The Moment We’ve All Been Waiting For

Your girl is back and this is truly the moment we’ve all been waiting for. While I was on sabbatical minding my business, the pod quietly crossed 2,500 downloads. Y’all really said “run it up,” and I love that for us. So we’re jumping right in as I catch you up on the last three months.

Your life is your life. Don’t let anybody make you feel bad about how you’re living it. I’ve spent this sabbatical in a rare state of simply being — no performing, no proving, no pretending. Just me, making daily progress toward the life I’m building. I’m proud of myself for not giving up on myself. Growth has been loud. Comfort zones have been left behind. Purpose has been walked in.

And I want to remind you — it’s okay to not be okay. If you don’t address what’s affecting you mentally, it will only get heavier. Release yourself. Free yourself. Because not only are we navigating our inner world, we’re also surviving the outer one… and whewww, America is real ghetto right now. Everything feels like a business transaction, so this season, we’re talking business.

Sabbatical gave me space to breathe, move my body, and read — three books in June alone. I feel free for the first time in a long time. Uncensored. Clear. Recalibrated. Thriving again. Two seasons at once, yay. Taking it one day at a time.

God wants so much for you. We’re done playing small. Prayer and faith shift things. If you believe, you believe.

Follow the pod on IG and TikTok @landedpod
Email me: landedpod@gmail.com

This Is Where I Landed with Shayla
I’m in my bold, soft, God‑led becoming era — and I hope this episode reminded you that you’re allowed to take up space too. Step into your power, step into your softness, and choose the version of you that feels aligned, peaceful, and undeniable.

I want to hear from you, email me landedpod@gmail.com

Let’s connect on IG, TikTok and FB: @landedpod

Remember, you are that guy, you are that girl, you are whomever you choose to be. Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

