Permission Granted.

A couple of weekends ago, I had the privilege of attending the Women’s Radiance Retreat, in Venice Beach, CA hosted by Neghar Fonooni, Jill Coleman and Jen Sinkler. I joined 40 ambitious women who were also passionate about fitness, living authentically and serving the world. It was life and business-changing as much as it was stepping out of my comfort zone.

Within the first 30 minutes of the retreat, we were asked to introduce ourselves and think of a word/feeling/theme that we would like to encompass in either our lives, relationships, business, and/or that weekend.  This particular exercise wasn’t too far-fetched from my daily ritual of using Danielle Laporte‘s Desire Map Planner, where I identify the type feelings I want to feel that day (my go-to’s are: love, bliss, ease, abundance, connection, joy, light).  That day, and particularly for that weekend and my training business, I chose two words: connection and push.

Connection
I want(ed) to connect with like-mind people who understand the passion, the hustle and desire of being in the fitness/health and wellness/self development/self improvement industry.  I shared that being an entrepreneur can be sometimes lonely (I don’t have colleagues), so finding a tribe would nice.  Being an ambivert, and leaning more into my introvert side when thrown into a group of 40 people I don’t know, I knew I would have to step outside of my comfort zone to meet new people.  Which I did, and I’m grateful for — hello self-growth.  The ladies also made it easy; everyone had an open heart and mind.  Bonding and making friends with women who come from a place of service and purpose, who also want to cultivate an enriching and fulfilling life that aligns with their values was wonderful.  It was also cool to not be the “odd girl out” in the group — the one who drinks a lot of water, has protein bars in her purse, needs to wake up at 6am on a Saturday during a conference weekend to get my early a.m. workout in, not have someone look at my plate and question my macros and dietary choices, or a raised eyebrow when I ordered a diet coke in lieu of alcohol.  It was refreshing to be in a tribe that just understood.

Myself and my SFO radiance sisters: Lara & Amanda

Push
I explained to the group that my second word, push, meant that I needed the push to make the jump into creating an online presence (hence, this inaugural post).  I have been ready and been itching to create, albeit still fearful, but needed someone to grant me permission to start.  Thank you Jill Coleman, for doing that for me!  While the opportunity to create content and speak my truth is exciting and somewhat intimidating, I think my main fear comes from not being able to level up and be consistent; alas, I have not started for the fear that I would eventually stop.  So why bother starting?  How silly, but that is how my brain works.  I have a very polarized, black-and-white way of thinking: if I don’t see myself doing it entirely, I don’t want to start.

How relatable is that?  How many times have we not bothered trying to pursue something — a new fitness program, a new relationship, a new business venture, setting a challenging goal — in fear that we aren’t going to succeed?  So we do ourselves the disservice and deprive ourselves from the experience and lessons of the journey.  [Note: This is not to be mistaken with ignoring your intuition.  There is a fine line between following your gut and intuitively knowing that something is not worth pursuing, versus being paralyzed by fear because you can’t get out of your head.]

A quote from one of my favourite authors, Marianne Williamson, sums it up perfectly:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” – Marianne Williamson

My mindset has changed and I have been granted permission.  What permission are you consciously or subconsciously seeking? If you need permission to start something great and step out of your comfort zone, here it is: PERMISSION GRANTED. It was given to me, and now I am giving it to you.  Don’t look back, run with it.  When your actions align with your intentions and you are doing something that lights up your soul, you are adding value to the world and are inspiring others to do the same.

What word or theme do you want to embody today, this month or this year?  What have you done lately that has made you step out of your comfort zone?  What fear are you trying to master?  What permission are you consciously or subconsciously needing?