December 11, 2025 • 12 mins
🔗 Mentioned on this Episode: Show Notes 👈
When you’re stepping into your next level, even the smallest inconvenience can feel symbolic. It can feel like resistance. It can feel like life is testing you. But what if nothing is wrong? What if this is simply what it looks like to expand your capacity?
In this episode I share a grounded perspective on why unexpected challenges tend to show up right when everything else is rising. Through personal reflections and lived experience, we unpack how meaning making shapes your emotional resilience, your leadership, and your ability to stay regulated while your business grows.
This is an episode to return to whenever life starts moving in unexpected ways.
For details about the Visioning Experience replay and how it connects to the Vision Map and Expansion Season, my 12 week program designed to help founders scale with clarity, creativity, and grounded self leadership, Start here.
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🧭 Clarify your next season of growth & Get on the Expansion Season Waitlist: Start your Vision Map here
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sheila (00:01):
There's a moment in every founder's journey where
everything feels like it'srising at once.
Your ideas are flowing,opportunities are showing up,
and you can feel in your bodythat something big is shifting
for you.
That's the proof that you'restepping into a new season.
But here is the promise.
Right before thosebreakthroughs lead, life often
(00:21):
has a way of sending things thatlook like distractions or
setbacks.
And the plan is not to avoidthem.
The plan is to learn how tomeet them in a way that expands
your strength instead ofshrinking your power.
I want you to picture how muchlighter this next year will feel
when you stop assigning thewrong meaning to life's little
interruptions and start seeingthem as signs of your capacity
(00:44):
growing.
The only real pain comes whenwe forget who we are and let
inconvenience convince us thatwe are off track.
We are never off track.
We are being stretched for thenext level we asked for.
Hi, welcome to the podcast.
I'm Sheila Botelho, and Ibelieve true success is built
from the inside out.
(01:05):
Today I want to have a veryreal, very human conversation
with you.
One that every founder in ascaling season eventually bums
up against.
And honestly, it's aconversation I revisit often in
my own life because no matterhow much inner work we do, and
no matter how far along we arein our careers, the truth is
(01:27):
that life continues to life.
And sometimes it feelsbeautifully aligned, and
sometimes it feels a littlemessy and inconvenient.
And then there are times whereit feels like all of that all at
once.
But here's the part I want youto sit with today.
When you are in a moment ofrising, when you are stepping
(01:47):
into your next season, when youcan feel new opportunities and
new identity shifts and newlevels of leadership moving
through your world, the smallestinconvenience can feel like a
derailment.
Even things that would barelyregister during an ordinary
month can suddenly feelamplified.
(02:08):
They can feel symbolic almost.
They can feel like you'reinterrupting your magic.
And if you are a meaning makerlike I am, which I believe most
founders are, you might betempted to look at these things
as signs.
Signs that something's off.
Signs that you made the wrongchoice.
Signs that the timing is notright, and maybe even signs that
(02:32):
you're not ready.
But what if none of that istrue?
What if life is simply doingwhat life does?
And what if the only meaningthese moments carry is the
meaning you choose to assign tothem?
That is where I want to gotoday.
Let me paint this picture foryou.
(02:52):
I have had so many things in myworld lately going on that I
feel like arising, new creativedirection, new opportunities, a
deeper connection with thepeople in my community, a sense
of clarity and alignment thatfeels like a breath of fresh
(03:12):
air.
And yet, right in the middle ofall of this beauty, a few
random things popped up thatneeded attention.
Repairs that needed to bebooked, replacements that could
not be put off, big ones,unexpected expenses,
inconveniences that landed on myplate without any warning.
(03:33):
None of them are dramatic,though.
Okay.
None of them are life-altering.
Again, it's just life beinglife.
But because they landed at atime where everything else is
feeling so expansive and soexciting and full, I had this
moment where I thought, why now?
Why when everything is going sowell?
(03:55):
Why does this have to show uptoday when I have a full
schedule and a full heart and afull creative wave moving
through me?
And it would have been so easyto let these little ripples pull
me out of the energy that I wasin, to interpret them as
resistance or the universetesting me.
(04:17):
That's a fun one, right?
Or maybe even a sign that Ishould slow down, or that I'm
not as supported as I thought.
But here is where mymeaning-making practice has
served me so well.
And that's why I wanted toshare this here today with you.
I don't pretend that thesethings are not inconvenient, of
(04:40):
course.
And I don't bypass the emotionsthat arise when they come
along.
I don't force myself intopositivity either.
You may be surprised at thatone because I'm pretty much an
optimist all the time.
But in fact, I do the opposite.
I allow, I let myself feel thefrustration.