Transcript

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Hello, hello? Is this thing on? The fact that I did that is so funny. Hello, friends. This is where I landed with Shaitlin. I'm so happy to have you here. I cannot even do the full intro because hello, hello, hello, hello, hello. Hello, your girl is back. I am back. I am in the closet, and the you know, it happened. I got a nice little word. And I'm back. If you are new here, hello, hi, I'm Shayla. I hope that something lands with you, that something sticks with you. Whether it is something funny that I'm gonna say, because I'm going to say something funny, or if it is something true and honest, and it just hits you right in the back of the chest. Hello. Hi, I'm your friend, and I'm here to help you, not hurt you. So I hope that something lands with you. And if you are a return lander and have been rocking with your girl for a hot little minute, as always. Hello, babe. Also, we hit 2500 downloads on the pod. A. Okay, because yeah. Shout out to everyone who has been listening to the pod during uh the pod season ending. Uh we just ended season three and now we are back for season four, season quatro. Okay, because yeah, God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good. Had to start with that because what? If you are new here, uh, and if you just have forgotten, because hello, happy summer. Also, I'm very excited to be sitting in the closet, to be honest, because I've been waiting for this moment. I've been waiting to feel led to talk about something here because uh this is everything that I do, everything that I am, first and foremost, I just have to say all glory to God because I really love him and I would not physically be here if it was not for him. And uh, you know, we're jumping in. Hello, because this is where I landed with Shayla. We don't do the fluff here, babe. We don't do the fluff, but yeah, life was really hard. Life was really hard. I have come to realize because I have been on sabbatical, I uh applied for short-term disability for my PTSD to really have a moment to heal myself because I was experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder um and its symptoms, and I had really crippling anxiety. OMG, if you're new here, that is not we're we're we are very expressive here, and I share because hello, sharing changes things, and a lot of people do not share because they are afraid of judgment and ridicule and backlash and you know all the things, and we cannot grow nor can we heal when we are hoarding information, and so yeah, as I've said before, not everyone has the accessibility to therapy, and a lot of people listen to podcasts, and I am no therapist, that's not what I'm saying at all. But I will leave therapy and come right on here and tell you something. I will do that because teach one, uh, what is it, each one, teach one? What did I say in Freedom Riders? What a movie, what a movie. I've been watching really great movies also during my sabbatical. I am now on my third month of just being. Uh, I'm not working, I have not worked since uh April 1st. And yeah, that story wild too. And I feel like throughout this whole time of just having this time to myself, which is something that I have never had before, I've never had the opportunity to just be and not worry because hello, God is going to do what God is going to do, and all I'm supposed to do is what I'm doing. And so if I keep doing that, I'm going to come on Lord, I'm going to get to exactly where I need to be and also where I want to be. And every day we are making progress to create the lives that we want to live for ourselves, and that is what I'm doing in this season. And it took me a little minute to understand that, and that's why I'm also so thankful for this podcast because it has always and will always be me having a place to reflect and just talk and share because there is somebody, somebody on the opposite side of the audio that may be experiencing something similar, especially in this season and this climate with this world, it's goddamn present, honey. It's a lot going on, and you need to rely on your community. And I always talk about community because it's so important, and community really saved me, is that and I want to create a community over here, babe. Okay, like we're friends, okay. Let's grow into family because it's rough out here, babe. But sabbatical has been really great, um, and not having to worry about working at the job that I was working at really is the thing. Like, I can work, uh, but like now, thank God. But you know, it's like well, I can't even work now. That's also like the interesting thing is like even if I wanted to work, I can't because I'm on disability, so I cannot start another job. Um, however, yeah, if we're being like, I just God is doing something, and I'm trying to understand exactly where he's taking me in this season, and I think that's where a lot of us are. And you know, if you are in this season, this journey, right, in your life right now, where it's just like, okay, God is really doing something, and I feel it, I know it, but I just don't know how because that's okay, let's talk about it. Okay, let's talk about it. So to get through life in general, right? And I always say, like, if you're not religious, cool, still love you, and you can still listen because like everything applies to everything, and I think people need to understand that, but anyway, uh, you have to have hope and you have to have faith to get through life because life is hard, and I think what is experience what people are experiencing right now is that a lot of people have not had life-altering experiences yet, um, and so it's different for them as they are experiencing it, but nobody is talking about experiencing it for the people that are now experiencing it, you know, like in this climate, we can yes, like you can go back to 2020 and you think about that and like what life was like then, and in a lot of ways, it kind of feels like that is happening