Permission to Begin Again: Time For a New Creative Chapter

Permission to Begin Again: Time For a New Creative Chapter


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The important thing is you can change and you can start anew. And it is normal and healthy to allow yourself to evolve and realign in your career, whether that takes shape as a big pivot into a new industry or a transition within the creative business you've already started.

Sometimes all you need is to be reminded that it is actually you who gets to give yourself permission to begin again. Whether you are in a job you do not love or whether you are in the midst of a creative career but just in serious need of a new direction or a chance to expand, this episode is for you.

In today's episode of the Called to Bloom podcast, I'm going to guide you through how to know when it is time for a new chapter, what obstacles you may encounter along the way, tools to help you navigate the transition, insights into how flowers can actually be an avenue of self-discovery, and how to get clear so you can start building a path forward for yourself that brings you life.



In This Episode, We Cover:

  • Navigating Change and Letting Yourself Evolve
  • Flowers as a Path to Personal & Professional Transformation

  • Signs It’s Time to Let Yourself Change Direction

  • What Obstacles to Expect & Tools to Help you Overcome

  • How to Get Clear and Start Building Your New Path Forward

 


Mentioned in This Episode:

  • Book: Wake Up and Live! By Dorothea Brande
  • CTB Episode 03 “How I Transformed My Floral Business to Align with My True Calling”
  • CTB Episode 01 “How to Start a Floral Design Studio from a 180° Career Pivot”
  • Life coach & podcaster Brooke Castillo

  • Marianne Williamson quote: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure…”

  • IFS (Internal Family Systems) and the work of Dr. Richard Schwartz
  • Book:  No Bad Parts, by Richard Schwartz, PhD
  • Poetry of Flowers Online Floristry Education
  • Tarot of Flowers

  • Journaling Prompt — What is the new vision I am creating for my creative career? What does a day, a month, and a year in my new dream life look like? What do I want to be doing, and who do I want to be serving? How do I want to feel, and how do I want my clients to feel? What do I need to know or acquire to take another step forward?


Resources:

Details from Sponsors:

This episode of the Called to Bloom podcast is brought to you by the Poetry of Flowers  holistic online floral education.

Learn how to begin, uplevel, and deepen your practice in all types of foam-free, lush, and airy floral designs — from hand-gathered bouquets to centerpieces and urns to impactful floral installations, wedding floral design and event management, the business behind floristry, and more. 

Use code CALLEDTOBLOOM for 10% off your Poetry of Flowers course bundle or (single-payment) all-access membership.



Keep in Touch:


Thank you so much for being here, and for being part of this radiant community as we step into these creative callings together. If you enjoyed this episode:

 

 

Episode Keywords

new beginnings, creative entrepreneurship, career pivot, personal transformation, floral design, self-discovery, creative career, overcoming obstacles, empowerment, mindset shifts, journaling, mentorship, emotional growth, emotional resilience, business strategy, creative evolution



Episode Summary

This episode of Called to Bloom explores the theme of new beginnings and the importance of giving yourself permission to start fresh. Jen discusses how to navigate career pivots and personal transformations, emphasizing the role of self-discovery and empowerment. Through insights into creative entrepreneurship and floral design, Jen provides tools and mindset shifts to overcome obstacles and embrace change. Listeners are encouraged to explore their passions and build a fulfilling creative career, supported by journaling, mentorship, and a holistic approach to growth.



Key Takeaways

  • Changing your career or creative path is an act of self-creation, not just external transition. 
  • Feelings of fear and doubt signal expansion, not failure.  
  • Flowers symbolize transformation and can activate inner shifts.

  • External validation and safety are illusions that hinder change. 

  • Anticipate resistance as a normal part of growth, not a detour. 

  • Use past successes to cultivate confidence during uncertainty. 

  • Embrace slow, deliberate steps over haste for lasting change. 

 


Sound Bites

"The important thing is you can change and you can start anew."

"Sometimes all you need is to be reminded that it is actually you who gets to give yourself permission to begin again."

"Feel the discomfort as an essential part of stepping into your next aligned chapter."

"Fear and doubt are heralds of expansion."

"Resistance to change is as normal as the desire to change."

"The person you are and the gifts you’ve acquired from that experience come with you. You don’t lose you. You just get to keep growing."

"Whatever it is, consider the permission slip given from yourself to yourself."