I let myself name thedisappointment.
(05:02):
I let myself shake off theannoyance.
And I just let myself be humanabout it.
I have what one of my dearfriends calls having a human
day.
And then once the emotion hasspace to breathe, I choose the
meaning that empowers me insteadof the meaning that collapses
(05:25):
me.
You see, we are all meaningmakers.
Whether you believe that ornot, if you look deep into your
world, you'll see what I mean.
Every single one of us.
We give meaning to everythingthat happens in our lives,
whether we realize it or not.
But somewhere along my journey,many years ago, I made a
(05:47):
conscious decision that themeaning I assign will always be
the meaning that strengthens meonce I've had my human day.
Because otherwise, what's thealternative?
I could decide that I'm cursedor that I'm unsupported or
behind or I should quit or I'mnot meant for what I want.
(06:09):
That is not empowering at all.
And you know what?
It's also not true.
It's just convenient and it'sjust the easy way to go in our
minds.
You see, that is the path thatdrains your power, the path that
slows your momentum, and thepath that makes everything
(06:30):
harder.
So here is the meaning that Ichose this week.
These things are not here toderail me.
They are here to show me that Ican hold so much more than I
ever have, that I can keeprising while life continues to
move around me, that my capacityis expanding.
(06:53):
I tell myself that I'm becomingthe woman who can grow her
life, her business, her vision,and still handle the unexpected
with grace.
When you look at life throughthat lens, I can tell you right
now, everything changes.
You shift from feelingvictimized to feeling capable,
(07:18):
from being discouraged tofeeling grounded.
You shift from feelingscattered to actually feeling
spacious.
And you shift from feelingalone to feeling supported.
This is where self-leadershipis built.
And let's talk about somethingI wish more founders understood.
(07:42):
Co-regulation.
Co-regulation is the nervoussystem to nervous system support
we receive from the people andenvironments around us.
But it is also something weprovide for ourselves when we
are anchored in our truth.
You know, when you're rising,when you are stretching into a
(08:04):
new identity, your nervoussystem is doing something
incredibly brave.
It's recalibrating to a versionof you that holds more
responsibility, more visibility,more leadership, more
creativity, and more everything.
So when life throws a fewcurveballs at that exact moment,
it is not a cosmic attack.
(08:26):
It is your system being askedto stabilize at a level you
never have held before.
And the more you practicestaying with yourself in those
moments, the more regulated youbecome, even while life moves,
even while emotions move.
This is why self-care forbusiness is not just about
(08:46):
bubble baths and morningroutines.
It is about learning to inhabityour inner world with
steadiness.
It's about staying connected toyourself while the external
world does what it does.
This is the kind of leadershipthat makes business sustainable.
This is the kind of leadershipthat builds legacies and that
(09:09):
attracts clients who trust yourenergy more than your expertise.
At the end of every day, everysingle challenge comes down to a
choice.
Will this take me out or willthis grow me?
Will this make me smaller orwill this stretch me?
Will this drain my momentum ordeepen my resilience?
(09:33):
I remind myself as often asneeded that I always have a
choice in how I respond to life.
I can let the inconveniencecollapse my energy, or I can let
it remind me that I'm someonewho walks through frustration
and emerges stronger on theother side.
Feeling the feelings is, ofcourse, part of the deal.
(09:54):
But letting them define you isoptional.
And here's something I'velearned over and over again.
When you look for the hiddenblessings in any challenge, you
will find them.
I find them because I always amlooking for them.
(10:14):
Not because I'm avoidingreality or because I'm
spiritually bypassing, but it'sbecause the human experience is
layered with gifts that onlybecome visible when our
perspective shifts.
So the blessing could look anumber of different ways.
It could be clarity, a newboundary you develop, a deeper
(10:36):
level of trust that you have,the evidence that you can handle
more than you thought.
And it might even be the thingthat prepares you for what you
asked for.
Every challenge I have everwalked through has strengthened
my capacity to hold the nextversion of my life.
And I know the same is true foryou.
(10:58):
I'm recording this episodeafter hosting the beautiful live
visioning experience that wehad this week, which was
powerful and beautiful and sofull of the kind of clarity that
only comes when you giveyourself space to meet the next
version of you.
If you wanted to join butcouldn't make it live, the
(11:19):
replay is up and linked for youin the show notes.
Inside the replay, you willexperience the guided journey we
moved through together.
And if you want the fullimplementation process that we
also did, but that didn'tinclude in the replay because it
was individuals sharing theirthoughts, the parts that were
not part of the replay becausewe did them inside of the vision
(11:41):
map, you can access all of thatthrough the vision map itself.
