Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Welcome to youo Odyssey Podcast where your guides, Tara and Karen invite you on a transformative journey toward wholeness and personal growth.
Each week we'll discuss topics related to the human experience and offer insights to help you along the way.
Please note this podcast should not replace medical care or advice.
We are not licensed healthcare professionals or mental health therapists.
If you enjoyed today's episode, subscribe so you don't miss out on our future discussions.
So explorers, let's dive into today's episode.
[00:00:53] Speaker B: Hey explorers, it's Tara.
How are you feeling today as you listen to this episode? Wherever you are, emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually, Karen and I are so glad that you pressed play today.
In today's episode we are doing a little debrief of 2025, but not through metrics or milestones, but in a way that invites honesty to the year that we've all walked through, the lessons it gave us and the clarity it shaped within us.
[00:01:26] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
I mean, wow, what a year. And I love that you framed it without metrics, likes and follows. It goes along with anti social media as my, my mentors calls it.
And I, you know, like I know it's part of our culture now. There's a way and a way not to use it. However, I love the idea of reflecting from the wider abstract lens, right? To see the floaty feeling of what has transpired and then get really clear and intentional and focused in the vision for 2026.
[00:02:07] Speaker B: I love it. Looking back at 2025, my year, and I know Karen's year did not unfold in a straight line.
What we thought would happen didn't always happen and what we didn't expect. Introduce us to this deeper clarity.
So I invite us to walk through, like Karen says, this different wide angle lens of what this year has revealed, what is stretched within you and what you're going to release and carry into 2026. It's not a checklist, it is a reflection on how this year has shaped you.
[00:02:39] Speaker C: Right. Stillness is the place where you access the self awareness and the clarity and the important quiet space of reflection so that you can take what you've learned and see how you want to move forward.
I just Stillness at least five or ten minutes every day. My friends, on behalf of yourself and all of humanity, take, take some time.
[00:03:07] Speaker B: All right, so let's talk a little bit about what this year has revealed. When I look back over this year, I have been noticing this gradual shift from urgency, like this thing has to happen, to more intentionality.
If it's not a line, then don't do it. Don't do it just because you feel like you have to. That shift from urgency to intentionality is not just like a head knowledge or intellectually, but it's like how I actually make decisions now, how I hold space and how I hope that I show up in leadership.
[00:03:44] Speaker C: Oh, I can. I definitely see that is you moving from here to here.
[00:03:48] Speaker B: Do I feel this?
[00:03:50] Speaker C: Do I even want to do this?
[00:03:51] Speaker B: Oh my God, didn't I just do this? Like I was like, no, it's a clear no, no.
[00:03:55] Speaker C: The heart sort of reckoning. Right.
And you care so much less about what people think. You know what I mean? Like, you're just like. Like you said, you've gone from out here into here and it's just been wild and amaz beautiful to observe.
[00:04:11] Speaker B: What's something that you've realized, like a shift that you've realized in yourself? Over the course of this year, I.
[00:04:18] Speaker C: Have realized some really powerful learnings, stories, beliefs, one might say that I have carried with me since pretty much my first decade watched. I've observed how they were showing up in my life and I've sort of reverse engineered, you know, so going back to be like, oh my God, it's hard for me to be around a group of people because xyz part of it is nervous system stuff, right? I get that. And part of it is things I've learned that were dictating my behaviors and my outcomes. Ultimately is what it is. Right. I was living from that past sense of self and I have shifted in the last several months to be like, oh, that no longer serves and that's not real. I get to decide what's real for me from here moving forward. I have let go of so much of those early years. I'm going to give a shout out to John Bradshaw's book Homecoming, because that has been pivotal for me in understanding my behaviors as a young adult and mature adult were shaped by so many things that I didn't even consciously sign off on.
That has been a beautiful observation. And really walking the walk about the energy work and healing on that sort of energy level to create a new paradigm, a new life, a new movie script. It's been amazing.
[00:05:49] Speaker B: Yes, yes. And then this other thing that I've noticed in this year in the macro as well as the micro, is how much people deeply want to be seen not necessarily for what they produce or their productivity levels and not for all of the things that they do, but for their evolving identities.
