151: Overcoming Burnout, Letting go of People Pleasing and Bringing in Joy with EmilyTodd

EMILY TODD [00:00]

You can't see in the moment why you're navigating something that might really suck and be really painful. My 9 to 5, there was so much pain in that experience of the burnout and the unfulfillment and numbing that voice. But now, I look back and I support women to do the exact same thing.

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CAMILLE WALKER [00:24]

So, you want to make an impact. You're thinking about starting a business sharing your voice. How do women do it that handle motherhood, family, and still chase after those dreams? We'll listen each week as we dive into the stories of women who know. This is Call Me CEO.

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CAMILLE [00:44]

Welcome back everyone to Call Me CEO. This is your host, Camille Walker. If you are new here, welcome. This is going to be a fun day for you to jump in because we are talking about manifestation, overcoming burnout, and setting healthy boundaries for you to reach and obtain your goals and your happiest life.

So, joined with me here today is Emily Todd. So, Emily is an ICF-certified personal freedom and business coach, speaker corporate wellness facilitator, and founder of the burnout prevention and recovery program, Burnout Academy.

She supports women to break free from the 9 to 5 hamster wheel, liberate themselves from the shackles of hustling, proving, pleasing, and perfecting, and build a life and business guided by pleasure, aliveness, and fulfillment.

Prior to launching her coaching practice, she spent 15 years clawing her way up the corporate ladder and leading large teams at high-growth tech and marketing startups. After reaching the proverbial top of the mountain, a director of growth and managing a team of 20, she decided the view up there wasn't all it's cracked up to be.

She resigned shortly thereafter and has since devoted herself to living a life in alignment with her desires versus a life that it's expected of her and supporting others to do the same. So, thank you for being on the call with us and tell our audience about you.

EMILY [01:59]

Hi, I am so excited to be here. Thank you for having me. And, yeah, what a potent day to be having this conversation that Lionsgate Portal 88. So, yeah, I'm Emily, Emily Todd. And I am a personal freedom and business coach. I also do a lot of, as you said, burnout coaching.

Essentially, what I love to do is remind women of the infinite choice, power, and freedom they have available to them in every moment, whether that's being stuck in a 9 to 5 that doesn't feel so aligned to your truth and your heart and reminding you that you have choice, you have option to get out of that burnout or that just general, I'm bored of this. Is there anything else for me?

And the second phase that I really love is often the result of when you get out of the burnout and get out of the unfulfillment. You have likely a dream on your heart, a vision on your heart that you're really desiring to bring into the world.

And so, I really love to support women to bring their sole mission aligned businesses into the world. And I'm really passionate about this work because that was me for almost 15 years. I was in the hustle and grind, tech and startup worlds of New York City, climbed my way up that ladder and having a lot of success doing it.

I was very successful, very young. By the age of 30, I was a director at a hot tech startup in New York City. I was managing a team of 20. I was making the money I'd always dreamed of. And I had that moment of, oh, I've made it. This is it. Wow.

Looking around at the top of this mountain, I'd been trying to get to my whole life and seeing the view wasn't all it was cracked up to be. I felt very, wow, amazing, for a few weeks. I remember calling my dad and be like, "Dad, I did it. I'm a director. I'm making X amount of money. I'm managing X people. Isn't that cool?"

And it was at that moment that I realized, oh, Emily, so much of what you've been doing the past 15 years is to try and make dad proud. I am the firstborn of four and just had that high achiever hardwired into me. And it was definitely in that moment of recognizing A) the view was not that exciting at the top of the mountain and seeing this path laid out in front of me of for the next 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, and, oh, now, you're maybe a VP. Oh, and then you can manage X amount. And feeling claustrophobic and seeing that path and being like, I don't want to go down that path.

And then also seeing, okay, a lot of what I was doing was actually to prove myself to my dad, living by someone else's definition of success, living by that programming that so many of us received that isn't wrong at all. It's just, is it in alignment for you?

And for me, it was no. Getting to the top of the ladder and continuing to get these incremental salary increases and promotions every year is just not lighting me up anymore. And so, I very, very quickly after that kind of aha moment, resigned and left it all behind. And everyone thought I was crazy. You're at the peak of your career. What are you doing? This is what you've been working for.

