How To Pivot While Staying Iconic
Ever felt stuck, out of place, or like you’re forcing yourself into spaces that just don’t feel right? You’re not alone, radiant icons!
In this raw and reflective episode of Dare To Be Iconic, Amanda dives headfirst into the uncomfortable yet transformative process of pivoting in life and business. Spilling the tea on her own struggles with finding alignment—from networking events that fell flat to questioning her path—Amanda gets candid about why change is sometimes the bravest (and most iconic) move we can make.
Tune in as Amanda answers your burning questions about career changes, moving cities, and navigating new environments, all while staying fiercely true to yourself. Because making bold moves shouldn’t mean losing who you are—in fact, it’s about becoming even more you.
So, grab your favorite drink, sit back, and let’s dare to embrace the pivot together. Radiant Icons, this one’s for all of us standing at the crossroads of change! 💫
Grab your copy of "Break Up With The Past, Fall In Love With The Future" healing journal!
Got a question for Amanda or a topic you'd love to hear discussed on a future episode? Submit your question to the "Dare To Be Iconic Hotline" today!
Time Stamps:
00:00 Welcome to Dare To Be Iconic
00:32 Facing the Fear of Change
01:28 Personal Experiences with Pivoting
02:55 The Struggle of Belonging
05:37 Embracing the Need to Pivot
09:09 Staying True to Yourself
12:19 Hotline Questions
16:29 Final Thoughts and Farewell
Transcript
What's up, radiant icons, and welcome back to
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:Dare To Be Iconic, the podcast made
for icons daring to be themselves.
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:I'm your host, Amanda Paolicelli.
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:And you guys today, we are
talking about the subject that
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:no one likes to talk about.
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:Change, specifically, we are talking
about pivoting and staying true to
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:yourself in that process of learning
when it is the right time to change
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:course, to pivot into a different
direction, that is more meant for you.
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:And, well, I hate change, just
like everyone else out there.
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:And the last couple of weeks, I've
been faced with this overwhelming
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:feeling of having to pivot and that
fear of it, and we're just gonna
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:spill all the tea about that today.
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:But before we get into this piping hot tea
time sesh, connect with me on socials and
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:grab your copy of Breakup with the Past,
Fall in Love with the Future, your five
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:step guide in turning pain into power.
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:And all that information is
found in the show notes below.
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:Now let's get into the good stuff.
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:Are you ready, radiant icons?
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:Because your tea time
sesh is starting now.
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:Man, this lesson has been slapping me
in the face for a couple weeks now.
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:And originally, fun fact, this
episode was not supposed to be on
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:pivoting and staying true to yourself.
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:It was supposed to be a
completely other topic.
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:I was already ready to go, but something
inside of me was like, you know what?
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:No, you, you need to put that one to
the backburner and you need to talk
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:about this now because I think for
me, when it comes to the podcast, I
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:think of it as obviously, a catch up,
like, tea time sesh with you guys,
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:but it's another way for me to kind of
process everything that's going on in
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:my brain, and, like, yes, do I journal?
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:Yes.
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:Do I talk to my friends about it?
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:Yeah, of course.
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:I drive them crazy, and I drive myself
crazy about it, but I think the whole
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:point of Dare To Be Iconic is to
be able to share my life, share my
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:stories, and then pull out the universal
lessons, and I know I'm not the only
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:one struggling with this right now.
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:So, if you are currently struggling with
this idea of change and knowing when is
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:the right time to go down a different
path than what you originally thought
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:was, like, best for you, or if you're
just scared to take that leap and try
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:something new than what you originally
intended, like, this is the episode for
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:you and I want you to know that you're
not alone in it, because we all deal with
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:this emotion of pivoting, and the question
in it lies, like, Okay, yeah, sometimes
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:we do have to pivot, but then how do we
stay true to ourselves in the process?
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:And it's not easy.
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:But we're gonna get through it.
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:And we're gonna get through this episode.
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:So, let's get into it.
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:I think for the last couple of
weeks, I've had to put myself out
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:there a lot more than I usually do.
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:Sometimes it pays off, and
it has, and it's beautiful.
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:But the times when it doesn't.
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:The times when it kind of slaps you in
the face and you're like, wow, okay.
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:Great.
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:That's a clear sign.
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:Okay.
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:Thank you.
