How I Created My Dream Life
EPISODE #41: How i created my dream life
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In this episode, Leah goes into detail about how she’s able to love her dream life. She discussed the following:
01:57 What led to a shift in Leah’s business
05:27 Leah’s backstory
22:24 Guide to journaling
28:23 How do you know what your dream life is?
32:02 How can you determine your values?
34:37 Setting intentions and goals
36:03 Using therapy as a tool
38:24 How do you take care of yourself?
44:10 How Leah used human design to live in alignment with her dream life
54:40 Staying on track with your dream life
Leah, 5/1 Sacral Generator, shares a glimpse into what she’s been up to in the last few weeks. She explains that she’s making a shift in her business to talk more about life design. This means using your human design type to live in alignment with your dream life. Leah walks you through the steps she took to determine her values + align her actions to them and how you can do the same.
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IG: @thedesignofyou / @leahmccloud
Intro/Outro song is 6am by Young Mooski
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:00]
You getting well is the only way that you're going to create your dream life. , and I firmly believe that and I will stick by that. So you have to figure out what are your blocks and how can I get well and what are the areas like I am already doing well in, like how can I find gratitude for those things? Welcome back to another episode of the design of you podcast. Hi guys, I've missed you so much. I know we've had a solid three week hiatus and that is my fault because Life has just been lifing and I mean that in the best way possible like really good things have been happening But it's just been It's been so busy.
[00:01:08]
This year has been full throttle in the design of you in our business or my business and there's been a lot of growth, there's been a lot of expansion, there's been a lot of new projects and they're all super exciting but to be completely transparent I've had a really hard time managing. You know when sometimes businesses grow really quickly and rapidly and yeah you gotta figure out how to sustain that growth and so that's what I'm doing. So, anyway, the podcast has been not the last thing on my list, but probably the second to last thing on my list, because I just have my focus and attention to other places, but I know y'all love coming on here and hearing me just ramble, and I certainly love coming on here and rambling, but yeah, so I'm happy to be back, and I promise to Start showing up a little bit more consistently.
[00:01:57]
Anyway, let's just dive into the topic of this episode, because I know that this one is highly requested, and it's on how I created my dream life. And why I want to talk about this today is because if you haven't seen, we'll link down below. I mean, I think we always have it linked down below, but my Website has a little bit of an update and basically we just gave the homepage a brand new refresh and I Announced a little bit of like a I guess a pivot in my business. It's not necessarily like a huge pivot I mean human design is what we do here and what we'll continue to do but I announced just that we are going to be talking a little bit more about just life as it is and, and specifically life design. And I want to talk just briefly about what that is and what that means to me. And then I want to talk about, you know, the topic of this episode of how I created my dream life and how this really, in my opinion, really blends with human design. So essentially, you know, life design is really what it sounds like. It's basically, this framework of understanding how to live your best life and how to design your life based on the interest and, , in my case, the energy that you have.
[00:03:16]
And so there's been a gap for me in human design for a while, and I've been trying to navigate how to work with this sort of gap. And what I mean by this gap is that In my personal life, human design has had such an impact on everything, and I'm going to talk a lot about that today. But the one thing that's had a really big impact as well is really just creating my dream life and designing the life that I live today. And human design was a big piece of enabling me to make that a reality, but before human design I had this really strong vision of Exactly what I wanted in my life. And so I'm going to talk a little bit about that vision today. I wanted to bring you guys the steps that I took in my life that really allowed me to design the life that I live, life design. And since human design has been a big piece of that, and that's how I actually got so deep into human design. I've wanted to really combine the two because I haven't known how to really talk about it. And I, I've been battling some sort of imposter syndrome and things like that because I had this belief that none of y'all really cared about me or my, you know, my story or the other things that I'm really passionate about, which is wellness and, you know, spirituality as a whole manifestation.
[00:04:35]
You know, I love, I love cooking and all, I mean, truly all things wellness is like my jam. And so I've been having this, like, how can I start talking about more of the things that pour out of me? Because guys, I'm a generator and this isn't even a generator thing, but It brings me a like an immense amount of joy and satisfaction talking about wellness and talking about You know the things that i'm really passionate about and that is creating your dream life. And so I want to bring you guys Just more content related to that because it flows a lot easier out of me. And I think that a lot of people that are interested in human design are interested in it because they want to learn about themselves so that they can create their dream life too. And so I'm really happy to be sort of paving or forging this new path for everyone to, yeah, for everyone who is interested in, you know, living their best life.
[00:05:27]
So today I'm going to be talking a little bit about my story, and yeah, without me I don't need to tell you guys what I'm talking about, I'm just going to start talking about it. I put together this little episode outline, so that's kind of what I'm following. There's a lot of parts to my story. And if you've listened to my episodes in the past, like my Manifestation episode, we'll link that down below, that's it. a really great episode to tune into and, you know, the first episode of my podcast. And honestly, quite a few of my episodes, I talk a lot about, you know, how I got to where I am today. And I'm going to be just elaborating a little bit more on that, but also just giving you guys some tangible tips that I think that have really helped me. Okay. So I want to start by talking about my life before the life that I'm living right now, because I think that If you haven't listened to all my stories and honestly, I probably haven't talked a lot about my life before where I am today in general, but I think talking about that will help you guys understand where I'm coming from.
[00:06:20]
So The where I come from is very different from the reality that I that I live today I grew up in a small town outside of Toledo, Ohio and Michigan and dare I say a little bit of like a small minded town And you know my life hasn't been Transcribed I didn't come from a family that has money in any degree. And I think sometimes people think that that is the case for me because I went to Miami university of Ohio, which is like a very wealthy, it's not an Ivy league, but it's like very much an Ivy league sort of vibe. And a lot of people that go there kind of have that vibe. So I went to a relatively like, I guess, prestigious university. At least it had that kind of vibe then. And, , so I think a lot of people think that I came from money, but that's not the case at all. , I lived, you know, growing up in my, in my parents, my dad particularly still lives in the house that I grew up in, but I grew up in a very small three bedroom ranch home.
