Authentic Living: The Things We Rarely Talk About

In this first episode of More Like You, Angie shares her journey of stepping away from a successful career in television news to pursue a more authentic life. She discuss the challenges of navigating life transitions, the importance of listening to your inner voice, and the messy reality of living authentically.

Angie emphasizes the important role grief plays in personal transformation and the need for community support during times of change. Through her story, she invites listeners to reflect on their own lives and consider what it means to truly live in alignment with their hearts.

Takeaways

• This episode explores stepping away from a life you thought you should live and making choices that feel meaningful and true to you.
• Sometimes, clarity takes longer than we expect. 
• Arriving at a crossroads is an opportunity to listen to our hearts. 
• Living authentically can be messy and unsettling. 
• Grief is a part of the process of change. It's okay not to have all the answers right away. 
• We need to challenge the internal voices that are not ours. 
• The path to authenticity can feel lonely, but we don't have to walk it alone.
• Creating a supportive community is essential for personal growth.

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Transcript

(open) "When I look back, I can see that I finally walked away when I realized I didn't have anything to prove, not to anyone, not even myself, that I didn't have to perform for my life to be meaningful and by perform, I mean the act of performing and being in the spotlight… yes. But I also mean all of the things that we do to work for our worthiness."

Hey, I'm Angie Mizzell and welcome to the very first episode of More Like You. This is a podcast where we explore what happens when you step away from a life you thought you should live and into a life that feels more.. like you. In today's episode, we're going to talk about the inspiration for this podcast, and we're also going to talk about the things we rarely talk about when it comes to living a more authentic life. Let's dive in.

For those of you who don't know me, exactly one year ago, in October of 2023, I published my book, Girl in the Spotlight. So that story is about leaving my career in television news. That was a decision that changed my life in ways I could not have predicted. On paper, it looked like I had everything.

I had a dream career, success, a life in the spotlight. But something didn't feel right. I was chasing this idea of what I thought my life should look like. And I realized that the dream was no longer aligned with what my heart was telling me. And that's what this podcast More Like You is all about… learning to listen to your heart every day in the big moments and in the small moments. And especially when you find yourself at a crossroads.

When I'm giving a talk about my book, someone in the audience will eventually ask me, what was the moment when you knew that something had to change? And how did you finally make that leap?

I know they're looking for something specific, but I tell them that it wasn't one moment. It was a series of moments. All of that time, I was readying myself to take a leap that I didn't even know I was going to take. It's true, we often hear these stories about people taking a leap of faith and the success or the reward that follows, but that is not how it happened for me.

It wasn't instant like that. There was a lot going on behind the scenes and I realized that sometimes things take longer than you expect. Especially when you're searching for clarity and that's okay. That's why I chose to tell my story in a book. I was hoping that it might help others who arrive at a crossroads, because sometimes what looks like a detour is really just part of the journey that you're meant to be on.

So, it took me years to understand what my inner voice was telling me, and it wasn't easy to make the choice to leave my career, especially because it was, at one time, everything I thought I wanted.

When I look back, I can see that I finally walked away when I realized I didn't have anything to prove. Not to anyone, not even myself, that I didn't have to perform for my life to be meaningful. And by perform, I mean the act of performing and being in the spotlight, yes, but I also mean all of the things that we do to work for our worthiness.

Looking back now, I see that walking away from my career was about more than just work. It was bigger than a career change. It was about shedding the expectations that I had for myself and the ones that I felt from others and also untangling from a definition of success that was not mine. And that decision led me to where I am today, to this place where I feel very compelled to help others recognize that arriving at a crossroads is an opportunity. It's an invitation to listen, not to the world around us, but to our hearts.

And here's something we don't talk about enough. That living an authentic life is messy. It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. After I left my career in television news, I experienced a huge shift in identity, and that's a really big deal.

And that's something else that we don't talk about that much, how unsettling it feels and the issues and the conflicts that we may face when we start doing things differently, when we start living a life that feels true.

So there's a scene in my book, Girl in the Spotlight, where I tell my husband, “So much has changed, I just don't know who I am anymore.”

And as quickly as I said that out loud, I heard a voice in my head. It was my voice, but it was like a thought, but I heard it. So it was like audible in my brain. And that voice said, “That's not true, you're still here.” So even as I was telling myself, “I don't know who I am,” and honestly, what that meant is that I also just didn't know what to do with myself. My own inner voice challenged that idea. It said, you're still here. You are right here. And it made me pause.

I still didn't know what I was going to do, but that's not the point. The point is that this inner voice of mine was essentially calling BS on the messages that we get, that if we're not performing, not doing, not living up to other people's expectations or our own expectations, that we have a problem. That we are the problem.

Your inner voice though, the real you, wants to be seen and heard, but not so much by others as it wants to be seen and heard by you. The real you just wants to live. The real you wants you to live. So yes, there are moments of fear and doubt and discomfort, but that is part of the process and it's okay not to have all the answers right away.

