Ever felt like you’ve hit every career milestone yet something’s still missing? Join me, Sylvia Worsham, as we unravel the story of Bex Woods, a young mother who found herself at this crossroads. Trapped in the confines of a secure legal career, Bex dared to follow her true calling and passion for photography. Her journey from legal administration to capturing moments behind a camera lens is a testament to the courage it takes to redefine one’s professional identity and pursue a more fulfilling path.
Together, we explore the common struggle faced by many who, like Bex and myself, achieved success but felt unfulfilled. Hear about our personal experiences of wrestling with self-doubt and the fear of leaving behind stable careers—whether it was pivoting from a top firm or a prestigious role at Pfizer. These stories serve as a reminder that true satisfaction often lies beyond the conventional metrics of success. With introspection and self-awareness, we can break the patterns of fear and embrace the unknown, opening doors to new beginnings and creative pursuits.
Embracing change is no small feat, but life events often steer us toward our true purpose. Discover how pivotal moments, such as auditioning for a community theater production or the shifts brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, can reignite passions and realign us with our divine purpose. By sharing personal stories of overcoming fears and seizing opportunities, this episode encourages you to recognize change not as a threat, but as an invitation to explore your unique role in the world. Tune in to find inspiration, courage, and perhaps, the push you need to pivot toward your most fulfilling life.
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, your host of Released Out with Real Purpose, and today is Bex Woods. And let me just tell you, for those that have followed me on social media and have seen the phenomenal photography session I posted on it, she posted on it my shots people were like amazed. They’re like oh my gosh, she captured your essence and that’s what Bex would kind of promise me. She would do that. But that’s not how I met Bex. I met her at a mastermind last year. We both got brought into the Vixen mastermind and we went on retreats together and we were the only two that actually attended all retreats. Now that I think about it, and we bonded immensely because we just had so much in common and we were both entrepreneurs, both trying to relaunch our business.
Speaker 2:
I was trying to get my book published and written and the whole nine yards, and she was shifting her business around. But she comes from a whole different background than the chapter. She’s currently in her life today and she’ll get into it in a second. But she came from the legal environment. She was a legal administrator of this big law practice and from that space she decided to take a leap of faith and move into photography, which was a passion of hers and now has become her living and her purpose. We don’t know if it’s seasonal or not, but she’ll get into that as well in the interview, without further ado. Bex, thank you so much for joining us this morning.
Speaker 3:
Thank you, sylvia, I’m so happy to be here.
Speaker 2:
Happy you’re with us and your joyful face is always like a ray of sunshine in my life. I know you have a story to tell as it comes to our careers, because as women we kind of struggle a little bit with our identities at the beginning. We’re not as composed as men. Men know exactly who they are, they know what they want in life and they start building their kingdom from the beginning and we’re the nurturers right and we nurture and we take care of our own, and somewhere along the way we find our purpose. So I want you to kind of dive deeply into that wonderful story of transformation from that space that you came from to the space you’re coming in.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, from legal to photography Well, and I guess you can also look at it it’s sort of night and day. It’s like a very analytical kind of job and then a very creative kind of job, and those worlds don’t really mix very often, certainly not in legal. But I think I was a young mom. I had my first son, my first child, at 20. And so I think that kicked off this thing in me to choose the safer route and I’ve always been entrepreneurial. So at first I wanted to be home with my baby and so I started a business from home and it was really successful. It was online eBay stuff when eBay was just taken off and I did really really well with that. For a couple of chances I was like choosing more of the safer routes. And so and my whole family had left, like my, my family were very close. My mom went to Wyoming, my sister was in the UK like permanently and like she was an exchange student in France, met a British guy, fell in love and never came back. Good for her, good for her, yes, right, yeah. And then my brother moved to Houston and like, looking back now, I never considered it before, but looking back now it’s like I just FYI. I chose to go to Houston. But looking back now it’s like why didn’t I go to the UK? Why didn’t I go to Wyoming? I could have gone and explored and it would have been safe for me to do that. I had my mom there, I had my sister there, but I chose to go to Houston, I think because that felt safe and I wasn’t aware of that safety decision. But looking back, that’s definitely what happened. But you know, it’s a good thing that I went.