And I had the intention to become a digital nomad. Of course, that seemed fun and sexy. And within I think it was two and a half weeks after resigning, COVID hit. So, this dream I had to be a digital nomad, skipping up beaches in Bali was blocked. And I ended up spending so much of the next few months, obviously, like the rest of the world in quarantine, at my parents' house, which was not glamorous. It was not sexy. It was not what I had planned when I resigned, but was gifted as so many of us were that time to really ask ourselves hard questions.

And when I resigned, I was consulting. That was my plan. I'm going to be a consultant. That's cool. That's time freedom, that's money. But very quickly realized that's not it either. And it was in quarantine that I had the dark night of the soul, existential crises that so many of us had with all that time.

And it was like, what do I really want to do with my life? What do I love? What turns me on? What lights me up? And what I was drawn to was coaching. And I looked at what I had really loved in my 9 to 5. And it was humans. It was managing my team.

I had a very large team and all the other directors were saying to me, "That sounds really awful to have one-on-ones with that many people every week." And I was like, I love talking about what's blocking them and their dreams and their goals and their vision. I crossed all the boundaries as a manager. I got very involved in their personal lives and that's what I loved.

And during quarantine, this is a true story. And then, I'll stop rambling. I literally found a notebook in the basement of my parents' house from when I was 21 or 22. And 21-year-old, 22-year-old Emily had a bucket list she'd written out of what she wanted to do with her life.

And one of the things on there was coach, which is hilarious, because what does a 22-year-old know about coaching? But I think I had seen an OG like Gabby Bernstein and was like, whatever she's doing, sign me up. But then, I had forgotten about this little whisper on my heart because it was time to be serious. It was time to climb the ladder. It's time to make daddy proud. So, it was a full-circle moment and went to a coach certification program during COVID. And here we are today. The rest is history.

CAMILLE [07:43]

That's amazing. I feel like so many of us go through the weeds of figuring out what that mountain looks like so that we do have that experience and that knowledge to turn around and say, okay, I've been there. Let me help you. And let's really pay attention to what it is that you want and how you want to live your life and what those boundaries look like.

Because had you not gone through that corporate ladder and that burnout and that drive, you probably wouldn't have been as effective as a coach. Because then, you're looking back and saying, I know how to work through this. I've been there. And I think that that's where we can really help each other is by sharing that knowledge of growth.

EMILY [08:26]

I love how you said that. And, yes, I am a huge believer there are no mistakes and everything is ultimately divinely orchestrated and hindsight is 20/20. And you can't see in the moment why you're navigating something that might really suck and be really painful. My 9 to 5, there was so much pain in that experience of the burnout and the unfulfillment and numbing that voice.

But now, I look back and I support women to do the exact same thing. And if I had not navigated that, I wouldn't be in the position to really be able to hold and support a woman through that experience because I have been there. I have been wrapped up in the promise of happiness when you get to the top of the mountain. I know that pain of getting there and realizing it's not there. And then, scrambling around, looking for it in your purchases, in your house, in your vacations, in whatever it is being, where is that happiness everyone's been talking about? Where is it? I can't find it.

And I believe God, source, universe really places you in the experiences that you then get to support others through. Whether you are a coach or a mother or a sister or a brother, whatever it is, it's like our pain gets to be transmuted into support, into our purpose. And I love that journey.

And sometimes, my human is having a meltdown and like, why are we going through this? This sucks. But my higher self always knows there's something here for you. You can't see it yet. You remember that really beautiful Steve Jobs' speech, that commencement one, that everyone was sharing years ago about you can only connect the dots when you're looking back. And I always remind myself of that.

But, yeah, my human is having the meltdown. We shouldn't be experiencing this in victimhood, in the humanness. But there's nothing I've ever grown through that I don't see why it had to happen and why it was ultimately a gift in some way.

CAMILLE [10:16]

I love that. Is there a time that you can think of, especially making this transition and then turning back and sharing the steps of going through the burnout? What are some lessons that you learned or can you share an example of a time that you were able to feel that and to grow from that moment?

EMILY [10:31]

There are so many moments looking back. This is the interesting thing about burnout is one of the key indicators of it is that you're really in this helplessness and hopelessness, and therefore, victimhood of life is happening to me and I don't have any choice. This is just how it is. This is just how working in a 9 to 5 is. These are all subconscious limiting beliefs of just how the world is, how my boss is. This is what it means to be an adult. This is what it means to be a successful woman.

