Sabbatical

Jamie Berman  0:09  

Welcome back to the podcast. Today’s episode is honestly a really personal one. After 10 years of building this business, recording this is my 140/7 podcast episode. Never missed a week. I’ve launched programs over 25 times. I’ve done over 25 launches. I’ve been creating content consistently, coaching, growing, and really constantly being in creation mode. But what I’ve realized lately is this: my intuition is asking me to slow it down just a bit, and it’s not because this podcast isn’t working, it’s not because I don’t love what I’ve built, but honestly, it’s because I can feel that need, but honestly, it’s because I can feel that I need space to go inward, reconnect with myself, and refuel before I know what’s next. So in this episode I want to share why I’m taking a pause from the podcast for this next season, what’s been coming up for me emotionally and spiritually, and what I’m craving more in life right now, and why I believe listening to ourselves is the most important thing we can do in our business and in our life. 

Okay, so let me rewind. About three weeks ago, I put my very first out of office email set up in G Suite to let everyone know that I was going to be off work. I noticed that this was the first out of office email that I have written in almost three years. Three years, my friends. That’s a long time now. I didn’t notice till I did it, but I set it up, and I was very excited to take a break and really just take my mind, my body, my spirit out of the business for a couple of weeks. Really, the plan was two weeks, because I had my 10 year vowel renewal with my husband Josh, and we did an amazing vow renewal on the beach. We had nine of our family family members and some close friends come out for it, and so I took a week off to be with family, and then back to back with that I had a memorial of a dear dear friend that we lost earlier this year and his memorial was in Los Angeles, so right after the family left went to LA to celebrate my dear friend’s life, and so I was planning on taking almost two weeks off, and my team was amazing. They said, “Jamie, you really need to actually take off. And so we are going to take care of everything. We are not going to slack you, take slack off of your phone completely. All you got to do is just show up to the coaching calls that you already have planned, which y’all know I love coaching. It reveals me that is not something I need a vacation from, but the business itself, and the day-to-day tasks, and the creation, and all of that. I took a break, and it was both wonderful and revealing, and all the feels. So, what ended up happening was the vow renewal was amazing, and one of the pieces with that is I think a vow renewal is so special because it really helped us reconnect to the past 10 years of our marriage, and we reviewed our past vows before renewing them, and with that, it was so powerful to see what we both wrote 10 years ago at our wedding, and how we truly spoke our life into existence. We didn’t notice until we reviewed those vows that, oh my gosh, so much of our life now we like spoke into existence from our vows at our wedding down to I made a joke, I promise to move to a tropical island with you, right, and like that was a joke, because you know, of course, I was calling it in, but a part of my brain was like that would never work with Josh’s career and all of that, and yet here we are, 10 years later, living on a tropical island, like when I wrote that, I was joking, but I spoke it into existence. So anyways, it made me review these past 10 years in such a powerful way, because I just vividly remember that season of like going from not married to married, and who I started to become in that season, and in these past 10 years, how we’ve both grown, what we’ve both gone through, and these past 10 years have very much for me been about building, developing, creating a foundation for myself, proving that I could be successful, not from approving so that I can feel worthy, but really just like blowing my own mind at what is possible, and showing myself that I can create a successful business, I can create money, I can create this solid, solid foundation. When 10 years ago I was like in survival in my finances, and now I’m in such a different place, and I’ve built that whole thing over the past 10 years, and I have pushed myself to become visible, to show up consistently, to overcome my biggest fears, and really my intention was just to make a big difference, and to do what I love, and to share my gifts with the world, and to get paid doing it right, and to be able to have a beautiful living doing it, and that’s exactly what happened. So it was amazing to actually review that, and then think about what do I want the next 10 years to be in our renewal. I was thinking about what do I want to speak into existence for the next 10 years, and I thought, you know, the last 10 have been amazing, but it’s been a little exhausting too, for