Speaker 3:
I went to University of Houston. I graduated cum laude with two degrees I have a bachelor’s in accounting and one in business management and so my very first job, I got hired as a legal administrator at a brand new fledgling law firm that also just so happened to be only Harvard lawyers. So I started at the cream of the crop, so to speak, at the highest possible level for someone in my career, but at the very sparks of that happening. And so that was a very I don’t know if I’d call it luck, but that was just a really wonderful thing to have happened to me, because usually a legal administrator position, someone will get into that role and be in it for 20 years. They never leave, and so it’s hard. They’re hard to find and also usually to be hired into that role you’ve got to also have 10 plus years of experience behind you, and I had no experience. You know, I have this company. I started I had like a short internship at a law firm, at another law firm, and so that’s how my legal career began and I was a legal administrator for about 15 years just shy of that and I did really well.
Speaker 3:
But I never was truly, I never really felt fulfilled. But I was chasing after that, that, that fulfillment. I was looking for it and I was getting it. Here and there I really loved being doing a good job. It was very important to me that I did the best job, not just a good job. I wanted to do the best job and so I kind of in a way probably not kind of I definitely some workaholic stuff kind of crept in there. I, you know, no one ever asked me to work every weekend and to work till 9, 10 PM most nights, but I did it because I knew that no one else could do that. I just, you know, that was the bet I was taking and usually that that was the case. That was, you know, shining star.
Speaker 3:
But I think once I got all the things that I saw as success in my career, um, and for me, some silly things well, compensation was one I wanted to have a certain. I had that number in my head, a certain number of compensation. I wanted to have a big window office. I wanted to be treated with respect because it’s interesting going into legal administration as a younger person. I started college late because I had my son around 20. So I graduated around 25. But a 25-year-old legal administrator is very rare and so often the people I was working with were double my age and I had to sort of convince them like, hey, you can trust me, I’m, I’m a great leader, I’m a good, I do a great job. So there was always kind of an uphill battle. So that was one of the things I wanted.
Speaker 3:
That that was a struggle for me in the beginning was to have just a natural respect from my peers, from my coworkers and all of that. And so by the end of that I also wanted to work at a commercial litigation law firm. That’s the kind of firm I started with. So that first firm was commercial litigation and then I went to a few others and it was kind of like I think you know everything around me was telling me this is not for you. But you think you know everything around me was telling me this is not for you. But you know, to me I’d be like, oh, I’m not enjoying this, it’s the people around me, it’s this location, it’s this type of law. So I’m going to, I’m going to.
Speaker 3:
So I went to a new firm. Everything would be wonderful, but probably within a year it’s like I’m back here again, but it’s maybe it’s these people, it’s this type of law. And so you know, by the by the time I got to the last firm that I was working at, it was, it was 2020. I’d actually been there since 2018, I think. But you know it was. I had everything I ever dreamt of, everything I ever dreamt of. I had the car I wanted, I had the home I wanted, I had the family I wanted, I had the office that I wanted, with the windows. Downtown Houston commercial litigation law firm, beautiful view, and my firm respected me and they liked me, and that’s just a nice feeling.
Speaker 2:
Oh, I’ve been there. I was there for Pfizer, you know, when I was at Pfizer, that’s, I had it. I had it all. Like anybody looking from the outside looking into my life, oh my gosh, she has it all, even though I was a single mom, been through marriage, little kid, lived in a posh neighborhood, had the respect of all the doctors I worked with in ICUs, carried my weight in Pfizer, I was on advisory boards, had six-figure salary, I had big-time bonuses, I was a top performer, a multiple award winner, and, like you, it was like like there’s no fulfillment here, like there’s something missing and I can’t put my finger on it. I still haven’t found the one. You know, I still met um donnie. I was in the valley, in the real grand valley, so south texas. But like you, it was like it was always there in the back like a seed just growing and growing and growing, little mustard seed planted long ago. What was that turning point for you?
