In this episode, I’m reflecting on something I realized about myself over the past year.

For a long time, I thought I was just being selfless.

But what I eventually realized was that I didn’t understand what selflessness was actually costing me.

When you don’t see yourself clearly, it’s easy to cross your own boundaries without realizing it.

You say yes too often.
You carry things that were never yours.
You give before you’ve even taken a breath for yourself.

Eventually, the cost shows up.

Exhaustion.
Resentment.
Burnout.

In this conversation, I’m exploring the balance between selfishness and selflessness, and why understanding that balance is essential if we want to live honestly with ourselves.

In this episode, I talk about:

– How we cross our own boundaries without realizing it
– Why selflessness without awareness can lead to burnout
– What it looks like to start seeing yourself clearly
– Why balance between selfishness and selflessness matters

The lesson wasn’t to become selfish.

The lesson was balance.

Because sometimes the hardest thing to see in life… is yourself.

This episode is a real-time reflection on stillness.

Not the aesthetic version.
Not the peaceful, candle-lit version.

The uncomfortable version.

In this space, I’m learning:

• How often I try to control outcomes
• How quickly I want to run when things feel uncertain
• What strength actually looks like when I don’t escape
• Why stillness is not the absence of movement
• How doubt surfaces when you stop distracting yourself

Stillness, for me, has felt painful.

But I’m realizing it isn’t stagnation.
It’s the decision to stay and face what keeps coming up.

Everything we try to outrun eventually catches up to us.

This episode is about choosing to stop running.

If you’re in a season where you feel restless, uncertain, or tempted to escape, this conversation is for you.

Thank you for being human with me.

In this episode of The Open Soul Podcast we've talked a lot about questioning.

Questioning your relationships.
Your standards.
Your faith.
Your identity.
Your life.

But no one really talks about what happens after.

What happens when you get the answers you weren’t prepared for?
What happens when clarity requires change?

This episode is about integration.

It’s about:

– Becoming the villain in someone else’s story.
– Letting go of relationships that were draining you.
– Raising your standards and living by them.
– Calling in new community and becoming ready to receive it.
– Sitting in discomfort instead of escaping.
– Accepting that growth is messy, not aesthetic.

Once you know, you can’t unknow.

The real question becomes:

What are you going to do about it?

Summary

In this episode, I reflect on what consent really means and why it feels so present right now.

Not just consent with other people, but consent within our own lives. The choices we make. The pace we keep. The ways we’ve learned to live without ever stopping to ask why.

I talk about survival mode and how living rushed, busy, and reactive leaves very little room for joy, creativity, or clarity.

When survival becomes the default, we forget that choice exists at all. And when we don’t question what we’re consenting to, we can slowly drift away from ourselves.

This conversation is an invitation to slow down enough to notice where you may be choosing by habit instead of by truth.

Consent is not about judgment. It’s about awareness. It’s about remembering that you get to participate in your life consciously, not just endure it.

🎧 Episode 2: Learning to Choose: Consent Is the Language of Choice

If these conversations feel supportive, you’re welcome to subscribe wherever you listen.

Song Credit: Balance by Fugu Vibes

We let other people’s experiences shape our decisions more than we realize. What was hard for them. What scared them. What did not work. Without realizing it, we start living inside limits that were never ours to begin with.

In this episode, I reflect on why personal experience matters, not as something to rush through or avoid, but as the way we come to know ourselves more honestly. I touch on a moment from my own life that helped me see how easily we can disconnect from our curiosity when we stop trusting ourselves.

We talk about the difference between guidance and interference, and how advice, even when well intentioned, can quietly pull us away from our own knowing. Just because something was hard for someone else does not mean it is not meant for you.

This episode is an invitation to trust yourself enough to try. To loosen the grip of secondhand limits. To remember that your life is yours to experience.

🎧 Episode 2: Reclaiming Your Right to Experience

Song credit: Balance by Fugu Vibes

This episode is not a launch. It is a pause.

A moment to catch up, reflect, and stand at the edge of what is next.