And a huge part for me of getting out of burnout because when I left my 9 to 5, I was like, great, no more burnout, it's everyone else's fault. It's my boss's fault. It's my lazy coworkers' fault. But then, I recreated the experience of burnout pretty quickly in my own business. And that was what really got me interested in this work.

Because I was like, oh, I'm calling the shots here. And I'm clearly choosing to create burnout for myself. So, why is that? What is the underlying patterns because there's a lot of different legs that prop the burnout up. And a big one for me and for so many women, looking at that people pleaser, looking at that part of us that wants to keep everyone happy and doesn't want to say no and wants to be the reliable one and the go-to.

This was a big mask I used to wear at my office. I want to be the go-to girl for anything that my boss needs. And I'm not going to let him down. And so, it becomes this weight of this mask of I can take care of anyone. I can get anything done. You can count on me that we are so proud of and in many ways leads to our success.

But then, there's the shadow side to it of we start overriding our own needs, our own boundaries, our own standards. We don't use our voice. We say yes when we want to say no. And we drive ourselves deeper and deeper into burnout.

And I was like, "In order for me to continue with what you really love about me, I need to renegotiate some of the expectations here." And understanding I could do that was a lightbulb moment. That moment came in therapy. Therapy was my gateway drug to this world of personal development. And when my therapist said, "You could have that conversation," I was like, "What? No, I can't do that."

And so, a big aha moment for me was realizing I could say no. I could renegotiate arrangements at work because I had gotten myself into this whole of, I did it to myself, but I would work weekends, no problem. And you give it to me on a Friday night, I'll have it done Sunday morning. But understanding I had choice in that moment to go back to my boss and be like, "Look. I'm not feeling so great. And my needs, what I desired to actually be the employee you need me to be, so creative, so on it, so upbeat," because I was known for my personality and my energy and leading the team.

So, like I said earlier, it's really remembering your choice in every moment. And another big one that I noticed with burnout and I've seen so many women and see in myself still is this perfectionist archetype. I see you nodding because as women in particular. Yeah.

CAMILLE [13:52]

Yeah. I think perfectionism and people pleasing is so relatable. For women, especially, I think that we are geared as little girls to not cause ripples, to not make people upset, to do what we're asked. And many times, we want to do those things. But the pressure of having to be that pleaser or that person all the time is what becomes wearing where it's like, no, you can take a minute and do the things that feel right for you and the boundaries that feel right for you. So, yes, I am nodding over here. For sure, very relatable.

EMILY [14:30]

It's such a powerful one, that perfectionist pattern. If you look at how it might manifest in terms of burnout at the office, what I used to do, let me reread the email 50 times before I hit send, spending hours on something to make sure it was perfect.

When I was doing my decks to present to the team, I went over it for hours, hours, and hours. And what was that causing? Burnout, exhaustion, overwhelm, unnecessarily so because something I realized no one knows where the comma goes either. No one knows where the comma goes. No one cares.

And also, seeing my boss at the time, I love this man so much, but he was a mess. He was very messy, brilliant leader. And seeing he's messing stuff up all the time and he's making probably triple what I'm making. So, is it really true I have to be perfect? But it's getting it right as women that programming is so deep. It's look perfect. It's be the perfect girlfriend, the perfect wife, the perfect mother, the perfect homemaker, the perfect friend.

And that's the thing. Burnout is not just what's happening in the office. It's also how you're spending your free time and how you're interacting in your relationships at home. So, think about how exhausting it might be to try and be the perfect employee. And then, when you go home, you're like, I'm going to be the perfect mother. I'm going to the perfect mother. I'm going to be the perfect wife, too. They're like little energy leaks all over the house.

I heard someone say this analogy the other day of imagine your energy. It's really hot right now. So, I'm thinking of it this way, too. You have air conditioning on. And the house is cooling down. But there's a window open in one of the rooms. And it's like draining all of that AC, that cool, beautiful air out of the house. And you're like, why is it so hot in here? And then, you find the leak. You find the open window in that open room, this energy leak, and you close the window.

And so, to me, that's what a lot of the work of burnout is. Or even if you're just like, I'm exhausted, I don't know if I'm burnt out, but it's looking at where your energy is going. What are the open windows in your house and closing them? And it's a lot of awareness and it's questioning. Remember Byron Katie. Is it true? Is it true that I have to do that? Is it true I have to say yes to that? Is it true? Just questioning our reality.