Speaker 3:
So, like I was saying, I really was in every sense a workaholic and it got better when I, you know, met Brian, had had more and started that more family-oriented life Because, like you, I was a single mom for 12 years with my little boy, who’s now 22. So, yeah, what was the turning point? It was 2020. Honestly, it was COVID. So March 13th was the last day for me in the office and I feel really lucky to work at a law firm. They were very liberal in the sense that they were like go home, do not come in work, we’ll figure it out, work from home. They didn’t call us back until October and I know many firms because legal is the kind of business that can operate even under those strict whatever I forget what that a necessary business or something and so I know many of my peers and friends were still having to drive downtown and show up and do all the things because that’s just what their bosses wanted them to do, and I felt very lucky I still feel very lucky that they let us go home, told us to go home, we weren’t allowed to come back and they didn’t call us back until October, and so for me so my house is here in the woodlands, which is about an hour hour and a half depending on traffic from downtown Houston, and so my commute was anywhere between hour to hour and a half twice. So all of a sudden, I got like two to three hours back of my day and my kids were home because schools were, schools were online, and so I just I think a big part of me was avoiding my family.
Speaker 3:
This is like this is a really maybe my transformation story, but it’s this part is more of of just I guess me, I guess it is a transformation, just me realizing like, oh, I do like to be around my family and I know I always like to be around my family, but I think I always made excuses to not do the things with them. You know, I’d always I’d come home 7, 8 PM, sometimes just in time to say I love you and put them to bed, you know. So it felt like I was doing my duty as a mom. I always went to the important events, you know, but past that I was like work, work, work, work, work, and so 2020 just made me have to slow down like we had to in the first couple of weeks. We didn’t really even have work like the you, you know, it was just for me, it was just like connecting with the staff and making sure we’re, all, you know, in good spirits and still on the team, you know, but it was that time, just I don’t know, just sitting on the sofa with my laptop but see my kids run through the room and I, just it lit me up with so much joy to to. It’s for me, like for me, and I and I and I have I tread this lightly, I, I because I know it’s not the same story for everyone. For many people it was a horrible time for them, and I even had a friend that passed away the end of 2020, and you know. So it’s not the same picture for everyone, but for me it was.
Speaker 3:
It was a time of calm and peace for me in a world that before I did not have. That it was just go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, rest. All loved it, and so I was thinking I just got used to that. I got used to having a slow morning with my kids and having time to take a walk and having time to go to the park. And same thing, like with Brian. Brian was also working remotely and luckily we were able to be in separate places. I don’t know that we would work in the same room while together, but we certainly work in the same premises together. It almost felt like vacation, you know, almost like it was. It was really nice.
Speaker 3:
I and so I think because of that too, I had already started the journey to start exploring the more creative side of myself, because I knew, you know, especially with that last firm change and and I had already I had already started to feel the signs of burnout again and I was already kind of starting to think like, oh, is it the people? Do I need to make another move, and so I was already starting to think that. But then, I think, being able to be away from them and just be online and do my work, spending time with my family, no commutes I was able to spend more time on photography, which was my chosen hobby at the time, because I’m like I knew I had to have a hobby. I started to try to implement hobbies in my life. It was hard because I only wanted to work and in doing a hobby, I would feel guilty. I felt guilty about doing something for myself.
Speaker 3:
I only In the kind of books I read. I never read books for fun. I only read books that were podcasts. Anything was only to help me be better at my job. Nothing was self-help. So I think in 2020, I started doing even more things for myself self care. You know, like I, that was really big for me during that time too. And then October came around. They called us back, like it was finally like done, and we were going back to the office and as soon as my feet entered, as soon as my shoes walked into that office, I just knew I was like this is not, this is not it. I have got to make a change and you did. I did?
Speaker 2:
It sounds like you did. How long did it take you to make that change? Was it like months?
Speaker 3:
a year. Well, I so October, about you know, a week, I, I lasted a week in the office and I told, I went in and talked to my boss and actually I tried to tell him this a few times during that week but I just, you know, I’d start crying and it was a very big emotional change for me and it was absolutely a gigantic leap of faith. But I had started practicing photography and I, I, I had a mentor and I felt like I can do this. You know I can do this. I’m going to hit the ground running. And so I quit. I finally was like I quit my job and I gave them three months. I gave them till the end of 2020. So, officially, I started full-timetime photography January 1, 2021.
Speaker 3:
And I fully expected that to be a glorious time. I expected to be like oh, I’m suddenly free. I’m doing exactly what I want. I have this instruction manual on how to run my photography business in the best way I had been practicing all this time. I had an excellent portfolio just going into it and, instead of feeling enlightened and free, I got so depressed. So, January 1, I’m free to do what I want and I’ve got an excellent formula to make a good living in a creative way that really is fulfilling to me.
