ayawithin

Most people aren’t stuck because they don’t know what to do…
they’re stuck because their nervous system is addicted to what’s familiar.

Even when it hurts.
Even when it’s clearly not working.

In this episode, Aya talks about the quiet, uncomfortable truth:
we often choose familiar discomfort over unfamiliar freedom… because it feels safer.

But what if the life you actually want requires you to choose differently not because it’s easy, but because it’s aligned?

This conversation explores:

• why your body resists change even when your mind is ready

• how “the harder path” is often the most honest one

• and what it really looks like to choose yourself when it would be easier not to

This isn’t about forcing yourself into suffering.
It’s about recognizing that growth, healing, and freedom will feel hard…
but they won’t cost you your soul.

If you’ve been standing at a crossroads, knowing what you need to do but not doing it…
this is your reminder:

The hard path might just be the one that finally sets you free.

For a long time, Aya thought quitting weed would fix her life.

She believed sobriety would bring clarity, motivation, and direction that everything would suddenly make sense.

But six months later, she’s realizing something much deeper happened.

Sobriety didn’t save her.
It forced her to finally meet herself.

In this episode, Aya talks about what it has actually felt like to sit with her emotions without numbing them the grief that shows up in the mornings, the ways she realized she had been disconnected from her body, the fear of being alone with herself, and the realization that she had carried a quiet belief for most of her life that someone else would eventually come save her.

What she’s learning now is that no one is coming and strangely, that realization has been one of the most empowering parts of her healing.

Aya also talks about the surprising part of letting go of an addiction: how the mind often tries to replace it with something else, and why learning to regulate the nervous system and sit with yourself is one of the hardest and most important parts of the healing process.

If you’ve ever felt lost, disconnected, or afraid to sit with your own thoughts, this conversation will resonate deeply.

If you're ready to begin reconnecting with yourself, Aya’s Reset Guide is available now, and the next Reset Cohort will be opening soon.

An ofc my favs 1:1 coaching: https://within.myflodesk.com/t2za2h2ymy

Six months sober. Ten years with marijuana. And one of the hardest years of my life.

In this episode, Aya shares why she chose to break up with MJ after a decade not from shame, fear, or moral superiority, but from a deep desire to meet herself fully sober.

She opens up about living in the Dominican Republic during one of the most emotionally challenging seasons of her life navigating social anxiety, depression, isolation, projection, and being misunderstood in ways that forced her to confront old wounds and attachment patterns. What once felt like regulation slowly revealed itself as avoidance.

This episode explores what happens when you stop using marijuana to cope, numb, or regulate in social environments and what it means to hold yourself through discomfort instead of escaping it. Aya speaks candidly about being labeled “too much,” “too flirty,” and misunderstood, and how sobriety helped her reclaim her self-trust, boundaries, and identity.

She reflects on:

• six months of sobriety after 10 years of use

• using marijuana to cope with social anxiety and trauma

• living in a toxic or misaligned environment

• how insecurity in others can distort narratives about you

• why discomfort is often the doorway to leveling up

• learning emotional regulation without substances

• discipline as self-love

• and what it means to potentially integrate marijuana intentionally in the future but only from clarity, not dependence

This is not an anti-weed conversation.
It’s a conversation about sovereignty.

About realizing that you are capable of more than you’ve ever allowed yourself to experience and choosing to meet yourself without numbing, without shrinking, and without outsourcing your nervous system.

If you’ve ever wondered who you are without your coping mechanisms - this episode is for you.

From 2020 to 2025, everything cracked open.

The plans we thought were solid dissolved. Identities fell apart. Coping mechanisms stopped working. And whether we were ready or not, we were asked to meet ourselves more honestly than ever before.

In this episode, Aya reflects on the collective initiation of the last five years - what it meant to live through constant uncertainty, emotional shedding, and deep personal reckoning. She shares her own story of identity loss, nervous system recalibration, and learning how to listen to the quieter, truer voice beneath the noise.

As we step into 2026, we’re closing out a powerful cycle of endings and entering a new season of renewal, movement, and embodied direction. This conversation explores what it means to consciously release what no longer fits, honor what shaped us, and intentionally call in the next version of our lives - without bypassing the grief, fear, or tenderness that comes with change.

This is not a “new year, new you” conversation.
It’s a remembering. It's raw and intimate. A recalibration.
An invitation to move forward with clarity instead of force.

If you’ve felt like the last few years broke you open and you’re ready to choose what comes next this episode is for you.

What Happens When You Stop Smoking Weed

Anxiety, emotional flooding, vivid dreams, REM sleep rebound, attachment patterns, and nervous system recalibration explained.

Within this podcast episode, Aya dives into what actually happens in your body when you stop smoking weed not from a place of shame or fear, but through a nervous-system-informed, trauma-aware lens.

She explores how cannabis interrupts natural emotional processing, why emotions can feel overwhelming when the numbness wears off, and why anxiety, sleep disruption, and vivid dreams are common during withdrawal. This episode breaks down emotional numbing, dissociation, REM sleep rebound, attachment styles, and the “emotional backlog” effect explaining why quitting can feel worse before it feels better.

Rather than framing cannabis as the problem, Aya reframes the experience as a process of emotional completion, nervous system recalibration, and self-regulation. This episode is especially for anyone who has used weed to cope with stress, trauma, anxiety, or overwhelm and wants to understand what’s actually happening in their body when they take a break.

