting go, releasing your fist so you can catch the ball. That's real. And listen, I'm in my forties and my last relationship I was in for 15 years, my city that I lived in full-time. Um, I had been in for the past 12 years. I had been in a very comfortable career path for 12 years. These were not short little term things. At that point in most people's lives, 12 years, 12 years, 15 years. Like you've people have sort of settled into a life. Mm-hmm. But if you don't want to wake up every day, choosing the life you have, wake up and choose something else. Yes, yes. I decided to wake up and choose something else.

Ariana:

I think it's, what's that saying? Like, you're not a tree. You, you can get up and move and start a new life or something. I can't remember exactly what it is, but yeah.

Alacias:

I don't know. But I, but I love it. I like to meditate like I'm a tree, but the truth is no. I move a lot more than a tree does. And I'm not just talking like, you know, my arms, my, my feet like to go places too.

Ariana:

Yes, it is never too late to uproot and make those changes in your life. And so I hope that is something that the listeners take away from this conversation. Um, I think there's lots of pieces of gold in this, in this episode and in this conversation actually. So, um, speaking on that, is there, like, do you have a biggest takeaway that you want the listeners that you hope they learn from this?

Alacias:

So I guess the takeaways are, are almost like a, a little list and you have to see where you are, um, where you are in your own path and in your own journey. But the first question to ask yourself is the life that you're, you are in right now, do you still want to wake up every day and choose it? And if you're like, well, that's when it's time to zoom in, what, what are the things that you would not choose? There's, there's a writer and comedian named Kyle Cease and, in his book, the Illusion of Money, which, no, I'm not getting a kickback for this, unfortunately, but I do use it with clients. He, he talks about the sevens. I want you to zoom in and I want you to evaluate the things in your life that you spend your most energy on. On a scale from one to 10, 10 being it's incredible. You wanna do that. You love doing that. That's the best thing in the world, right? And, and a one being total trash. I hope you don't have ones there. Why are you, why are you keeping it if it's a one, right? Right. But you're quickly gonna know what's like a three or a four or like a five, like,'cause those are kind of low numbers. I know five they would say is average, but fives are pretty crappy if you're comparing them to tens. Mm-hmm. But find out where your sevens are, because your sevens are, if you're feeling a little stuck in life, they might be in the sevens. Because the more sevens you have in your life, the more you haven't made room for tens. Oh. So. I would really urge people the first takeaway, I want people to pause and you should do this periodically. This, this isn't a thing. Well, I did that a decade ago and I changed my life. That was great. I feel like people should do this at least every year, if not, if not, a few times a year, at least, maybe two or three times a year, because how do you feel about what's going on changes, and if you find that there are things that have to go or maybe, maybe you need some, some time to figure that out. I guess this, the next takeaway is are you able to keep doing all of the things that you are doing and be fully living your most authentic, best life, whatever that means for you, because those are the places where you find the change. And if you need the change, okay, I need the change. Now, what this is, when it's time to align, it's time to align yourself to the thing you want. You're picturing it. You're picturing it as if you already have it. Maybe you're meditating every day. I meditate every day. Meditate on it as if it's already happening and what's going to happen. The thing that people don't talk about in law of attraction, it's what's going to happen is you're going to start having inspired action. It's already trying to come to you. The inspired action is the thing that's helping you open your hands to get it. You're subtly gonna have a feeling about applying for these jobs in this other place, or you're gonna start having a feeling that maybe certain relationships in your life are not serving you. Maybe it's not even a romantic partner. Maybe it's just like friends that are, that are getting too much of a chunk of your time. Right? Whatever. Whatever it is, you're gonna start feeling some movement and feeling a need to do these things and you're not gonna be able to help but do them. It'll be hard not to do them because of how strong you're feeling them. And that is the thing you're asking for, trying to present itself to you. You just have to clear the path. So that's what I hope you're taking away, is finding what maybe needs to be cleared away, if anything, and to have a vision for where you would like to be. And if you don't fully know where you wanna be, that's okay too. Start clearing the path and better things will just start showing up.