Speaker 3:
But I got depressed and I couldn’t get off the sofa, I couldn’t get out of bed. It took months to get over that and finally I had to just tell myself like, okay, the runway has run out, I have got to, I’ve got to move and do this. And so I did. I just started doing it, started moving, started started my business and, without you know, I was like so my business name is is Bexwood, which is my full name, like my legal name is Rebecca Wood Hack. My mother named me middle name Wood. That’s a different story. I’ll tell you that story.
Speaker 3:
But I was too scared to be myself. I didn’t want it to be Rebecca Wood Hack photography. I was scared to death to fail. I was embarrassed to fail.
Speaker 3:
And so I chose Bex Wood because I thought, well, it’s still me, but it’s like maybe, you know, if Bexwood crashed and burns, I can still be Rebecca Hack and go back and do what I was doing. That’s what I. That’s how I felt, and I didn’t tell anyone that I knew, like before I became a Bexwood photographer, I couldn’t even tell them I’m a professional photographer, like it took me like at least six, seven months before I could say to someone that knew me from the past I’m a professional photographer. Because I was just, I felt I just, you know, pre, I think I just pre-assigned myself as going to fail. And so that’s a big reason on why I, how we met, and why I wanted to sort of revamp my photography business.
Speaker 3:
Because at first I worked with a mentor and I really copied her style, her, I mean, and I was meant to. It was just like do it like this and you will succeed. And I did. But I wasn’t. You know, I found myself again closer, but still not on my path. I didn’t feel like I was on. I was headed in the direction of where I wanted to go.
Speaker 2:
But it probably served as the contrast. You needed to say but that’s not me, I want this. And sometimes we have to go through those times in our lives, those chapters. They’re not the easiest chapters to go through because we feel like a success, failure. It’s an engineering term, my husband taught me the other day, and it’s a success in that we, we figure out it. This isn’t it, right, which is a success in itself, right? It’s a failure in that the time that we devoted to that chapter didn’t pan out to the original desire in our heart, which was to like take off running and be successful and have that dream come true, right? Yeah, I do think all of us go through moments like these in life and it makes us stop and reflect and the reflection piece. I think most people push right past it because they don’t want to think, they want to just do and be, and because it’s easier than reflecting and actually sitting with some of these feelings. That are not easy feelings to sit with, but they’re very necessary to sit with them because they they lead the way into our biggest chapters of our lives. Right, 2020 for a lot of people was very uncomfortable. They didn’t like 2020 because it came to knock them on their butt, yeah, and, and they all of us came to the conclusion that we’re control over our circumstances. And forward to today, just two days ago, right, a lot of people feel out of control with the circumstances happening right in our country. But if we reflect back to 2020 and how that feeling we felt we’ve already been here before created a new normal. Yeah, and we kept going and we’re, and we’re still standing up. It didn’t knock us down. So for people to say that the circumstance is going to knock you down, you’re probably right, because if you believe that it will knock you down, but if you can dust, pick yourself back up and stay resilient, like you did through 2020, you’ll find that you’re even stronger than before. And the things you learn during these dark chapters are what equip you for the moment, right now, in time. Right, we’ve been here before and we can prosper past this.
Speaker 2:
I, like you, I’m going to put my head down and continue working on my divine purpose, because that’s what I can do. I’m going to focus on what I can do. I can’t control who gets elected. I can’t control who gets elected into Congress, into presidency none of that. I don’t control who gets elected into Congress, into presidency. None of that. I don’t control that. I have a vote. I use my vote. That’s all I can do, and now I’m just going to continue moving on forward. And I find that a lot of people struggle with these pieces because they they don’t do the work that you and I did last year, but we sat there and sat with it, yeah, looked at our business and said I don’t like that, but I do want this, and so I’m going to start working towards that. And these are the baby steps. So guide me a little bit on the baby sticks you took during the vixen Mastermind that put you in the position where you started and where you ended in December of 2023?.