[00:07:18]
I don't have the square footage, but like my house was, It was pretty small growing up and my, my dad still lives there. So that's been, you know, that's, that's where I come from. Now I know people come from harder backgrounds than me, but the reason I talk about where I come from is because I think that my life. might look a certain way to people, but it's not, it didn't come from necessarily like a great amount of privilege by any means. But I'm white, first of all, so there is a level of privilege that comes with that. And you know, I do have a lot more privileges than others. So I, I'm, I don't want to say That I don't come from any privilege, but I, I didn't come from at least monetary privilege, you know what I mean?
[00:08:01]
And I used to be really embarrassed about that. I used to be really embarrassed that I didn't have, you know, certain things that other people had. And now, the way that I look at it is through a lens of gratitude. I'm really grateful for the life that I came from, and who I am today. You know, trials and tribulations that I've had to experience in my life due to, you know, the scarcity that I grew up with and yeah, just other things that I've had to experience or witness in my life because I think not only it's made me who I am, but I think it's why I'm so passionate about life design and creating your dream life. And I think it's why I got into human design. So just to give you some random other little facts about my life growing up. You know, I, I grew up in a family where I was a divorced home. My parents divorced when I was three years old. , I very much remember my childhood, like going from house to house every other week. I remember my parents fighting a lot. I did have a good childhood and the fact that like my parents being divorced, they still did get along, but you know, there was definitely moments where they were, when I was really young, them trying to get back together and things like that. And just lots of fights.
[00:09:08]
And I remember arguments and, you know, someone in my close family circle is an alcoholic and that's been a big part of my story. And not only that, I've had to experience a lot of. You know, really heavy things through one of my parental figures. One of my parents has gone through a lot of things like abusive relationships and substance abuse and different things that I've had to witness and, and grew up really fast, you know, like I remember being a kid and seeing my friends live very different lives than I lived. Like I did laundry the day that I could learn how to do laundry. I, I don't really think my parents ever packed me a lunch as long as I could have, you know, two hands and two feet and knew how to put a sandwich together. And you know, again, I know that some people, you know, I have more privilege than others, but I share this because I know that a big part of my story is, is just really coming, is from where I came from and from, you know, not living a, not living a life that was full of, I guess, a lot of the support that maybe I've seen other people have growing up.
[00:10:15]
And so that being said, you know, my life is very different because now I live a life where. I am very abundant and I have really beautiful things and I don't worry about money in the way that I used to worry about money as a kid or even a few years ago. So going back to my childhood though, there's so many stories I feel like I could tell. And I think I've been trying to figure out where in this podcast I'd like to go, not in this particular episode, but just in general, like how much of my life I want to share. I'm very cognizant of how I share things and where I share things. Cognizant is maybe not the right word. I'm very intentional. Sometimes I think I hold back a little bit because I don't want to out people or You know, I don't want to like just spill my whole life but I also appreciate when other people are super vulnerable because I find that We're all more similar than we think and I and if you guys saw on instagram, I did a post recently Last month in April that was on like social media's fake here are some things that I struggle with and I Mean the response that I got from that was really beautiful I mean so many beautiful DMS and messages and comments and I want to say thank you to those of you that wrote beautiful things Because I think that really was a big part of me now doing what I'm doing today Which is talking about life design and talking a little bit more vulnerable about You know, my life experience.
[00:11:39]
So going back to just where I grew up. So I grew up outside of Toledo, Ohio, and you know, my hometown is not glamorous in any capacity, no hate, no shade to Toledo, Ohio. I just feel as if like that town is, , the energy there. And now that I do energy reading and energy work, I can tell you that the energy in Toledo is, is very gray. not only like because of the weather, but it's just very, Like heavy there's a ton of lack victim mentality that comes from that area of I Don't know if it's just particular that area of the world, but that's the energy that I feel there but I do feel that there's a big shift happening in that town and That's a good thing And so I feel there's like this kind of big sort of emergence and maybe tension that's happening in that particular part of you know the United States, but You know for me, it's like it was really hard growing up there and and knowing that the life that I want to live didn't always necessarily fit Fully in that space, in my life.
[00:12:40]
All right, so All the pauses I had to take a little break everyone. I just poured myself a glass of wine not because talking about my childhood was like Making me feel some type of way, but I was exhausted and I also don't recommend drinking alcohol when you're exhausted You I don't actually really recommend alcohol for many things, but , Yeah, I just ordered sushi and I'm very excited to have sushi. Something I couldn't do as a kid is like have sushi or things like that every, anytime I wanted. One of the things that I'm really, you know, just that I'm happy about or that I love about my current life is that I can kind of do whatever I want in terms of that. And, , I have like recently, as I talked about on 75 hard, I went on, You know, kind of this journey, if you guys listen to that podcast episode, , it was just a few Episodes back. I talked about my journey with 75 hard and I didn't drink for Well, it was 75 days, but I actually ended up drinking on like day 53 but I want to do an episode on like my journey with alcohol at some point Because I have a very like interesting journey with alcohol Especially because I grew up Around an alcoholic and so it's been like a weird journey and I definitely want to talk a little bit about that but You know, I think the other thing that I will just quickly say about alcohol is that I think that there's this kind of connotation That people who are spiritual can't drink Or who do energy work can't drink and I I don't necessarily think that that is true, I think that there is, it's all about your intention and that was something that me and Emily talked a lot about, not in our episode, but when I started working with her because I was like, should I, should I drink?