CAMILLE [16:55]

Mm-hmm. That's so powerful. I love the idea of power leaks. And I've actually come up with my own analogies of being a house and what do you let into your house? And who's in your front room? Who's in your kitchen? Who are you letting into the privacy of your room. Even when you're scrolling on your phone that the window into who we are and how we're using our energy, I love that that's the analogy of the house because I relate to that so much, because that's our safety. How do you create that ecosystem within yourself? I think that's a really powerful way to look at it.

EMILY [17:36]

That's so beautiful. That's so, so beautiful. And our subconscious mind, we talked about manifestation quickly earlier. It has the laws of the subconscious mind. And just understanding something I've learned in my work in that area is the subconscious mind, it really responds to symbols and images.

So, it's like when we're speaking in this way of the story and the images and the house and the symbolism, the imagery, that really lands to me differently in the subconscious. The subconscious, oh, okay. Energy leaks. We have a house. There are windows open.

CAMILLE [18:11]

Yeah. So, let's talk about that a little bit. Because, say, for example, there is someone who is experiencing burnout, but they don't know necessarily where it's coming from. How do you help them break that down and identify that spot or that space or that relationship? Because it can be personal. It can be family. It can be relationship, whatever it is. How do you help them identify that?

EMILY [18:38]

Such a good question because initially, at least if you're in a 9 to 5, you'll often default to it's my boss, it's my company. But as you said, yeah, it's really looking at all domains of your life. So, something I always do with a new client is we'll do a really simple exercise that I do with myself every few months to identify those energy leaks. It's called an energy audit. And it's really just going and listing out what adds to my energy and what detracts from my energy.

And this is an exercise in really being radically honest with yourself and getting to know things about yourself that maybe your mind is telling you, I love doing this but actually dropping in and this is another part of it, how does my body react to this?

So, something a mentor of mine taught me that I really love is because our mind will say, oh, you know what? I love going to brunch. That energizes me. But it's like, does it actually energize you? Do you actually enjoy it? Because that's another driver of burnout is spending your free time doing things you should do versus what genuinely fuels you and fills your cup and lights you up.

So, you'll make the list and this is a good hack to get out of your conscious mind. You can put your finger on the item and close your eyes for a few seconds. Does this add to my energy? Does this drain my energy? Do I feel my body expanding or collapsing? You can even notice in your body language? Are your shoulders back or do you cave when do you think of it? Does this expand me? Am I expanding when I think of this?

So, it's going through. It's like an audit. It's an inventory of what's happening in your life and really getting clarity on what's genuinely adding to your energy and what's detracting. And then, from that point of awareness, we can start to make different choices.

And that brings up all the other things right of the pleaser, the good girl, the perfectionist. How am I going to get out of this brunch obligation with the girlfriends every Sunday? I'm going to let them down. So then, it brings up other areas for us to dig into in our coaching journey.

Now that we have the awareness, what are we going to do about it and how? Because it's going to be often really uncomfortable and it's going to be breaking this personality that we have created for ourselves of this is what I love doing.

Awesome thing that I hear all the time when it comes to these energy audits is looking at things that we've been told are really good for us that we should do, like meditation even sometimes or going to the yoga class. It's like we are listening to the Headspace app. We've been told, really good for you. It's everywhere. It's on all the Instagram like self-care.

But then, is it actually supporting you? Is it actually raising your energy? Is it actually making you feel better or has it become a box you're checking? And then, looking at that of what other choices do I have to raise my energy? Your meditation, it's not for everyone. Maybe you want to go into walking meditation. Maybe you're sitting and going, ugh, I hate us, but someone told me it's good for my mental health. So, I'm going to do it.

Is that really supporting you? There are so many ways to do these things. If yoga is not your thing, maybe something you could do for movement, you can do a dance, you can put on some music love. You can let your body move intuitively.

CAMILLE [22:08]

I'm starting to dance with you.

EMILY [22:12]

We're doing it. But it's just questioning everything. Questioning everything, is this in my highest desire? We are all so unique. Our codes, our blueprints of what makes us come alive and what detracts from our energy and it's honoring that. It's honoring our uniqueness. And it will bring up a lot when maybe we say we don't want to do something that we've been doing for so long.

