What if the path you’re on isn’t the one you’re meant to follow? In this episode, Bex Woods joins me to share her transformative journey from the structured world of law to the creative realm of photography. We unravel the courage it takes to step away from security and explore the passions that truly resonate with our souls. I also share my personal experiences with therapy and how confronting the unhealed parts of myself has reshaped my relationships and enhanced my happiness. Together, we discuss how playing it safe can sometimes be our biggest obstacle to achieving our true potential.
As we reflect on the profound impact of childhood experiences on our adult lives, the conversation shifts to how these early moments can shape our identities, sometimes confining us within roles that limit our spontaneity and joy. Inspired by my own upbringing centered around safety and responsibility, I challenge you to reconnect with your authentic self, free from societal expectations. Through personal stories and coaching insights, this episode encourages taking bold action and trusting in a higher power to lead you toward a life aligned with your true purpose. Join us for a heartfelt discussion on the power of introspection and the freedom that comes with embracing who you were always meant to be.
Transcript:
Speaker 1:
If you’ve ever struggled with fear, doubt or worry and wondering what your true purpose was all about, then this podcast is for you. In this show, your host, sylvia Worsham, will interview elite experts and ordinary people that have created extraordinary lives. So here’s your host, sylvia Worsham.
Speaker 2:
Hey, lightbringers, it’s Sylvia Worsham. Welcome to Released Out Revealed Purpose. In this episode we’re going to be talking about how we can stop taking the safer route and actually step into what our purpose is calling us to do. And have you ever reached a pinnacle in your life, a turning point, a change that makes you stop and think am I really where I’m meant to be? And I know that the guest I interviewed this week, bex Woods, talked so much about just taking that leap of faith and leaving her career her very stable and secure career in law and stepping into what she was really meant to be and do, which was photography. And it takes sometimes living that life a long time and having something profound happen for you to look at your life and say I’m done being this person.
Speaker 2:
This is not who I was created to be in shifting and doing it, scared, quite frankly, because you don’t know what’s on the other side of that choice. Right, it’s kind of like the price is right when they would have you choose. But door number one, door number two, number two, door number three, you’re taking a big chance and you’re picking and you’re hoping and praying that’s going to work out and sometimes it doesn’t. Guys, let me be frank. Sometimes you start off and it’s not this linear path, it’s a bumpy road, twists and. But when you continue to listen to your soul’s promptings instead of what your ego is telling you to do ego meaning your past experiences, the past traumas they speak and they can be real, loud inside your mind and they can tell you to stay exactly where you’re at, because it’s what you know, it’s what you program your mind to do. I’m going to share something that’s very personal to me.
Speaker 2:
Yesterday I sat across the way from who is going to be my therapist for the next I don’t know how many months and I’ve chosen this route because there are parts of me that are not healed, that are really hurting my marriage, and they’re hurting relationships and they’re hurting me, quite frankly, and I’ve chosen to face it head on, just like I’ve chosen to face a lot of my things head on, and those who have read In Faith I Thrive know this is how I’ve always been. I’ve always been. I face my fears head on because I’ve learned that it only delays my joy when I don’t. So I’m choosing the route that initially looks not so great, kind of bleak, and really I don’t know what’s on the other side. I do know and I trust that God is leading me in the path of greater joy. That I do know, and I know that when I turn inwards for my answers, instead of like completely outside of myself, I have found the answers I was looking for. So I am trusting God. God will lead me and guide me. And in conversation with this therapist, I realized something very profound about me is that I’ve stepped into a role, this responsible role, for far too long. I’ve always wondered why I sometimes sabotage my joy, why I sometimes sabotage my joy, why I, instead of receiving a happy moment, I have to interrupt it somehow to bring in something serious. And I’ve always wanted to know the reason why I’m doing that. Is there a pattern of behavior here? Is there something I’m just not seeing? So that’s why I sought the help of an individual therapist and in conversation with her I realized that I’ve been doing this for a long time.
Speaker 2:
I grew up being told to be safe and secure in my spot, because I wasn’t allowed to do fun things as a kid, because my dad was always kind of like anxious about things. He would tell us statistically speaking, you’ll die if you do this. So we weren’t allowed to do trampolines or anything like motorcycles or anything that was going to put us in danger. So when we went on vacation, it was like really boring stuff that we did. Right, it’s safe stuff. And so all of that is information your mind is taking in and it’s it’s forming these belief systems of like you gotta, you gotta stay safe.
Speaker 2:
And then I have a trauma. And when I’m seven years old for those that read the book in faith, I thrive. That’s chapter one and, interestingly enough, it’s titled I am responsible, because that is the lesson I am taught to be responsible. But is it really who I was created to be? I can’t even remember who I was prior to that trauma. I don’t know if I was this joyful, energetic child that just couldn’t sit still, I don’t know. I don’t know who I was before that and I want to discover who she is, because I sense that that’s not really who I am. It’s just someone that I programmed my mind to be because it’s everything I knew, right.