[00:14:16]
Should I not drink? I personally enjoy a glass of wine. That is like one of my all time favorite things, a glass of, like, a glass of wine. Sauve Blanc, Sauvy B, or a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. Those are like two of my favorite. If anyone listening wants to send me some wine, let me know. I will take all of your wine. I really do love drinking wine, but I don't drink during my week pretty much at all, unless we have like an event with friends, but I was just kind of feeling like I don't know. I just, I just kind of felt like the vibe. And so intuitively I was like, I'm just going to go with that. So getting back into my, you know, just kind of like my life beforehand. And so, you know, up until like I went to college, I already mentioned that. And after college I moved back to my hometown and I worked at this, you know, big company that's in my hometown that everyone like, I feel like is, I don't know, idolizes at least. Like if I would tell someone where I worked, they'd be like, Oh my gosh, like, You work there. That's such a great company or wow, like it was just like the place to work and my Like toledo ohio isn't very big So there's only so many like big companies there and that was like the big company, you know in the area So it was I guess a big deal but to me I just was like, fuck, I'm like back in my hometown.
[00:15:33]
I don't want to be here. And, , you know, so I think that this is kind of where my conditioning journey, I can't say began. I was going to say this is where my conditioning journey began, but this is like a lot of conditioning that I've realized now looking back and what I mean by that is like, I took a job in my hometown because. That's what everyone would have wanted for themselves or like that's what other people deemed as like a huge accomplishment or the money that I Made at that corporate job was like seemingly like a ton of money for my age and the way that I looked at it was like I was moving back to my hometown and like this is not going to be great but I kind of talked myself into it being this really great thing and so When I started working in my corporate job Right after college That was a really kind of hard time for me The person that I was during that sort of experience wasn't the true leah that I am today And that's what's really beautiful about human design and you guys are going to hear You know the practices and rituals in my life today that really led me to who I am And you know the person that I used to be is not is not truly me I think that there are parts of myself that I was that were true to me, that were my true self, but I think a lot of it was me really living in a cloud, a really dark cloud, living in a dark cloud.
[00:17:01]
Just to give you guys some examples, so I move home and it's like when something is unaligned for you, I feel like that's the what it rain, it pour sort of energy, but it also had a ton of victim mentality and a ton of like, just, I knew things weren't right. I was very, I was very off, like, so I was in a relationship when I graduated college, and that person that I was in a relationship with was a year younger than me, they were still in college, and I remember moving back to my hometown and feeling like I am unhappy like this isn't where I want to be and I felt like all of the things that were good in my life were kind of like crumbling my relationship being one of them. I moved in with a couple girls and the relationship I had with those girls really crumbled because of just it was like this general unhappiness and it wasn't, Those things weren't really on me particularly like in a in a big way But there were so many things that were so unaligned and so any kind of move that I was making That I was trying to make this sort of situation or city work things were kind of pushing up against me so the energy was like I'm i'm me and i'm trying to do these things and then I was getting pushed back in human design Like I teach a lot about working with your energy to reduce friction in your life.
[00:18:21]
And so And oftentimes to reduce friction is that we have to sort of surrender. We can't force things to happen. And so that period of my life was so much force, was so much like, I want this relationship to work. I want the city to work. I want this job to work. I want these friends to work. I want these friends to work. Roommates to happen. I got a dog during that time. My baby girl, Cleo. I really want to do a podcast episode dedicated to my dog, Cleo, by the way. If you go on my personal Instagram, there's a pin pin post on, I guess what happened there. But, , I lost my dog very sad, tragically and suddenly. And I, she was my, she was my girl. And I think Rupert is her, which is a weird sort of vibe thing that I'm navigating, but. Anyway, I very much so. Just there was so much friction. And so my life just seems like there was this dark cloud and You know some of the issues that I was having is like I was literally living paycheck to paycheck I was not able to Even with the you know seemingly a lot of money I was making at this corporate job and living in a city where the cost of living is like literally the cheapest Anywhere ever in the United States.
[00:19:35]
I truly like was living like paycheck to paycheck. I could not figure my stuff out. I didn't know how to take care of me. And so it was just like this whole, just heartbroken, crumbling mess of like, just so many things falling apart in my life and really a catalyst for me. And I'll talk, talk about a few things that were big catalysts for me. One of which was being broken up with, , I went through this breakup that was really, really heartbroken for me. I was in a relationship with a guy who I, I really loved and adored and, and I felt was like a really great relationship and being broken up with, which, you know, at the time there's like, we always have, you know, Like, looking at Hindsight's 2020, I felt like it kind of came out of nowhere, but looking back, it was definitely not out of nowhere. But, why I'm bringing that up is, like, just to say that, My life was really sort of shaking me like there were so many like things that weren't flowing And I was grasping and holding on to so many things friendships relationships My job I was holding on to so much because I wanted things to work But they weren't right fits for me and so I think the universe sometimes has these moments where It, it really looks at the visions you have for yourself and I'm going to talk about like my life visioning, but it really will look at those things and, and I, I really truly believe I have such a strong spirit team, spirit guides and y'all do too.
[00:21:06]
Like you guys all have spirit guides who are looking after you that have your back. And. And how to talk to them is just basically like literally saying like I want to talk to my spirit guides I was yesterday in my car like spirit guides Like let me talk to you and I just talk and and they and you can literally ask for a specific sign And they'll show you it and so for me like I really feel like at that time I didn't have a relationship with my spirit team, but my spirit team was working in probably overdrive Saying like, oh my god, Leah is literally grasping at this relationship. She's grasping at this job she's grasping at, you know, even my dog and grasping at just so many things and trying to keep it all together and All of those things weren't meant for me and so they all were falling apart and so that time period was so hard because I was feeling so lost and directionless and that like I didn't know who I was and I was living paycheck to paycheck. I wasn't taking care of myself. I was just like, You know thinking because I had these labels of what looked like really great things happening in my life I thought that my life like was gonna fall together Because I had you know again seemingly great things But it doesn't matter what it looks like to anyone else if it doesn't feel aligned for you, then it's not aligned.
