Don’t surrender all your joy for an idea you used to
have about yourself that isn’t true anymore.
CHERYL STRAYED, BRAVE ENOUGH
Sometimes we find ourselves far along a path we had desperately wanted to be on, when all of a sudden—or slowly, slowly—we know it’s time to move on, to shift, to pivot.
Pivoting can feel terrifying sometimes, especially if we have spent years envisioning ourselves standing exactly where we are, only to find that it’s time for something new, a fresh interpretation of our dreams, a new path forwards, and perhaps a shedding of what’s already been.
When I left high school, I had no idea what I wanted to do. During a brief stint studying communications and public relations at university (that had me bored and apathetic), I started a make-up course to add some creative joy to my life. I studied make-up in Sydney, followed by Toronto, then started assisting and working in the fashion, beauty and advertising world on my return home.
I did this for several years, until I fell out of love with it. I’ll never forget the moment I realised I could change careers and pivot from where I stood: I was on a shoot with a friend who was a stylist, telling her that I wasn’t in love with my work anymore. She turned to me and said, ‘Well, maybe you won’t always be make-upping.’ When I think back to that time, my reaction is, Of course I could change my mind; but at the time, I hadn’t thought like that. I’d worked so hard to get to where I was, so why would I just walk away from it?
However, once the thought was implanted in my mind, an idea started to percolate. Maybe I’d leave my make-up career and study naturopathy and nutrition. As I mentioned earlier, I’d always been interested in the wellness industry. I sat on the idea for a while, until several months later when the Universe nudged me, three times in one week! One day, I was working on a shoot where the model was studying nutrition at the very college I’d been looking into. Then the next day, another model was studying massage at the same college. And then—no joke—the following day, my shoot was at a location just three doors up from that college.
Okay Universe, I hear ya!
Fast forward several years, and I made the shift from working solely as a nutritionist and naturopath, to add in kinesiology. I did so because I needed to, for myself first.
There were so many gifts in being a make-up artist (like getting to be creative with colour every day; meeting new people on shoots; having so much freedom as a freelancer; travelling for work; and developing a strong sense of independence at a young age). And of course, there were many gifts in being a nutritionist and naturopath (such as working with people to support their health; constantly expanding my knowledge in an interesting field; enjoying providing natural treatments to support my clients on so many levels; building my business in my own way; experiencing such joy doing what I loved, and more). But I was starting to crave a different kind of work—one that felt more meaningful for me at that time in my life, more spiritual and more aligned to my evolution, growth and passions.
I had to admit to myself that I was never the clinical nutritionist—I’d much rather read a client’s energy and body language than their blood test.
This pivot meant my work shifted organically very quickly. No longer was I seeing clients for digestive issues or hormone imbalances; rather, I was supporting them to find flow when they felt stuck; to feel connected when they felt lost; to remember their worth when they felt ‘less than’. Clearing blocks and aligning energy was where I was supposed to be (with some beautiful herbs on the side, if my clients needed them). I knew this was the path for me; I just had to own this new, deeper truth.
Soon after I added kinesiology into my business it boomed; I became fully booked for a couple of months in advance. My clientele also shifted, and I started attracting healers, coaches, creatives, entrepreneurs and small business owners. I supported them in mind, body and spirit work, as they built deeply aligned lives and businesses. I knew—more than ever—that this was my true purpose in my work.
However, even though I’d craved and worked towards this change for so long, knowing deep down that this needed to happen for my highest evolution and growth, I also felt some resistance to this change in my business. Surprisingly, it wasn’t so much at the beginning of the pivoting, as when it started to feel like I was really making strides with the change.
You know that feeling when things start to go really, really well, and we wonder when the other shoe will drop? Perhaps we feel like it’s a fluke, a fleeting moment in time when things feel aligned and expansive, when those feelings of fear and resistance pop up to sabotage us in our tracks.
It felt like it started outside of me, and filtered through when I felt like I had to justify the shifts and changes in my business. But in truth, it was coming from within, sown from the seeds of my own self-doubt. This was simply a reflection of my own energy, mindset and fears.
It continued when I wondered if I was communicating properly about my work. Months and even years later, people would still refer clients to me for naturopathic issues, when my main work had shifted away from that. It reached boiling point within me when people asked how my ‘nutrition business’ was going—when I hadn’t done a nutrition consult in five or six years. (Hilariously, and as if to remind me of it while writing this chapter, it happened again just last week.)
I think of pivoting as another version of expanding. Sometimes the fear I held around this change, shift and expansion wasn’t something I’d created; rather, it was something that had been reflected onto me, that I’d absorbed as truth.
I can pinpoint when this might’ve happened, at least in part. Years before, I’d talked to a fellow female business owner who’d made a less than positive comment about a coach who’d changed track, from coaching in the health and wellness world to business coaching. She’d joked that ‘failed health coaches’ often turn to business coaching.
