The Audacity Academy Podcast

This week's episode features the amazinggggg Gemma O’Brien! Gemma is a Personal Trainer, Performance Coach, Teacher and Entrepreneur. She is all about empowering women to reconnect to their true selves by bridging the gap between the physical and the spiritual. She runs a face-to-face PT business in Sydney, Australia, as well as doing online mentoring and coaching with clients all around the world. In addition to running her PT business, Gemma ALSO teaches up and coming PTs how to be PTs. She's a competitive athlete and has competed in bodybuilding, CrossFit, Powerlifting, Strongwoman and, more recently, Olympic Weightlifting on a National and International Level.

We had such a fun conversation and covered so many amazing topics (as is what usually happens), but we especially focused in today's episode on dating and relationships. Gemma shared so many incredible lessons that she has learned along her journey from chronic people-pleaser to a woman who knows herself, loves herself, respects herself, and will not tolerate less than she deserves. She is such an inspirational woman, an amazing PT, teacher, and coach, and I am beyond honored to have had the privilege to chat with her on the podcast!

You can connect with Gemma through her personal Facebook page, Gemma O’Brien, or her business page, Better Than Yesterday Performance Coaching. Her Instagram is: @iamtherealgemgem, her podcast is called The Spiritual Athlete podcast AND you can reach her through her website: www.betterthanyesterday.com.au. 

This week's guest, Kate Arredondo, is a nature loving, animal rescuing self help junkie who enjoys spending as much time outdoors and camping as she can with her family. She is a new author and mental health & wellness coach who empowers others to overcome their mental health diagnosis through a balance of mind, body and spirit.

In this episode, Kate shares all about her journey with her diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder and how she learned how to navigate her diagnosis as she became a mom, discovered life coaching, switched careers, wrote a book, ran a marathon (!!!!) and transformed from a victim mindset of allowing her diagnosis to control her to being the total rockstar that she is today. We talk about medication, the difference between coaching and licensed mental health providers, self-care, boundaries (of course), and Kate shares bits and pieces from her new book, Finding the Alpenglow, throughout the episode.

This is one you don't want to miss!

You can connect with Kate on Facebook and Instagram: @alpenglowcoaching

and at her website: findingthealpenglow.com.

She also has a new community coming on Mighty Networks, Finding the Alpenglow, to create a safe space and community for those who are seeking stability and balance with their mental health. This community should be opening up right around the time this episode airs, so definitely reach out to Kate about joining!

P.S. The doctor that Kate mentions throughout the episode, who is in Austin, TX, is Michelle Hauser, MD. Her office number is (512) 302-1954. michelehauser is her website and the MBCT program mentioned in the episode is at MBCT AUSTIN.

For the second time ever I have another human with me on the podcast! Carmen Williams is a wedding and portrait photographer, entrepreneur, mom, Army veteran, artist, student, and former squad leader + forever mentor to Yours Truly.

Carmen has an absolutely INCREDIBLE story that I am so excited to bring to y'all... Not only do we talk about her transition out of the Army and into civilian life, when the struggle is real enough trying to figure out your new identity, sense of self-worth, and boundaries as you embark on the next steps in your life and career, but Carmen also suffered a stroke in February of 2017, just a few short months after separating from the military... AND found out she was pregnant in the days following her stroke.

We covered so much ground in this conversation - people-pleasing, self-worth, identity, and boundaries in (and then out) of the Army, recovering from a stroke and how boundaries served Carmen during this time of recovery (while growing a tiny human, I might add), parenting (she has 3 beautiful children now, including a teenager), entrepreneurship, and life. 

I hope you are as inspired as I am every single time I have a conversation with this amazing woman!

You can connect with Carmen on IG or visit her website!

www.instagram.com/carmenjphotography

As always, like, comment, and share if you found this episode valuable, or email [email protected] if you have any questions/comments/direct feedback, if you'd like to make a request for a future episode, OR if you would like to be a guest yourself and share your story!

The very first interview with a guest on The Audacity Academy is with one of my best friends in the whole world, a Soul Sister, Natalie Jean. She is such a badass, y'all! She's an anthropology student, artist, writer, single mother and she also does divination and spiritual guidance for others. 

We talk all about how people-pleasing and boundaries have impacted her life as an Empath and spiritual guide, as a parent to her son who is on the spectrum, in her romantic relationships, as a student, and in life in general. This conversation was so fun! I hope you enjoy it and get as much out of it as I did.