[00:22:24]
And so some of the things that I started doing in that time period were And actually this probably begins even before this, in fact I know it does, like I've been a big journaler my whole life. I, I truly feel like I'm slightly like a poet in some ways. That feels like a little, a little stretched, but I used to write a lot of poetry. I used to write poetry on my Tumblr page, which y'all will never know what that is, cause I used to do stuff on Tumblr. And I used to write poetry in , , my journal. I used to write like little poems to myself and So I, I think why I'm bringing this up though is because a lot of my life really began with pen to paper. And there is some science, I talked a little bit about this on my manifestation episode, there is some science about like you writing things down in the way that like the electromagnetic field of the pen hitting the paper, it's very different from doing something like typing in your phone. I say that, but I am very much a voice journaler, and I very much keep tons of detailed notes in my notepad. My biggest fear in life would be someone going into my notepad on my phone. Like, don't go there, because I write everything in there. , it's very much my, like My like slight therapy. I love writing just any thought that I have but it's also my big manifestation kind of deck as well but i'm i'm pretty open about my manifestations and in some capacities, but Journaling has been huge for me.
[00:23:54]
I can remember journaling. I had a diary when I was a young kid. I had a diary in middle school that I remember writing very specific things in. I had a diary in my, , you know, college years. , I've always had a diary or a journal or something that I was writing in. And I want to talk about what I write in that because I think people get really stuck on like, what the fuck am I supposed to write when they open up a blank journal? There's no rhyme or reason to what I write. The other night I was journaling and I drew house plans for my future house. Am I building a house? No. Am I even in a place where that's something possible for me right now? No. Is that going to happen for me? Totally one day, but like there was no reason for me to be doing that. It just was a stream of consciousness and a sort of inspiration and that is very much how I journal. I don't write Dear Diary, I usually open up my journal and I will put the date because I love to look back years later and just flip through and just truly be in awe at the things that have come true or just even sometimes it's like funny to see what I was so caught up in and just to see how that didn't matter or, or you know how I overcame that.
[00:25:08]
And so I was journaling all the time about like my life, my dream life, relationships, you know. Partners and like just you know everything that was like going wrong or right in my life I was like journaling a lot of and and I'm so fucking dramatic like I remember when The guy that I was dating broke up with me. I like put my journal in his like backpack because I was a fucking psycho and I was like These are all the thoughts, I've been having these thoughts, you know? And I think that was, now I know that a lot of this was like my mediumship psychic work that I do, coming through on my journal, but in general, my practice is I will open my journal and I just kind of talk about things that are on my mind. And I find as me as a person, what's on my mind a lot is my future life. And I'm working a lot on like living in the present moment, but I'm very much a dreamer and I love thinking about like my dreams of where I'm going and what I'm doing in the future. So. That is, that has been a big ritual for me and will continue to be a ritual for the rest of my life.
[00:26:13]
The next is just Pinterest. , I love Pinterest. If there's one app that I use More than any app on my phone, maybe other than the Note app, is Pinterest. I do a lot, obviously, on Instagram, but Pinterest is my muse. I have a gazillion private secret boards, and I vision board constantly. I will envision, certain events, certain things, like, you know, I think all women do this, but like, you know, your future wedding, or things like that. I have words for everything, and it's partly words, not just like quotes and words, but like, it is specific images of the life that I desire. And so, Pinterest is huge for me. And so, in my story, why I'm bringing these up is like, I've been using Pinterest since, like, I've been using Tumblr. Tumblr was like the OG Pinterest in my opinion. So I was using that and then I was using Pinterest since high school. And I've continued to be on there all the time. That app has never left my phone. It is always like in the number one like most used apps. So, the other part about creating my dream life is, so, where I come from and then me kind of journaling where I want to go.
[00:27:25]
So in a lot of my journaling practices I talk, or I, I talk a lot. I write a lot about my The relationship that I want, the home that I want to live in, the job, the way I want to work in wellness. And not only do I vision board in Pinterest and journal that, I have created physical vision boards every single year. Since. Like 2021 which is where or no, sorry since 2019 Which is where my life really really really started to change. So I really believe in the power of like a physical vision board like taking pieces of magazines or printing things out and putting them on a giant poster board and having that in some place that You stare at every day whether it's your mirror whether it's in front of your desk Whether it is inside I used to keep one in my closet And then I used to keep one literally on my fridge me and my roommate did that You And so that is a huge part of like how I created my dream life was really thinking about what I wanted. And now I think I should talk about how do you know what you want? Like how do you know what is your dream life? And the thing that I learned is that jealousy is a good clue. And I think oftentimes people don't want to admit that they're jealous of other people, but for me, like jealousy was a huge clue of You know how I knew exactly what I wanted and in And who had what I wanted I could I could use that as like, okay This is a life that someone else is living And so how can I live a similar sort of existence in life, too?
[00:28:59]
How can I do that for myself? And so this is where like the lack and abundance mindset comes in as well like instead of me looking at someone's life and feeling like I can never have that or I can never do this I've never looked at someone's life or been jealous of someone without feeling like it's not, like it's impossible for me. And maybe that's a superpower of mine, but I don't think it really is. I think that anyone has the conscious ability to decide, okay, I want to live a certain life, or I want to have what this person has, and they can make a conscious effort to make that their reality. So, for example, I remember When I was on, you know, Instagram, obviously, is where we look into other people's lives. Now we've got TikTok, then we didn't really, didn't, or at least I wasn't on it. But I could look at someone else's life and really see, like, pieces and parts of it that I love. I still do this to, to today. And so instead of me looking at something that someone has and saying, Oh wow, I can't, like, there's a, there's a creator I follow right now and I love her family. And I love, like, you know, the way that she leads in her life. I just, I'm just really so inspired by her. She's an expander for me. That's the word that you want to use instead of being like jealous. I look at that as like, I can't wait to have that someday. And I know deep down that I can, and this is in all aspects.