That comment stuck with me, more than I’d have liked it to, and in the back of my mind it didn’t sit right with me. It felt judgemental, reductive, small-minded, and even gossipy. It gave me an underlying worry that I too would be judged as a ‘failed naturopath’ whenever I told someone about the new path I was taking in my life and business; rather than letting it be seen for what it truly was: a woman trying to do her best work in the world, following what lights her up the most.
I continued to work on this within myself—to trust myself to follow what was lighting me up; to love what I was creating; and to back myself all the way. When people who didn’t follow my work asked me about my nutrition business, I consciously decided to stop feeling triggered, and I simply explained what I was doing, grounding and anchoring both myself and the energy around me in this reality, radiating it out for all to feel, see and experience.
If you constantly look for validation from others to move forwards, you’ll create situations where you need the approval of others to do so. To become aligned and unstoppable in your work and life, you have to be aligned and unstoppable in your truth; in what calls to you, what lights you up, what lifts you up, and what makes you feel purposeful, driven and devoted.
You can’t play small to fit a mould set by someone else, and you certainly can’t keep going down a path that doesn’t fit you anymore. That’ll only end in apathy, exhaustion, tears, resentment, and a deep daily drag in your bones; an emptiness in your heart because you know you have so much more to give. You have to let yourself pivot, own your truth and by doing so, step even more deeply and fully into alignment.
One day, just before writing this book, I received the following email from Aimee, a lovely client of mine. It helped me see that my pivoting had been the absolute best decision I could’ve made; for myself, my work, my life, and for those I wish to serve most.
Dear Cassie,
I’ve just read your blog post about trusting the ‘enoughness’ of my business, and thought I’d drop you a wee note to say that, ever since you ‘pivoted’ towards business coaching, I have been absolutely loving virtually everything you’ve released! I rewatch bits of the Love What You Create training almost weekly. Between the Love What You Create Workshop, the Facebook lives, and the Beautiful Business webinars, it’s like I have on-demand access to this incredibly reassuring and encouraging library of your videos, for when I need a pick-me-up on my entrepreneurial journey.
I actually chuckle to myself whenever I download a freebie, see your beautiful sales funnel and go, ‘Yup, already got that’, ‘Yup, already got that too’! Haha.
So I just wanted to say thank you for not just ‘teaching’ me how to release some of those things that weigh us down, but leading by example and actually taking me through a process of growth and deep alignment with what I am doing in my biz.
All the best with the exciting new things that are in your works, and I look forward to the next Mastermind! =)
A
That is an email to make your day (or week)! You see, I’d been doing this work for years—but at times, there was still a part of me that felt almost ashamed to really, truly own it, for fear of upsetting the people who perhaps wouldn’t benefit from my work, instead of leaning into deeply supporting those who would.
I now knew I had to take not just a teaspoon of my own medicine, but the whole glorious bottle. And then make more bottles to both sell on and continue taking myself! Taking a bottle of my own medicine meant finally, deeply, truly acknowledging not just what lights me up, but honouring that it helps light the way for others too.
There’s no point keeping yourself stuck on a path that doesn’t fuel you anymore, in the blind hope that you’re still supporting others, while tricking yourself into thinking there can’t be another way forwards.
We’ve all had the experience of working with someone who is clearly not aligned to their work—someone who wishes they could pivot, sidestep, course-correct or change direction. There’s the snappy waitress who wants to quit and start a fashion degree; the bored plumber who wishes he could open a cafe; the tired receptionist who wants to become a teacher.
Long gone are the days where we have one career for our whole life. If we believe we can follow our dreams, we also have to believe that our dreams can follow us.
So next time you feel your dream following you, tugging at you, tapping you on the shoulder, please turn around. Look into its big eyes and acknowledge it; tell it you’re coming, and then course-correct, pivot, change your mind … and chase it!
And so it was that when reading Aimee’s email, I realised (again!) that by following my bliss, I’m helping others follow theirs. I realised that this is the work I must teach, because it’s the work that fuels me the most; trying to hide what makes me feel the most seen is not how I want to live, to feel, to be.
If there’s something you’re being called to do and you don’t teach it, live it, embody it or share it, then the person you’ll be dishonouring most will be yourself.
Know this: the world doesn’t need the bitter, resentful, hardened version of you. The world needs the you that’s lit up and on purpose, embodying your gifts and your creativity. That’s the version of myself that I want to be. How about you?
There is a middle path, but it goes in only one direction: toward the light. Your light. The one that goes blink, blink, blink inside your chest when you know what you’re doing is right.
Cheryl Strayed, Brave Enough
Sometimes when we’re called to course-correct, our fears try to take the lead. This is when we must go deeper, listen to our truth, lean into our light and course-correct; pivot, shift, release, change our minds and then show up, anyway.