Speaker 3:
One thing it was so much introspection, which I truly needed because I, like you, were saying, people just push path up. I was avoiding myself at all costs because I think I just had some stuff I needed to work through but I didn’t want to work through it all. And all of this subconsciously, like I wasn’t consciously saying, like you know, I’m going to ignore who I truly am today, and just you know, like it was just subconscious, it’s just some fears that I had. You know things that I was afraid of, that I had. You know things that I was afraid of, and and myself, being myself I was, I was really tempted to be my true self, and so I kept it hidden and I would always try to figure out okay, well, what, what do you want me to be? You know, always trying to figure that out, which is exhausting and it’s never a good thing to do, because what people want you to do truly is to be yourself. Like that, people are most comfortable around other people who are comfortable with themselves, and so I think all of the exercises like yes, the business ones helped also, and like the planning I loved, like some of my favorite exercises that we did were with the quarterly planning and how that all fit together with the big goal, and I also love the BHAG.
Speaker 3:
Having a big, hairy, audacious goal, that was really enlightening for me, because I was only looking at, okay, this month, this quarter, maybe this year maybe, but I was just, you know, my horizon was just right here instead of out there, and so I was never going to reach where I really wanted to go, because I wasn’t even imagining it, you know, and so I. That was a big light bulb moment for me was was one at least envisioning what would be my ultimate dream to work toward, envisioning what would be my ultimate dream to work toward, and at that time it was to to be published, like in a major magazine, like like Vogue or Vanity Fair, and it still is. That’s still something I absolutely would love to do. I don’t know now, though, if that’s my ultimate goal, you know, but, but at the time, that was something that was so big and so far away really invigorated me to to think bigger than you, just like you know, cause my.
Speaker 3:
My first goal when I left my my day job to to do my photography job was just to replace my income. That’s all I wanted to do, which I successfully did in that first year I did, you know, a six figure income, like in my first year of a photographer as a photographer, and I know that I’m in the top, like 2% of photographers that that are out there that make it. This is also my third year of photography and most photographers don’t last more than a year in general. You know, it’s just, it’s just. But people, you know people will start a photography business and end it Like it’s just, it just. That’s what happens for so many people, and it’s probably similar statistics for any kind of an entrepreneurial type of job. But yeah, that having that big goal was just so enlightening to think past. Just you know, month by month by month, and and what the beautiful thing about that, and what I really give it credit to, is that it helped me to start dreaming again, because I think that’s something that we just stopped doing.
Speaker 3:
Many of us maybe not all of us, but many of us stopped dreaming about what we could become when we kind of us maybe not all of us, but many of us stopped dreaming about what we could become when we kind of get into adulthood and get into that career track and it’s like you. Just I don’t know.
Speaker 2:
And we’re all driven to a degree by our fear because we all fear inside of us. Right, as you were talking, something kept like pressing on me to mention that avoidance piece that we all do. It’s a pattern of behavior that we created a habit around. You and I both carry the security seeker, and a lot of people do. The security seeker pattern is basically something that attaches itself to a feeling of control, and when we’re out of control, when our doubt is in play, that security seeker is going to kick into super high gear and it’s going to keep you small and it’s going to keep you finding those jobs like you were talking about. That gave you that safety. Yeah, Because you just could not dream bigger. It scared you too much. So when you know you’re motivated by fear and that you’ve created a habit around a pattern of behavior because it always kicks in when your doubt is- in play, yeah, and we all go through this.
Speaker 2:
This is very normal. This is very natural. This is a conscious part of our minds. It’s been there since we were little kids. This is how our mind protects us from feeling pain and disappointment and resentment and all the ugly feelings that we don’t like to feel. So the mind, kind of like blocks it, and it blocks it through these patterns of behavior that it forms attachments to when certain feelings are involved. And I find it interesting, like for me.
Speaker 2:
I remember when I first got divorced, like my first instinct was to put one project in front of the other.
Speaker 2:
I didn’t want to feel pain, I didn’t have the capacity during those years to feel pain, and so I just did one project after another after another.
Speaker 2:
But there comes a point, a tipping point, a turning point, if you will, where just it doesn’t feel good to be that person anymore. And for you it was COVID, for me it was COVID as well, where my divine purpose finally, like burst through, emerged out of that dark darkness inside of me that just I was so driven by my fear and lack like, like I had to be successful or I wasn’t significant, and that was a belief that I carried forever inside of me and I know you can relate because you talked about it right now, of how it just it drives you so much. And then comes the tipping point, and then you walked into that office and you knew in every fiber of your being that you, that wasn’t you anymore. And most women get to this stage somewhere along our age group. Now I’m 50, so I’m older than you, but I know I reached that pinnacle, like 37, 38, where I was just like this isn’t me.