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:And we all know when we're not,
we're not invited in a room, right?
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:We all know when someone doesn't
reciprocate that feeling back towards us.
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:And it's not a good feeling.
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:And lately going to majority of these
networking events, like putting myself
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:out there on, on that scale and trying
to find a community locally that I can
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:relate to and kind of talk about the
hardships of being an entrepreneur and
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:like learning about the next steps.
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:I was at this event a couple of weeks
ago, and um, I was really excited for it.
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:Like, so excited because earlier in
the week, I had gone to this other
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:networking event, and the vibes were
not it so going into this next event,
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:I was like, this is gonna be great.
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:Like, this is just a new start.
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:I, I can't wait to meet everyone.
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:I remember sitting down for the
first exercise and looking around
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:the room and having this moment.
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:Of being like, wow, like, I really
do not belong and we all know
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:that, that feeling, and it sucks.
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:It really, truly does suck, because
all we want to do at the end of
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:the day is feel like we belong.
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:I want to say that's like a hierarchy.
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:What is it in school that we learn about?
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:Maslow Hierarchy of Needs.
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:I think like the first one is belonging.
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:I don't know.
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:Don't quote me on it.
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:It's been a long time, you guys.
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:But like, genuinely, right?
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:Like, we all want to feel like we belong.
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:And in that moment, I
knew I didn't belong.
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:You know the feeling when you just keep
trying to put yourself out there and
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:it's not reciprocated, it's like, wow,
like, maybe Maybe being myself is not
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:enough and that's dangerous because
I used to think that and that's never
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:good and it's not true- It's not true.
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:You ever feel that way?
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:It's not true.
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:You are enough just the way that you are.
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:But I would be lying if I didn't say
that I felt those emotions as well and
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:it messes with your psyche, and that's
when the self doubt comes in and that's
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:when the imposter syndrome creeps in
and like all these negative things
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:they just like ball up and that's what
I've been dealing with because in that
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:moment when I felt like I didn't belong,
I was like, wow, will I ever belong?
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:Like, I'm trying so hard with
specific groups locally and it's
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:just not working out for me.
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:It's not being reciprocated.
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:And I'm like, okay, well then
maybe I do need to pivot.
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:Maybe this is the sign that I need to
know when it's time to walk away and
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:walk away in the aspect of maybe I need
to try something else, or maybe the
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:Orlando communities are not it for me.
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:Maybe that is not the path that
I'm destined to go down because
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:at the end of the day, Dare
To Be Iconic is international.
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:And maybe being so focused on Orlando
specific networking events or so on
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:and so forth, like, maybe that isn't
the path that I am supposed to go down.
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:And for year two, the first check item was
get more involved in my local community,
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:which at this point in time is Orlando.
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:And I was like, okay, great.
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:And I'm doing all these things and all the
things you're supposed to be doing, right?
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:Going to networking events, doing this
and this, blah, blah, blah, X, Y, and Z.
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:Like I'm doing all of it.
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:But it hasn't really worked out for me.
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:I think I realized all within these
events that it's time to walk away
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:from a path that isn't meant for me.
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:So I'm gonna read this to you guys
that I had actually written down when I
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:was journaling about this whole entire
subject: sometimes you have to know
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:when to walk away from one path to
pursue the other because the other path
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:is truly where you were meant to be.
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:And I think another layer into
this whole Oh my God, do I belong?
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:Do I not belong?
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:Am I enough?
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:Like every little doubt that I had
that came to, oh, I need to pivot and
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:I need to do things the Amanda way
is that it was all rooted in fear.
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:Yeah, fear that nice little f word, right?
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:Not, not the other one.
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:Not the other one, you guys.
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:But like fear.
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:The fear of failure.
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:The fear of failure on a public
display, for me, is really terrifying.
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:I don't like to fail in general,
even though I know it's a necessity
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:in any process that we're going to.
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:Like, you need to fail in order to learn.
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:It doesn't mean that I'm
okay with the concept!
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:I don't think anyone is, but you
know, why not just lay it out there?
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:I don't like the idea of failing.
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:And I don't like the
idea of failing publicly.
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:This fear of failure is so dehabilitating
that it's like, where do I go next?