any of you entrepreneurs who knows what the building phase is, and even that for like 10 years of building it can be quite draining, especially whenever you slow down and reflect on it and get out of the momentum of it, you can start to realize, wow, I have done a lot. I have been on for a long time, and I just realized that, and I knew that the next 10 for me is meant to be more about joy, more about enjoying all that we have created together, and so that’s the word that comes to me. It’s not so much about building, although, of course, I’m going to joyfully build and joyfully create, but I want to focus more on the feelings that I want in my life, right? So, focusing on the joy, even the day to day, the joy of the mundane, right, the joy of just going to the post office, or the joy of going out to my garden and picking some tomatoes to put on my wrap, you know, for lunch, and so I’m excited to slow down and really live, really be in my life, not that I haven’t felt joy over the past 10, but the past 10 have been a very much, you know, a building phase, and so I wouldn’t say it was always super, I wasn’t always super present, I wasn’t always in a space of joy, right, I was in a space of like overcoming a lot, but you all know what that feels like. So, anywho, that vow renewal just made me aware of what I want next, of what we’re both calling in, and also with that, the past 10 years for my husband has been a huge reinvention. He has gone through it, it’s gone through a dark night of the soul, you know, reinvented himself, let go of a career, a very successful career that he had had for 20 years, and has become an artist, and he is now in this space where his stuff is really taken off, right, and what’s so cool is because I built my career, I was able to really support both of us as he reinvented himself and he rebuilt something that feels super aligned, and it’s so fun because we’ve been practicing manifestation all along the way, and so much of what he’s been visualizing for so many years are now, or is now coming to fruition. So he recently got an offer from a so he is a neoclassical composer and artist, and he just got a deal from a major record label that is in the works, and about to be signed, so I can’t share who it is yet. He got an offer from one of the biggest publishers in music, and especially the biggest publisher in classical music, which is a dream come true, because one of my manifestations is that he is one of the most licensed neoclassical artists there is. He also be he got the he won this I don’t know if it’s an award scholarship, what exactly a grant for this massive, massive company. They haven’t announced him as their spotlight artists yet, so I can’t say the name of the company, but he was chosen as a spotlight artist, and so he’s going to be playing with some of the biggest, most famous orchestras in the world, around the world, over the next three years, and filming it, recording it. It’s just magic. What’s unfolding for him? I’m so thrilled, because I’ve witnessed his journey, and it has not been a quick one. He has put so much energy and intention and passion into this, and it’s finally like all landing, feels like all at once, which is so exciting, but with that, I think that in and of itself it’s also giving me a bit of permission to pause, not permission like I needed his permission or I needed permission at all, but almost it gave my system like a okay, he’s going, he’s taking off, there’s some inflow coming in from this, and now I really have the opportunity and privilege to say, wait, do I want to do as much as I’ve been doing and going as much and as hard as I have been, or do I? You know, what do I want? What do I really want? Right, that question is so powerful. And the truth is, in this moment, what I want is just to slow down a bit. I want a season of slowing down, so that I can then come from a place where I re-decide, because within those two weeks off, man, I came to so much clarity that I hadn’t come to just because the momentum of the day to day and the tasks and my routine were just so strong that I never really gave myself the chance to slow down long enough to get clear on what’s next, and so this time off has given me that clarity. Now, there was a wild full moon. I don’t know if y’all felt it. It was may 1. I didn’t even think about it. I just looked up. We were actually in Los Angeles. I was, we went to Earth Cafe for dinner. I was kind of sick. I was under the weather, but I was so emotional, so emotional. Josh was just like, ‘Oh my gosh, what can I do for you? I can feel this, like he’s an empath, so he could like tell how deep whatever was happening for me was happening. And I was just like, ‘I don’t know, I don’t know what this is, but I’m sensing I really need a pause. Like, I was just getting clear that, like, I need a pause, you know. I want to slow down. I need some time to reset, to rest. It was just coming clear that over this past year, on top of, of course, like