Like they want to be seen for their Becoming. They want to be seen for their work on wholeness. So like this wholeness and process and progress. Identity as they are figuring it out. And like you said, shedding old stories, shedding old identities. Like they want to be seen and supported in that way. Like I've seen these cause these longing for hey, does anybody see me? Or am I doing this alone? Right.
[00:06:38] Speaker C: They want to be seen for their hearts, for their exploration, for their expanding, for their questioning. They're choosing a different path or a different way of being. And agreed. Macro and micro in consciousness. Right. Where people are like, this is what's important. This is where it's really at, you know?
[00:06:55] Speaker B: Yeah. And then there's this revelation from this year about how we are all to more than just surface level relationships. So there is this calling into the deep matters more than how fast you get there. We not just gonna go off on a boat and we in the deep end. That's not how that works. The more the knowing and the peace and the joy calls out of us, the less concerned I am with the pace of how I get there.
[00:07:21] Speaker C: When you have that clear calling and that clear vision, you just trust that. Right.
The details become inconsequential almost.
[00:07:28] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:07:29] Speaker C: And I'm trusting it, universe.
[00:07:31] Speaker B: Yeah. I've definitely seen that. Where I am holding and moving towards a vision that not everyone sees. And then time goes by and they're like, oh, I see it now. And I'm like, yeah, that's where I've been going. Thank you for finally getting on board. This is what I was talking about.
[00:07:46] Speaker C: That's what I value so much about sharing with my inner circle. Most importantly, this, these. These visions and ideas and dreams. Because not everybody is going to be on board necessarily. Right. With like the shifts and the changes and even there's. There's a little piece of me inside little Karen that's like, what if you leave all these people behind that you've known your whole life? What if these changes are scary? What if you know these little. These little things? And I'm like, nope, I'm. I share it with the people I deeply trust because I know they will hold the highest vibration and intention for my dreams and desires. Individually and collectively important. I share it, but I'm noticing that I don't share it with everybody because it's sacred.
[00:08:32] Speaker B: Yeah. Discernment is such a real thing.
[00:08:34] Speaker C: Discernment, favorite word.
[00:08:38] Speaker B: Yes. But as I'm thinking through the pace of things and as you're saying, the details that you know become less important.
I like Realized earlier this year, there was like this part of me that felt like if I'm not moving quickly or in this direction, somehow I'm falling behind. Like I'm going to miss the moment. But as the year progressed, that same softened.
And later in the year, I realized I had to grieve the version of me that needed clarity before she made a move. Because this year, more than almost any other year in my life, has taught me that this clarity comes after you move. So we talked about earlier, like the yes. And it's like all you have is your yes and your action. You don't have to know where the destination is. You don't have to know, like how you gonna get there.
[00:09:24] Speaker C: You feel in your heart, you see it, say yes. And you move.
[00:09:27] Speaker B: You move. And the Clari comes as you. It's kind of like if you're thinking in a desert, you see something off in the distance. It's the oasis, but you don't really know it yet. The closer you move towards it, the clearer it becomes. Like, oh, there's a water spring there. And the waterfall.
[00:09:40] Speaker C: Extra lovely things that I didn't expect.
[00:09:42] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:09:43] Speaker C: I got full goosebumps when you said that.
[00:09:45] Speaker B: By the way, clarity comes after movement and clarity comes after rest.
[00:09:53] Speaker C: Oh, my goodness. We underestimate the importance of rest. That stillness, that quiet. But really, sometimes we're put on force rest. We get sick or something happens that help makes us pause. Because that is where it all begins. That is where the seed gets fertilized and nurtured right in the rest. And trusting that the clarity comes as you move through that. And then you take action and then it becomes more clear. You just stay connected to the heart of it, to the why, to the vision. It's almost like a video game. You take the one step and then the next piece of the map appears. Yes. And then you take the next step and then the next path. You trusting that to become clearer and clearer and it might not be where you thought it was going. So that's.
[00:10:39] Speaker B: Oh. And not knowing where it's going or it's showing up in a way that you did not expect it to is very uncomfortable for someone that likes former controllers.
