In today’s episode, I share a personal story about lifting the lid to allow the fullest expression of who you are to emerge. It’s a story, in part, about my coming out of the spiritual closet. The bigger message is about getting clear about who you are and what you really want, and taking the time to define that for yourself instead of having it defined for you by society. You find that clarity, of course, by tuning into your soul's voice.
About Your Host:
I’m your host, Anita Adams, an award-winning leader and the founder of Joyful Inspired Living, an organization dedicated to teaching people how to access their highest most authentic self so they can find clarity and create a life of purpose, passion, and joy. In addition to hosting the Joyful Journey Podcast, I offer retreats, both live and online, and private coaching programs to further guide my clients on their journey to their highest self.
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Welcome to the joyful journey podcast. If
Anita Adams:you're uncertain about what you really want or unsure how to be
Anita Adams:a force for good, you know this world craves, then this is the
Anita Adams:show for you. I'm Anita Adams, your host and guide to finding
Anita Adams:clarity and creating a life you love. Let's tap into our inner
Anita Adams:wisdom, access our highest self and unleash joy. As we raise our
Anita Adams:vibration we heightened the collective consciousness and
Anita Adams:that my friends, is the joyful journey. Let's dive in. Hey,
Anita Adams:joyful journey errs need to Adams here your host of the
Anita Adams:joyful journey podcast. Before we jump into today's episode
Anita Adams:with some storytelling about embracing who you really are.
Anita Adams:I'd like to thank another listener for her lovely review,
Anita Adams:Rochelle C. 35 says, Wow, a really great podcast filled with
Anita Adams:inspiration, wisdom and guidance, and Anita shares
Anita Adams:authentically her experiences and provides grounded guidance
Anita Adams:and tips. I also liked that the episodes are short, good for
Anita Adams:binging. This is going to be my must listen podcast every week
Anita Adams:of 2022 Thank you, we're shall see 35 I'm delighted you love
Anita Adams:the show. And I so appreciate your review. Alright, my fellow
Anita Adams:joyful journeyers today I have another story to share with you.
Anita Adams:And this one begins on a cold winter night. 12 years ago when
Anita Adams:I finally find the courage to tell my husband who I really am.
Anita Adams:Have you ever kept a secret from someone you love. It took me 23
Anita Adams:years to come clean with my secret 23 years together and I
Anita Adams:finally recognize that I can no longer suppress this part of who
Anita Adams:I am. It's not that I'm lying or pretending to be something I'm
Anita Adams:not. It's more like, I'm not allowing myself the fullest
Anita Adams:expression of who I am. It's like putting a lid on who you
Anita Adams:are because you're afraid that what's going to bubble out is
Anita Adams:going to be too much, you're going to be too much. That was
Anita Adams:my fear that the lid on my Verbling pot was going to come
Anita Adams:off and this messy, undeveloped part of who I am is going to
Anita Adams:splatter everywhere. Like a grade nine science experiment
Anita Adams:gone horribly wrong. And my husband is not going to love it.
Anita Adams:Not gonna love who I really am. So the lid stays firmly on for
Anita Adams:23 years. Are you wondering what I'm hiding from my husband? God,
Anita Adams:well, more like hiding my desire to have God in my life. This was
Anita Adams:a pretty big deal for me sharing this part of who I am with my
Anita Adams:science minded non believer husband felt like it would be
Anita Adams:telling him I think Darwin is a joke, or that I'm a flat earther
Anita Adams:or that I love dancing with underpants on my head. All
Anita Adams:right, that flat earther bit is weird. But all these things
Anita Adams:would evoke the same response. He'd be like, what? Here's the
Anita Adams:thing. I held on to this irrational belief that science
Anita Adams:and spirituality don't mix. I also felt I needed to be more
Anita Adams:like my husband more logical and less woowoo to be his equal.
Anita Adams:Have you ever felt like you have to be more of one thing or less
Anita Adams:of something else? If you have, you'll understand that there
Anita Adams:comes a time when it's harder to hold on to the facade than to
Anita Adams:truly embrace who you are. That time came for me 12 years ago on
Anita Adams:that cold winter night when I finally realized it's time to
Anita Adams:lift the lid. Or wait until Tom my husband is in bed scrolling
Anita Adams:through watch making tutorials on YouTube, a favorite pastime.
Anita Adams:I quietly walk into the bedroom. My heart is pounding. My hands
Anita Adams:are clammy and my throat feels tight. I slide into bed next to
Anita Adams:him. Prop myself up on some pillows and with laser focus. I
Anita Adams:stare out the window is everything all right? Yeah, I
Anita Adams:just I just want to come.
Anita Adams:What? I said I want to have God in my life. Tom I'm so afraid to
Anita Adams:share this with you because I don't want you to judge it or me
Anita Adams:or think that I'm being foolish. I know you don't believe in God.