And I'll give you another example for me. And it's also honoring our cycles and our growth as humans, our evolution as humans. Because something that used to really energize me was going out for happy hour. That used to be my thing. When I was in the hustle and grind 9 to 5 world, I genuinely felt that that added to my energy. I loved it.

And now, you couldn't pay me. No way. I have changed. So, I don't want to do that anymore. That drains me. I don't like to drink. I don't like to be out of bars. So, it was I had these expectations from friendships of, "Come on, Emily, let's go." And I had to find the courage to say, "That's not in alignment for me anymore. That actually really drains my energy."

CAMILLE [23:20]

That's really powerful. And I'm sure that that was hard to do that and to have those friendships who based their time with you around that to say, "Wait a minute, why not? Or do you not want to be friends anymore?" It becomes this personal.

EMILY [23:33]

Or they feel like you're judging them because you don't want to do that. Yeah, so that was a whole thing for me to navigate within myself. I was talking about this with a client yesterday. It's like the changing, our constant evolution as a human, sometimes feeling like, oh, that's going to let someone down or what is that going to mean for the relationship if I change? What are they going to think? Are they going to feel judged? Are they're going to feel abandoned?

But it's giving ourselves permission to continue this evolution. If you're in this world in this work of personal growth, sometimes, you're changing like, whoa, lightning speed. Sometimes, I look back, I'm like, wow, that happened really fast. I can understand why certain friends might feel confused or family members might be like, "Is this what's happening here?"

But it's just honoring your journey and what's true for you and really dropping in again to your body. That's been a huge area of growth for me the past few years is what does my body have to say about this? Because my mind has one story, but the body as they say does not lie.

That's what I love with that energy audit, taking it a level deeper, putting your finger on it on the item on the list and really imagining yourself doing that thing and seeing how your body reacts. Because your mind might be like, we love it. We love happy hours. We love brunches.

CAMILLE [24:53]

I agree with that. That's so interesting. And as you're talking about this, I'm thinking about how I'm teaching my kids to honor what they love. And a lot of times as kids how they tried to please us as parents or that as you were saying, as a people pleaser that you were showing up and doing the things as the oldest because that was what was expected of you.

And I think that without even meaning to, we participate in these relationships where we think we're doing it for the right reasons and maybe we're not. And maybe that's why that's leading to the rise of depression and anxiety and all of those things because we're not tapping into what our body and what our truth is really saying about what would be restful and what would be reviving and what would feel energizing to our soul. I think that that's such a beautiful inner work.

EMILY [25:42]

Oh my gosh, I just got tingles down my spine when you said that. Yes, yes. I think we're in a mental health crisis. Unfortunately, you see it everywhere. And I see it in my work when I am with a woman who is experiencing burnout. And I ask her because that's another big piece of it is really starting to fill up more on what you love doing versus what you should be doing.

And I'll ask like, "So, what do you love? What do you love doing?" And she's like, "I don't know. I really don't know. I like Instagram. I like Netflix, like shopping." Nothing wrong with any of these things. I'm a yes to all of them. But they're very ephemeral, cheap, dopamine hits that spike us up, and then we crash really fast.

We feel it. When we go on Instagram, we're like, whoa, yes, the notifications. And then after, I need my next fix. So, that's the world we live in of these dopamine rushes and it leaves us so drained and so I think barren often of that true aliveness that we are all craving as humans of truly being lit up and connected to yourself, connected to something beyond yourself.

And so, a big part of this work is really understanding what that is. And we have forgotten, so many of us have forgotten because it's been beaten out of us. It's like, in your free time, you check Instagram, you watch Netflix, you online shop or this is a big one, you need to be productive. You need to be productive in your free time. You have your to-do list for your free time. You have all the things you should be doing. And, of course, we have, especially you as a mother, very real things you need to do in your free time and you're not working for your family.

But you see so often that there's no spaciousness. It's all about other people. It's all about productivity. And so, that pleasure, that joy, that aliveness. It's really asking yourselves, what do I love? What lights me up? How can I invite more of that into my life?

Oftentimes, it gets to be a journey. It gets to be an exploration. Because like I said, we've lost touch, we don't know anymore. And so, it's playing. Something that I do with my clients is it's called a pleasure powder list. So, it's 20 things that you love doing. And often, it's very challenging at first. They'll get to three or four. Then it's like, I don't really know. It's like, what if you did know? What if you added some things to the list and went out and experimented and saw how that made you feel?