[00:30:23]
Like I used to look at people who were spiritual teachers and people who were leaders that were really trailblazing things in life. And I always had this desire of like, I can do that too because I feel deep down that, and this sounds bad, like that person's not special. And I don't mean that in a negative way because they're obviously very special to me. They've inspired me. They're my expanders. But I mean, I can do this too. , there's a creator that I followed for, I followed for years and years and years on Instagram and her life was like a dream to me. And so I just couldn't consume enough of her content. Now, there is a fine line between consuming people's content and then that like getting in the way of your own creativity. And I don't think that's always like the best thing, but for me, it was like, Seeing people live lives that were very different from the life that I come from and leading lives that felt really aligned with who I am deep down. It's amazing because then I could see myself in those and then that really helped me frame my worldview and see that it was possible. And so I never looked at that as like, well I wish I could have that and now I, But I can't because this is where I come from. I don't look at it as like, I'm a victim to my circumstances of my family, my financial, scarcity or anything like that. I look at it as like, wow, I have like a challenge in front of me.
[00:31:40]
And if that person can do it, I can do it too. And I hope that you guys are inspired by my own life because I, I want y'all to know that like, if there's anything in my life that you guys see that you like, then like, I want you to know that you can have that too, and I'm always here to support you. That's a big part of what I want to do. So, okay, moving on to the next thing that was a part of my journey is identifying my core values. So I didn't understand values until I was at a live conference, and this wasn't very long ago either, where there was a workshop on values. And value, like we all have things that we're like, Oh yeah, I value family or I value this and that. And I used to say those things, but I didn't truly understand how important values were. And here's what I mean. So this comes from Gala Darling on Instagram. I was at her Vortex Fest that she did last summer and this like really changed my life and this is why I want to share it with it with you and I think she had a she did like a little reel or a TikTok or something of some of the things that she said during this talk but one of the things that I learned through that is people have values and they don't actually align to their values.
[00:33:01]
So like, me saying family is one of my core values is a little bit silly because I don't even live near my family. I don't, I mean, I'm an hour from my sister who lives like, you know, she lives in San Diego, I'm in Orange County, and the rest of my entire family lives in the Midwest. I'm not near any family. So, , family could be a value of mine and I could not be aligning to that value. And so in my journey of really creating my life is like having to figure out what are my values and how do I align with those? And so just to give you guys some insight into some of my values, so like one of my values is wellness. Like that's a huge part of my values. It's in every corner of everything that I do. I Love to take care of myself. I care deeply about my health and my wellness health and wellness could be just like a one value together and so the fact that if I if I said that and then You know ate a bag of potato chips every single night and and or like drank Literally every day and or I don't know like did things that weren't good for my health didn't move my body or exercise How am I like living up to those values, you know?
[00:34:19]
You So, values, huge for me. That really helped me understand, like, what matters to me. I, I know that, like, warmth matters to me. I love, I love sunshine, which I live in Southern California. The sun's out pretty constantly. I do fear the day that I don't live here, and, and, I mean, maybe that won't be a thing. I'm kind of, I have a feeling that I'm gonna not stay here my whole life. But, I don't know. We'll see. The next thing is just really setting intentions and goals. And, Being like these are things that I want and once you identify what it is that you want It becomes a lot easier to like see the things that can lead you there or find the steps there you know, i've had anxiety or you probably don't know I don't know that i've ever talked about my anxiety. I was diagnosed with panic disorder in 2018 And I haven't had panic attacks since It's since 2019, but when I was going through that like really hard period where I felt like everything was kind of crumbling when I was grasping, that was when I had the most anxiety. But I feel like I've been able to leverage my anxiety.
[00:35:19]
I'm very thankful for my anxiety. I always say that like I use anxiety as a clue to what it is that I, that I desire in life. And. So I think that leveraging your, I guess, sort of mental health issues or the things that you struggle with as keys to, like, figure out what it is that you desire in your life. Like, if you don't want to feel that way, well, why do you feel that way? Use that as your leverage for an intense self development journey. And that's what it did for me. Like, anxiety is why I love health and wellness. Anxiety is, like, the cornerstone to so many of the things I have in my life because it's really. It's really been the catalyst for me being able to live, you know, the expansive life that I've been desiring to live All right. Now I want to just transition into talking about a few big things that helped me create my dream life so first is Therapy so talking about anxiety. I want to talk a little bit about therapy because therapy has Really changed my life in so many points in my life. I've been in therapy a long time I've gone in spurts where I'm there a lot and then you know spurts where I don't go to therapy at all But when I really can look back and think of when my life Started to shift for the positive it starts with me going through therapy so after that experience of like me having this like sort of grasping moment really kind of having my like breaking point I feel like going to therapy was kind of like the big thing that really, , helped me get my mind right and that helped me get even clearer on the visions that I was sort of placing on my life.
[00:36:57]
And I think like the next catalyst for me, which I was, I'm trying to figure out how to share this because obviously this experience isn't hopefully ever going to happen again, but it's the pandemic. But this was a big moment for me in my life. Creating my dream life was because for the first time in my life, I truly felt like the pandemic really woke me up to, it woke me up to my values, it woke me up to the life that I was living. And I think this happened for a lot of people, I don't think this is a unique experience, but, you know, like, I think a lot of us had to think about things like death. You know, like, what is this disease? And like, if we get this thing, are we going to survive? So I think that there was this moment of being super afraid of, wow, like, if I were to die right now, I don't think I'm gonna be happy with the life that I'm living because this isn't really it. And in between here too, I should also mention, I know I've talked about this before, but I went on a solo yoga retreat in 2019. Which was right before I met Zander and, , I think I manifested a bunch of things in my life were manifested in that, in that experience in Costa Rica. The journaling and all the things that I mentioned, the vision boarding, we did that times like a million, but I came home and that's when I had a lot of panic attacks and had to go to therapy.
[00:38:24]
And so there was like these big sort of moments. And so I laid the foundations for a lot. And then it was like just about a year later when, you know, the pandemic, you know, And that really just brought me home to myself and I found, I found a love and a new, I found a new sort of interest in things that I wasn't as like, I wasn't giving myself the time or energy to really put interest into. For example, cooking. It's always been something I've loved to do and during the pandemic I really kicked off my like cooking journey even more. I used to have a Instagram called Moon Girls Plate and that was very much like a little passion project for me and I was actually on there the other day and I was like getting all teary eyed to myself because I was like, wow, I really miss just like that simple time in my life. It was just very fun. I don't know, I loved that time period of my life was it's always going to be like this most precious just One of the best times of my life. But anyway, so I was very much so the pandemic really got me to think about, you know, who I am, the life I want to lead and what's in my life right now.