Chapters

0:00 - Introduction

0:14 - New Beginnings

0:43 - Permission to Evolve

1:00 - Navigating Career Changes

1:02 - Tools for Transition

1:25 - Floral Design as Self-Discovery

1:39 - Creative Entrepreneurship

2:21 - Facing Change

3:02 - Inner Transformation

6:25 - Listening Inwardly

22:10 - Overcoming Obstacles

33:14 - Building a New Path

39:30 - Conclusion

 

 

Full Transcript

 

The important thing is you can change and you can start anew. And it is normal and healthy allow yourself to evolve and realign in your career, whether that takes shape as a big pivot into a new industry or a transition within the creative business you've already started. Sometimes all you need is to be reminded that it is actually you who gets to give yourself permission to begin again.

Whether you are in a job you do not love or whether you are in the midst of a creative career but just in serious need of a new direction or a chance to expand, this episode is for you.

In today's episode I'm going to guide you through how to know when it is time for a new chapter, what obstacles you may encounter along the way, tools to help you navigate the transition, insights into how flowers can actually be an avenue self-discovery,

And how to get clear so you can start building a path forward for yourself that brings you life.

 

*

 

Welcome to the Called to Bloom podcast. I'm Jen

of Nectar and Bloom, and your host as we explore tools and holistic methods that empower you to craft an inspired career and a fulfilling creative life.

I am a floral artist and educator who left an academic career to build my dream floral design studio. Now I empower flower lovers, florists, and creative entrepreneurs like you to find your aligned path and to build your dream.

Together we go deep into topics covering creative entrepreneurship, health and well-being, sustainability, personal transformation, the art and business of working with flowers, and practices for manifesting a life you love.

If you are ready to feel inspired and empowered as you build your next aligned creative chapter, you are in the right place. Now, let's bloom.

 

*

 

Everything in nature grows and changes. Flowers don't just appear fully formed, and they don't remain constantly in bloom either. There is an ongoing process of cycles and shifts, rest, growth, expansion, release that is going on within and all around us all the time.

The need to make a change in your career path or within your business can feel unnerving and overwhelming. And it makes sense. The sudden realization that a change is needed is often unexpected, like it just hits you out of nowhere, asking you to head off into the unknown, which is always uncomfortable. Even when you know what you want to do, all the fears and doubts often still come up.

What's actually happening that you have grown. And it's time to make room to step into what you are now becoming.

Perhaps you're not working in a creative field yet, or you haven't stepped into your dream creative venture. But that calling to build something of your own or to devote your time and talents to something that is actually meaningful to you is getting louder and louder inside of you.

Perhaps you're already in your dream creative field, but you've just hit a wall, or you're feeling like something is off, or maybe you feel confined by what you do and have become so versed in that it just doesn't feel alive for you anymore.

Either realizing that a big change is needed, become disorienting navigating which instincts or beliefs or thoughts are the right ones to listen to.

Is it true that I need to get out and start something else? Or is it true that that's crazy and I should appreciate what I have or stay where it's safe? Is it true that a new chapter could fail? Or is it true that a new chapter could become my most meaningful and successful one yet?

When it feels like whatever is calling you is asking you to tear down or leave behind what you have built or known, or even just make a lot of space for something you're not quite sure what it is, making a leap of faith into something new, ask yourself these two questions.

(1) Is the risk involved something I can be smart about and take on safely? and

(2) Does this change feel life giving for me?

I want your answer to be yes to both of these if it's time to move forward.

And also let's break these down. The first question is about understanding what kind of risk you're taking on in making this change or making the space to make a change. And can you be smart about it and take it on safely and slowly and comfortably? So it's important to understand what the risk is and if you can take it on safely.

And for the second question, does this change that you want to bring in or this space you want to create, does it feel life-giving?

If you have ever taken a workshop or an online course with me or come to learn with me in any way, you know that I teach a lot about feeling. Your body is an incredible wealth of wisdom, of coordinated instincts and sensory perceptions and intuitive knowing.

We often get distracted looking for information or external validation to know if this is the right choice. When if we could just quiet down and listen inwardly, the body and its intuitive system of feeling has this deep and grounded knowing and the answers that we're seeking if we listen.

So I teach this in my mentorships and online courses. When it comes to floral deeper questions of is this finished or is this right or is this good enough? are answered by feeling.

My student designers know well that I will often remind you to ask yourself a very important question. Ask yourself, what does this design need to feel better? 

