Halfway through the year -- the power of just doing it

What happens when you finally draw a line in the sand and choose to pursue the dream that's been quietly tugging at your heart for years? This raw, unscripted episode comes straight from my heart as we approach the halfway point of 2025.

Standing on stage delivering my first keynote speech earlier this year became a transformative moment that changed everything. As I spoke vulnerably to a room full of powerful women, I felt the weight of my childhood trauma finally lift away. That moment marked my decision to stop merely dreaming about becoming a speaker and simply be one. The shift wasn't just professional—it changed how I show up as a mother, friend, wife, and in my business.

What if today was your sign? 

As you reflect on these first months of the year, I invite you to be the example who shows another woman what's possible. Draw your line in the sand today. Trust that even when you don't know where the path leads, if you keep showing up, keep listening to your heart, and allow others to help, you'll eventually get where you're meant to be.

Thank you so much for listening in! If anything in this episode resonated with you, it would mean the world to me if you left a review or shared it with a friend or on social media.

And don't forget to tag me so I can personally thank you for helping me get the word out.

Follow and chat with me on Instagram:

Podcast account - @thrivelikeamother.podcast

Personal account - @thrive.empowered

Sending you light and love always!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, love, I'm Ebony and welcome to Thrive Like a
Mother On this podcast.
We're scared for our truth, butthat fear is what fuels us to
truly live in it.
You're in the right place ifyou feel like you're stuck in
survivor mode and you're readyto step into who you were truly

(00:20):
meant to be.
I'll share resources and toolsI use daily to help you in your
journey towards a healthiermindset and to break the wheel
of survival.
The journey may not be easy,but you won't have to face it
alone.
I'm a mama of three, healingday by day from past trauma, and
I'm on a mission to build alife I've always dreamed of but

(00:42):
never thought was possible.
So, love, if you're ready tobelieve in what's possible,
let's link arms and thrivetogether.
Hey, loves, and welcome toanother episode of the Thrive
Like a Mother podcast.

(01:03):
Y'all, today's episode is onethat is straight from the heart.
It is not perfectly planned.
It's not, this time, going tobe full of tips and strategies.
Really, y'all this episode,it's a moment, it is a line in
the sand.
It is a reflection on what canhappen when you finally choose

(01:24):
to go for it, no matter how longit takes, no matter how scared
you feel, no matter what yourstory has been Y'all, we are at
the beginning of summer.
My oldest, olivia, justfinished first grade Yay
celebration and we are headinginto summer and y'all quickly
approaching the half, the halfpoint of the year of 2025.

(01:50):
And so right now, you know, Ifeel like I do this pretty much
every season, especially in myfirst season, I had a hey, this
is the halfway point.
How are we feeling?
One of those reflection typeepisodes.
That's what today is, because,as we're heading to the middle

(02:11):
of the year, I am realizing howmuch has shifted for me in 2025,
how much I have been changed,and so I'm going to reflect a
bit on the beginning of thisyear and we're really just going
to talk about it y'all.
What?
What if you just did it?
I mean seriously, like Nikesays, just do it.

(02:31):
What if you just said yes tothe dream that has been tugging
at your heart for all theseyears, quietly, that you've been
keeping inside?
What if it didn't matter howlong it took?
It didn't matter if it took twoyears, it didn't matter if it
took two weeks.
What if today?
What if today, you chose tostop waiting for the permission

(02:55):
slip and just to go for it,messy, not really knowing all
the action steps, but takingsteps towards that dream.
What if you decided that yourvoice mattered, that your story
was not only worthy of beingheard but necessary, that in
spite of any pain that you'vehad because of what you've gone

(03:16):
through, it doesn't matter?
What if you just said I'm goingfor it because of my story?
You know, I've asked myselfthese questions, these
reflection questions, a lot overthe past few years.
If you've been following myjourney and my story for a while
, then some days you know thatI've been brave, and there have

(03:41):
also been some days where I'vestayed silent and kind of
reclused, but still, everysingle day I've been building
towards this moment, this linein the sand.
That happened for me really, Itruly believe, at the beginning
of this year, even when I didn'trealize it.
And so I want to talk about thebeginning of this year because

(04:03):
this, the beginning of this year, I had the opportunity to stand
on stage and speak to anaudience of powerful women and
breathe life and truth and hopeinto that audience.
And y'all, let me tell you, Ispoke in a way so openly, so
vulnerable and literally leavingnothing left.

(04:25):
I felt in that moment,something lift from me.
You know when you have likethat, you've been holding on to
your story for so long and it'ssomehow started to become heavy.
You don't realize how heavy itis until it starts to lift and
then you're like whoa, I havebeen carrying this Y'all on that

(04:46):
stage, standing up there firstsolo speech, keynote, I felt the
last of the power that mychildhood trauma had left over
me.
I felt it break and lift away.
I felt it release, I felt seenand, most of all, I felt held,
not just held by myself, butheld by the women in the

(05:09):
audience, held by God, held bythe past version of me who knew
that now, finally, I was ready.
That moment, y'all, that momentat the beginning of the year,
was the beginning of somethingnew.
There has been a shift in theway that I show up as a mom, as

(05:31):
a friend, as a wife.
There has been a shift in theway that I show up in my
business, on this podcast, y'all.
We were not doing videos inseason one.
In fact, I thought it wouldtake me a few more years to get
to this point.
But, like I said, there are somepoints where you just don't
even know until you know right.