[00:39:39]
That's a line and what's not. And so again, that's our moon girls plate sort of. it came about because I was getting really into my cooking and my health and my wellness and I just got really like into it. I got really, really into it and I found joy in sharing my recipes and sharing all the wellness things that I was doing and then through that I cared a lot about my nutrition because I've always loved eating healthy. You know healthy foods and so it became this outlet for me to share like the healthy recipes that I was putting together And therefore I was eating even healthier and so here's the thing that I want to say is like The top top top top top top key like I know i've mentioned journaling 55 times I've mentioned a bunch of other things but like the top thing that has changed my life Is taking care of myself and You If you want to make a lot of money, if you want to create the life or the relationship or the things that you desire in life, you have to take care of you.
[00:40:42]
And that's going to look different for everyone. You might have the dream body and the dream workout routine, but you might have a shit diet. You might have poor health. You might have poor mental health. You gotta take care of those things. You might, you might have great mental health and you have no, I would doubt you had great mental health if you weren't moving and exercising and eating right. I would be shocked by that because I think those two things are sort of the foundation. That taking care of you is the only way you are going to create your dream life. I promise you that. And so there, this comes the question of what does it mean to take care of you? What does it mean to take care of yourself and your body and your, you know, nutrition and things like that? Because there's so much freaking stuff online. This is where I was like, I want to tread lightly was saying like seeing other people's lives. And, you know, that being your inspiration, because. We're all so personalized, we're all humans, we're all different, that's, you know, human design is called the science of differentiation, we're all different people.
[00:41:44]
And so there's this level of remembering that there's no one size fits, there's no one size fits all approach to health and wellness, and so this is like, it has to be a personalized deep journey. And so that was really where I felt like my life started to change because, you know, , I was really aligning to my intuition and I was intuitively eating, moving my body and just functioning. It was super intuitive to me. And I think that there were things that I saw online and things that I tried and a big part of my journey that I'll also say is like experimenting. Trying things out, seeing what works for you, like elimination diets, or like, like I do this a lot with health and wellness, like I've done Whole30, I did plant based for a long time, I didn't really necessarily do keto, but I've done like a protein, like meat focused carnivore diet for a moment, I've done medical medium, I've done the Dr. Oz three days detox journey, I've done Smoothie Project, I've done so many different, , things, and I've learned something valuable from each thing that I've tried. And so my recommendation is , You finding the personalized approach or perhaps getting help. I recommend kale diagnostics.
[00:42:58]
I'm on a journey with them right now I'm going to be sharing a ton about it on instagram, by the way but i'll Try to remember to link that down below but kale diagnostics But literally taking a personalized approach and getting yourself freaking healthy getting your your mind, right your body, right your energy, right? learning your human design, right like i'm going to talk about that as a big part of my journey in a moment, but like truly finding out You you getting well is the only way that you're going to create your dream life. And I, and I firmly believe that and I will stick by that. So you have to figure out where, what are your blocks and how can I get well? And what are the areas like I am already doing well in? Like how can I find gratitude for those things? I should have mentioned the gratitude journal has been a huge piece of my journey too. Like if any of the journaling, the gratitude journal, so key. But. Yeah, like finding me for me. It was like finding the movement that suited me Like I love to run and then I was doing yoga once a week And now I don't necessarily do I do pilates and then I do some like running and walking with that but that really helped me getting outside too for those runs like that really helped me to To feel my best self So then like human design really came into my life and that's where things went Zero to motherfuckin one hundred.
[00:44:17]
And I truly say that with all the like oomph in my life. And then I have like a couple more things that like really help me. So, dude, when I learned human design, I was like, Wow, there are a lot of things in my life that are aligned and there are a lot of things in my life that are unaligned. And so I had to figure out what those things were. You know, for me it was like, okay, this job is not in alignment. You know, this isn't in alignment for me. So, when I learned my human design, I learned so much about what it means to be a generator and choosing the things that light you up, and so much of my life I was doing things that weren't necessarily lighting me up. And so, even as simple as that sounds, that's, that can be a very difficult process, but that was really the key in me really taking things 0 to 100. My dream life unfolded. when I learned human design. It like completely unfolded. And so the next part is learning about consistency. I'm not designed for consistency.
[00:45:18]
And what does every health and wellness and guru thing tell you? You have to be consistent, you have to be consistent. And here's the thing you do have to be consistent, but consistency is different for everyone. So some people, consistency is like every day I wake up at 5 30 a. m. and I do this task, this task and this task. And then at 5 42 a. m. I then do this task and I moved to this thing. And then I drive to work for 13 minutes and then I get to work. And then, you know, the first eight minutes I'm, I do like some people are so rigid and routine. And that actually is how they're designed. I'm not, like, I'm very much, my, my mind is, my mind is very strategic. My mind is consistent, but my body does not follow. So anytime I try to force a rigid routine, exercise, way of living, it repels me. And I tell, I'll tell you guys right now, I still try, but it repels me and Zander, he'll know it because he is the opposite. Like he can follow a rule down to a T, a schedule down to a T, but he giggles. Cause like anytime I try and get in that mode, he's like, it's not going to work. And I'll say to him, like, don't say that. Like your mindset's going to make it so it doesn't work even more, but it's true. Like, it just doesn't work for me. So. Understanding my human design and, you know, then when I understood my human design, I could lean into my gifts.