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:And I think when I kept not feeling that
reciprocation from certain events that
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:I was going to or even like behind the
scenes things that are happening right
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:now for Dare To Be Iconic and having
this overwhelming urge of, oh my god,
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:I really need to change direction, but
also I'm failing is a really hard pill
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:to swallow, because to me and I know it's
not true, but I still see it as some form
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:of embarrassment because other people
can see that I'm failing so publicly.
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:I think why I was so paralyzed
from accepting that I needed to
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:pivot and that idea of change
was because I didn't want to fail
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:publicly because I was scared of it.
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:My friend, Maria, said the other day you
aren't failing, you keep actively doing
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:things and that's the opposite of failure.
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:You start failing when you stop trying.
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:And that really, like, that really hit me.
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:We have to keep showing up for ourselves
and we have to keep trying new things.
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:We have to keep knowing when it's
time to pivot and try a different
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:direction that is leading us to the
direction we're meant to be on and the
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:moment we just stop and we let that
fear consume us, that's when we fail.
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:I think why I was so hesitant
or so stubborn like let's
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:be so for real on this.
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:I was being very stubborn with maybe
I do need to pivot was not only
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:because I thought I was failing, but
I also saw pivoting as failing, and
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:thinking back on all of it, I don't
think pivoting is failing at all.
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:In fact, I think pivoting is a
sign of strength, because it's
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:steering you back into the path
that you're, you're meant to be on.
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:It takes strength to walk away
from an environment, a situation
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:that is not good for you.
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:It is okay to walk away from a path
that you thought was it for you.
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:It's okay to walk away from a dream that
you once had because it's not it anymore.
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:It's okay to want to start again.
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:That's the beautiful thing about life,
is that we have so many opportunities
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:to start again and to try new things.
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:Pivoting is such a sign of strength
because you have that strength from
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:within to be like, you know what?
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:It's okay to walk away from something
that once thought was right for me,
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:or what I once thought I wanted.
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:It's okay to walk away
from that and realize it.
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:And I think that's beautiful
because it's steering us back
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:to where we are meant to be.
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:And maybe it takes a little bit longer
for us to figure it out, but okay.
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:We end up exactly where
we are meant to be.
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:And I think that's what I'm figuring out.
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:When it came to this whole concept
of pivoting and figuring out
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:what really do I want to do..
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:I needed to look within myself
and I needed to see the external
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:signs that were slapping me in
the face over and over again.
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:And be like, okay you need
to try a different way.
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:And just because you're
trying a different way.
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:It doesn't mean you're failing, Amanda.
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:It just means you're figuring it out.
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:And maybe this goes back to
doing things the Amanda way.
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:I have to stay true to myself in this
process because then I lose the mission
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:of and vision of Dare To Be Iconic.
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:The only thing I know how to do
in this world is to be myself.
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:And the core messaging of Dare
To Be Iconic is dare to be you.
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:And I think for the last couple
of weeks, I was letting all
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:these other things consume me.
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:And it just was like
taking away my sparkle.
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:Once I had that, Oh shit moment, I really
do need to pivot because I'm drowning.
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:That's when like the sparkle came back
and I started doing things the Amanda way.
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:And I think when you have that moment
of realization of, Oh, I really do
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:need to change course because I'm tired
of fighting myself and everything.
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:That's when everything aligns,
because you're choosing yourself,
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:and you're daring to be yourself,
which is the whole idea of Dare To
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:Be Iconic, like the whole thing of
Dare to be Iconic is Dare to be you.
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:And at the end, it just keeps proving
out that you just have to keep daring
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:to be yourself, even if you get
slapped in the face with rejection.
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:I'm going to keep daring to be me
because the more we start embracing
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:who we are, and the more we lean into
it, and we embrace every little aspect
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:of it, it will always lead us down the
path that we are supposed to be on.
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:Okay.
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:Radiant icons.
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:Let's get into the hotline
questions, shall we?
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:All right.
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:Hey Amanda, I'm struggling with
a career shift and I'm scared
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:of losing myself in the process.
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:How do you handle major changes
while staying true to who you are?
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:I don't handle them well, but what
I'm currently learning in this
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:process of pivoting is that you need
to stay true to your core values.
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:Which, which kind of goes back to
honoring that intention of choosing you
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:and how do you continue to dare to be
yourself before you enter any scenario.
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:And I think it goes back to
having that self introspection
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:of what are my core values?
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:How do I stay true to them
while I go on this new path?