And then, analytical, you could even rank it on a scale of one to 10. How did that make you feel? And it's giving yourself a toolbox of things that you love doing to integrate and add to. Another part of that project, that assignment is then you do Project Joy. So, for seven days, it's doing two or three of these things on your list per day and finding the time because that's always the thing. I don't have time. I don't have time. I don't have time.

True. But, again, what can we renegotiate? What commitments can we renegotiate? What are we not seeing? Geez, I saw my Instagram time spent the other day and that was a little terrifying. Really looking where's my time going and how can I maybe swap out some of these lower-grade dopamine hit highs?

A client of mine the other day, one of her things she found out she loved doing was doing a puzzle while listening to a podcast. Yeah. And the podcasting thing is common because that feels productive in some way. We're learning something. But the puzzle was what really made her inner child come alive because that was something she really loved as a kid and had stopped doing because it's not productive. But that's become her ritual every week. I'm listening to a podcast and I'm doing a puzzle.

CAMILLE [29:28]

I love that. It's funny because I think that that's a very much achiever thing to want to do. I love to listen to a podcast and be doing something at the same time, too. That's very satisfying to me, even if it's like a very silly game on my phone. I would rather be listening to a podcast and playing a game on my phone than just playing a game on my phone because it almost gets me in almost like a meditative listening state where I'm like, I don't know why, but I love that.

But I've also done the puzzle and the podcast or a walk and a podcast or a shower and a podcast. It's funny because learning is so enlightening to me that I love learning about concepts and people and stories and self-improvement or whatever the things are. So, integrating learning into my day is very important for me.

EMILY [30:19]

It lights you up. It gives you energy.

CAMILLE [30:23]

Yeah, to really tap into that. But then, there are also times that I realized, oh, maybe there's so much noise that it's good for me to just be quiet. And so, I've tried to do more grounding where it's just walking outside with my dog and feeling the grass on my feet and being present as my kids are running around and we're throwing the ball to the dog or we're just watching the birds. I got a new bird feeder. And we're just watching the birds and who comes and, oh, look at that bird.

And so, I think that there's room for both that you can have space to really explore that. And I think it does take practice. Because, like you said, many of us have forgotten. It's so easy to be quickly entertained that we don't take the time to dig into what really brings us joy. It's like that transition of thinking, oh, this can be a pleasure walk of what is it that brings me life? Because I feel like we've lost touch of that. So, I love that you bring that up because it can take work. It's not like it's going to be perfectly easy for everyone to discover that. You really have to invest in yourself.

EMILY [31:29]

Yeah. It can be just easier to default to that pattern of let me pick up the phone or turn on Netflix. So, it's an excavation, it takes exploring. And it can be really fun though. My clients love this assignment. And I'm always like, it's very serious homework. You have to do three things a day that really light you up.

But I think you bring up a really good point there with having the podcasts on and sometimes feeling like there's so much noise. And I felt that the other day actually because I, too, I share that passionate, learning and listening. And I'm always in the master classes and the free master and podcasts.

But I had a moment and this is a thing, I dropped into my body. I had been listening to master classes and podcasts all day on Saturday because it was my off day and I'm like that's what I want to do. But then, I noticed I was starting to feel really depleted. I was starting to feel my shoulders concave.

This is another question I love to ask myself, does this feel like power in my body? Does this add to my power? Does this take away my power? And I had been listening to other people's voices all day that I think my own inner voice, my own inner knowing got a little overwhelmed and was sponging in so much. And I couldn't hear myself.

So, I think that is so important is dropping into your own inner authority and understanding that we often do need some space and some quiet to hear it because we're sponges. That's what the human brain is designed to do. That's what makes it so beautiful in so many ways. The mirror neurons, we're just soaking it up. But then, sometimes it gets to be, wait, what is my voice? And what is what I'm hearing? So, I'd love to schedule, like you said, that time into, no, nothing. Just me. Just me and my voice, my inner knowing.

CAMILLE [33:17]

Be quiet enough to hear what you have to say. Yeah.

EMILY [33:20]

Yeah. I even had the experience. It's so funny you say this because it's been a theme for me the past week because, like I had said, I do a lot of visualization and meditation. I usually do recorded ones from people I really love that do really amazing ones.

