I Turned Down Broadway To Manifest Motherhood

A Broadway contract. A dream opportunity. And a quiet inner knowing that said… not now.

In this episode of Essence Embodied by Tyne Stecklein, I share one of the most personal decisions of my career: turning down a role in The Cher Show on Broadway and choosing a completely different dream instead — motherhood.

After dancing for Cher at Caesars Palace, on tour, and even in Burlesque, I got the chance to audition for The Cher Show on Broadway. I made every cut as a dancer, singer, and actor, and was ultimately offered the job. It was flattering, exciting, and also deeply unsettling, because beneath the excitement I realized the dream I’d been chasing might not be the one I wanted most anymore.

In this episode, I walk through the exact process I used to find clarity: getting quiet, listening to my intuition, testing the doubt, visualizing what I truly wanted, and taking aligned action even if it surprised everyone around me.

If you’re navigating a big life decision, questioning a dream you’ve outgrown, or learning to trust yourself more deeply, this episode is for you.

Thank you so much for being here! If you are enjoying the show, it would mean so much if you please follow Essence Embodied, share it with someone who needs it, and leave a rating and review! Thank you!

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I'd like to say a massive thank you to my editor and dear friend, Nikki Dalonzo, for supporting me on this journey! 

Transcript

Welcome And The Big Dream

Tyne Stecklein 0:00

Welcome to Essence Embodied by Tyne Stecklein, a storytelling podcast inspired to help you own your authenticity and ground into your self-worth because you are worthy of a life that you love. Today, I am going to share with you how I used manifestation to make my biggest dream in life come true. I didn't even know what manifestation was at the time that I used the tool so beautifully. I turned down one of the biggest opportunities for my career to gain the biggest personal blessing in the world. So if there is something in your heart, on your mind, that you really want for yourself, a dream job, a dream relationship, a path that just feels aligned. Well, this episode is for you because we are going to talk through how to make that happen. Let's dive

From Cher Tours To Broadway

Tyne Stecklein 0:51

in. I've shared on a prior episode of the podcast how I was fortunate enough to get to dance for Cher multiple times in my career. I danced for her at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas very early on in my career. I danced for her again. I went on tour with her. And I also was in the movie Burlesque, which she starred in. Later on in my career, because I had built such a great relationship with the team that Cher works with, I got an opportunity to audition for something really big, something that I had never done before. And that was a Broadway show. They were making the Cher show on Broadway, and it was going to be in New York. I got asked to audition, and it was a different team of producers, executives making the show, but Cher's manager was still a part of the project, and so was Cher herself. So I auditioned as a dancer. I also had to audition as a singer and an actress. Singing was, you know, maybe my least confident of the three things, but growing up, I really made it a priority to be a well-rounded performer, which is something for my aspiring performers out there that I cannot stress to you enough. Do as many things as you can. Do them with passion, do them fully because it's only going to make for more opportunities for you in your career path. But anyway, so I had to sing and I also got to act, which was something that my heart was so invested in at that point in my career. I had had an amazing dance career, but at a certain point, acting began to feel more like my adult passion. So getting the opportunity to also audition for a role in this Broadway show was really amazing. So I danced and made that cut. I sang, I made that cut, I acted, I made that cut. I got to come back for a callback. And at the end of the day, I got offered the job. They were starting with just a workshop process in Chicago, and they were gonna figure out the show essentially. And they invited me as one of the dancers to be there for a part of that process. And then from there, we would take the show to New York on Broadway, and I would get to add Broadway to my resume.