This is the key to accessing the teacher within simply by asking this question.

When I ask you, or when you ask yourself what does this need to feel better, you always have the answer. It amazes me every time. You know where the design feels flat or where it could use more color or where it has a hole or it needs expansion or needs some space to breathe. And the key here is that simply asking the right question unlocks your ability to answer it.

Similarly, with these big decisions or times of change in your career or creative work, if you can quiet down and listen inwardly, whether that's while on a walk in nature or on the page as you journal, you will know in your body what feels right. It is that still small voice, not urgent, not screaming at you, but just quietly and confidently stating what your deep inner knowing knows is right for you.

There's a book that's coming to mind for me right now as we talk about this. It's a very old book, but it's full of fantastic and foundational guidance for these kinds of moments of change. And the book is called Wake Up and Live by Dorothea Brande

The core tool in this book is to notice how we often actively choose failure or staying stuck when what we really need is to choose life, to choose the option or the action that brings vitality. And choosing what feels alive requires us to feel.

So, as we look at facing this moment that we all experience, when it's time to make a change, keep in mind that a creative business is an extension of you. You are the life force and the creator behind it, the person who imbues your dream and your service in the world with vitality. When you are feeling that urge to change things, there's a reason. It's time to make space to notice what feels alive for you.

Ask yourself, what does your career need to feel better? Just like you would ask, what does this design need to feel better? What does your career need to feel better?

Building a business, the act of building a business, of pursuing a creative career is also building this channel through which you are discovering who you are.

When I left my former career in academia to start my creative business and Nectar and Bloom, I felt so inspired and excited.

To finally build a career chapter that felt aligned and exciting to me. And I also felt completely flooded with doubt about this crazy pivot and haunted by all the fears that this was an insane idea, that it might not work out, and that I had no business pretending to be someone or something else that I now wanted to be. It felt like pretending, though really that's how we have to begin. We have to believe something that isn't true yet until it is.

I also had no idea at the time how much the journey of starting my own creative business and design studio would also be about discovering who I am and what I need to do, or sometimes undo, to uncover and evolve into the person I truly am.

That's a huge reason why I started this podcast and the inspiration for this episode as well, because I know you are on that journey too, and you need to know that it is necessary to allow yourself and your business to change and evolve along the way because that's what you're doing, living and breathing and evolving. And that business and how you express and serve is evolving along with you.

And weirdly enough, the evolution of your business is in turn helping you to evolve. It's a beautiful reciprocal process.

I share a lot about this transformation process in episode three of Called to Bloom. It's called How I Transformed My Floral Business to Align with My True Calling.

So if you haven't already, give that one a listen to get more of the kind of evolution that happened for me along this journey of floral design and creative entrepreneurship.

But for today, the essential point is that whether you are feeling all the discomfort and signals that it's time to build a new career, or whether you are feeling stuck and ready to expand in your creative business, this is actually a really exciting pivotal growth point that requires you to feel.

to listen inwardly and to let both your external world, and your internal world, to change — and I'm going to walk you through it.

 

*

 

I find it deeply interesting and worth mentioning in this episode about new beginnings and giving yourself permission to evolve along the way that flowers can actually be a powerful avenue to personal and professional transformation and realignment. Creating with flowers can be a pathway into deeper inner shifts, expanding personal awareness too, and finding clarity about the right decision and direction forward for you.

I have taught countless workshops and private mentorships over the years, and it's always fascinating to me to hear what brings each of my student designers into my studio. Some have established businesses that they want to expand or refine or up level.

Others are aspiring floral artists who are making a big pivot, who come to dive in and really jumpstart this new dream with a kind of immersive experience.

And still, a number of others have no experience working with flowers at all and aren't even sure whether they want to start a floral venture, but they feel called and strongly to have an immersive and personally guided experience in flowers.

I say this because all of these different reasons point to this desire to grow and to transform and to change. And I think that part of that is building a creative career, but part of that is also just wanting a medium through which to explore transformation. And that's really what flowers embody.

Flowers are also ephemeral. Their beauty and vitality are fleeting, which gives them this extra magical mojo life force and impact over us. They bloom into a peak and then they elegantly begin to wither and disappear as they go to seed. So, in short, flowers don't last forever, but that seems to only amplify their impact on us.