And last night, I was like, I don't want to listen to someone else's voice guide me through the meditation. I want to listen to myself and see where my soul wants to go on this meditation. So, I have started doing the past few days, meditations without anyone guiding me, without anyone supporting me in the visualization. And that has been a deeper level.

CAMILLE [33:52]

Yeah. That's when you know you're getting good at meditation. That's amazing.

EMILY [33:56]

Oh my God. That's another tangent. I won't go into it, but these visualizations.

CAMILLE [34:04]

No, go to that tangent because I think that as we're finishing up with the episode here, I do want to go into what it looks like to have refreshing, nourishing visualization practices that don't have to be a huge production, but that can fill us up in a way that all the noise from the outside world cannot. So, yeah, I'd love to hear about those practices and give that tool.

EMILY [34:29]

Perfect because we're, again, on Lionsgate Portal today.

CAMILLE [34:32]

Yeah. Let's end with Lionsgate.

EMILY [34:36]

Yeah. So, I'd love to hear your practice as well, but mine really varies. So, I've gotten really into a modality called RRT, rapid resolution therapy. Have you heard of it?

CAMILLE [34:48]

I have heard of tapping therapy. I don't know if I've heard of RRT.

EMILY [34:52]

So, RRT, it's getting a lot of buzz in this personal growth space because essentially and, like we talked about earlier, it speaks directly to your subconscious mind. It is all about imagery and symbolism. So, storytelling, the language of the subconscious and your senses and your touch and smell. And it doesn't make sense. When you listen to an RRT recording, it doesn't make sense to your conscious mind. Your conscious mind is like, what is happening here?

CAMILLE [35:23]

What is this? Okay.

EMILY [35:24]

It's like, why are we talking about these colors? And why this random story? But it goes directly into your subconscious because it's speaking that language and they say, 95% of our reality is created by our subconscious mind. Our habituated patterns of thinking, of feeling, of reacting, of picking up the phone, or whatever it is.

And, yeah, so rapid resolution therapy is often one or two sessions with a certified RTT therapist, and people have these massive breakthroughs for something that traditional talk therapy did not support them in for years. So, that got me really interested. There was a lot with trauma and PTSD and people having just really rapid healing. So, that got me interested.

And there's a practitioner. I love a coach that does some RRT recordings that are more for manifestation and visualization. And so, her name is Andrea Crowder. I've been doing those almost every day for the past probably four months.

And so, I'll do a recording. I'll visualize. They say feel the feelings because the thought sends the signal out. The feeling draws the experience in. So, that's something I didn't fully get when I started visualizing probably five years ago. I was just like, let me just think about it. Let me just see it. But it's been really getting into the feeling of it. And how do you get into the feeling? You get specific, you get into the details of what it is that you want to bring into your life that you want to manifest.

So, for me, it's been really tapping into the senses of what it's going to look like, what's it's going to feel like, what it's going smell like, what it's going to taste like, and that eliciting then a reaction in my body and feeling the feeling. And sometimes, I'll start laughing or giggling or smiling because I can really feel it like it's here now.

So, I'll do, again, the recordings. And then, sometimes and especially lately, five minutes when I wake up in the morning, visualizing. When that veil is still lifting, you're in that brainwave state, it's like the Twilight state. You're not fully awake.

CAMILLE [37:34]

Yes, there's a specific term for it. I can't think of it.

EMILY [37:36]

I'm forgetting which one it is.

CAMILLE [37:37]

Yeah. I know what you're talking about.

EMILY [37:39]

Is it theta? We're going to need to look that up. So, sometimes it will be just five minutes in the morning, five minutes when I'm falling asleep. And that's also when you're in that Twilight state and your brainwaves has slowed down. And you have more access to your subconscious mind. And, yeah, really loving the RRT visualizations.

I've always loved Joe Dispenza. He was one of my gateways into this world of manifestation. But what really spoke to me by him was he was very analytical about it. He's a neuroscientist. My conscious mind really enjoyed that part of the science behind manifestation.

But the longer I've been on this work, the more I've gotten into the whoo, and I'm like the Lionsgate. Cool. I'm not even sure why it's so significant, but everyone was saying it's significant. So, I'm going to really focus on what I'm calling in today, on Lionsgate.

