E173: Trust Yourself And Watch Your Life Shift

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What if the most powerful move you can make as a leader isn’t to control more, but to trust yourself more? Today I share a client story that reveals how tiny, aligned choices can turn relentless overwhelm into a grounded, confident way of being. This is a real transformation: naming inner saboteurs, learning to pause before reacting, and choosing actions that nourish rather than deplete.

We walk through the moments that mattered: recognizing the inner critic, using Positive Intelligence to build awareness, and replacing constant scanning for threats with listening inward. You’ll hear how everyday decisions—preparing a home before travel, cooking for nourishment, telling the truth in a relationship, starting therapy—stack into an identity shift. The breakthrough line still gives me chills: “I know what I’m doing.” Not because circumstances changed, but because she stopped giving her power to them.

I define leadership as presence, truth, and steadiness under pressure. When you move from overdrive to alignment, your impact changes at home and at work. Meetings feel clearer, boundaries hold, and relationships become more honest because you’re no longer abandoning yourself. If this story stirred something in you, explore The Self-Trust Arc—our coaching framework and community where we practise awareness, emotional resilience, and inner authority. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs it, and leave a review to help more people find their way back to themselves. Where will you choose one tiny shift today?

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Cynthia Jamieson 🧡🌱

Leadership coach for high-integrity leaders who want to thrive without proving or burning out | Ex-HR Exec | ICF PCC Coach | Podcast Host | Intuitive Intelligence® Method Guide

Episode Transcript

Cynthia Jamieson (00:05):
Welcome to Uncharted and Unfiltered, The
Journey Back to You.
I am Cynthia Jameson, yourhost, and this is where we break
free from the noise and divedeep into what truly matters.
You.
If you're tired of the shoulds,the expectations, and the
pressures to fit into a moldthat doesn't serve you, you're
in the right place.
This isn't a podcast about easyanswers or sugar-coated advice.

(00:29):
This is your invitation toreclaim your path, embrace the
unknown, and become the bold,unapologetic version of yourself
that's been waiting to show up.
It's time to get unfiltered.
Let's get started.
Hello, hello, and welcome backto Uncharted and Unfiltered, a

(00:49):
journey back to you.
It is Cynthia, and today is anepisode that I have been really
excited to record because itcaptures something that I
witness over and over again inthis work, something that feels
like magic to me each and everysingle time.
And this is what that is.

(01:10):
When a leader stops trying tocontrol everything around them
and starts trusting the personthat they're becoming.
So this is a story about aclient of mine, anonymized, of
course, who came into coachingfeeling scattered, overwhelmed,
pulled in too many directions,and unsure of where she was

(01:32):
doing anything right.
And she left coaching notbecause she had everything
figured out, but because she hadfinally learned to trust
herself.
And that changes everything.
Now, when my client startedworking with me, she described
her life in a way that I thinkso many of us can recognize.

(01:53):
Life felt stressful, chaotic,unpredictable.
Like she was constantlyreacting to the people around
her, the variables in her home,at her workplace, the noise, the
expectations, theresponsibilities.
She wasn't grounded and shedidn't see her own value.
And this is one of the thingsthat I think is so incredibly

(02:17):
amazing about coaching is whatyou can, what someone else can
mirror back to you aboutyourself.
I think I've said this on thepodcast recently, but it's
pretty hard to see your ownpatterns, your own blind spots,
your own strengths that could beoverused when you are inside
the frame.
And my client, deep down, shedoubted whether she was doing

(02:43):
things right.
And her saboteurs were loud,especially the ones that were
whispering to her, like maybeyou're the problem.
Maybe you should be more likeeveryone else, or maybe what you
want is too much.
And I want to qualify becausesometimes I think I skip over
this, which is a reallyimportant part.
My client had not been exposedto or introduced to the positive

(03:06):
intelligence work, or even theconcept of having a saboteur or
an inner critic in her own mind.
And that's why this particulartool enabled her to build so
much awareness because she wasable to complete the survey, get
the report, understand wherethese saboteurs came from, what

(03:31):
was at the root cause of them,and had a tool set for how to
leverage those, like leveragethose concepts for herself in a
way that felt more expansive,more grounding, and gave her
ways to connect to her own innerguidance system.
So my client was doingeverything for everyone, except

(03:53):
for herself.
And she was exhausted.
And what happened next, I wantto be sure that I'm always
transparent with you.
It doesn't happen all at once,but it happens in these tiny
shifts.
And what's significant aboutthese tiny shifts is even making
one choice to do somethingdifferently changes your

(04:17):
reality.
And I invite you to give that atry.
Like if there's something thatyou're used to doing in a very
like, this is my pattern, thisis my way of going about or
leading in the world, just makea different choice and see what
shifts as a result of that.
For my client, these tinyshifts built upon each other.

(04:39):
And this is the part that Iwant to highlight because this
is the real power of coaching.
Coaching is not about fixingyou, it is not about giving you
a new identity, it is not abouttelling you who to be.
That just would not besomething that I would be
interested in doing.
Coaching helps you come home tothe person you already are, the

(05:02):
one that you forgot about, thepowerful creator that you are.
It's re coaching helps youremember that.
And that's exactly whathappened for my client.
So we worked on anchoring, onnoticing her patterns without
judging them, on dropping thestories that weren't true, on

(05:26):
understanding her saboteurs, onlistening to her body, on
pausing before reacting, and onreturning to what felt like her.
And slowly she learned to stopscanning the whole world for
cues and start listening inward.
And this is the mark of one ofthe saboteurs, right?