The Offer With No Role Promised

Tyne Stecklein 3:03

Well, here was the kicker. When I was offered this, I was not told what my role in the show was going to be. Was I going to just be a dancer? Was I going to have lines? Was I going to get offered a character name? They couldn't tell me. They couldn't tell my agent. They couldn't tell my manager. They said, we love her. We want her to be a part of this. We don't know who's getting lines. We don't know who those parts are gonna go to. We don't even know for sure what parts are available yet, but we want her to be a part of the process. So this was very flattering. Anytime someone wants you on their team, it feels good. It feels good in life to be wanted, to be needed. I can now tell you that while it's great to allow ourselves to feel that, and we should, we should feel that, especially when it's something we've worked very hard for. I had worked so hard my whole career for opportunities like this. We also don't want to be validated by someone else saying, I want her. We want to find ways to validate our own self-worth. For example, a way that I can do that is to track my own progress and see when I'm making progress, okay, I should feel really good about that and myself. Not just because someone offers me a job, should I feel good about my craft, about my talent. But anyway, so I felt good that I had been asked to be a part of this, but there was something inside me that felt unsure. So once I got offered this opportunity to go first to Chicago and then to New York, which this altogether was gonna encompass years of my life. About six months in Chicago for the workshop phase, and then about two years in New York for the Broadway show. And that was, you know, couldn't get extended from there, but that was the contract that I was being offered. I wanted to feel so excited. There was a part of me that was to be given that kind of an opportunity. I've never taken lightly, but I also had been working towards something with my acting, and I felt really unsure about accepting this dance role that wasn't furthering me towards my new goals, which were my acting. And there was some time before I had to officially say yes to the contract. And my representation, my agent, my manager were doing a little more on their end to see if we could get more information.

Holding My Nephew Changed Me

Tyne Stecklein 5:24

And I went home to visit my family. My oldest brother had just had a baby, him and his wife, and it was their third baby, and I already had nieces and nephews. But I was getting to meet my newest and youngest nephew for the first time. And I can still so vividly remember sitting there and holding him in my arms. And again, this was not new. I had held a baby before, but holding him in my arms and for the first time feeling whole, if you will. Feeling something so bigger than I could put into words. And for the first time, I felt my maternal instinct kick in. I might want to be a mother. Now, I had already been married to my husband, Corey, for gosh, maybe six years at this point. And he had wanted kids for quite some time. He's older than me. I had not felt ready because I was working on establishing my career. And I kept feeling like if I could just get to this point in my resume, if I could just check these boxes, if I could just do this and this, then I will feel ready. And I made it about my career and the achievements, the accomplishments that I wanted to first have before I could take almost a step back from my professional life, is how I thought about it at the time. But sitting there holding my nephew, I just felt something so deep inside of myself saying, You might want this. You're ready for this. This feels important in a way that no job ever had, no booking ever had. That doesn't mean it was easy for me to make a decision, however, because there are so many parts of us and we are influenced by so many people in our life. And I don't mean that as a negative thing, you know, people that we care about, that we love, who we can ask their opinion when we have a difficult decision to make. And they're gonna give us their honest opinion and we take that to heart. So I had a lot of people in my life who, when I ask, should I go and do this Broadway show in New York? Well, of course, they're gonna say, you should. This is an amazing opportunity for you. And it would have been an amazing opportunity for me. And most of these people who I asked, you know, they really do care about me. So it's not just, oh, well, your agent's gonna make a commission off of you. Of course, they want you to do it. They want me to get to experience that. My mom, she was my dance teacher. She has been through every step of my career with me and through every yes and every no, and you know, the roller coaster that is pursuing a creative path. She has always been there for me. And this was an opportunity I hadn't had yet. So for her, that's like, oh my goodness. First of all, you're so proud as a mother. And second of all, of course, you want your kid to get to experience everything they possibly can in their life. And because I felt a little alarmed at this idea of maybe wanting to try and start a family, I asked other people's opinion.