People are often drawn to flowers, and myself included, because they need to transform. They need to change. They need a path to tangibly explore what is calling them. Flowers are transformative and flowers are calming. Flowers are hopeful. Flowers are inspiring. So flowers create this colorful sensual space for us to move into the discomfort of the unknown and to have a sense of wonder and hope as we explore a new avenue.

Some of you know this already, but I grew up on an organic produce farm. And as a kid, my sister and I grew our own cutting flowers to make into big bright bouquets that we sold at our parents' local farmers market stand. And that was my beginning in flowers. Huge part of my childhood, huge part of my upbringing, even though I never expected that to be part of my future or my life or my career or really my calling at the time. Really at any time until it started to happen.

My sister and I would choose seeds that we loved and that interested us. We'd plant them and transplant the seedlings. We weeded and watered and cut and processed and then designed these bouquets with the flowers that we chose.

It was a ton of work, as anyone who has ever grown flowers or who is growing flowers knows, but it was such an incredible experience having a hand in the cycle of life and participating with this transformative, miraculous process to be shared and enjoyed.

And I look back on it fondly and always with a touch of amusement too, because like I said, never in a million years would I have thought that those sweaty summers in the garden of my growing up years would have anything to do with my future adult career.

Once I realized that floral design and floristry for events and celebrations was even a thing, I became obsessed out of nowhere. Some of you know this story from my very first episode, "How to Start a Floral Design Studio from a 180 Career Pivot" But this was the point where I went totally outwardly absurd and decided to leave my academic career that I'd been building and build a floral design studio business from absolutely nothing during my final semester teaching college English. It was quite the 180.

But each time I let myself buy and explore designing with flowers, I felt like I was receiving messages and vitality and clarity that this was the way, even with all the doubt, even with all the imposter syndrome. This felt like a line of work that could fit all of me, where I could bring together my artist self with my inner entrepreneur, my go getter achiever self, my nature lover, part of me that loves to teach and empower others, the writer, the guide, all these parts of myself could fit and belong in this world of floral art.

The truth I have found in this experience is that flowers, with their powerful vital energy provide in a way a kind of self-discovery tool, supports us in making a big transition.

I've seen this call to flowers and floral artistry in action many times. While many of my mentees come to my studio or to an online coaching session to build or up level a floral business, many, if not most, also come with deep inner transformation work at hand. And it's as though flowers are in some way this essential element to that pivotal time of growth or healing or expansion.

If a creative experience is calling to you, no matter what it sounds like, no matter what it feels like, no matter how out of left field it seems, no matter where you are in life, listen to it, notice it, take it seriously.

Chances are that this new calling, that excited feeling and that desire to explore it is deeply relevant to the new path or the next step you need to take.

Here are a few ways to use flowers to support a transformational moment in your career, or begin moving forward into a new chapter.

Go buy yourself flowers tomorrow and let yourself play with arranging them freely.

Grab a Poetry of Flowers course from my online floristry education collection and learn how to create a type of design that thrills you. And by the way, remember to use your Called to Bloom listener exclusive discount if you do this using code CALLEDTOBLOOM for 10% off when you check

Or come out to my studio for a studio immersion mentorship and we can dive into transformative floral education and hands-on experiences that we integrate with coaching and well-being guidance to support you stepping successfully into your dream, into your pivot, into your next chapter.

You can also reach out to local growers in your area to source freshly grown flowers from them, or volunteer to see if you can help out around the farm to help get yourself started in flowers.

Don't let fear and doubt stop you. Let them come up, feel them, and take a step forward into what is calling you anyway.

 

*

 

So how do you know when it's time to make a big change or when it's time to let yourself change paths? The reality is that you've been somewhere building something, whether that's a creative business or a career chapter working somewhere else, but it now feels like you've hit a wall and something needs to change.

How do you know if you're just having a bad day or a weird mood? How do you know if you really need to make a career pivot or if you're subconsciously self-sabotaging when what you really need to do is persevere?

Or move through the tough season or the challenging time. These are real questions. They are questions I have lived and moved through more than once, and I want to coach you through them here in this episode.

there are a few important signs and markers that I'm going to tell you about that will help you differentiate between something to push through, you know, persevere, versus a real sign that it's time for a change.

So here's your list, and each of these is a sign that it's really time to make a change:

Number one, this feeling that something needs to change has not gone away, even after current projects are finished or current seasons give way to others.