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:So in your case, that's a career
shift, which is super exciting.
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:It's, it's really scary.
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:Like I'm not going to lie.
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:And it's really daunting,
but like, that's so exciting.
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:Like you have this beautiful new
opportunity placed in front of you.
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:And my advice would be:
what are your core values?
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:What do you believe in?
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:What do you stand for?
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:What do you want in a job, right?
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:What do you want from that company?
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:And I think writing down your three
core values and what it means to you
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:and being able to, you know, when you
look at the job listings and be like,
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:okay, does this company align with
what I believe in as an individual?
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:I think that's how you don't lose
yourself in the process because
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:you're making sure that whatever
company, organization, or Whatever
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:it is in this career shift, right?
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:You're, you're comparing what that stands
for compared to what you stand for.
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:And if it aligns, then that's how
you continue staying true to yourself
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:because you're, you're working for
with however it is you're, you're
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:working with a company, a brand that
values, the same things that you do.
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:And that's exactly what you want.
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:When you're pivoting, you, you want to
honor that commitment of choosing you.
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:And that all comes down
to what do you stand for?
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:What do you believe in?
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:And if they don't.
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:You will find something that does so
it's okay to walk away from it because
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:I think it's more important to work
with or for something that you gel
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:with, vibe with, that those values
align than trying to force yourself
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:to work with or for someone that
doesn't believe in what you believe in.
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:All right, let's get to question two.
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:I'm thinking of moving to a new city.
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:How do you know when it's time to pivot
and make a big change in your life?
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:I think it really truly does come
down to your gut and your instincts.
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:Like, it will always, always
steer you in the right direction.
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:And if it's not screaming at you from
the inside out to move to x, y, and
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:z place then it's not the right time.
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:And if it's screaming at you to
go, Go, do it, see how it is.
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:And if you hate it, it's okay,
you can always try again.
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:What advice do you have for people
who feel out of place in certain
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:environments but are trying to fit in?
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:I think this goes back to the beginning
of the episode of when I had that moment
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:of, oh, I truly don't belong here.
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:And sometimes it brings up
like past emotions, right?
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:Maybe not feeling like you belong to
middle school, high school, college,
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:like, whatever it is, work environment.
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:But, I think when it comes to
this specifically is you need
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:to know when to walk away.
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:And, if you are not vibing with the
people, if you are not gelling with them,
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:if something just doesn't feel right.
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:It's okay to walk away.
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:It's okay to try to find another
community that truly is your community.
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:Just because you try with X, Y,
and Z's group and, you know, that
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:clearly works for them doesn't
mean it's gonna work for you.
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:You just gotta try it out.
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:It's kind of like dating
when you think of it, right?
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:You just have to keep trying with
certain things and seeing if it works.
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:And if it does, that's great.
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:You continue on this relationship,
but if it doesn't, then you
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:guys part your own ways.
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:And I think that's the same concept.
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:If you don't feel like you are vibing or
gelling with this certain environment.
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:It's okay to walk away from it.
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:And it takes strength to do so.
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:All right, Radiant Icons, that
is your episode for today.
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:I promised you a boiling, hot,
piping teatime session, I think
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:I delivered on that promise.
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:I just, like, kept going
and going and going.
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:But you know what?
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:It was heavy on my
heart, so I had to share.
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:I guess that's like every episode.
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:But, you know what?
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:We're here!
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:I truly do hope that this episode helps
you as much as it has helped me spilling
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:the tea about this certain thing that's
been going on in my life recently,
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:and I just want you guys to know that
you aren't alone in these feelings.
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:This idea of pivoting, of changing course,
and this fear of failure, like, they are
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:common things, and we're all gonna deal
with them, and it's okay, and sometimes
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:we just, we just have to embrace them,
because it's, it's part of life, and we
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:just have to make sure we stay true to
ourselves, and that's what I'm learning.
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:If you guys liked this episode, make
sure to leave a review, to rate it,
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:subscribe, share it with your friends,
share it with anyone and anyone.
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:Because we love more radiant
icons in our iconic community.
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:Ooh, it's been a while since
I've said that, but anywho, I
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:will see you guys next week.
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:It's going to be a heavier
topic, but it's okay.
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:We're going to get through it.
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:We're going to get through it.
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:I will see you guys next week.
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:Remember radiant icons, dare to be iconic.
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:Bye.