Speaker 2:
And I remember my, like my husband asking me like you know how come you’re not? You know he didn’t say it this way. He’d say, like I really wish we could have more fun together, right. But yesterday that was recounting our like the start of our relationship. I realized, like this huge aha moment of like when were we supposed to have fun with all these changes coming at us? And I mean they were major changes. They weren’t these little things coming at us, you know. So, first, you know my miraculous recovery. That’s very stressful, you know, I nearly died on the guy and we were dating. That’s how our relationship started.
Speaker 2:
From that space, I moved to Austin. I pretty much like gave up my career at Pfizer because Pfizer’s unwilling to like transfer me. So my safe and secure is like rocked. But I’m still doing the responsible thing because I want to have like health insurance for my boy and and I can’t rely on anyone else to do that for me, I can only rely on myself because I’ve been, I’ve been told like from a young age it’s your responsibility, it’s your role, and I’ve taken that role and what I’ve realized is that when I took that role, it really impacted everything I did. I mean even in my finances. I was wanting to just keep my money in the bank and never wanting to invest it. And I’m so grateful for personal development and growth because at some point I overcame that belief and I understood where that was coming from in finances and I completely changed my identity there, right, and I started to invest my money, and now I’m glad I did. But in my relationships I’ve not shifted that persona around and it does impact. It impacts big time.
Speaker 2:
So I want to pause here and just ask you guys listening, who on here feels like they are who they were created to be? I mean, truly, do you feel that way? Do you feel whole and full and fulfilled right now? And if the answer is no, then I’m going to challenge you, in a very healthy way, to look inward for those answers, to turn to your higher source of power and ask the question who am I meant to be? Who did you create me to be? Am I living out the life I’m meant to live or am I choosing to stay safe?
Speaker 2:
Because of what happened to me as a child? And just recently, on my social media pages I put up a picture that really resonated with me. It’s this little girl and her heart. She has her hands over her heart and the caption read your wound. The healing, like your wound, is not your fault, but it is your responsibility to heal, because these wounds that we’re carrying around, this trauma that our body is carrying around, that our mind is keeping score with, it’s coming out of us somehow and it’s impacting our relationships and it’s impacting, perhaps, our career, like it was impacting my guests this week. It kept her safe and secure there and she was so scared to see like what was on the other side of that. But once she did step out, like once COVID hit and she stepped out and she said I’ve had enough of this. This isn’t who I am anymore.
Speaker 2:
Have you ever reached that pinnacle, that turning point? Did you stay securely in the spot that you’re in or did you dare to live out your purpose, dare to become the person you were created to be? Did you take that chance and that leap of faith? And if the answer is no, then ask yourself, why leap of faith? And if the answer is no, then ask yourself why, because only you can ask yourself why and not get defensive, you know. Ask yourself why, why didn’t I? What’s stopping you from like taking that leap of faith and saying yes to being who you were meant to be and created to be and following your soul’s direction? So, so I want you to just pause and take a couple of moments of reflection after hearing this message and saying journaling, asking God, asking your higher source of power why, show me why? And having the discipline to just listen, see what comes to you and just write it out and look at it. And then the next challenge is this Actually taking some action on what you see in front of you and what you hear back from that question, taking some action towards it.
Speaker 2:
You know, yesterday, when I coached someone, she’s had this book that’s ready to be released. And she kept giving me outs and excuses and I kept hearing that in our call and I just stopped her and said why are you giving yourself outs? She looked at me, said you’ve known since you were in high school that you are a storyteller and this book’s been ready, right, so what’s stopping you from pulling the trigger? And she had grown up similar to me, where you felt like failure was not an option. But that’s a lie, guys. That is a total lie and it’s based on things that happen when you were very little. What happened to you is not your fault.
Speaker 2:
It is, however, your responsibility to heal it, because then, you can’t step fully into this person until you heal that and listen and tune in and and and say yes. Say yes to being the person you were created to be. I’m Sylvia Warsham. Thank you so much for tuning in, to Dare to Live Out your Purpose on Purpose. Have a wonderful week, stay safe, love y’all. Bye now.
Speaker 1:
So that’s it for today’s episode of Release Doubt Reveal Purpose. Head on over to iTunes or wherever you listen and subscribe to the show. One lucky listener every single week who posts a review on iTunes will win a chance in the grand prize drawing to win a $25,000 private VIP day with Sylvia Worsham herself. Be sure to head on over to ReleasedOutRevealPurposePodcastcom and pick up a free copy of Sylvia’s gift and join us on the next episode.