Number two, you are feeling strongly called to or inspired by something else that you can actually picture yourself doing and thriving in, even if it also scares you or makes doubts come up. Remember that doubts and fears always come up. They are part of expansion.

Number three, if you are making tens of thousands of dollars more than what you are making now, you can set the enticing amount. Would it change how you feel about what you are doing now? Would you feel more fulfilled making a lot more money doing what you're doing? Or would you still feel stuck, trapped, drained, or otherwise out of alignment? If how you feel, especially in your body, wouldn't change then it's time to listen to that

Number four, if you were to leave this job or retire this offering or leave behind this aspect of your work and you knew that it would be safe and totally okay financially, would you feel relief?

Number five, if money were not an issue, if approval from someone else were not an issue, or if feeling safe and secure were not an issue, imagine all of these are set, would you want to stay where you are, or would you want to do something else?

Number six, is there something you can delegate, and would that make your life better or your career as it is more fulfilling?

Number seven, when you look back over your life in 10 or 20 or 30 years, will you be glad that you kept doing what you are doing now? Or would you be disappointed and wish you had gone for it in something else that was calling to you? This is a big reason I got myself to finally make the space I needed to start creating this podcast, by the way.

And number eight, what is your greatest fear if you let yourself or your business change What would you do if that were to happen? How would you make it through?

 

Now, once you are sure that this is not a passing mood or an acute time that will soon conclude, and you know that this is a real calling to open up a new channel or start a new path, There are great resources and supportive experiences you can try that can help you move out of confusion and overwhelm and into clarity and action. Here are a few of my favorites.

Number one, journaling. This is one of the single most helpful things I give myself. Space to write freely and observe my thoughts and desires on the page has brought me immense clarity and calm through all kinds of seasons. I journal almost every day.

Number two, therapy. In my opinion, everyone needs and deserves a therapist. This is one of the greatest investments I've made in myself, in my business, and in my quality of life.

Number three, podcasts: free masterclasses and enriching conversations full of tools available while walking, jogging, driving, or doing chores. What more do we need to say?

Number four, books. The OG teacher, wherever you are, on whatever topic you want at your own pace. I love books.

Number five, mentorship, one-on-one with an expert guide who has a passion for empowering you, and a wealth of experience to offer you as you discover your true purpose and potential is invaluable.

And number six, flowers. As mentioned, flowers are transformative on their own. Having flowers around shifts your mood.

Creating with flowers is deeply meditative. It's flow state inducing, and it's space creating for deeper inner shifts that allow us to unblock ourselves from resisting what we desire in this one precious, magnificent life.

 

*

 

Okay, so that's all good and inspiring and enriching,

but I want to prepare you for the actual experience of starting a new chapter. So let's talk about what kinds of obstacles you can expect to encounter and how to navigate and move through them.

Whenever we step out of the known and into an adventure, into something new and unknown, there is risk involved. We know that. If we weren't willing to fall down, we never would have learned to walk, and if we weren't willing to pronounce or say things incorrectly, we never would have learned to speak.

As an adult, it feels a little diceier to be a beginner or to start something new because we kind of expect ourselves to know things and be put together. So really we just get caught up in fears of looking foolish and making mistakes.

So when you step forward to make a change, you can anticipate resistance, fears, doubts, and mistakes. This is the key. You can anticipate them. It's not that you desire them, but you are not wasting your energy avoiding them or hoping they won't happen.

For me, stepping into each new chapter of Nectar and Bloom, starting from a complete career pivot to expanding from weddings to include workshops and mentorships, to building the online courses, to creating Tarot of Flowers to then allowing myself to shape my brand and offerings to encompass florals, business, and well being, Through all of that, I always faced the fear of making mistakes and not getting it "right."

I have had to realize again and again that by trying to avoid making mistakes, I was only keeping myself stuck. I had to go for it in the beginning, even if I feared I was a fraud.

I had to start teaching workshops in my studio, even though I feared at the time that I couldn't use my converted garage studio and that I would have to rent a big studio space in order to be legit. I had to record a whole online course without knowing the mic was broken to improve my systems and make recording a better and more successful process. I had to accept and not lose heart that creating Tarot of Flowers was going to take me years to complete, slowly and in the background,

while I completed other event work that I had already created for myself. I had to change and adjust what I set out to do with the podcast early on, as I learned in real time what it actually takes to prepare, record, edit, and produce each episode.