again. Um, and I think it's okay for people to recognize that because not only was that an extremely traumatic time, right, for our country, for our world, people are not addressing their mental health needs and where they actually are. Like I said earlier, I had crippling anxiety like for years to the point where it's funny because I've been uh on a teeth straightening journey and I've been on a visa line for almost seven months now, and I had pulled out my second pair of trays that I got and compared them to the trays that I had just put in that morning, and I have made such progress, which is also something that I'm so thankful for. And people like people have things like that where it's like people are literally struggling, and yet every day they're functioning as if they are okay, and that is really painful, and it just makes it all so much worse. And you know, now I can understand and see a lot of what I was experiencing, and I knew that my job was only making what I was personally experiencing worse because it was it a lot of like my trauma is was tied to my job because I had found out that when my dad passed away, uh which is after I was diagnosed with PTSD, was I had found out that my dad had passed away at work, and like my director at the time drove me home, like I was so distraught, like I remember everything, and even going into that office that we were in was like traumatic for me, especially in the beginning, and I'm thankful for the job that I had because when all of that happened, I was able to literally take like almost one month off, like and just be with my family in New York, and I was very grateful for that, but it still was a lot tied to that, and so like if you're not addressing those things, you're not understanding how they're affecting you, and you on the opposite side of the audio, I've been thinking about you and I've been praying for you, and I've been interceding for you because this uh this world is scary, and I've had so many different things that I've wanted to talk about on the pod. And if you are a return lander, then you know, like I really want to talk about being a corporate baddie, honey, and I really want to talk about business because I think a lot, obviously, a lot of what's happening in this world right now is all business transactions, but a lot of people don't understand business, and I have a view and understanding of business with my operations background, which is what I've done for almost five years over five years, with a multi-billion dollar corporation and a global corporation at that that I've been able to learn from, and I don't have to tell you, you know, the ins and outs, but I can explain to you the processes, and I think that's something that I really was struggling with when I was with my job is how do I talk about it? Like, how do I talk about what I know, what I've learned, and my experiences because ultimately I have learned so much in the past six years that can really help someone on their journey and just understanding life a little bit more. Like, I don't know everything, like I'm not over here claiming to know everything, but I do know a lot. I do know a lot, and that's based off of experience, and again, going back to when people, you know, people are just having a lot of experiences and they don't know how to get through them. And the best that I can do is try to give you some info in as plainest text as possible so that way you understand. Because why do people be talking in such like, huh? Just spit it out. What is it? Explain to me, break it down. Um, your girl has also been reading, reading, reading, reading, which has been amazing, and then it's also giving me opportunities to learn new things and new cultures. Uh, I what what was the first book I read? Oh, I think the first book I've read in the past, like in this time, was uh the Sister Soldia, uh, the last one, the midnight one, wasn't it? Midnight one, and who that was so good. It did piss me off toward the end because I just feel like we waited all this time for Winter's story, and then what the heck? So I don't know. I was a little disappointed with the ending, but Sister Soldier is an amazing writer and author. If you have not uh ever read a sister soldier book, especially as a you know young black woman, but anyone can you know pick up something from her stories. But she is a black author and she writes for you know the black community, I think is beautiful because we can only tell our stories the way that we can tell our stories, and hello, that goes for everyone. Your life is your life, like people may be involved in it, they may be included in it, but it is your life, and how you choose to live your life is how you choose to live your life, and it is what it is. Like, people need to realize that is everybody is on their own journey and on their own path, and we shouldn't be judging people for anything. We need to be more compassionate toward people to understand where they're going through, so yeah, I don't know, but there's so much that I want to touch on this season. There's so much that I want to talk about. I want to hear from you. Remember that we do have the landed pod email. You can email me at landed pod l-a-n-d-ed pod at gmail.com, and you can follow me. I've been posting a lot, okay, because I need to be posting still. And I think during this time I I was very insecure because I was literally healing, and I have come out of that, and it's really it's so funny because uh people have been saying to me online, and like my friends will text me or whatever, and they'll be like, um, it's so nice to see you going out more, or like, oh, I see you're going out more, I see you're doing this. It's like, yeah, babe, because the depression was on your girl, and now I am free. Amen. Thank you, Jesus. Because like, I think that's the biggest difference about me. And I had there was something that I had reposted on Instagram, and it was basically like, uh, what you see, like if I'm gonna post every