[00:46:48]
I think it's so interesting is like we all have these like little things inside of us that we're like Oh, yeah, like I know i'm creative or like I know i'm, you know, pretty good at marketing or I know i'm really good at Helping people to turn their visions into a reality Those are like all three of like really big parts of my chart, by the way and so I I think we have these things that we're kind of like, oh, yeah, like everyone's like that, right? No Like everyone's not and so learning your human design allows you to go. Wow. This is like Actually a part of me so you can lean deeply into that and you can also accept the parts of you that that aren't you That you know that like you don't have so that was like really cool for me is learning my human design I could really say wow, like this is a big part of who I am and now I can lean into this and like Be so like confident in myself because again like that's who I am And I can just drop what i'm not like I can just drop the fact that like these other parts of me I'm, not as You know consistent in or I'm not as I'm just that's not me so I don't have to pretend to be that So human design was a catalyst for me learning my strategy and authority.
[00:47:59]
We have a gazillion podcast We have one podcast episode dedicated to it, but I talk about it and like all the episodes But strategy and authority was huge because then I could say Okay, like now I know how to make decisions in alignment with me so that every decision being forward You I have tried to work with my energy, and I don't even really have to try as much anymore, I just follow it. And it's cool too, because I could actually look back on my life and see when things were out of alignment, how my body was literally having a visceral reaction to, like, the life that I was living, and me as a generator, my body speaks to me. All of our bodies speak to us, but like, my gut, my body, like, truly was like, know all the time and I was just pushing and forcing and grasping, right? So those are some other keys. You know the next part about of like how I created my dream life was decluttering my current life, which I did after I learned my human design. After I had the vision and after I learned about who I am, there was like this also visceral reaction of like, I fucking hate anything in my life that's not me.
[00:49:07]
Literally, there was a basket in Zander and I's closet where I was like, Like any piece of clothing that I put on my body that I don't like or that doesn't feel like me goes in this basket. And I did that and I think he started doing it too. So yeah, so literally taking anything that I did that didn't feel like me, clothes, furniture, and just getting rid of it and just trusting that like I'm abundant and that I don't need to lack or grasp. The universe will always come through and. Drop the things that are meant for me. And this happens all the time. Like all of a sudden, I lose something or I am, you know, wanting something. And then all of a sudden it like shows up in my life because it knows that that there's a gap and I need it in the craziest ways too. So that was like a big part in my business coach who I worked with Erica Reitman. She used to teach, she teaches this concept. She still does called merge my life, which is basically like, If there's something you don't like, how can you make it prettier? And she does this more so with like, you know cereal boxes or like things that like she puts in prettier containers i'm, not that extreme like i'm fine with having like, you know boxes, but like it's really more so it's just saying like What in your life makes you go, Ew, like I hate that and how can you change that to be something that you do like?
[00:50:23]
So unaligned furniture, unaligned clothes, unaligned just like clutter, anything. Like decluttering, decluttering your phone, getting rid of apps, deleting social media. Like this is also in relationships. I had to get rid of, like alcohol was like something that I had to totally reframe and change. You know, different friends I had to, drop or change or distance or, you know, just re change the relationship with. And I still have to do that. If I'm around people that have a really bad lack mindset or bad relationships or just bad habits, I'm like, I can't be around it. It like viscerally makes me feel. like I have weights on my ankles. And so I just have to have like some boundaries with that. So like really decluttering what's not aligned in my life. And luckily I moved about six times in the year of 2021, which allowed me to declutter things constantly. But that really helped me. Like things take up space. Every object takes up space. So you have to remember to like get rid of the objects and the things that don't feel good because it'll make space for the things that do.
[00:51:29]
And then, like, you know, through all of this, I've really found rituals and, you know, routines that have helped me. Routines as in, like, just things that I do during every day, but, like, not necessarily at the same time. Smoothies, doing smoothie project was huge for me. I share a little bit about that in a highlight on my personal Instagram. My skincare routine is like, something that makes me feel really good. Showering once or twice a day. Not washing my hair, but just like, my body makes me feel very good. Moving, walking, that makes me feel good. Journaling, challenges, like sometimes I'll find like, challenges on Pinterest of like, Journal this every day of June and I'll do it 'cause I like it. Another big ritual for me has been mantra singing. So I love Tony Jones. I also love Queen. Queen as in Q-V-Q-V-E-E-N, , Herbie, I think it is Coso Queen, queen I, I don't know how you say that. just queen. , but there's a V instead of a U. Her good morning one is one that I listen to pretty much every morning.
[00:52:25]
It's so good. And the Superhuman app, as of literally two weeks ago, has changed my motherfucking life. The Superhuman app is the greatest thing that I've ever discovered and I really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really want to and I'm manifesting bringing Mimi Bouchard on the podcast because she's so awesome. a genius And i'm obsessed with her right now because of her app as of literally two weeks ago But the superhuman app is like mantra singing or affirmation singing they call them app It's like kind of like meditation, but they call activations because it's more like an active thing And so that is something that I am obsessed with and I know is changing my life at this moment and that's basically what I was doing with like tony jones and some of these like girls who sing. I have a whole playlist on my Spotify if you want to go on my Spotify. And you'll see it's called like mantra anthems, I think. And I just have, I just love all that, but also get the superhuman app. Epsom salt baths are huge. The infrared sauna is the biggest thing that I've ever done for myself that I love the most.
[00:53:28]
The infrared sauna, actually, if I go back, the infrared sauna was the beginning of it all. And I want to thank my cousin, Olivia Mancey, for introducing me to the infrared sauna, because I live, die, breathe, will. If you could tattoo the word infrared sun on my forehead, I would let you Because that's how much I want everyone to just go experience it red light therapy Has been really good for me , and there's still things i'm working on guys, like i'm recently understanding a nighttime routine I've been struggling with the morning routine and I recently realized that like it starts at night not in the morning So like right now my nighttime routine is it's always been like skincare brush my teeth, you know lay in bed but now it's like Do those things, you know, put my phone across the room a few hours early, or just, you know, as short as I can before I go to bed. Just don't have it in bed. I sometimes stretch this. It's not about consistency, it's about, you know, doing things. Not doing things, it's not about perfection, it's doing things, you know, over time, , as much as possible, right? Turning on my diffuser with my lavender oils, my red lights, my, you know, I like to read at night.