Anita Adams:And that's all right. I do. I do. And I feel like there's
Anita Adams:something missing for me. I want to explore this. And at the same
Anita Adams:time, I'm really afraid to go down this path because he's
Anita Adams:helped me change me or change us drive a wedge between us. And I
Anita Adams:don't want that. I don't want that. But I want this. Does that
Anita Adams:mean we're going to church on Sunday? Oh my gosh, my husband,
Anita Adams:he just has this way of easing the tension, making me laugh,
Anita Adams:usually making me laugh at myself. I was so afraid to share
Anita Adams:this part of me. I thought if I opened up and lifted the lid, I
Anita Adams:would ruin something that was already really good. This
Anita Adams:opening up doesn't ruin us. Of course. It strengthens us. You
Anita Adams:know what ruins relationships? Yeah, keeping lid on who you
Anita Adams:are. Not only that it robs you of your joy and roads, your love
Anita Adams:of self. That's a pretty huge price to pay, and one you will
Anita Adams:pay for hiding even the smallest piece of who you are. When I
Anita Adams:finally found the courage to lift the lid, I discovered I
Anita Adams:really liked the person who emerged. I would even go as far
Anita Adams:to say that that was the beginning of me deepening my
Anita Adams:love for self. It was the beginning of me being honest
Anita Adams:with myself and others about who I am and what I want. The truth
Anita Adams:is, I've spent way too much of my life caring way too much
Anita Adams:about what other people think and trying to be what others
Anita Adams:want me to be or what I think others want me to be. How
Anita Adams:exhausting, stifling. What about you? Have you been honest with
Anita Adams:yourself and others about who you really are? Have you lifted
Anita Adams:the lid to allow the fullest expression of you to emerge? Or
Anita Adams:is there a part of you that you hide or suppress to please
Anita Adams:others or to fit in the ladder? My hope is that you find the
Anita Adams:courage to lift the lid and to fully embrace every bit of who
Anita Adams:you are. When you do you deepen your respect and love for
Anita Adams:yourself. You strengthen your relationships, and you unleash
Anita Adams:great joy. Sounds awesome, doesn't it? Now, are you
Anita Adams:wondering how exactly do you lift the lid? There's only one
Anita Adams:thing you have to do. And that is get super clear with yourself
Anita Adams:about who exactly is in that pot? Who are you? And what do
Anita Adams:you want? It may surprise you that the vast majority of people
Anita Adams:don't really know the answers to these questions. Why? Because we
Anita Adams:are bombarded with messages from society telling us who we should
Anita Adams:be capitalism at its worst, with corporations feeding us images
Anita Adams:and stories designed to manipulate us into buying their
Anita Adams:products and using their their services. And these corporations
Anita Adams:along with the media and even friends and family are defining
Anita Adams:what happiness and success is supposed to look like. We are
Anita Adams:told who we should be and what we should want. And many of us
Anita Adams:do not give ourselves the space we need to figure that out for
Anita Adams:ourself. We are told to be happy we need to be in a relationship
Anita Adams:and get married. Some of us are even told who to marry. We are
Anita Adams:told what is beautiful, how much we should weigh, how to behave.
Anita Adams:And we are told status, position and financial wealth are the
Anita Adams:pinnacle of success. A list of things we are told that we
Anita Adams:should aspire to be is endless. These are messages that we
Anita Adams:receive from our earliest days. It's a lot of noise. And that
Anita Adams:noise can drown out your soul voice, that higher self that is
Anita Adams:within you, that understands who you really are and what you
Anita Adams:want.
Anita Adams:So if you want to lift the lid and allow the fullest expression
Anita Adams:of who you are to emerge, you must tune out all the noise, go
Anita Adams:with him. And listen to your soul voice to find that clarity
Anita Adams:and to define who you are for yourself as you listen, a
Anita Adams:competence and who you really are and what you want will grow.
Anita Adams:And you'll feel the desire to share that part of you with
Anita Adams:others like I shared with my husband when I told him I wanted
Anita Adams:to have God in my life. And when you share more of who you really
Anita Adams:are with others, even just one other trusted soul, you begin to
Anita Adams:fanned the flames of your soul's desire and the clarity about who
Anita Adams:you are and what you want burns hot. Soon, that lid is bouncing
Anita Adams:on your beautiful burbling pot, and it will more easily slide
Anita Adams:off as you emerge fully understanding, embracing and
Anita Adams:loving who you are. This is the power of looking inward and
Anita Adams:listening to your soul boys. If you need a reminder on how to
Anita Adams:quiet all the noise so you can better tune into that soul
Anita Adams:voice. Go back and listen to episode number 19 quieting the
Anita Adams:monkey brain. investing time to get clear about who you really
Anita Adams:are and what you want does take effort and you might joyful
Anita Adams:journey or are so worth that effort. I hope my personal story
Anita Adams:in this episode inspires you to invest more time looking inward
Anita Adams:and listening. So you can lift the lid and allow the fullest
Anita Adams:expression of you to emerge. If you want to go deeper with this
Anita Adams:work, I offer a three month mentoring program specifically
Anita Adams:designed to guide you on your inward looking journey. So you
Anita Adams:can find greater clarity about who you are and what you want,
Anita Adams:and create a life aligned with your true higher self. Visit
Anita Adams:joyful inspired living.com to learn more. Thanks for joining
Anita Adams:me today joyful journeyer we'll catch you next time. Thanks.
Anita Adams:Thank you for joining us today on the joyful journey podcast.
Anita Adams:If anything resonated with you, please visit our website at
Anita Adams:joyful inspired living.com Sign up to receive a free download of
Anita Adams:our three guiding principles to inner wisdom and become a member
Anita Adams:of the joyful inspired living community. For a deeper
Anita Adams:spiritual dive. Check out our retreats we offer both in person
Anita Adams:retreats on beautiful Bowen Island in British Columbia, as
Anita Adams:well as online retreats that you can do from the comfort of your
Anita Adams:own home. And finally, if you liked our show, please leave a
Anita Adams:review so more people can find it and learn how to access their
Anita Adams:highest self and together will raise the collective