little thing about my life, because what you see is someone that like never gave up, even when life almost tried to take them out. And that has been something that I have completely been reflecting on every day, and just being so, so, so grateful for is the fact that I am literally sitting here in this closet. Like, if you listen to the pod, then you know your girl was really struggling, and I was trying my best to be able to work through that, and I really am just so thankful to God for giving me that word to apply for the short-term disability because it has been so good for my mind to like slow down, to slow down and like recalibrate, and I've been in this recalibration uh season, and I'm like, I thought this was supposed to be my thriving season, but it is. I'm just again, I'm back in multiple seasons, and again, that's a reminder for someone too that you could be in two seasons of your life, and I'm just like, okay, I'm thriving because I really am thriving. Like, I'm thriving, but at the same time, like I'm recalibrating in order to thrive, and ever like whatever your highest goal is, right? Like, mine is to thrive, and I know exactly what that means for me, and I'm doing that. Am I exactly where I want to be? No, because we're always you should always want more for yourself, you should always want better for yourself, and also remember that God wants a lot for you, like He wants so much for you. He doesn't want you to play it small, he doesn't want you to ask for ten dollars when you need 10,000. Like, hey God, like this is what I need. Prayer changes things, faith changes things, having a belief in something changes things. Hey, listen, people just don't understand, and I think that is like the thing. And sometimes when you talk about it, it kind of sounds like ooh, what the heck? But if you believe, you believe. Like, I mean, that's just that's just how it goes. And to have again a belief in something is way better to have a belief in nothing, because when you don't believe in nothing, that's just you out there, you like Beyonce, me, myself, and I. Like, me, myself, and I is all I had in the end. It's what I found out, and it's like, actually, friend, that is not the case, you're not alone, you are not alone, you're never alone. And I've talked about that so many times, and that will that's something that will all I'll always talk about is how you're never alone, even when you think that you are, you never are, and that was something that I've really struggled with, and being able to fully understand that, you know, it's like as I'm going through and like God continues to make a way out of no way, and I'm just so thankful for that. It I'm so thankful. So yeah, it's like uh I feel like I I when I sit in the closet and I come on to record, I never really know what I'm gonna say. Like, like sometimes uh I have like ideas or I'll have like titles, and then I want to be able to like play off the title because then it's like the episode uh title, you may think of it one way, but then you really get something else, like so. I enjoy that. Um, but typically I just know that I know like five minutes before I come in here, which is kind of funny because something just hits me and I'm like, oh yeah, and there are so many things that I want to talk about, so this season will be much different because I've just had so much time to think um and understand things and learn things, and like I said, I love to learn things. Uh, I've taught myself a lot, and being self-teachable is amazing uh because we are our own best teachers, uh, but yeah, yeah, I am going to LA this weekend with my sister Portland, who lives here in Vegas as well, and we're going to LA for LA pride, and yeah, just the two gays going to LA for pride. Also, that's another thing, too. Don't let what people tell you God feels to make you feel like God feels that way. You have to have your own relationship with God to understand fully because I think that's also the thing, too, is that people have relationships with God based off of how they were growing grown up or what was you know what they were influenced by and things that they heard and X, Y, and Z. And that was me for a really long time, and then I was like, okay, like actually I'm not feeling this, believing this, and then coming back and understanding from my own experience and perspective and interpretation because everything is up for interpretation, so and don't let people tell you that it's not because it is, and that's in life in general, like having faith is literally applying generic things to your life and believing that whatever it is is going to happen or come to pass, or you know, so it's just like that's life. Like every day you're like you don't know what's to come, but you have to believe that you're gonna get through this and you're gonna do this, and you're gonna do that, and your kids like you have to believe that something along the day is going to happen, right? So it's like yeah, it's it's very simple. People make everything so much more complicated than it really is, and that is so irritating to me. That's why corporate really just drove me crazy because it's the simplest things, and they can make things so complicated. And when you're in middle management specifically, it's very difficult because you have to manage up and you have to manage down, and managing, I don't know which which one's harder, to be honest. I don't know if managing up is harder or managing down is harder because when you manage down, like I had a team of people, I had to manage their work, their you know, good, bad, in-between, escalations, like all of the things. But then it's like they are responsible for their own job, though. Like I'm responsible to lead you, I'm not responsible to do your job, and then managing up, it's kind of like I'm responsible to do your job. So there's no way that I can manage down and do their jobs, like so it's like you're doing two jobs, and you have like a plus one on your uh on your