Speaker 3:
I’m done, I’m done.
Speaker 2:
I’m done being this person. I don’t want to be here anymore because that’s not who God created me to be. God created me to be this light bringer, this person that just guides people through these major journeys and looks at change not as a bad thing but as a really good pivoting point to move in the direction of your divine purpose. Do you think this purpose, right now that you’re living, is your divine purpose, or do you think this is seasonal for you?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, I think I’m still on my way. I think I’m, but I feel like these are necessary steps for me to build these kinds of skills and to get comfortable with creativity and and leaning into that, because it’s it’s something I never allowed myself to do. I stayed very you know accounting technology, you know business like I stayed very much in that category and was I was afraid of the creative side and you know, I just had a major breakthrough. Let me tell you what, and you might have seen it. I post about it a little bit online. But, um, so, all my life I have daydreamed about, well, I guess when I was younger, daydreamed about being an actress. I have daydreamed about well, I guess, when I was younger, daydreamed about being an actress. And I, even when I was like 18, maybe it was 19. No, I was 18.
Speaker 3:
And I took a, even took an acting course, like a six week in-person acting course, and I was just scared to death. Though I had like stage fright Me. You know, I’m like I’m someone I love the spotlight, spotlight, but I had stage fright when it came to performing in front of others. Um, and I even I had this improv class, like I had this. Well, not improv. I had a like a, a soliloquy or something I was I was supposed to present, and when it came my time it was like 12 other people in the room. I was stuck, I couldn’t like. I was there and I was trying so hard, I tried to muster everything within me to just speak and I couldn’t. I couldn’t speak. You know, I would just get like one word out and then be like I can’t do it. And I was surrounded in a room by people who were supporting me. They were clapping for me. They were like you can do it, you got this. You know, there wasn’t a judgment in the room, right, but I couldn’t, I could not get it out. And so from that point on I I let go of acting and I was like okay, this, I can’t do it, this is not for me, and so. But I always carried that with me.
Speaker 3:
There were sometimes I’d always like I would always sort of envy actresses, like when I’m watching a great movie, I’m like, oh, that’s cool, I wonder if I could have done that, you know, anyway. So, and I was, I was inspired to my makeup artist, like so I’m a photographer and I’m the kind of photographer where you know how it is, it’s like the big show, whole shebang. You come in, get your hair and makeup done you know we do lots of outfit changes and the fan is blowing, etc. Um, and so I had I had a makeup artist. Her name was is Becca, and she was in a play. It was, uh, legally Blonde, which I love, that movie, and so I’m like I’ve never seen Legally Blonde on the small stage or whatever. So I would love to go see and I really wanted to support her because she’s just fabulous. So I went and I was just enamored with it.
Speaker 3:
I’ve seen plays before but for some reason, seeing my friend in one, I was just like, oh, wow, it’s so cool, she’s doing what I wish I could be doing. And she said like hey, the auditions are open. It’s just it’s a community theater and she’s like you could audition and are open. It’s just it’s a community theater and she’s like you could audition. And we were actually going to audition together but she backed out on me. But I auditioned and I got a part. I was the candle maker in Beauty and the Beast and and I did not know if I could do it like for my audition, like I, I practiced that song like Adele um I did on my own from Les Mis, and I practiced it like fabulously, and when it came time for my audition I got it out. Okay, I did not. I did not back out as much as I wanted to bolt out that door. It was a really hard thing. I sang my song and I sang it on key, but I sang like a mouse you know it was just like small.
Speaker 3:
I sang it small, um, but they gave me a part. I had a couple of lines, you know which is cool, and it was just the most amazing experience. I had no idea. Like the, I just love theater people. They’re so welcoming and they are.
Speaker 2:
I’ve been part of that community because of my son, andres. Andres is in kids acting and viv wants to be in kids acting. I think it’s the best thing for kids who struggle a little bit with their shyness, because it gives them a different identity, yes, to play into and your confidence will level up. Yes, when you step in those. And don’t? We do that in life? In real life, we adopt identities until we become that identity. Right? We hang out with photographers, we hang out with theater people. I hung out with authors, I wrote chapters.