And on and on go these realizations and needs to embrace mistakes, doubts, fears, and even perceived failures. And you know what? I get stronger and more confident and more clear and more at ease each time. The fears and doubts do not go away. Have I said this yet? But you do get more skilled at working with and moving through them.

So on this note, I want to point out for us five of the biggest obstacles in making a big change so that you can anticipate and know them when they show up.

One, fears,

two, doubts,

three, emotional attachments,

four, resistance from self or others, and

five, the unknown.

All of these are super uncomfortable feelings and situations, and our brains are wired to avoid them. So we do all kinds of things to get away from them. Sadly, most often we end up just avoiding or putting off what we really want to do in that process.

It takes a conscious effort and a strong belief in what you know you are meant to discover and do to overcome these obstacles. And you are 100% capable of doing that.

This is why it's helpful to find a mentor or a teacher or a podcast like this to guide you and encourage you along the way because you need someone to help you hold the vision. Remember that you have that vision and you have everything you need to make it happen.

 

*

 

So now that we just looked at what obstacles we can anticipate, I want to walk you through some of my favorite tools, mindset shifts, and perspectives that will help you navigate and overcome these obstacles.

First, with fears and doubts, I invite you to reframe these as heralds of expansion. What I mean by this is that instead of feeling like fears and doubts, which inevitably and constantly come up as you make changes or build new chapters, recognize that they show up first when you are growing and expanding. They're a signal, an early indicator that you are actually evolving into expansion, and that is a good thing.

Notice when you feel overwhelmed with fear and doubt. And instead of going down a disastrous reactionary wormhole or allowing these protective emotions to take over and stop you, just thank them for showing up. Focus on expanding your capacity to

Feel the discomfort as an essential part of stepping into your next aligned chapter.

I recently heard this wonderful statement from life coach Brooke Castillo on her podcast when she said, "There is no emotion you cannot feel." This is huge. And I offer it to you because it makes a really powerful affirmation.

There is no emotion I cannot feel. even the fear, even the doubt, even the shame, all of it, I can feel it. And the point of feeling is to allow fear and doubt to be instead of letting them be the reason you stop or shy away or stay stuck or keep small when you know something else is calling to you.

Feeling for a few minutes the agonies of fear and doubt when they come up without resistance is far better than living a life crippled by constantly trying to avoid them.

Feeling is how we move through the emotions and continue to move forward.

Another helpful tool is to reframe what we actually fear when we get stuck. We think we fear failure, right? But most of the time we actually fear our own success. How crazy is that? We are afraid of expanding into and succeeding at the level we desire.

Because subconsciously we don't yet know or believe that that is safe and we don't often feel we deserve it yet in some way.

There's an amazing quote from Marianne Williamson that goes, "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure." And she goes on to say in that quote how essentially we all are meant to shine. And when we let our light shine, we give other people permission to shine too.

When we resist, we tighten and stay small. When we feel we relax and expand.

Now let's look at emotional attachments. This is another one of our obstacles that can often come up when we're making a big change. What we're really dealing with with emotional attachments are aspects of our old or current life that we have identified with as part of who we are. This is because often the things we do start to seem like they are inherent to who we are.

Part of the entrepreneurial journey is learning that you are not what you do. You are a human being. experiencing, responding to, and living the journey of your life. You do things, you build things, you learn lessons, you make mistakes, you get better, you grow and fall down and pick yourself back up again. All as you build an authentic and remarkable life that makes you feel truly alive.

The things you do and the ways you do them change. You as you evolve and bloom are always you, ever becoming and discovering more of who you are.

Now, next obstacle. If you're coming up against resistance to change from yourself or others, the helpful tool here is to accept that resistance to change is as normal as the desire to change. I'll say that again. Resistance to change is as normal as the desire to change. If the resistance is coming from others in your life, let people have their reactions. Let them have their opinions. What they have to say is always more about them than it is about you.

If the resistance is coming from you, yourself, let yourself hear yourself out. Now that sounds kind of funny, but think about it. Allow yourself to hear yourself out. Be a good host to all parts of yourself and consider their perspectives. We have a lot of parts inside us, many of which are trying to protect us, and hearing them out allows you to become more integrated and whole.

It also helps you to evaluate what course of action makes the most sense. Strengthen that deep self-trust. And if you want to learn more about working with parts of self, this concept comes from IFS, Internal Family Systems, and the work of Dr. Richard Schwartz. He has an amazing and very accessible book called "No Bad Parts" that I highly recommend if you want to dive in and learn more.