If You Have Doubt Don’t

Tyne Stecklein 8:35

And I had an incredible mentor at the time, Dr. Mark Holmes, who you will hear me talk about often. And I took this to him and I said, I don't know what to do. My husband and I have been building a life together. We live in Los Angeles. This means me uprooting what we are creating to go to the opposite coast, to do this thing that would be so exciting, of course, but it's not necessarily aligned with the path that I'm on, pursuing my acting, unless they give me an opportunity, which they can't guarantee me, I'm just really lost. You know, I told my mentor. And he gave me this piece of advice that I still use today, that I live by, and I'm excited to offer you, which was if you have doubt, don't. Now, there's always two ways to look at this. If I had doubt about turning down a Broadway show, of course I did. Did I have doubt about uprooting the life that I was creating with my husband? Of course I did. So there's two sides to this coin. But my mentor encouraged, and this is something that I encourage you all to do with big decisions that you have to make in your life when you need clarity, to get really quiet with myself. Actually find some time where I'm not on my phone, I'm not with other people, I'm not thinking about my to-do list, but to get quiet and still and close my eyes and picture what I want for myself and my life. And he said, You already know the answer. You already have the answer inside of you. And we do that inner knowing, that inner knowledge, it's really easy for it to get kind of trapped underneath the noise and the overwhelm of the outside life. But we do know it is in there. And when I was able to get really quiet and think, what does time want? What do I want for my life, for my marriage, for my future? It became really clear to me that I wanted to try and have a baby. And you can see if you're watching, it still makes me really emotional to think about today because I think it was the first time that I let myself really be there for me and my needs and my wants and decide something about my life and my future that wasn't based on anyone else except my husband, except my life partner, who is a factor in this too. But even he had said, if you want to go do this show, I'm not gonna stand in your way. Like I support you. So it really was my choice. So when I asked myself, what do you have doubt about? If you have doubt, don't. I was able to realize I have doubt about going to Chicago and then New York. I have doubt about accepting this opportunity right now with where I am at in my life. Yes, slightly because of the acting and not knowing if I was gonna get a role, but more so because I wanted something bigger. And that also made me realize I don't need someone to tell me that I'm worthy of using my voice on the stage, that I'm worthy of getting this acting role. I knew I was worthy of it, whether they gave it to me at the end of the day or not. I had been working so hard at my acting craft. I loved it, I still love to act wholeheartedly. I'm worthy of using my voice. And I didn't want to get a year into this job and find out from someone else, not this time around. I also had had the incredible experience of being on stage with Cher, dancing for Cher, learning from Cher. With this Broadway show, Cher was going to be a producer, the executive producer, but she wasn't going to be on stage. And I thought, I have already soaked up so much from her and getting to work with her. I don't need to take this opportunity because I've already been on stage with her. This is a story about her life, and that is beautiful and brilliant, but I can step away from this and not feel