CAMILLE [38:29]

Yeah. You've inspired me to do that. It's interesting because this is something where people will say, "Oh, this is so new." But I was listening to something and I can't remember what it was now, but I believe it was Albert Einstein who would hold a pen up. And then, just before it was about to drop, he knew he was in that state of almost being asleep.

And that's when he would try to access ideas and inventions and solutions to equations or problems he was trying to sort out. And he'd have a notebook nearby and hurry and jot out the things that he was thinking or visualizing or wanting to solve.

And I think there's a lot of power in that, that we can tap into that space, but it takes practice. So, I appreciate you sharing with that. If you would, I'd love for you to send that link of those meditations or visualizations. We can add them to the show notes.

EMILY [39:20]

Yeah. Let me send, for sure. Yeah. It's so fun. I view it as so fun to play with and see what happens. And sometimes, it truly is those moments of, oh, that's so weird. This stuff is real. I can't believe that just happened. So, it's like playing in the quantum field, playing with the energies of the universe. Why not? We have the tools. We have the resources. We have so many incredible teachers in the space available for free on Instagram and on their YouTube. Why not?

CAMILLE [39:54]

One of the practices I've loved, I say I'm a very new meditation person. I use Apple Fitness meditation to guide me. So, I'll pop in and you can do it by time. And they even have it by theme of like, if it's to get restfulness to be prepared for going to bed, or if it's something where it's like energizing you in the afternoon slump, or whatever it is.

But I will do that with my kids as well, which has been really fun, because they'll see me doing it. And they'll be like, "I want to join you." And they'll join. But one of my favorite books to put me into a perspective of looking at the state of my mind and the usefulness of my thoughts is the book, Think Like a Monk by Jay Shetty. I love that book.

EMILY [40:40]

I love him. Yes.

CAMILLE [40:41]

Yeah. I've listened to it a number of times. And it's something that if I'm having a hard time falling asleep at night or if your mind is busy and you're thinking about work stuff or relationships or whatever the thing is, that's a book that I can listen to and drop into the power of my mind and also put it on a timer and fall asleep.

So, that's one of my favorite practices is giving the perspective of the power of the mind and finding peace within yourself. And what does that look like? And how are you tapping into that? And so, yeah, I think that's one thing that's been really helpful for me.

EMILY [41:18]

That's such a good book. Thank you for reminding me of that book. Now, I'm going to go look for my copy.

CAMILLE [41:24]

Yes, it's so good. This has been so fun. Tell everyone where they can connect with you online and learn about more what you have to offer.

EMILY [41:32]

I have had so much fun. This conversation just went off in so many directions.

CAMILLE [41:38]

I love it. I hope that everyone else is following along because it's been fun for me.

EMILY [41:43]

I know. We literally went everywhere.

CAMILLE [41:43]

I love it.

EMILY [41:46]

You can connect with me on Instagram @emilyorianatodd. And all my links are there. Send me a message. I would love to connect with you to talk about the quantum and visualization or whatever you desire, starting a business, burnout. So, it's all in play.

CAMILLE [42:00]

It's all part of it. Amazing. You're so awesome. Thank you so much for being on the show today.

EMILY [42:05]

Thank you. Thank you, Camille. This was amazing.

[MUSIC]

CAMILLE [42:11]

If you're listening to this episode right now and thinking that you need to create more space and more clarity and more time for pleasurable things, trust me, I am here for you to help you achieve that.

As a business owner, I help many, many women hire virtual assistants so that they can have more space themselves to find the things that bring you joy. If that's something that you're interested in or even want to dabble into and see if I can help you find a perfect fit, that is what my expertise is. It's about helping you do a time audit, looking at how you're spending your time, and how you can free up time and bring a virtual assistant into your team, one that is trusted, a top A-player that you can always rely on so that you can get more time to do the things that you love.

You can reach out to me with the scheduling link below or email me at callmeceopodcast@gmail.com Don't forget to like and subscribe and share this episode with someone who you think would be benefiting from this energy exchange. And I appreciate you listening.

Hey, CEOs. Thank you so much for spending your time with me. If you found this episode inspiring or helpful, please let me know in a comment in a 5-star review. You could have the chance of being a featured review on an upcoming episode. Continue the conversation on Instagram @callmeceopodcast. And remember, you are the boss.

[43:38]