Welcome to THE TRUE NORTH COLLECTIVE℠ PODCAST: SEASON 3! With co-hosts Rachel Bellotti (she/her) and Jenell Riesner (she/her), this is a gathering of un-sugar-coated conversations celebrating the untold stories of everyday people fearlessly finding and living their true north.
In our own search to discover and live from our TRUE NORTH, we continue to meet many interesting, courageous people from all walks of life, doing all sorts of amazing things to live life in their own unique way. Stories from all over the world. Stories with heart. Stories with grit. Stories with plot twists. Stories going untold - until now. This season, we celebrate these untold stories of everyday people who are fearlessly living their true north and inspiring each of us to do the same.
Today, we talk to Megan Collins (she/her), a friend from SPIRE Fitness in Milwaukee, WI and TNC Podcast listener. She originally reached out wanting to hear more on the topic of finding your passion and making a transition in your professional life towards your passions - and so we decided to have her on + have an honest conversation about it! Megan is currently a Global Professional Instructor, but has had many jobs over the years in her pursuit of finding work she loves. We dissect what it means when you feel lost without a map of your future, how to trust your intuition, noticing when you are putting more merit into other people’s realities vs yourself, and recognizing your line and learning how to move that line to live a life that feels true to you.
*note: this episode includes explicit language appropriate for those ages 16+
RESOURCES MENTIONED:
- Dirty Jobs
- SPIRE Fitness
- Music from: https://www.jukedeck.com/
3 KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Finding your passion, going after what you think you want, and learning to trust your intuition can be incredibly uncomfortable at times. Especially when the thing you’re being called to or that you want will blow up your current day-to-day routine and lifestyle if you go after it. And that can make you question your desires and convince yourself that it isn’t right or it’s crazy or that you’re crazy, etc. and that can be really confusing. It takes a lot of grit to choose to listen to yourself and follow through with what you hear within you so that you can live the life you want to live.
- A huge act of courage can be really small (or even silence + NOT take action) + is still worthy of celebration + acknowledgment. The size of the change doesn’t equate to the amount of courage or grit it takes to make the change. What feels big for me, may seem small for you, and visa versa - recognize in yourself when you know you have taken a leap of any size + celebrate the fuck out of yourself for taking ANY steps to move your line in your way today.
- Listening to your intuition is a practice. Learning to trust what you hear is a practice. Figuring out how your intuition speaks to you is a practice. Not judging yourself for your relationship with your intuition is a practice. And the only way to build that relationship is to show up and keep practicing even if it’s uncomfortable, even if you “mess up”, even if you forget, even if you get it “right”. And if you don’t know where to start, first start practicing getting present with yourself (meditation, mindfulness, be in nature + get quiet, intuitive movement, creative expression, writing/journaling, place your hand on your heart + breath into this moment + observe your felt sense). As you practice getting present, you can start to play with asking questions + listening + allowing answers to arise from deep within you - an inner knowing. Reflecting on how you have “known” what your intuition was saying to you in the past is another way to start to hone in on how it speaks to you now + how you hear it. Know that there is no right or wrong way and trusting in your way is more important than any process or protocol that comes from outside of you. Play with it and trust what comes up for you.
TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:
- [1:00] Auditioning for American Idol + Bachelor
- [4:30] Putting yourself in the spotlight
- [11:30] Introducing Megan!
- [16:30] Feeling lost amidst people who seem to have it all figured out
- [23:00] Is bouncing around on your resume bad?
- [27:00] Professional ecosystem of workers + finding self-worth in a job
- [33:30] Learning to listen to your intuition + never really knowing what you’re doing
- [39:00] The college bubble of opportunities vs real-life realities
- [49:00] Moving the line
- [56:00] Reaching your full potential - whatever that means
- [59:50] What if our values are actually what we spend our whole lives wrestling with?
- [1:03:00] Putting more merit in what others say over myself is living into other people’s projected reality vs your own
- [1:07:00] Re-evaluating the stories we are being told + the stories we are telling ourselves
- [1:11:00] How do you know you are connected with your intuition?
- [1:22:00] Balancing your relationships/commitments/responsibilities when following your intuition
- [1:27:00] Is there a sweet spot that even exists where you feel you have finally found that thing that you want to do for the rest of your life?
- [1:38:00] How do you live your TRUE NORTH?
- [1:40:00] Contact Megan via IG @m_colls or email via collinsjmegan@gmail.com