In this opening episode of Season Two, I take time to look back on my twenties, the lessons they offered, and what it has been like crossing into my thirties. I reflect on growth I can hear in my own voice, the shifts that happened quietly, and the ways life softened once I stopped taking everything so seriously and started taking myself seriously instead.

We talk about balance. About learning when to slow down and when to move. About the difference between pressure and preparation. About community, rhythm, and letting your body lead instead of forcing yourself through life on borrowed timelines.

This episode is also shaped by the closing of my Saturn return, a long season of reckoning, grounding, and integration. I share what that time taught me about self trust, presence, and honoring my own pace.

If you are in an in between season, not who you were and not quite who you are becoming, this episode is for you.

This is the threshold.
Come in when you are ready.

Episode takeaways:

• Growth is easier to see in hindsight
• Age is not a deadline, it is a rhythm
• Taking yourself seriously does not mean taking life too seriously
• Balance is something you practice, not perfect
• Community and presence matter more than urgency

Song credit: Balance by Fugu Vibes

Summary:

In this episode of the Open Soul Podcast, host Erica Marie shares her journey of self-discovery and the challenges of navigating fear and uncertainty.

Erica emphasizes the power of vulnerability and the need to embrace change. She reflects on her experiences during the winter season, the importance of showing up in our authenticity.

Takeaways:

• Blooming in winter
• The choices we make in life
• Fears of being perceived in the wrong way
• Speaking freely
• Letting go leading to liberation
• Vulnerability and sharing our stories
• Moving through the discomfort together.

Keywords:

personal growth, authenticity, vulnerability, self-discovery, fear, change, journey, podcast, self-reflection, transformation

Chapters:

00:00 Embracing Change and Personal Growth

05:41 Navigating Fear and Uncertainty

10:00 The Power of Authenticity and Vulnerability

15:09 The Journey of Self-Discovery and Storytelling

Are you intentional about where you root yourself or plant your seeds? In this episode we are diving into knowing where we stand and why it matters.

This conversation explores:

• Why clarity in your values, energy and direction is crucial
• How to discern where you are freely blooming vs where you are wilting
• The energy boost of spring and Aries season and how to make the most of your season

Connect with me https://theopensoulhaven.my.canva.site/ericamarie?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaYqXsp7wwLkpLEUdIJQDLQoJk4q1LB9zI5D7hB2I9ycz0wXZcSFPkfJhT8_aem_JUbRihSnp_ITtsw1Up7HGg

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/soulfullyericamarie/

Substack https://substack.com/@theopensoulcommunity?r=5d6oa1&utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-page

In this episode, I’m sharing where I’ve been, what’s been on my heart, and the beauty that winter teaches us about slowing down, embracing stillness, and finding warmth in our journeys.

Hit play and let’s reconnect in this cozy, soul-filled chat.

Instagram:

@soulfullyericamarie

@theopensoulcommunity

Website

https://theopensoulhaven.my.canva.site/ericamarie

In this episode we are diving into the topic of sisterhood and I invited two inspiring women to have this conversation with me. Join us as we talk explore this topic and our sister wounds & the power of community.

BRITTNEY MCKINLEY - Founder of Contained Stems & Cofounder of Essentials and Elevated Experiences.

& BRITTANY MORALES - Founder of Wild Woman Provisions

ERICA MARIE

Instagram - @soulfullyericamarie

BRITTNEY MCKINLEY 

Instagram -

@essentialsandelevation

Website - https://www.containedstems.com/products/details-of-a-dangerous-woman

https://essentialsandelevation.com

BRITTANY MORALES

Instagram -

Website - https://wwpbm.my.canva.site/wild-woman-provisions

SACRED SISTERS 

Instagram - @sacredsisters

Website - https://linktr.ee/sacredsisters?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaZGv20q6bz-N1lzuUh_ylYh8oYtdPSwdbHdszbnNxSRrxmusxemZGkn48E_aem_iMEmQ4Y2anaT74C-h6ZYrg