This is not an anti-weed conversation.
It’s an invitation into clarity, self-trust, and learning how to meet yourself when the numbness fades.

If this resonates and you’re craving structure, tools, and support while your nervous system recalibrates, you'll love the

THE RESET COMMUNITY

THE RESET SELF GUIDE

1:1 Coaching

Meditation App Name: Field Trip

In this episode, Aya dives into the difference between what your nervous system is reacting to and what your intuition is actually trying to tell you. She explores why familiar cycles feel safer than aligned ones, why the unknown triggers anxiety, and why endings can feel like grief even when they’re the right move for your evolution.

Aya also breaks down the science behind why we cling to old patterns from prediction error, to dopamine withdrawal, to the brain’s addiction to the familiar. And she shares what it really means to be the black sheep, the first in your family to choose a path with no blueprint.

If you’ve been confusing fear with intuition… or mistaking comfort for alignment… this episode will shift the way you listen to your body and your soul.

Full moon Youtube: https://youtu.be/mkDQz_85hQU?si=6qYG8gcoE108oNhy

In this first episode of Season 2, I get honest about something I’ve avoided talking about for years: the holidays.

Not the cute, cozy, Instagram version the real version.

The anxiety, the loneliness, the pressure, the grief of not having the childhood holiday story you were “supposed” to have… the weird mix of nostalgia and sadness when December rolls around. And what it feels like to spend the holidays alone, again, as a single nomadic woman rebuilding her life from scratch.

I talk about how holidays have changed for me, why they never felt like home, what I wish holidays actually looked like as adults and the power of rewriting the narrative.

If the holidays make you feel heavy, tender, disconnected, or just plain weird… you’re not alone.

Welcome to Season 2 after a year of NO CONTACT xoxo

The unfiltered era.

welcome to a lil q&a with aya diving into the fundamentals of mushys. this episode is based off personal experiences and our bff chat gpt. For all things 🍄 go to Mycrologi and use code AYAWITHIN for a discount!

Some of my favs:

Clarity

Wavy

Microdose Bliss Bites (my fav)

Support

What I want to try:

Restore

Psychedelic Bundle

Ritual

Albion A

Join me in the Dominican as we dive within, connect with the land, and vibeee. 

Instagram: 

Personal - https://www.instagram.com/sshelbs/

Podcast - https://www.instagram.com/ayawithin/

Tiktok: 

https://www.tiktok.com/@soshelbs

https://www.tiktok.com/@ayawithin

Youtube: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGOD2QlFksgcrSMXBcOya0w

Website: 

https://www.soshelbs.com

Services Provided: 

Personal & Branding Coaching 

Content Creation 

Brand Management

Workshops & Retreats 

cheated on once again... maybe its just me? aya dives into her little jungle life and how she took her discomfort & said "fuck you, let's make the most of it". has aya made a mistake of going back to the small village where her ex lives and is currently dating his old ex girlfriend or is this the next step in her journey of healing a deep wound around rejection and claiming it as redirection.

Next Retreat Feb 13th-19th for more info here

Instagram:

Personal - https://www.instagram.com/sshelbs/

Podcast - https://www.instagram.com/ayawithin/

Tiktok: 

https://www.tiktok.com/@soshelbs

https://www.tiktok.com/@ayawithin

Youtube: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGOD2QlFksgcrSMXBcOya0w

Website: 

https://www.soshelbs.com

Services Provided: 

Personal & Branding Coaching 

Content Creation 

Brand Management

Workshops & Retreats 

In this episode, Aya dives into the transformative practice of cycle syncing—aligning your lifestyle with the four phases of your menstrual cycle to optimize your health, productivity, and overall well-being. Cycle syncing allows you to work with your body’s natural rhythms, making every phase an opportunity for growth, rest, or connection. Aya breaks down each phase, explaining how to harness the unique energy of each one and sharing journal prompts designed to deepen your self-awareness and support personal development:

Menstrual Phase: Focus on rest and reflection. Journal Prompt: "What am I ready to let go of? How can I give myself more rest and care during this time?"

Follicular Phase: Tap into creativity and new ideas. Journal Prompt: "What new ideas or projects excite me right now? How can I turn them into action?"

Ovulatory Phase: Embrace confidence and connection. Journal Prompt: "How can I use my confidence to build stronger connections? Who can I reach out to for collaboration or support?"

Luteal Phase: Focus on completion and introspection. Journal Prompt: "What unfinished tasks need my attention? How can I bring more balance into my life before my next cycle?"

Throughout the episode, Aya emphasizes how syncing your diet, exercise, and self-care routines with your cycle can help reduce stress, balance hormones, and prevent burnout. She also explains how this practice leads to greater self-awareness, productivity, and emotional well-being by helping you live in alignment with your body. Whether you're looking to optimize your energy or deepen your connection to yourself, this episode will guide you through how cycle syncing can become a life-changing practice. Tune in to discover how to leverage your body’s natural rhythm for intentional, empowered living!

Join Natural Cycles with code: SHELBS for 15% off your annual subscription and a free thermometer.

https://www.naturalcycles.com/join-me?utm_campaign=instagram-newsletter-podcast&utm_medium=organic&utm_content=sshelbs&utm_source=Instagram&code=Shelbs&name=Shelby&percentage=15