I said, the business that I’ve been running for 10 years, but also, like in the past year, we’ve had so many massive shifts in our life. We sold our LA home that we’d been living in for 10 years, and that was a very emotional process. I mean, for one thing, we sold 75% of our stuff, got rid of most of our belongings, we’re moving across, you know, the entire ocean, and it was emotional because the after the LA fires, the place that we lived, like the real estate, was just not that great, so we had to go through the process of selling in a market that was challenging, and so it was bringing up all kinds of stuff for me, and then we also sold our condo in Maui, like lots happened, like lots of big life events, they always say there’s like five of the most massive big life events are what is it like having a baby, getting married, moving, retiring, right? Like, there’s these big life events, and moving is one of them. And my goodness, have I felt that, and I haven’t slowed down enough to even feel it. I think I was burnt out after the move, but I had a huge launch after that. There was like a two and a half month launch, and then team retreat, lots of visitors, like nothing that allowed me to slow down, right? And, of course, I could have stopped the train and said, “Wait, I need to slow down, but I was just so in it, I didn’t even realize I needed it until I took this pause, and just, it became so clear. Whenever this full moon happened, it was apparently a full moon in Scorpio, which we learned the next day after I was super emotional. We had gone to this Thai restaurant to get some pho, because I was like sick, I needed something on my throat, and the waiter was so sweet. Me and Josh both said, ‘Oh my gosh, I think he’s like an angel. Like it was in Los Angeles, he was from Hawaii. His family lived in the area that we live in, which is a very small town. And he was like, ‘Oh, by the way, did you guys feel that full moon? It was a full moon in Scorpio, and we were like, ‘Wait, what does that mean? He’s like, ‘Yeah.’ Brings up a lot of unprocessed emotions and helps you get clear. It’s like, whoa. Me and Josh both looked at each other like, wait, what? That’s what that was. I got so clear, and I just released so much emotion. So, anyways, after that time, between all of it, between the 10 year vow renewal, the fraction of the past 10 years and getting sick and slowing down at the full moon, getting the clarity that I need a season of reset. Now, what does that mean for the business? My business is still going on, my friends. I am a coach for life. I love, love, love, love coaching. I love my programs, I love my clients, all of that. In terms of alignment, we’ll say 100% right there. So I’m going to continue the coaching, but the areas that I’m going to slow down are going to be around content creation, podcasting. I’m just slowing down any marketing, I’m not going to do any launches, and the way that I’m holding it is, let’s take a three month sabbatical. Let’s take a three month pause through the summer, soak in the goodness of summer. Actually, feel like I live in Hawaii, because then I can start going to the beach, take some time to just be right, and like go to the ocean and cleanse myself, take time for my morning practices and moving my body a bit more, and just overall slowing down. I actually already signed up for a retreat in Sedona, that’s going to be incredible. I’m just ready to really go inward, that is what is being called to me right now. My intuition is like, yes, yes, yes, this is the season of slowing down. I’m still going to host my retreat in Maui, which I’m so excited about, but the good news is anytime I trust my intuition and I listen to whatever is wanted in this season of my life, life around me benefits, right? So I only know that this slowing down, while I know maybe some of you might be disappointed that I won’t have weekly podcasts through the summer, it’ll give you an opportunity to go back and listen to some past episodes that maybe you haven’t gotten to, or start from the beginning, because you know you can re-listen and get new things out of it every time, so maybe if you’re a weekly listener, you set the intention to go back and listen to an older episode that could re-inspire you, or that you could listen to in a new way. I also know my clients are going to benefit from this, because when I go deep and I go inward, my intuition comes on stronger. I’m only a better coach, and the truth is, I am so deeply committed to helping my clients create the lives that they want, and to hear their own intuition, and to grow the businesses in the way that’s aligned for them. I’m so deeply committed to it. So, I’m really excited about that, and it just feels so right to take a rest and take a break, so my hope is that even as I share this, maybe this gives you permission to slow down, if that’s what you know feeling right for you, or maybe there’s going to be a season where you just know you need to