Even if you’re unsure of the outcome. Even if you’re worried that no-one will like your decision. Even if you think they’ll judge you. Even if you think they’ll talk behind your back, or laugh in your face.
To pivot even when you’re fearful is to visualise what you’re creating and to hold it within your sights, even before you’ve taken a step forwards. It’s to take the first step, even though you have no idea where your foot will land, whether your heart will carry you all the way, and whether you’re brave enough to keep walking without the map you thought you were following.
The truth is, there is no map. There is only you, following what lights you up, putting your fears to bed by clearing them away (or acknowledging them and moving forwards anyway); reminding yourself, every single day, that you’re worthy of creating this, of showing up, of being seen, of being heard, of speaking up.
And even though at times you might not remember that, remember this: we need your light, your voice, and your work, and if you let fear get in the way, we’ll simply never know what you could’ve created… had you known you are enough.
Your work is needed in this world. Your light is needed, every day, all the time, now more than ever.
You can follow your fears for a while, those fears that say, ‘Don’t pivot! Don’t change! Don’t do something new!’ But there’ll come a day (or rather many days, many times, many moments) when you’ll have to take the lead; when you’ll have to clear away your fears and move forwards anyway.
Fear can only lead you so far. Then your courage, drive, determination, purpose and passion must take over.
I have mixed feelings about the idea that we should always let fear lead us. Sometimes, yes. Sometimes fear is simply an anticipation of doing something we’ve never done before; those nerves before speaking at an event; the palpable sensation of knowing you have no idea how it will go, but you feel called to do it anyway. Sometimes fear is protecting you in a way, even though you don’t need protection; and yes, sometimes you must ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’.
But if you only do things out of fear, from fear, in fear of fear, you’re not living in the present moment; you’re not grounded in your body; you’re not clearing away what’s holding you back; you’re not fully connected to the wellspring of support and guidance that’s always available to you—the support and guidance that comes from your intuition, your inner self, your Higher Self, the Universe and your Guides.
If you only ever take action from a space of fear, you’re not feeling the joy and connection, the flow and ease, that comes from taking action in alignment. When you take action from a place of alignment, fear will sometimes pop up, of course. But the trust feels stronger. The grounding is there. You have a strong base. You’re following what lights you up. Your foundations are rooted in place and this supports what you do next.
So please, allow yourself to listen to your fears, but tune into a deeper level too. Let yourself be guided by fears that need love and attention, and fears that need to be transformed into something that’ll support your next step.
Listen to your fear, but listen to your light first. Your fear might suggest you stay exactly where you are, on the path you’ve been walking for years; but your light will guide you to take the next best steps for you, fears and all.
To my business owner clients, I always say: ‘It’s your business, and your choice.’
I say this because, well, it’s your business/art/work/career/path/purpose—so it’s your choice! This means you get to choose (yes, really) how you show up for yourself, and how you show up for others. This means you get to change your mind:
I could go on, but none of what I write here will mean anything unless (and until) you give yourself permission to change your mind ... and do the work that lights you up the most.
While we’re talking about the inner side to this beautiful work, let’s talk about intuition. Intuition is the one strategy I can always rely on; the one that always delivers; and the one that promises to help you build, expand and maintain a creative life and path that’s deeply aligned to who you are.
Building your creative life and path based on your intuition means making decisions that might not ‘sound right’ to other people, but that feel so right for you. It means creating that which feels deeply aligned to who you are, without having to look around at what everyone else is doing.
It means knowing how to move forwards when you need to; pulling back from work when you know you need a break; making decisions when intuitive hits come through; and not worrying about any external hype that sometimes filters through, because you know how to receive—and then utilise—the intuitive information that comes through you, to you and for you.
Intuitive decisions might not always make practical sense; but on the flip side, an intuitive decision feels right and sounds right. The time to really tune into your self-belief and back yourself is when the decision you’re making is the one that feels the most expansive, and the most aligned to the greater vision you hold for yourself (even if you now have to dream up something entirely new).
How do you start listening to your intuition? You slow down and tune out the noise from outside. You come back to your breath, your sense, your self. You let yourself open up to receive guidance and you let yourself trust it. Although all the puzzle pieces might not fit just yet, you trust that the bigger picture will become clear in time.
Are you getting an intuitive nudge about something? Are you listening? Listening to it can feel simultaneously expansive and slightly intimidating (because it can mean your uplevelling is imminent). I find that when the opposite happens (not listening to your intuition), it feels like trying to see through the energetic version of that white claggy glue we used to use in kindergarten. I’d pick an intuitive jump into the unknown that feels equally expansive and intimidating—over staying stuck and stagnant—any day.
For extra energetic support in pivoting and transitioning, take the Bach flower essence of Walnut. It’ll help you let go of thinking about what other people might believe, and help you stay true to your own path, goals and dreams.