So if you're at a point where something in your life doesn't feel right, or if you're wondering whether it's time to make a change, this is your invitation to slow down and listen. And ask yourself, “What is your heart telling you?” So again, this is the reason that I started this podcast. I wanted to deep dive into the themes of my own story and help others in those moments of transition—whether you're ready to make a change or perhaps something just feels off about your life and you don't know what to do about it, or you simply want to experience more joy and peace in the everyday. That's why we're here.

So for this first episode, I do want to take a moment to talk about where I am in the map of my own life. Why starting the podcast now feels like exactly the right time. So I had my podcast plans all set for the beginning of 2024, but last November, one month after my book launch, my mom got sick. Her health took a sharp turn. It was unexpected, and I became her part time caregiver. And then this summer, my mom, she passed away, and it was about 10 days after my oldest child graduated from high school. That was a hard time, as you can imagine, but that's when I realized that I had an opportunity to live out the lessons that I learned all those years ago.. that big moment of transformation that happened after I left my career in TV news.

So, taking that bold step towards becoming more like the real me, back then, opened the door to my healing. Back then, when I was in television news, I had all of these unresolved issues and these were issues that I had carried from childhood into adulthood.

And, I guess, subconsciously, I was hoping that my successful, happy life would heal me. And here's the truth. I did have a good life. I thought I was happy. But for many of us, we will arrive at a place in life where we can't avoid the issue anymore. We have to turn and face ourselves. So something I can see now is that, and something I could definitely see after I went through the process of writing a book, the thing that was keeping me from living an authentic life, a life that felt more like me, was unresolved grief.

So, if you have something in your life that feels heavy, Stop and ask yourself if perhaps that feeling you're carrying is grief. Grief comes in many forms, whether we lose a person or we lose a relationship or a job or simply the way things used to be. You know, it's easy to try to push through it or bury it or fill the void with something else, but grief needs to be named, honored, and felt.

So when we allow ourselves that space to grieve, to feel our feelings, we create room to move forward. Otherwise, it catches up with us in ways we don't expect. Ask me how I know. I wrote a whole book about it.

So this summer, after I lost my mom and prepared to send my firstborn child off to college, I made a point to slow down, to be sad when I needed to be sad, and to reflect on all that had changed.

And that, giving myself that space to grieve, has made all the difference in helping me step into this new season of life.

I've always had a tricky relationship with time, and I was honest about that during all of those years that I blogged about raising a family, and while I was trying to write a book.

I was always feeling like there was never enough time, that time was running out, that I was missing moments, or that the really good moments were just going by too quickly. So, this has been a season of allowing things to take the time that they need.

And it's interesting because I just turned 50 last week. And when I look back at my 25 year old self chasing a career in television news, I could have never imagined that this is where I'd be. I'm an author, a speaker, a new podcaster, a wife, a mom of three, and I'm still learning, still growing, still healing, still trying new things, still learning to become more like me.

I haven't arrived. I'm still becoming more like myself. So back then I thought success had a timeline that there was the right order to do things. And society pushes us to believe that. But when I reached that crossroads in my career, when I realized that I didn't want to keep moving from city to city to climb the ladder, I started searching for something deeper.

I wanted a creative life, a life that felt more settled, and a sense of home, both in the physical sense and also home inside myself. And again, I had so much healing to do and so many beliefs about success and meaning that I had to untangle. So it was actually in the midst of that internal conflict..that's where the real change, where the transformation began.

I started to wonder if the discomfort I was feeling was trying to tell me something. You know, maybe I wasn't stuck. Maybe I was being changed for a reason, but I was scared. I'd spent so long performing and striving for outward success and outward validation. I didn't know what my life would look like if I stopped doing that. What would I be if I really listened to that voice inside of me?

So again, that's the heart of this podcast. It's about those moments of uncertainty when we find ourselves at a crossroads and we're forced to examine our lives and where we're headed.

And here's something that I really want to emphasize. The decision that we make in these moments—quit the job, stay in the job, leave the relationship, stay in the relationship, regardless of whatever you decide, whether you stay on your current path or go in a new direction—It's not as important as the process of tuning into your heart and listening to what it's telling you.

So when you face those moments, it's not just about what's happening on the outside. It's about challenging the internal voices that are not yours, the old wounds, the outdated beliefs, and the expectations from others. All of those things that have shaped you. The real question is, how do we move closer to who we really are as we navigate the changes and the seasons of our life?

How do we find more joy, peace, and fulfillment along the way? Just speaking from experience here, the path can feel lonely at times, but we don't have to walk it alone. This podcast is a space to have those meaningful conversations, for asking important questions and for sharing our own personal insights and encouragement and inspiration, because sometimes all we need is a shift in perspective to remind us of who we are, what we want. And how to move forward.

Thanks for tuning in to More Like You. If today's episode resonated with you, please subscribe, leave a review and share this podcast with someone who might need it. And if you want to connect with me, you can always visit my website, AngieMizzell.com That's where you can find my book, Girl in the Spotlight, and you can join my newsletter community.

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Hello Friday, to get that inspiration and encouragement delivered directly to your inbox each week. Again, when you go to my website, you can choose your own adventure. Everything you need to connect with me is on my website, AngieMizzell. com. Again, thank you for being here and I'll see you back here next Thursday.