And at any rate, you don't need to fight with anyone or any part of yourself either. Hear what is coming up, and then return to your vision, trusting that you are guided and that deep inside you know, you always know what you need to do.

And when you are just dealing with the seemingly terrified realities of the unknown, our last obstacle here, I have an easy trick for you. I want you to think back across your life thus far.

Many times already you have gone out on a limb, you have experimented, you have made mistakes and learned, and you have built or done something you did not previously know that you could do.

Help remind your brain and your nervous system that you may not have done this thing in your career or creative practice before, but you have done this process before and you have survived.

You've likely seen success too and learned so much that brought you joy and benefits in countless ways. Gently remind yourself of this too. Then make a plan for a next step and take it. Allow the map to appear as you move forward to discover the terrain in real time.

So let's recap these tools:

You're going to reframe fear and doubt showing up as a good sign that you are growing. Fear and doubt are heralds of expansion.

I wrote that in my journal one day and I was like, I need to remember that forever and tell everyone. Fear and doubt are heralds of expansion. Such a simple but transformational reframe.

Also, you're going to embrace the fact that this process is emotional and that you can feel anything and everything that comes up. All feelings are welcome.

You're going to reframe your sense of identity, not as what you have been doing, but as a person doing and trying many things as you continue to discover and become more of who you really are along the way.

If you encounter emotional attachments to the work you used to do, remember that the person you are and the gifts you've acquired from that experience come with you. You don't lose you. You just get to keep growing.

You're also going to let people have their opinions and know that what they say or however they may resist what you feel called to change is more about them than it is about you.

And you're also going to hear yourself out if parts of you resist this change. You're going to listen and invite more integration within yourself as you build trust with what you know you are called to grow into.

And lastly, you're going to remind yourself that at one point everything you've ever done or accomplished was the unknown. And look how far you've come already. Draw courage from your experiences thus far, knowing that your gifts of everything you've done come with you.

 

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So now that we've explored flowers as a channel for transformation, the signs that it's time to make a change, the obstacles you will likely encounter and how to navigate them, I want to round this out with guidance for how to get clear and start building a new path forward.

My first tip here is to go slowly. There is no rush. And when you build anything, you never want to rush the foundation. Definitely start exploring your new direction right away,

and let yourself flow with any newly unlocked passion or curiosity and start learning and gaining experience. Just don't leap out of your current career and into a new line of work in a huge hurry.

It's much better for your mind, your body, your nervous system, and your creativity to create a gradual transition as you do the big, hard and fun work of building a new career chapter.

My second tip to you is to do your research and gather as much information as you can. Reach out to mentors and teachers and guides in your new field. See what kinds of classes or workshops or mentorships you can try. Immerse yourself in podcast episodes, books, videos, and hands-on experiences so you can learn as much as you can to inform you as you build. Don't let this intimidate you, don't compare yourself.

Just take it as a feast of information to help yourself build and learn and feel encouraged and supported. Anyone doing anything you want to do is more affirming permission that you can do it as well.

The third tip I have for you in getting clear and building a path forward is to keep a regular journaling practice. I talk about journaling in like every episode, but there's a reason. Journaling is so transformative. And speaking of therapy, it's completely free.

And more specifically here, try to write a page each day just building your vision and exploring inside yourself what you really want to do and how you want to do it. Specifically those things. What do you really want to do and how you want to do it. Journaling gives you this space where you can unwind your worries, untangle your mind, and get clear about what makes sense to do now and next.

Try this as a writing prompt:

What is the new vision I am creating for my creative career? What does a day, a month, and a year in my new dream life look like? What do I want to be doing and who do I want to be serving? How do I want to feel and how do I want my clients to feel? What do I need to know or acquire to take another step forward? So that's a lot of questions for journaling prompt. This will be in the show notes. You can use it as you refer back.

My fourth tip for you is to take an inventory of your assets and bring what's useful from the past into your work building the future. What I mean by this is to take a look at everything you've done in your previous career chapter or chapters and consider the hard and soft skills that you can transfer from that experience into what you are doing and building now.

You get to bring with you all of the gifts and tools from what you used to do into what you are going to do, which is a unique advantage that you have.

I came into floral design with a background in writing, storytelling, teaching workshops and classes, and health and wellness modalities. And all of these came with me into my new business. And each has helped me shape how I design, how I teach, how I serve, and what I offer.