This is the perfect place tostart your next season.
It's the gateway into expansionseason, my 12-week guided
program where we anchor yourbusiness growth in self-care,
aligned strategy, and nervoussystem-grounded leadership.
(12:02):
All of the links are in theshow notes.
Thank you so much forlistening.
Thank you for being the kind ofperson who is committed to
their expansion while honoringtheir humanity.
I appreciate you.
I see you, and I will see youon the next episode.
There's a moment in every founder's journey where
everything feels like it'srising at once.
Your ideas are flowing,opportunities are showing up,
and you can feel in your bodythat something big is shifting
for you.
That's the proof that you'restepping into a new season.
But here is the promise.
Right before thosebreakthroughs lead, life often
(00:21):
has a way of sending things thatlook like distractions or
setbacks.
And the plan is not to avoidthem.
The plan is to learn how tomeet them in a way that expands
your strength instead ofshrinking your power.
I want you to picture how muchlighter this next year will feel
when you stop assigning thewrong meaning to life's little
interruptions and start seeingthem as signs of your capacity
(00:44):
growing.
The only real pain comes whenwe forget who we are and let
inconvenience convince us thatwe are off track.
We are never off track.
We are being stretched for thenext level we asked for.
Hi, welcome to the podcast.
I'm Sheila Botelho, and Ibelieve true success is built
from the inside out.
(01:05):
Today I want to have a veryreal, very human conversation
with you.
One that every founder in ascaling season eventually bums
up against.
And honestly, it's aconversation I revisit often in
my own life because no matterhow much inner work we do, and
no matter how far along we arein our careers, the truth is
(01:27):
that life continues to life.
And sometimes it feelsbeautifully aligned, and
sometimes it feels a littlemessy and inconvenient.
And then there are times whereit feels like all of that all at
once.
But here's the part I want youto sit with today.
When you are in a moment ofrising, when you are stepping
(01:47):
into your next season, when youcan feel new opportunities and
new identity shifts and newlevels of leadership moving
through your world, the smallestinconvenience can feel like a
derailment.
Even things that would barelyregister during an ordinary
month can suddenly feelamplified.
(02:08):
They can feel symbolic almost.
They can feel like you'reinterrupting your magic.
And if you are a meaning makerlike I am, which I believe most
founders are, you might betempted to look at these things
as signs.
Signs that something's off.
Signs that you made the wrongchoice.
Signs that the timing is notright, and maybe even signs that
(02:32):
you're not ready.
But what if none of that istrue?
What if life is simply doingwhat life does?
And what if the only meaningthese moments carry is the
meaning you choose to assign tothem?
That is where I want to gotoday.
Let me paint this picture foryou.
(02:52):
I have had so many things in myworld lately going on that I
feel like arising, new creativedirection, new opportunities, a
deeper connection with thepeople in my community, a sense
of clarity and alignment thatfeels like a breath of fresh
(03:12):
air.
And yet, right in the middle ofall of this beauty, a few
random things popped up thatneeded attention.
Repairs that needed to bebooked, replacements that could
not be put off, big ones,unexpected expenses,
inconveniences that landed on myplate without any warning.
(03:33):
None of them are dramatic,though.
Okay.
None of them are life-altering.
Again, it's just life beinglife.
But because they landed at atime where everything else is
feeling so expansive and soexciting and full, I had this
moment where I thought, why now?
Why when everything is going sowell?
(03:55):
Why does this have to show uptoday when I have a full
schedule and a full heart and afull creative wave moving
through me?
And it would have been so easyto let these little ripples pull
me out of the energy that I wasin, to interpret them as
resistance or the universetesting me.
(04:17):
That's a fun one, right?
Or maybe even a sign that Ishould slow down, or that I'm
not as supported as I thought.
But here is where mymeaning-making practice has
served me so well.
And that's why I wanted toshare this here today with you.
I don't pretend that thesethings are not inconvenient, of
(04:40):
course.
And I don't bypass the emotionsthat arise when they come
along.
I don't force myself intopositivity either.
You may be surprised at thatone because I'm pretty much an
optimist all the time.
But in fact, I do the opposite.
I allow, I let myself feel thefrustration.
I let myself name thedisappointment.
(05:02):
I let myself shake off theannoyance.
And I just let myself be humanabout it.
I have what one of my dearfriends calls having a human
day.
And then once the emotion hasspace to breathe, I choose the
meaning that empowers me insteadof the meaning that collapses
(05:25):
me.
You see, we are all meaningmakers.
Whether you believe that ornot, if you look deep into your
world, you'll see what I mean.
Every single one of us.