(05:47):
Like it just keeps scanning forall of the things that could go
wrong instead of scanning forall of the things that could go
right or even balancing it outso that we have a little bit of
both.
And so over the course of ourwork together, my client learned
to put herself first and notfrom a place of selfishness, but

(06:09):
from a place of self-respect.
She learned to stop makingmeaning out of things that
didn't need meaning.
Not everything needs a meaning,but she learned to stop
abandoning herself the momentsomeone else needed something.
And she learned to trust thatshe already knew what to do.

(06:30):
Now there was, I want to tellyou about a moment that shifted
everything for my client becausethere was a weekend that she
described in our final sessionthat really captured her
evolution.
She said, I finally realizedthat I can only control two
people, me and my youngdaughter.

(06:52):
Everyone else is an influence.
And that realization brought mepeace.
Because it was then in thatmoment that she stopped waiting
for other people to change andstopped hoping circumstances
would adjust themselves to herand stopped thinking, when
things get calmer, then I'llfeel better.

(07:13):
She wasn't giving her poweraway to things outside of
herself that would have tohappen before she could shift
how she felt.
And some examples that sheshared with me.

(07:34):
She prepared her home beforeupcoming travel.
She cooked because it nourishedher.
She organized her space becauseshe liked it to be organized.
She lit candles for herself.
She made the house feel likehers, not by forcing anything,
but by contributing in a waythat felt aligned for her.

(07:55):
And she told the truth lovinglyin her relationship.
She initiated therapy forherself and invited her partner
into the process.
She stopped running from thediscomfort and started meeting
it with clarity.
And she didn't overthink it.

(08:16):
She simply lived from theinside out, not the outside end.
That is self-trust.
That is embodiment.
That is leadership.
And in these days, it really isa radical act when the entire
world tells you what you shouldbe doing, what you need to be

(08:40):
doing, how you need to act, etc.
And to come home to yourselfand really ground yourself in
who you are and be able tochoose the next aligned action
without knowing how it's allgoing to play out, and even
letting go of and allowing thatto happen in and of itself.
That is such a magical andradical act.

(09:02):
And by our final session, shesaid something that I will never
forget.
I know what I'm doing.
Not I hope I'm doing the rightthing.
Not I need someone to tell methe answer.
Not I'm afraid I'm gonna messthis up, but I know what I'm
doing.
And she meant it.
She knew her presence was thevalue.

(09:36):
And she knew that puttingherself first wasn't indulgent,
it was required.
And what was good for her wasgood for everyone else.
She knew that she could keepgoing, not because coaching was
ending, but because she was thebeginning.
And that's the magic of thisword.

(09:59):
Now I talk a lot aboutleadership, not just as a job
title, but as a way of being.
And leadership is the abilityto pause before reacting, the
courage to speak truth withoutabandoning yourself,
self-awareness to know what'syours and what isn't yours.

(10:20):
The willingness to grow evenwhen it's uncomfortable, and the
capacity to stay rooted whenlife gets noisy.
And coaching gives you thestructure, the tools, and the
supportive space to develop thatpersonally and professionally.
Because the truth is how youshow up at home affects how you

(10:42):
show up at work, but how youlead yourself affects how you
lead others.
And self-trust is thefoundation of both.
But my client didn't justbecome a more grounded partner
or parent, she became a moregrounded leader.
And that is why coachingchanges everything.
So if you were listening to herstory and thinking, I want

(11:07):
that, I want to feel thatsteady, I want to trust myself
like that, then I want to inviteyou into the place where these
transformations happen everysingle week.
The self-trust arc.
And it's the coaching frameworkand community where leaders
learn to move from overdrive toawareness to alignment to

(11:29):
embodiment, where you stopsecond-guessing and start
knowing.
Where you stop reacting andstart responding, where you stop
abandoning yourself and startleading from your center.
And inside the membershipspecifically, we coach live
every month, twice a month.

(11:49):
We're exploring the saboteurs,building emotional resiliency,
reconnecting to your innerauthority, and all of this to
help you embody your truest,clearest leadership.
It's coaching, community, andclarity all woven together to
help you return to you.

(12:10):
So if this episode stirredsomething in you, trust that.
Your body always knows.
You can join us at the link inthe show notes or message me
anytime if you want to explorewhether the self-trust arc is
right for you.
And to the client whose storyinspired this episode, thank
you.
I am always so privileged thatyou open your mind, your heart,

(12:35):
you share your thoughts, yourdreams, your vulnerabilities,
and the things that are in theway so that we can explore them,
remove those obstacles, andhave you feeling as creative,
resourceful, and whole as youforgot that you were.
And your courage, your honesty,and your commitment to yourself

(12:56):
is the reason this workmatters.
And to everyone listening, youalready know.
You already have the answers.
Sometimes you just need a spaceto hear yourself again.
So I will see you inside theself-trust arc or the next
episode.
Have a great week with so muchlove.
I hope that you're walking awayfeeling more aligned with your

(13:20):
true self, more confident in thechoices ahead, and ready to
leave the safe path behind,knowing you've got everything
you need within.
Remember, the journey to youisn't about finding one perfect
direction.
It's about trusting yourselfenough to explore all of it.
If you're ready to dive deeper,join me for the next episode

(13:41):
and don't forget to subscribe sothat you never miss the next
step on your path.
I invite you to join my mailinglist at www.cynthia
jamisoncoach.ca, where we'lldeepen our relationship and you
can claim your copy of yourinner compass, a guide to
charting your course toauthenticity.
Until next time, stayunfiltered, stay true, and most

(14:04):
importantly, stay you.