My fifth and final tip here is an exercise to help you prepare and build your new path forward. In this exercise, all you need to do is imagine what you are doing when everything is up and running in your new chapter. What do you need to have in place? What do you need to gather or learn or acquire to be there?

Then work backwards. So if you imagine yourself already there, what do you need to have in place? What do you need to learn? What do you need to be able to do in order to be there?

Choose one thing or one area of this vision that feels the most important or pivotal and break it down into steps that you need to take to get there.

Chunk things down so that the steps you need to take are very small and very achievable. Once you've completed a step, then take the next step.

If, for example, your vision includes you owning a flower shop and selling arrangements to walk-in customers every day, what are the core components of this vision that you need to learn or acquire or have in place to make it happen? You will need floral design skills, a business plan, a retail space, a floral cooler, wholesale accounts, space to design, packaging and delivery materials, a simple website where people can place orders, a point of sale system for in-store purchases, delivery setup, et cetera. Depending on your previous experience, you will be able to determine which of these is most important to set up first.

Let's say your goal is to leave your corporate job and start a small creative business of your own. Then you will need a savings goal of financial resources to support you when you leave your current position, and a plan for how to build that savings, a clear idea of what you want to do and who you will be serving, a timeline for slowly transitioning out of your former work and into your new career. You'll need an adequate workspace, even if it's a room in your house or your garage. You'll need materials, skills, services you want to provide, and clear ways for people to find and book you.

For many creatives, the creative work itself is easier to learn than the business support and the holistic picture of how to become a successful working artist. That's why I personally teach in my mentorships and workshops and coaching sessions both the design and the business and strategy holistically.

The reality is you either need to have a steady job or a separate income that gives you enough space to do your art, or you need a smart plan and a business strategy to help build a creative venture that can be a successful business as well. And that clarity makes either option much more attainable.

Now, as a note, none of these lists are meant to be exhaustive or make you feel like you're behind. The exercise is to write down what you need to know or do or acquire so that you've got it mapped out and so that you can start taking steps toward attaining those pieces that need to be in place for you to be living in your new chapter.

So, with these steps and exercises in place, you are in great shape to start taking action and making real progress towards your new creative chapter and feeling free to grow

and evolve in the work you do in the world.

 

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All right, my friends, I hope you are feeling empowered and excited to take steps into your next calling or next chapter or that next thing that you want to build, whether it's a big pivot, a lateral move, or a step into an aligned direction where you feel like you can grow. And I hope that you are also feeling more confident, more clear, and more at ease.

It is a courageous journey to be a creative entrepreneur. I've got your back and I'm here with you each step of the way.

There are lots of exercises, steps, and pointers,

as well as mindset shifts in this episode. So go back and re-listen to any part where you thought, wait, I want to do that journaling exercise, or I need to ask myself those questions.

This is exactly why this resource is here for you. I can't wait for you to step into your next chapter, for you to feel free and supported to build that next movement in your creative direction that's going to make you feel so fulfilled.

Remember, when we can embrace the full spectrum of this creative entrepreneurial journey, the highs and the lows, the clarities and uncertainties,

the discoveries and the doubts alike, we free ourselves into the next level of real growth. We get stuck far less or stay stuck for far less time, and we keep taking courageous steps forward to build the dream as it reveals itself to us in the act of building it.

Whatever it is, consider the permission slip given from yourself to yourself. And let's begin that new creative chapter.

I am so excited for you to put this into motion and for you to bring more of yourself and the true creative soul and human being that you are into the world.

So let's make it happen.

 

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Beautifully done. You just completed another episode of Called to Bloom, another step forward on your creative journey.

And in your creative evolution. expand your experience, hit follow so you never miss an episode.

And also, please take a moment to rate and review. Your words are so powerful in helping other creatives like you to discover the podcast. And then head over to calledtobloompodcast.com to find show notes, references from this episode, resources, discount codes, and other details.

And if you're ready to deepen your practice with classes and immersive experiences and flowers and well-being, head over to nectarandbloomfloral.com and explore my one-on-one mentorships, Poetry of Flowers holistic online courses, workshops and retreats, and my original Tarot of Flowers deck.

You can also find me on Instagram if you haven't already @nectar_and_bloom for more inspiration, tools, creativity, and like-minded community.

For now, keep blooming. The world needs what you are here to create.

 

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