Manifestation Needs Inspired Action

Tyne Stecklein 12:31

like I'm missing out on a milestone. And I know that that was the right decision because one month after I made the decision and I told my agent to send the email politely declining the opportunity, which you've maybe heard me say before, we can always politely decline opportunities because we should be in charge of our life, what is in our best interest for our life. We are always going to be our own best advocate. Once I had that email sent, within one month from that timeline, my husband and I were pregnant with our first child. And that in itself is pretty mind-blowing because it's pretty hard to get pregnant. It can be. When we wanted to have more babies down the line, it was certainly not that easy. And the timeline was not fast like that. So the fact that I made this decision for myself and my life, I got really clear. I had such clarity. I could visualize what it looked like when I got quiet and how good it would feel. And then it happened. I manifested that for myself and for my family. That son of mine is now seven years old, and it was truly the best decision that I could have made. Becoming a mother has been the greatest role of my life. It's a little cheesy and it's completely unexpected because my career was everything to me. And for so long I wasn't ready to have a child yet that I felt like, am I ever gonna want this? Am I ever gonna feel this? Because my husband that I married, he sure wanted kids. We don't know when things are going to feel right for us, when they're going to be aligned, when they're going to come into our thoughts, to our heart. But the best advice I can give is being open because when we kind of get this divine inspiration of, oh wow, this feels beyond anything I've ever felt. I think it's on purpose and I think it's alignment. And I think if we can listen to it and know that it's meant for us, and then we can take inspired action, that's when we can actually really start to create our life in a way that feels truly in alignment with our highest self, for our highest good, for everyone around us, highest good. Manifestation at the time was not something that I was practicing. I don't even know if I knew what it meant, to be honest. But I had this clarity. I got quiet with myself. It wasn't about anyone else. I had this divine inspiration of maybe I want a family. And then I said it to my husband. I also took the action to be like, this is important, right? I'm gonna shout this out, maybe not from the rooftops, but to the people that that matter, my my immediate family, my good friends. And I think that's a big part of manifestation. We could sit and be in quiet, be in meditation, be in prayer all day and visualize things that we want for our life. But if you don't take inspired action, if you don't take even one small baby step, put one foot in front of the other each day towards achieving these things that you dream of, these things that feel inspired and aligned, then we're not going to ever achieve them. If I don't actually sit down and set up to record podcast episodes, even though I know I'm supposed to be making a podcast right now in my life, it feels very on purpose. But if I don't take these action steps, of course the podcast is not going to get made. So what is something in your life that you feel so called to do? Or maybe it's a relationship that you so are ready to bring in, or a path that you so want to walk along, a job that you so want to get. Do you first of all have the clarity? Do you have the clarity that it's for you and it's for you right now and it is it is divinely guided? And if so, picture what it looks like. Because sometimes we want these things because we think it will then check the box or it will make us feel successful, or it's just the next step. If I had had, if I had wanted to have a baby because it was just the next right step, I don't know that I would have been able to get pregnant. If I had gone to New York and said, well, I'm gonna sign this contract, but I still think I want to have a baby. So we're just gonna start trying. I don't know that my body and my mind would have allowed me to get pregnant because I would have been in rehearsal, I would have known I'm under contract, I would have known I'm gonna be working really, really hard doing stuff that physically is very demanding. I don't know that I could have supported that. But I made a choice towards what I wanted so that everything could line up for that to actually come to fruition for me. So when you feel this divine inspiration and you know this, it's the time for me to do fill in the blank, then get quiet with yourself and visualize what it looks like and that feeling that it'll give you and know that you can already tap into that feeling, that beyond abundance love that I felt holding my nephew, it's available to me with my husband, with my mom, with my dear friends. I can already start to tap into that feeling so that I'm bringing more of that energy into my life. And then I'm kind of already on that wavelength. I'm already at the frequency to bring that thing into my life, to attract it into my life so that it makes it possible. And then I take action steps towards making it happen. So that is my story of how I got really clear with myself. I got really quiet. I decided what I wanted for me. I showed up for time first, and I made this big decision that maybe isn't what other people would have chosen for me and my career, but it was the right one for me. And then it was so validated when I actually was able to get pregnant and have this healthy pregnancy and healthy baby and begin my family. And like I said, this is my favorite story because it set up my future as a mom. And becoming mom has made me realize that everything else comes second to being of service, to caring for, to loving on the jobs, the

Key Takeaways And Review Request

Tyne Stecklein 19:03

resume, the things. They are not nearly as important to me and in my life as they were before I was a mom, which does not mean you need to become a mother to feel that. And in fact, I almost wish that I wouldn't have put the weight that I did on my resume and needing to check all those boxes. I wish that I had just felt like I am exactly where I am supposed to be right now on my pathway. I'm not behind. I'm not missing the opportunities that are meant for me. When they are meant for me, they won't miss me. I wish that I would have felt a little more that way. So maybe that's something that you can take away with you today, no matter where you are on your path. And know that you might be one moment away from something that will end up being the biggest blessing, the best thing that's ever happened to you. Manifestation is the process of turning desires into reality. So, how can you start to turn your desires into your reality today? And if you enjoyed this episode, it would mean so much if you would leave me a five star review. You could leave me a comment about how the show is impacting you. Be sure to continue to follow along. Thank you. This is Essence Embodied by Tyne Stecklein.