[00:54:32]
I'm learning how to like to read at night. I'm not like, it's not my favorite thing, but journaling is something I really like to do though. You know, I'm also working on self love a lot right now. That's something I'm deeply working on and I'm in therapy for it. So yeah, and then I think like the last piece of creating my dream life is very much just staying on track With your goals and so I shared Back in the new year. I create I have like my own sort of I guess like planner and it's like I call it like my life tracker But it's basically this thing where I track my entire life. Like I have my yearly goals I have my like long term goals my dream life I have you know how I want to cycle sync like cycles mapped out. I have what I like to do once a month every quarter You So I literally have, what are things that I do yearly, what are things that I do quarterly, what are things that I do monthly, what are things I do weekly, what are things I do daily, and then what day of the week do I like to do certain things, like on, I think Wednesdays I like to self tan, I didn't do that today, but on, Certain days of the week, there's certain activities I like to do.
[00:55:43]
And so I literally have a full binder that I look at constantly has my workout schedules, everything. And I look at how I can optimize my life and how I can stay on track of like the, the dream life that I want to live and showing up as that person every day, like there are so many. You know days I don't want to do certain things and I'm I'm not the best at this So I don't want to pretend that I am but I have to consciously redirect my thoughts if I find myself in a lack mindset like oh I don't have enough or like I'm gonna lose money or I'm not good enough or imposter syndrome. I have to hear myself or like feel that in my brain and redirect that to say No, like you're good and redirect it to a positive thought. I think of it like training my dog, like we're potty training Rupert right now. Like he'll go and grab my shoe and I'll say no and I take the shoe away and then I get him a toy and that's how you teach dogs positive reinforcement You say this is what you can do but this is what you can do, right? Because people don't like being told no and then giving no other option. So that's how I do that with my thoughts is like I usually go, okay. No, that's not aligned with the, the Leah that I wanna be. Block that out, add in a thing that I do love.
[00:57:00]
Like I'll do this all the time. Like, I literally did this to get outta the shower. I was like, Ugh. Like, ew, I hate the way that my thighs look and like my love handles. And then I was like. No, like you've been working your fucking ass off like this looks good, you know, like you have to reframe it And it's a it's a practice but like reframing it will get you to believe it like affirmations are really great for that That's why I love my mantra anthems. And that's why y'all need to download superhuman app. I wish they'd sponsor me I reached out and already was like I will do anything to talk about this app because it's like It's my favorite. I haven't heard back, but I really want Mimi, the creator of Superhuman, to come on this podcast. So we're manifesting that.
[00:57:40]
If anyone listening knows her, put us in contact. I already sent her a DM and an email and all the things, but, you know, things get lost. Having a community, I am very, very, very, very blessed. I am. Do truly feel like I attracted health conscious friends my circle of friends out here in Orange County And I think I'm blessed because I do live in Southern California And this is the mindset of the majority is like we're also healthy like we were just in Yosemite this past weekend And this is what we ate Friday night. We got there We all got in at like 9 o'clock at night like super late and we made We had quinoa, fresh quinoa that we made in like a rice cooker, sweet potatoes, ground beef, salsa, arugula, fresh herbs, and like, you know, some hot sauces and some like steamed vegetables. That's what we ate, like we all made our own bowls with that.
[00:58:31]
Saturday we woke up, we had like little roll ups that we had for our hike. Maybe those weren't like the most healthy, but like generally healthy, you know what I mean? Like we had meat sticks, Zander and I brought like our own grass fed beef jerky and we got home that night and for dinner we had, we had stuffed peppers. Like, you know what I mean? , I have such healthy friends and I love that because that makes me happy. Me accountable to my goals and also like feels really in alignment for me And so that's just like so important I think when it comes to like your goals is finding people who love the same things I have You know spiritual wise human design wise like none of my friends are Super spiritual at all. None of my close circle friends that I see it. I guess I should say a lot They're all really supportive of what I do and love what I do and I used to get caught up in like wanting my friends to be obsessed with what I do too, but I don't care anymore because i'm not obsessed with what they do either so I can't expect them to love what I do and so I You know, i've had to find my own sort of spiritual network The internet's amazing for this I have such amazing friends that are in human design or in spirituality that I connect with all the time and that I, that I can access if I need to.
[00:59:45]
And so that always feels super good. It's just having like, you know, spiritual community and then, you know, doing what I love as like a passion is helped me to, like, I tap into my spirituality because that's what I do for a living, but I get to tap into so much of this and help people do what I've done. So that is like a little bit of how I created my dream life. There are, there's so many things I, honestly, I'm thinking about creating a course on this and I would love to, if you guys are interested in me creating a course or going through a course, like, I don't know, I'm kind of thinking of like, Something like way less expensive than human design mastery, but like something where we walk through you understanding your human design and working through like your visions and you know, you really putting pen to paper and creating your dream life.
[01:00:34]
Let me know if that's something you'd be interested in. Like I'd love to help you guys. I'll put a link down below. You can DM me on Instagram, Dream Life, and that will just tell me that you're interested. And also, there's a link down below to just like an interest form, if that's something. I just want to kind of gauge if people are interested in learning a little bit about this. Because if you are, like, I really think that there's a course or something that I could put together, a challenge. That you guys would love and I'd love to, yeah, just bring that to you guys and really just walk you through This at such a deeper level because we only have so much time on the podcast But and I'd also love to talk to you guys a little bit more about my business Maybe as well as like how I created this business too because there's so many pieces there But i'm gonna end it here.
[01:01:15]
This has been so much fun talking about my dream life And, , you know how I really got here, and if there's any questions you guys have, I would love to elaborate more in future episodes. So, thank you again for being here, and if you guys liked this episode, Rate review subscribe to the podcast. I know a lot of you guys listen you guys aren't subscribed So, please be sure to hit the subscribe button because that shows me that you guys are interested and that actually helps my podcast grow And that you guys won't miss an episode that way either They will immediately be like available for you on your phone with or without wi fi so Thank you, and I love you guys so freaking much and thank you for supporting me in this big change, but all right Bye bye