Speaker 2:
You know all these things that came later in the second act of my right and my career, I think it’s. Some of these things are seasonal, like I don’t know my podcast hosting will be forever or this will be seasonal. I just know I was being obedient to that little voice inside my mind and my soul that said you need to do this now. Inside my mind and my soul that said you need to do this now. You have a voice and you have opinions and you have viewpoints that people want to hear, and so this is your space, right? But any last words of wisdom for women wanting to take that leap of faith and become you know, become that identity.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, well, you know, I think confidence is key and and anything you can do to build your confidence is going to be an amazing thing. Um, I’ve seen people grow their confidence from a photo shoot. I gained a ton of confidence from from doing this the six week, you know. Dive into theater. I want to do it again and I can tell you too like so.
Speaker 3:
When I left my job, when I left the law firm, my, I thought I was going to be this because I was a very confident woman, extremely confident in who I was, especially my career, and but when I left that career, I realized that my identity was wholly wrapped up into that and when I no longer had it, I didn’t have any confidence. Like I was saying, I was hiding behind this new name because I didn’t have the confidence that I was going to do. It would say, you know, even if you feel like you will probably fail and it’s scary and it’s a giant leap, I think you have to do it scared. It will never not be scary and your confidence will grow from it. And sometimes it’s like failing up. You know you fail, you learn the lesson and then you do it differently. You do it better for yourself in the next iteration, and I think that’s kind of what I’ve done. So so for me, like I regained my confidence by just kind of getting out there doing photo shoots, having success. That built up my confidence, but then, you know, it kind of started to wane a bit because I wasn’t wanting to do the same kind of photography. I wasn’t feeling that fulfillment and joy Like all of a sudden again I was starting to notice signs of burnout and so I’m like, okay, I need to shift more, um, and, and I would say you know what, the biggest, the biggest boost to my confidence really was when I started being really introspective with me and with myself and I, that, to me, gave me the most confidence. So you know. However, however, you do that if it’s praying, if it’s meditating, if it’s exercise, if it’s I don’t know some way, get in touch with yourself and that’s going to be your strongest lifeline because, no matter what like you’re you and the more you you can be, I think, the more confidence you can have in whatever you’re doing.
Speaker 3:
And I think I ended up being a photographer because I just so happened to choose that, you know, I I just I think if I would have come across like an amazing salesperson. I just realized my laptop’s unplugged, so it might, it might turn off, but you know, if I would have, if I would have encountered another person, maybe they sold, maybe they made springs or something and I’d be like, oh, I’m going to make these perfect springs and I have this blueprint on how to make money with it. That might’ve been my first thing that I did. I’m happy that I did something that was very creative, because I have learned that I am truly a very creative kind of person and I love that part about photography, but I’m also looking into some videography, like I want to do more. So, yeah, this, this might be a season or it might be a building block to to me.
Speaker 3:
I’m not sure but, I’m on this ride and I’m loving it.
Speaker 2:
That’s awesome. Thank you so much for joining us this morning. If, if people wanted to take their picture with you and and and kind of set up that whole glam session with you, how can they reach you?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, so my website is bexwoodcom B-E-X-W-O-O-Dcom. They can find me there. There’s a way to set up a consultation with me there, but anyone can also text me. They can text me anything at my business. Text number is 832-422-6209. So you can text me like hey, I want to get you know, I want to learn more about your photography. Or hey, I want to have a zoom coffee session and just get to learn more about you. We can do that too. That’s awesome.
Speaker 2:
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3:
Sorry, on Instagram I’m at Bexwood photo on Facebook and LinkedIn Bexwood photo. That’s how you’ll find my business which is really easy.
Speaker 2:
It’s really easy to find Bex and you’ll have a. It’s really easy to find bags and you’ll have a. I had an awesome session with her. It was several hours but I had fun. Getting my makeup done, getting my hair done and the fan was like an added bonus because you know it made everything look flowy and awesome. And and then I had a blast with you and your mom and with Luca, your dog, because it’s in her home and it’s just very it’s. She’s got it all guys Like if you ever want to work with her. I had the best photography session I’ve ever had with Bex and I look forward to doing many more with her in the future. But for the listeners of Released Out Revealed Purpose, thank you so much for tuning in this morning and listening to this phenomenal woman talk about her transformative journey through career changes and we’ve learned so much from her today. And for those listening, remember Matthew 514, be the light. Have a wonderful week, stay safe, love you. 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.