Ariana:

Yes, and something that you can do if you are struggling with, um. Kind of figuring out, or like you're feeling kind of stuck with making those decisions is you can literally, if you take a few deep breaths and tune in and become a clear channel, if you know how to do that, you can sit there and just say, Hey Spirit, please show me the next right move for myself. And then you can also say to spirit like, Hey Spirit, or hey universe, show me just how frigging amazing this can be. Show me how amazing this can be. And so it is. And a lot of the time just like sitting down and asking like, what is the next best right move for me can kind of get things moving and give you some of that it, it just kind of, lets go of that block.

Alacias:

I love that. Because sometimes somebody just needs to sort out what the next step is. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Ariana:

Yeah. Sometimes all it takes, those baby steps build momentum and it is that, what's the word that I'm looking for? Like it's, it's that, that's not the right word, but devotion to those little baby steps that will make those big changes. It's not making one big change here and one big change there. It's that buildup of that momentum of all those little things and those little steps and just staying consistent with it. And that's what will change your life eventually. And I mean, those big, I love that those big actions are gonna help too, but sometimes it doesn't need to be a big action.

Alacias:

But most big actions are also composed of a series of little ones. Yes, that's very true. Sometimes we don't realize that we climbed an entire mountain. Because we were actually really only focusing on making it to the next tree around the corner, you know? Yes. So they do add up.

Ariana:

They do, yes. They most definitely do. Okay. And so what's next for you, Lacy?

Alacias:

Oh, wouldn't that be great to know? Well, you know what, um, I'm taking a trip to Greece at the end of the month, so that's cool. Oh my God, I'm so jealous. Can you take me? You know what? I can try to just will it into happening maybe. Because you know what? I won't get into this whole story, but I didn't even have to pay for an airline ticket for this one. That one just flowed to me. So listen, do it. It works. Um, so I'm taking that trip. I am focusing back in on law of attraction finance because I wanna help other people to get to where I am and. Only part of it's really about money, right? We have to, uh, we have to learn some of the rules of money so we understand what to do. But there's so much of it that has to do with developing people's relationships with money. Yeah. Um, to get right with money.'cause you can know what to do and not do it because your relationship with money isn't in a good space. Mm-hmm. Um, so I'm, I'm leaning back into that. I am working on the next Pride Play festival and leaning back into theater. And right now I'm trying to adjust to having so much flexibility in my time, in my schedule, which is exactly what I've wanted. Um, but I, I am, I guess we'll, we'll say overcoming a little bit of growing pains with that. Because just because you want something doesn't mean that that adjusting to change isn't still a little difficult.

Ariana:

Yes. I love that for you. That's, that sounds like some great things coming into your life. That's amazing. I hope it all, it's, it's absolutely fabulous and flowing. Um, I'm just, I'm trying to flow with it. Yeah, it's, it's all gonna work out for you. I can just, I can feel it, it feels so expansive and just good, like energetic and ting ly kind of, and just like, I wanna dance. You can dance if you want to. I won't do the whole song. We don't have time for that. And so where can listeners learn more about you and your work?

Alacias:

So my sense with sense.com is my website. You can also find me on Instagram at sense with cents. Underscore at the end, or my Facebook writer's page is Alacias Enger, and I believe those will be in the show notes as well. So if you wanna connect with me on social media, um, the blog is, um, sort of being revamped, but you can still find a lot of tips about both finance and alignment and law of attraction there if you want them.

Ariana:

Awesome. I love that. And yes, I will definitely put them in the show notes. Okay. Well, thank you so much, Lacy, for joining me today. This was an awesome conversation. I absolutely loved it, and I'm so grateful that you were able to be here today. I hope the listeners found as much value in this as I did, because I know there are some things that you said that I'm gonna try out and I'm going to, um. See how they work out for me. So thank you again so much for being here.

Alacias:

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Ariana:

No problem. Alright, and thank you listeners for joining me on this journey of returning to yourself. If today's episode spoke to your soul, I'd love for you to share it with a friend. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a moment of this reclamation or share your thoughts with me on Instagram at balanced soul awakening. You are not too much, you are not behind. You are not broken, you are worthy, you are whole, and you are already everything you're seeking. This is your claiming me. Until next time, be gentle, be bold, be you.