We give meaning to everythingthat happens in our lives,
whether we realize it or not.
But somewhere along my journey,many years ago, I made a
(05:47):
conscious decision that themeaning I assign will always be
the meaning that strengthens meonce I've had my human day.
Because otherwise, what's thealternative?
I could decide that I'm cursedor that I'm unsupported or
behind or I should quit or I'mnot meant for what I want.
(06:09):
That is not empowering at all.
And you know what?
It's also not true.
It's just convenient and it'sjust the easy way to go in our
minds.
You see, that is the path thatdrains your power, the path that
slows your momentum, and thepath that makes everything
(06:30):
harder.
So here is the meaning that Ichose this week.
These things are not here toderail me.
They are here to show me that Ican hold so much more than I
ever have, that I can keeprising while life continues to
move around me, that my capacityis expanding.
(06:53):
I tell myself that I'm becomingthe woman who can grow her
life, her business, her vision,and still handle the unexpected
with grace.
When you look at life throughthat lens, I can tell you right
now, everything changes.
You shift from feelingvictimized to feeling capable,
(07:18):
from being discouraged tofeeling grounded.
You shift from feelingscattered to actually feeling
spacious.
And you shift from feelingalone to feeling supported.
This is where self-leadershipis built.
And let's talk about somethingI wish more founders understood.
(07:42):
Co-regulation.
Co-regulation is the nervoussystem to nervous system support
we receive from the people andenvironments around us.
But it is also something weprovide for ourselves when we
are anchored in our truth.
You know, when you're rising,when you are stretching into a
(08:04):
new identity, your nervoussystem is doing something
incredibly brave.
It's recalibrating to a versionof you that holds more
responsibility, more visibility,more leadership, more
creativity, and more everything.
So when life throws a fewcurveballs at that exact moment,
it is not a cosmic attack.
(08:26):
It is your system being askedto stabilize at a level you
never have held before.
And the more you practicestaying with yourself in those
moments, the more regulated youbecome, even while life moves,
even while emotions move.
This is why self-care forbusiness is not just about
(08:46):
bubble baths and morningroutines.
It is about learning to inhabityour inner world with
steadiness.
It's about staying connected toyourself while the external
world does what it does.
This is the kind of leadershipthat makes business sustainable.
This is the kind of leadershipthat builds legacies and that
(09:09):
attracts clients who trust yourenergy more than your expertise.
At the end of every day, everysingle challenge comes down to a
choice.
Will this take me out or willthis grow me?
Will this make me smaller orwill this stretch me?
Will this drain my momentum ordeepen my resilience?
(09:33):
I remind myself as often asneeded that I always have a
choice in how I respond to life.
I can let the inconveniencecollapse my energy, or I can let
it remind me that I'm someonewho walks through frustration
and emerges stronger on theother side.
Feeling the feelings is, ofcourse, part of the deal.
(09:54):
But letting them define you isoptional.
And here's something I'velearned over and over again.
When you look for the hiddenblessings in any challenge, you
will find them.
I find them because I always amlooking for them.
(10:14):
Not because I'm avoidingreality or because I'm
spiritually bypassing, but it'sbecause the human experience is
layered with gifts that onlybecome visible when our
perspective shifts.
So the blessing could look anumber of different ways.
It could be clarity, a newboundary you develop, a deeper
(10:36):
level of trust that you have,the evidence that you can handle
more than you thought.
And it might even be the thingthat prepares you for what you
asked for.
Every challenge I have everwalked through has strengthened
my capacity to hold the nextversion of my life.
And I know the same is true foryou.
(10:58):
I'm recording this episodeafter hosting the beautiful live
visioning experience that wehad this week, which was
powerful and beautiful and sofull of the kind of clarity that
only comes when you giveyourself space to meet the next
version of you.
If you wanted to join butcouldn't make it live, the
(11:19):
replay is up and linked for youin the show notes.
Inside the replay, you willexperience the guided journey we
moved through together.
And if you want the fullimplementation process that we
also did, but that didn'tinclude in the replay because it
was individuals sharing theirthoughts, the parts that were
not part of the replay becausewe did them inside of the vision
(11:41):
map, you can access all of thatthrough the vision map itself.
This is the perfect place tostart your next season.
It's the gateway into expansionseason, my 12-week guided
program where we anchor yourbusiness growth in self-care,
aligned strategy, and nervoussystem-grounded leadership.
(12:02):
All of the links are in theshow notes.
Thank you so much forlistening.
Thank you for being the kind ofperson who is committed to
their expansion while honoringtheir humanity.
I appreciate you.
I see you, and I will see youon the next episode.
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