Tell me where we going? How long we gonna get there? When is the rest stop? And do we need to take a detour? Because this road is now closed. Are we still going over the road? It's like, oh, okay.
[00:10:59] Speaker C: And did pack enough stuff to take?
[00:11:01] Speaker B: I need to make sure. What is the weather going to be like?
[00:11:04] Speaker C: Yeah, I got to know it's like.
[00:11:06] Speaker B: You don't just keep moving. Get in the car and come on.
[00:11:09] Speaker C: It's the invitation for releasing control. Right. Letting go, for allowing the river of life to sort of gently take you and move you, knowing that the obstacles you will go around and it will all work out. You might not exactly looks like it's. It's gonna work out.
[00:11:27] Speaker B: Yeah. It was really hard to let go of all of the things. Like, I could be doing all of the things that we could do and choosing the things that actually make sense. That things. And when I say make sense, the things that are actually in alignment with.
[00:11:42] Speaker C: With the vision and the mission and the heart of it.
[00:11:44] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:11:44] Speaker C: Yes. We could all be doing a lot of things, especially. I feel like you and I have that tendency to be like this and this, this. But the intentional focus, that breeds clarity because you're like, you gotta start somewhere. You're like, I think we're gonna do this thing. And then we get one step, but it's. Oh, it's bigger than I. Whoop. That's. I feel like what 2025 has been for us.
[00:12:04] Speaker B: Yeah. And sometimes in the midst of this awareness, this shifting, I had to remind myself about grieving the person who needed to have all answered, but remind myself that old identity, who I was, was built around the old way of doing things. This new season, this new version, is calling deeper, more out of me than, like, initially that I've been comfortable for, because I am very content being behind the scenes. You know, pay no mind to the woman, the woman behind.
It's all mystical and magical and beautiful, but pay no mind to her.
So being called center stage in certain things has definitely stretched me.
[00:12:43] Speaker C: And yet you've seen how aligned and comfortable that is.
[00:12:46] Speaker B: And it's easy because it is.
[00:12:49] Speaker C: Because it's you.
Because it is you.
[00:12:52] Speaker B: All right, so what out of all of this, what this year has revealed and those spaces and places where it challenged us and felt a little uncomfortable are hard. What are you bringing forward into 2026 or into your new season, into this new year, so to speak?
[00:13:11] Speaker C: That's the question to the explorers, right, Is to just think about no matter what. It doesn't matter if you listen to this at the end of December or beginning of January or next year or in the summertime in the middle of March, you're always right in the season of trans positioning. So what is your vision? What is your dream? Where are you moving toward right now.
[00:13:29] Speaker B: With this knowledge that you have?
[00:13:31] Speaker C: And what can you release and let go of? How do you take that brave step towards that as it unfolds?
[00:13:38] Speaker B: Yeah. I was sitting there with this question myself, and I was like, okay, what would be ways of operating modes of being that I would want to carry forward into this next season? Grounded leadership. So less of the, well, maybe if it makes you happy, but really firm and grounded and what that looks like across all spaces. It is more discerning yeses. So not yeses just because they feel good, but yeses from that quiet still place where I know this is a yes, very clearly a yes. And if it's not very clearly a yes, maybe I'm not doing it.
And. Right.
[00:14:13] Speaker C: It can put a pin in it for some other time.
[00:14:15] Speaker B: Maybe. Don't even.
[00:14:15] Speaker C: It's off the radar.
[00:14:17] Speaker B: Yeah, it's off the radar. Grounded leadership, discerning yeses and intentional capacity. I don't know how. Right. Like how well people know me, but I am really good historically at doing all of the things just because I can.
Just. Right.
[00:14:35] Speaker C: Because just because you're capable doesn't mean you have to do it. Right.
[00:14:40] Speaker B: Grounded leadership, discerning yeses, and intentional capacity. And the three of those play really well together.
They are like this new foundation of how I move forward personally and professionally.
Not Trying to do because. Oh, because Bob is doing it, and then Tara's got to do it. No, No, I don't. I do it the way that I want to, the way that I'm supposed to, the way that only I can do it.