Like, comment, and share if you found this episode valuable, or email [email protected] if you have any questions/comments/direct feedback, if you'd like to make a request for a future episode, OR if you would like to be a guest yourself and share your story! 

Here are all the links to connect with Natalie Jean on the socials! Go give her a follow and support her journey.

This is one of my favorite episodes to date!

The fear of making others unhappy and the guilt around doing something that they perceive as "selfish" are the #1 things that hold people-pleasers back from beginning their boundaries journey, and today we are talking about it. On top of the topic already being super important, you're also getting an introduction to "The Bubble"! 

As always, leave a review and share the episode if you found it helpful and feel free to email [email protected] to give more private feedback on the podcast or requests for future episodes.

Here's how to connect:

www.sarahfalciani.com

This topic really is near and dear to my heart. In this episode, I riff for a few minutes on the unfortunate conditioning that can occur during the development of natural "givers" that leads us to take on a responsibility that is not actually ours to bear... That of saving the world. 

Our capacity to feel, empathize, and give are our superpower. But without boundaries, this superpower doesn't feel so much like a superpower as it does a burden. 

Whether it applies to you, or to someone you are close with, I hope you gain a deeper understanding of the importance of boundaries for these Givers from this episode. <3

As always, leave a review and share the episode if you found it helpful and feel free to email [email protected] to give more private feedback on the podcast or requests for future episodes.

Here's how to connect:

www.sarahfalciani.com

There's always a lot going on in the World, and it is always important to stay informed and contribute to the causes we believe in when possible. But, as a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) or Empath, it can be extremely overwhelming and difficult to navigate not only the consumption of information but also the emotional attachment and emotional investment towards which we are naturally inclined. When this happens, we can become so depleted that we really end up useless to not only the world around us and the causes we believe in, but also to ourselves and the obligations we have to care for (i.e., family, bills to be paid, etc). 

In this episode, a clip from a video I did for Instagram, I intentionally validate this struggle and give a couple of tips to help you with setting boundaries around your attention and emotions so you can better organize your energy and your priorities. 

Enjoy this first episode of Season 2, and as always, email [email protected] if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or other feedback. 

With love,

Sarah

www.sarahfalciani.com

Interview!

❗Systems, methods, and our approach to accomplishing things in our lives.❗  

When things aren't going the way we want we tend to blame the system or method that we've been using. Sometimes we reject everything as an act of rebellion and attempt to "wing it" because nothing we've tried seems to work.  

It's a bit of a mind fuck, to be honest. So let's get some clarity.  

Tune in to this week's episode for my thoughts on systems and the real issue with them that might be negatively impacting your life and career/business and driving you deeper into burnout.  

Like, Comment, and please share if you found this valuable, and ❗BONUS: You can also visit www.sarahfalciani.com to subscribe to the free homework assignment that goes along with each week's topic.

Excerpt: "The coaching industry overuses the phrase “let it be easy,” and it gets misinterpreted a lot to mean “put forth no effort.” I actually super love the phrase, and I use it all the time, but I also bust my butt in my business and in life and it took me awhile to get to the point where the word “easy” didn’t trigger the eff out of me.

Now, when I say I choose for things to feel “easy,” it can be a bit triggering for others and I totally get that because I’ve been there. The workaholic that I used to be; the burned out human who had to feel like she was dying otherwise she felt wildly undeserving and inadequate completely rejected the word “easy.”

“Things CAN’T feel easy, because I’m a BADASS and I HAVE to do the hardest most challenging thing EVER in THE most challenging WAY ever so I can PROVE that I’m a badass and THEN I’ll deserve love/respect/fulfillment/success/etc.”

That’s roughly what my limiting belief sounded like any time I heard the word “easy.”

I wanted no part of it.

My sense of self worth was directly linked to the amount of effort I was putting forth and, no surprise, I was miserable and burned out." 

Listen to this week's podcast, or read the full blog + watch the vlog Here in order to find out how this limiting belief was driving my burnout and what it looks like to let things feel “easy” in life, love, career, and business.

As always, I enjoy hearing your feedback! 

Please feel free to like, comment, subscribe, and share if you feel called.

Also, I made something for you! If you've been curious to know if you're exhibiting signs/symptoms of burnout, you can now take the quiz Here to find out now! 

Talk to you soon,

~Sarah