team, like your team count. I had eight direct reports, well, I had nine. I had nine when I left. I had nine direct reports and plus one, actually plus two, because a manager and a director, so god dang. So give yourself some grace in these jobs because yeah, they want you to do literally everything plus more, so yeah, that's the climate that we are in right now, and that is across all industries for the most part, is they want you to do literally everything for a very uh inequal opportunity. So and I've heard that from so many people like it's actually kind of sad what is happening in the industry right now and how um like the working class is being impacted and affected by because the corporations are doing great. So some of them, not all of them, but those those big ones, majority of them are doing really, really well. While the people that are, you know, like everyday people are struggling. Like people cannot get food and people are losing their food stamps, or they're you know, being decreased without any notification to the qualifier. Um there's I mean, obviously what's happening just in the news and in Texas most recently with uh the 17-year-old, I believe, Carmelo Anthony, um, and his case and how he was sentenced to 35 years in prison. He's a black uh black kid, I believe 17 years old. Um and yeah, blatant injustice happening all all around us, and it's unfortunate. And you know, you have to pay attention to what's going on in the world, and that's also something that previously I wanted to talk about. But you know, with my job, I was very uh I had to feel I felt like I had to censor myself on the pod, which is crazy, because now it's like I can really just speak freely, and I'm grateful for that. I don't feel like I have to think about something before I say it. Um I mean I do, but it's just much more different now. So I'm thankful for that, and I'm just thankful, you know, that God continues to use me in the way that He does, ultimately. Uh, before I go, I am currently reading, I brought it in here, Girl Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo. Uh on the front page it says A Symphony of Black Womanhood. Her language spills over the page. This was also on one of uh the selections by President Barack Obama on his uh Best Books of the Year list. If you've never looked at Obama's book list, you're bugging. Go ahead and do that. You can Google it. But he puts it on his Instagram at the end of every year. Uh someone said, complete, astute, painful, funny, enlightening, and most of all enjoyable, elegant and compulsively readable. I laughed, I cried, I turned the last page fully satisfied. This book is really, really great. I am on page 330 out of 400 and something, 440 snap. This page, this book has 452 pages. So I'm almost there. It's been really, really good. It's it's hard to explain well, it's not really hard to explain, but every chapter is about a different woman, and they're kind of connected in some ways, but very like disconnected also. But it's pretty cool. Um, and it's not it's this is interesting. I would highly recommend this to women to read, obviously, men as well, but I think this is a really great book. It shows you so many different women and their stories and how they overcome things. Um, but it's really, really it's well written. So also, I'm not gonna be able to pronounce her last name because it's Swedish, but Lola Akenamade Acrosstrom AcroStrom? Lola Akin Akenmaid Ackerstrom. Okay, there you go. Lola Akenmaid Ackerstrom. Hopefully. Hopefully. So Lola came out with a book that I had read. It was called uh this is the second one. So right now I'm reading everything is not enough. Um, and when you open the page, it says for the strong looking for safe spaces to be weak. When I start books off like that, I'm like, okay, yes, tell me, speak to me. And this was such a really great book. It was the second part uh to In Every Mirror she's black. Okay, there you go. I was struggling, I had to think about that because it's not on the book, but in every mirror she's black, and oh my gosh, now that I want to read that again. The second part was also amazing. I have to look and see if she uh is coming out with a third, a third would be really nice, uh, but yeah. Also, I have a little tiny mic, and so if I'm going in and out, it's because I'm forgetting that it's in my hand because I'm just literally over here blabbering. And sorry if the sound is a little, I don't know. But we're making progress, we are enhancing things, and yeah, your girl is back. Taylor and I are gonna be meeting to go over some social media stuff really soon. So I'm excited about that. I'm excited about the weekend. Um, when will you hear this? I don't know, but when you do, just know that you are that guy, you are that girl, you are whomever you choose to be, babe. Don't let nothing, no one, okay. Don't let nothing or no one make you feel anything less than him or her or they. Hey, I love everybody, okay. Um, but yeah, remember that. Like this world is hard enough. Living and being in this environment at 30 years old. What the heck? This is not how it was supposed to be. When we turned 30, this is not what it was supposed to be. The world was supposed to be much cheaper, okay? And we were supposed to be living life, and but we are though. It's just we thought that it was gonna be different, but hey, that's life. That's life. Is you may think one thing and it may turn out to be completely different, but you're still living life and you are still thriving, and that is something to be extremely proud of and grateful for that you are yet here another day to be able to figure it out, and some days it's gonna be easier than others, and some days it's gonna be harder than others, but you still have the opportunity to make the next day the best day. Period. I just literally I just float out. I'm back. Okay, I'm out of here. I shall return soon. As always, you are that guy, you are that girl, you are whomever you choose to be, and I love you.