[00:15:03] Speaker C: Which is so funny, because you have always struck me as a person who kind of does her own thing anyway, no matter what's going on. But it's interesting that behind the scenes there was more of a question.
Right.
[00:15:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:16] Speaker C: But now you're doing it from a very different place.
[00:15:20] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:15:20] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:15:21] Speaker B: Yes. Yes. Very different.
With that knowledge of moving forward. Like, one of the biggest things that I'm releasing personally, professionally, like, across the board, is saying yes.
This goes to the discerning yes. Like saying yes before I know the total cost. Everything costs you something. So either it's time, energy, resources, money, whatever. Like saying yes just because, like, there's an obligation to say yes or because someone expects me to say yes. It's like, I'm good. Saying, I don't know yet or let me think on that. I don't want to say yes to something that I'm not supposed to say yes to. Right.
[00:15:56] Speaker C: And I. And I think that there's. There is a way to have that conversation and to be gentle about it, but I love the idea of inserting the intentional pause because, like, there's a part of me that wants to knee jerk, be like, oh, hell no, I'm not doing that. I don't have time or energy, anything for it.
Right. Just pausing to. To feel into, to sort of get the confirmation. Okay. No, it's not. How can I share that with love and compassion with this person and just say, this is not a focus of mine right now, or this is not where I want to put my energy right now, but thank you for that.
[00:16:26] Speaker B: Okay, so this is like a natural pivot about where we see your odyssey going in 2026.
One of the ways I see your odyssey moving and becoming in 2026 is that it's more about refinement, not ne. Literally reinventing. We're not becoming a new entity, but we are honing in and getting very clear about what it is we offer, how people can interact with our business. We did a lot of foundational work this year that I had no idea, like, that it was coming. Like, oh, is that what we were doing? Which is crazy because we talked about it. We're building the foundation of getting these things agreed.
[00:17:08] Speaker C: We started as that sort of agreement that y' all are going to do a podcast, and it just has morphed into.
I mean, it's how we live and love and lead, and we're just. We're getting more intentional about. Or more clear. Right. Crystal clear about what that looks like in terms of a business. I don't want the word business to be like a dirty word. We have been given these gifts to create something of the highest love, intention, and I believe it's going to serve many people, including ourselves, our families, and rippling outward to anyone we have the privilege of meeting, of sharing with. Yeah, but I. Yeah, I do think I will say when you.
The flourish moment and you told me about it soon, I wasn't there yet, but as soon as you said it, I was like, son of a gun.
[00:18:07] Speaker B: Like, there it is.
[00:18:09] Speaker C: We had been working so hard on, like, launching the digital course and getting social, like, record, you know, just trying to reach people. And you said that. And I was like, that is where the foundation grows. And it comes all together. It was so clear, like, not just content podcasts, not just courses, but the community piece, the community that support and that love and showing up for people in that way.
[00:18:36] Speaker B: At the end of the day, I firmly believe, you know, and trust that what's meant for us personally and professionally will still be there. It's just waiting on Us to continue making those aligned actions, to continue moving and believing that, you know, all of those things, all of the good things, all of the community, all of the conversations, like, all of that will happen because it matters. Yeah.
[00:19:01] Speaker C: For sure. Certainty. Yeah. The only times where I have days where I'm like, what is? The days that I lose touch with that, where I'm not connected as deeply to the vision and it starts to feel more abstract, and I just come right back to, oh, no. I start tangibly feeling it. I'm like, no. Because this and this and this. And I just start picturing talking about it as if it is already so.
[00:19:26] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:19:27] Speaker C: Real clear with the sensory information around how it feels to be living and breathing and doing this, showing up in this way.
[00:19:36] Speaker B: I love that. Oh, my goodness. Yes. For sure. All right.
That's all I had. I do have a beautiful song, so if you're ready.
[00:19:44] Speaker C: I'm ready.
[00:19:45] Speaker B: So I have a song that gives us permission to stop rushing our stories, to release the pressure to know all of the things and to trust that stillness is most definitely a sacred part of this journey. The song is Be still by the Killers.