slow down and to let yourself do it, to give yourself permission, right, life is not about grinding all the time. It’s not about productivity. What I know is that when I do slow down, then there’s going to be another season where I’m more creative, where more ideas come, where I’m more inspired, where I am more quote unquote productive, but I have to listen to the seasons, right, and I also have done a lot of work, and like finding worth in the part of me that isn’t doing anything right, that’s resting right, because productivity does not equal more worthy, it just doesn’t. More money does not equal more worthy. A life well lived. Now that’s what I’m all about, feeling alive. Yes, please. Getting refueled, yes. That’s a life worth living. That is true richness. So that is my north star. And so that is why I’ve made the decision to pause the podcast. We’re going to start with three months, and then I’m going to reevaluate, so I may see y’all back in three months, or I might decide at that point, you know what, I need more time, or maybe I want to start a whole new podcast. I have no idea, but here is another thing that I’ve learned is that when ideas stop flowing, when motivation feels like it just shuts down, when it feels like that spark inside of you gets dimmed or blown out, it just means a new identity is coming online, and when a new identity is coming online, you. Want to keep pushing the old way, you don’t want to keep pushing the old identity, right? Because the new identity can’t come online, the growth, the breakthrough, the next evolution can’t come forward if you keep pushing the old identity along, right? The old way of doing things along, and so I’m excited to see what this space, what this pause, what this time to go inward reveals. Yeah, I’m ready for it. I’m ready for it now. Am I scared? Some people have asked me that, of course. My ego is scared. Of course, there’s a part of me that’s like, you’re not allowed to rest, it’s not okay, right? But, like, I know what that voice is, it’s not my truth, that is the fear brain, and I’m just not gonna run my life and my business according to fear, so I am going to rest, and it may not feel comfortable sometimes, like this space also doesn’t feel super comfortable, right. It’s kind of like, you know, a It’s kind of like the caterpillar going through chrysalis, like that doesn’t feel comfortable for the caterpillar that’s turning into mush, and not sure who they are. It was no longer the caterpillar, but not the butterfly yet, right? That process isn’t always like the most peaceful. I’m going to ground myself in the process, but I’m going to hold space for it. Maybe it may be a little uncomfortable, it may be hard. There’s going to be some uncertainty, and I’m going to move through it and trust anyways, because all the signs are leading here, and I trust the signs, and I trust my gut, I trust my body, I trust my intuition, and it’s all revealing that this is right. So, my friends, I’m going to miss you, I’m going to miss recording for you every single week. It truly has been a joy, a pleasure. Like, during it, I’ve loved it. I’ve loved it, and I wouldn’t have done it otherwise. Like, I loved creating ideas every single week. I loved, you know, showing up and hopefully sharing stories that helped you open up to a new way of doing things, or a new way of thinking, or a new way of relating to money, or to your business. I mean, that is amazing, and I’ve loved it. But right now is just the time to slow down and be in a season of pause. This is not the end, so I will be back in some way, shape, or form, but until then, you can listen to some past episodes and know that I absolutely love you so, so much, and I’m just beyond grateful that you’ve been listening to this podcast. Now, if you want to stay in my world, come follow me on Instagram, because I will share some behind the scenes, there, I won’t be in like constant content creation mode or anything like that, but I’ll share stories, I’ll share behind the scenes, I’ll tell y’all what I’m up to, I’ll connect with you. So, come follow me at Jamie Berman underscore, and we can stay connected. Also, another thing, if you do want to work with me, if you want to coach with me, if you want to expand your relationship with money and do business on your terms, you can still join my programs. I’ve got the money manifestation movement. I’m going to keep that open. I’m just not going to be actively launching it, but it’s going to be open and available for you to come in and get coaching and get support and be in that super powerful container, and then we may also open another mastermind next year for the Becoming a Millionaire Mastermind, because wow, has that growth in that room been who these women are on fire, they are amazing, and so Julia Carlson and I are already in talks of like I think we got to keep this one going, so stay tuned for that as well. Stay connected. I’m sending you so much love, and I will see you another time.