(05:53):
And so the beginning of theyear, y'all, that was it for me.
It was the day I stoppeddreaming about becoming a
speaker and decided that I wasone, that I was going to fully
embody that part of myself, andin that, I started to fully
embody all the other parts ofmyself that I thought were gonna

(06:16):
take a while to get there.
I just started being her, theone you see right here right now
.
I just started being her.
And so if you're listening rightnow or watching, and you have a
dream that is scaring the heckout of you right now I mean like
to the bones or just afraid,what if you just did it?

(06:39):
What if this episode today wasyour sign?
What if you trusted the slowpath?
Because, like I said, sometimesthings aren't instant right.
Sometimes you don't know untilit happens and you realize that
you've been on this path allalong.
But what if you just letyourself take the breaks that

(07:02):
you need as you're workingtowards this goal, but don't
ever let yourself quit.
I am a firm believer in allowingyourself and this is recent,
y'all, this is very recentallowing yourself to take breaks
, knowing that the path isalways the path.
Y'all hear me say this all thetime your path is always yours,

(07:23):
no matter what.
But what if you just letyourself be brave, literally one
small step at a time?
As we're halfway, reaching thehalfway point of this year, and
you've been reflecting over allyou've done so far for the past
few months, I promise y'all youmay not think it, but you have
been taking action.
You have been.

(07:44):
It's just at this point youhave to be ready to look
yourself in the mirror and sayyou know what.
I'm going for it, no matter howsmall the step is, no matter
how many steps that you need totake.
The biggest thing, y'all that Ithink, is that we sometimes move

(08:05):
in silence a little bit toomuch.
Sometimes it's important toremember that you don't have to
take these steps alone, that youdon't have to move in silence
and suddenly you've reached,like this, apex.
Sometimes it's important forthe people closest to you the
community, the world to see yourprogress in whatever capacity

(08:29):
you feel that they need to.
Sometimes that's needed becausewhen you're in it by yourself,
we like, we're only with ourself20, 24 hours a day.
Let's be real, and that can getlonely sometimes when you are
working towards a big goal whenno one sees all the work that
you're putting in, no one seesthe hours that you're spending

(08:52):
working.
No one sees it.
What if it didn't have to bethat way?
There are so many women outthere, y'all, and I learned this
.
I've learned this in the pastfew years.
There are so many women outthere, myself included, who are
walking the same road with youMaybe not towards the same path,
because, again, your path isyour path, but we are walking

(09:15):
our own roads with you.
We are cheering for your voice,cheering for your story,
cheering for your healing andyour becoming.
I need you to be the example.
I need you to be the one whochooses to thrive, even after
the trauma, even after failure,even after you're like I don't

(09:36):
know what the hell I'm doing,even after all of that.
Be the one, love, who showsanother woman that it's possible
, because we are not.
Although we spend the full 24hours of the day with ourselves,
this life completely withourselves, we are never alone.

(09:56):
We are never alone.
We need to show each otherwhat's possible by making sure
we keep going and choosing thatline in the sand and choosing,
as one of my favorite speakers,valentia Key always once said
she said, said it's already done.
If you just embody that and saywithin yourself it's already

(10:18):
done, because god has said thatit is, he knows your path.
We don't we don't know,unfortunately know our path, but
we do have to lean in at somepoint and draw that line in the
sand and trust that, even thoughwe don't know where it's going,
even though we don't know ifit's the right path, we have to
trust that if we keep taking thesteps and keep listening and

(10:42):
keep showing up and keepallowing other people to help
and keep remembering that we'renot doing this alone, then
eventually we'll get there right.
And so I want to in today'sepisode, as short and sweet.
Y'all, like I said, this is notone of those ones where I'm
going to give you the tips andstrategies.

(11:03):
This is the one where we arereflecting and we are drawing a
line in the sand and we aresaying yes to ourselves.
We are doing it.
So thank you for being herealways, thank you for holding
space for my heart today, forallowing me to speak from my
heart always.
And y'all, if this episode, ifit resonated with you, send me a

(11:27):
dm like I.
I seriously when I say you arenot in this alone, I mean that
because I am rooting for everysingle one of you.
I want you to let me knowexactly what dream you're
chasing, how I can support andreally what has been on your

(11:48):
heart, that you are finallyready to say yes to that you are
saying I'm doing it, I'mdrawing the line in the sand
today, ed, and if you're in thatseason where it still feels too
big because that can happen,just know that I believe in you.
Just remember that we're doingthis together and that you're
not alone.
So, love until next time, keepbeing brave and keep walking in

(12:14):
your power, as always, sendingyou light and love, and remember

(12:38):
you are worthy, you are enoughand you deserve to thrive.