[00:20:08] Speaker C: I love it because I will say it all day, every day. I've already said it on this episode. The stillness is where you find the map. It's where the twinkle of inspiration or that sparkle of knowing comes from.
[00:20:23] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:20:24] Speaker C: Great.
[00:20:25] Speaker B: All right, let's go.
[00:20:30] Speaker C: Check out this.
[00:20:31] Speaker A: Week'S song on the yo Podcast playlist on Spotify.
[00:20:39] Speaker C: Don't break character.
You've got so much heart.
[00:20:43] Speaker B: Don't break character.
[00:20:44] Speaker C: Like, that's like. It's like, be in stillness.
Get the map, get the download, get the step and move with that clarity, with that silent knowing that only you can be certain of.
[00:20:59] Speaker B: Mm.
[00:21:00] Speaker C: Mm.
[00:21:00] Speaker B: Don't break character.
[00:21:02] Speaker C: Uncompromised vision, intention, focus.
[00:21:06] Speaker B: Wow. Thank you. Be still.
[00:21:08] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:21:08] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:21:09] Speaker D: Awesome.
[00:21:09] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:21:10] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:21:11] Speaker B: I have today's question of the day.
[00:21:13] Speaker C: Kadokis.
[00:21:15] Speaker B: What's something this year gave you, even if it didn't arrive in the way you expected?
Everything.
[00:21:24] Speaker C: Boy. This year gave me a calm, relaxed certainty, sense of knowing that is intangible but so true and grounded in certainty.
[00:21:41] Speaker B: Yes, ma'. Am. 2025 gave me space.
It gave me the space to think, the space to heal, the space to breathe, the space to stop performing, the space to stand up in my calling, the space to learn from my community, lean on my community, and be okay with. Hey, it didn't look the way that you thought it was gonna look, but you' okay. You're still good. And like you said, that certainty that comes from this space that this year has afforded me is just like, wow, I didn't know I needed that.
Wow.
[00:22:24] Speaker C: Yeah. I think the, I think the freedom and space is such a gift because it does lead you to that certainty, absolute knowing of what is right for you.
[00:22:34] Speaker B: Yes.
Without a doubt, hands down. Thank you. 2025.
[00:22:39] Speaker C: Yeah, that's the freedom, the stillness and the space so necessary.
[00:22:44] Speaker B: I have a quote from American author Melody Beatty.
Yes. The new year stands before us like a chapter in a book waiting to be written.
[00:22:57] Speaker C: What's your story gonna look like?
What you gonna allow? What you gonna dream? Right?
[00:23:03] Speaker B: What are you gonna dream? What are you going to do to lean into with all of your being?
Explore it. A gentle reminder though, that you don't have to rush to fill the pages.
You don't have to know the whole plot. Your only job in writing this next chapter is to turn each page with honesty, courage and alignment. That's it.
[00:23:27] Speaker C: Just go within. Connect with the heart, the truth of what it is for you, who you are, and allow it to unfold.
[00:23:35] Speaker B: That's it. One line at a time.
[00:23:37] Speaker C: One line at a time.
[00:23:38] Speaker B: We want to thank you so much for journeying with us on this podcast this year. Thank you so much for listening, for letting your odyssey be a place where you can grow without rushing, without judgment. We are closing this year not by striving, but being in deeper alignment with.
We are closing this year with a gentle exhale.
Until next time, explorers. May you honor the chapters that closed. Release what no longer belongs and trust that what's up head already knows how to find you.
[00:24:20] Speaker C: It's already being written.
We love you so much, explorers.
We wish you the most beautiful holiday season and renewing, reconnecting in the new year with the truth of who you are. We see you, we love you. We're so grateful for you. Take good care.
[00:24:44] Speaker D: Thank you to Queenies in downtown Durham for the use of their community podcast studio and for welcoming us so warmly. Each week we'd like to give a shout out to Coco Cinnamon, the birthplace of 1023 Media and the yo podcast. Please support your local women owned minority owned coffee shop in downtown Durham.
Brought to you by Durham based 1023 Media, a heart centered, woman owned multimedia company.
