Career Pivots, Perspective, and Navigating Transition with Clarity- Kim Langenmayr

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Welcome to the Internal Shift Show, where we

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have honest conversations about the moments that

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change direction, identity, and perspective.

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I'm your host, Debbie Longo. Today, I'm joined

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with Kim Langemar. Kim is a veteran former Peace

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Corps volunteer and global education leader who

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is currently navigating a career transition after

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stepping away from a previous role as director

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of internal education. This conversation focuses

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on career pivots perspective and navigating today's

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job market with clarity. Good afternoon, Kim.

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Welcome to the show. Debbie, thank you for having

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me. I'll start by exploring what career pivot

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felt like internally when it first happened,

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separate from titles or circumstances and how

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that moment landed for you personally. From there,

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we could talk about how working globally, serving

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the Peace Corps and being a veteran has shaped

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your resilience and expectation during this transition.

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Starting with this most recent, which is almost

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a year ago now in January, most recent separation

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from the director of international education,

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position. It landed pretty hard on me because

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I felt, and I didn't know this until later, until

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I did a lot of internal work, I felt like it

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was very much tied to my identity. I come from

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a generation and a socioeconomic status of people

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who have, including myself, I've worked since

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I was fourteen years old nearly without a break

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vacations here and there but a continuous line

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of works from a very young age and so to be in

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a situation where even though it was not work

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related that I was separated from my previous

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position it still felt very much like a threat

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to my safety. just to put it that way, because

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I have always been fortunate enough to work in

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what I'm passionate about, education, culture,

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and international work. So to be separated from

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my work against my will was a very difficult

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thing to come to terms with. At first, it was

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like, this is nice. I've haven't had a vacation

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in a long time. But as time went on navigating

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the current job market, it started to feel more

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like a threat to my financial safety. Now that

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I am close to a year into it and have started

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to interview executive level positions, I have

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done the internal work, the meditation, the identity

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transformation where I now am operating from

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a space knowing I have always been and I will

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continue to be more than that. I will thrive.

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Another position is going to align with me and

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my passion. And when that happens, it will be

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celebrated. So it's, it's been a difficult road

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to navigate, but now I'm in a place where I am

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steady, stable and confident in the direction

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and knowing that it will be, it'll be all right.

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And that took some time. That took some work.

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So that's where I'm at now. That was good. Thank

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you. So one of the reasons why I have this show

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is for people like you to demonstrate and explain

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that you were once in a place and now you're

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not there anymore, whether it's negative or positive

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or whatever. It's a place that you didn't want

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to be in. You are uncomfortable or whatever the

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feeling was. Right. And you did something to

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change that. You did not sit in it. I mean, maybe

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you did for a minute or so, but eventually you

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literally did something or a bunch of things

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to take yourself out of that. And you talked

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about and those things are all good. But the

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point is that. And like I said, this is one of

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the reasons why I have this podcast is to show

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people that they can change that they don't have

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to sit. In sick and suffering or anger or crying

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all the time. They don't have to sit in that

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negativity. That's really the bottom line. Okay.

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And that's a big thing. That's the first thing.

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So this is like the outline, right? That we're

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talking about here. One of the things that I

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got out of what you were talking about was that

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the stuff that I do, cause I do the same exact

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thing that you do. I do internal work and meditation,

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but I do a lot of. different things. I don't

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do just like one or two things. I really have

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a broad range of different practices and the

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way that I do the practices. And so one of the

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things that I realized is that and this is a

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big part of when I teach somebody this stuff

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is that this needs to be incorporated into my

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schedule every minute of every day. So it's like

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brushing my teeth when I wake up. Do i say oh

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i have to brush my teeth now no i just wake up

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and then i just brush my teeth and that's it

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and that's that that's what i wanna. It to become

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because all the negativity i've been sitting

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in and all the trauma and everything that is

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all stuff whatever your issue is that is all

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stuff that i have made that a part of me. And

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i've complimented my behavior to become that

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behavior now right so that is now my behavior

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i wasn't this way i mean really i was i wasn't

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this way when i was born right so somehow someway.

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As life went on or trauma, I became this way.

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So this is the thing. So now I want to bring

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it back to being positive and doing like you're

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saying, how you turned it around and everything.

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Right. And I want to make sure that I could do

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that. Every day and make it a daily practice

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that's that's really the key thing because i

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can fall back because what happens is literally

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yeah because my brain is trained so my brain

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is like a hard drive like on a computer i did

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might be a little bit old terms but on the high

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we use chips now on the hard drive that's where

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the memory is. And that memory will stay there.

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And I can bring up whatever type of memory I

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want from that hard drive. See, that's the thing.

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So it's still there, whether you think or not,

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or you don't think it's there or you don't see

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it. It doesn't matter because it can still come

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up. This is just how the human brain works. I

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mean, you can look it up. Anybody could look

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it up. You could look it up on the Internet.

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It's very easy, very accessible. This this type

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of information is not it's not complicated stuff.

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Okay, so let's look at how your current job market

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feels compared to past career moves and what

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is surprised you about the process and where

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you're finding friction or uncertainty. The current

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market job market has what I think surprised

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me most is access to the information that we

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have specifically through LinkedIn and other

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platforms like that. You can tell how many people

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are applying, how long the job has been available.

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And so what has come as a surprise to me is many

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of the positions that I've applied for, the competition

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is definitely out there. There are four or 500

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or more applicants applying for the same positions

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because the internet has opened up the job search

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market to the world. So you're not just in competition

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with local Folks in an area you're literally

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in competition with the world because these job

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markets available to everyone to see who has

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internet and linkedin or idealist org or Glass

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door, whatever. There's so many out there that

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that you can find out job opportunities through

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that the competition is nearly limitless the

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disconnect between being a Gen Xer, the disconnect

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between people and the... Job market and applying

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for jobs is what I have found to be most a reality

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check because you can't just impress somebody

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with what you have to say, your firm handshake,

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your eye contact, all those things that we were

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taught will get our foot in the door. It's no

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longer applicable because you need to make it

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past the AI screening. You need to make it past

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first round, second round with literally hundreds

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of applicants. So that I feel was the most jarring

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because I happen to have pretty good self -esteem.

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I have my confidence is is in check. And so I

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happen to feel and this may sound funny, but

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I am the kind of person that I feel like as soon

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as I submit, I felt this way. I don't anymore.

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As soon as I submit my resume, I expect to hear

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back. Like within 24 hours, they're going to

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look at my resume and be so impressed and say,

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oh man, we got to get her on the phone. And it

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just doesn't work that way anymore. There's a

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lot of highly qualified folks that are out there

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due to the current political situation we find

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ourselves in, that there are a lot of folks that

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are looking for work. And it's not, it's highly

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qualified folks that are out there looking for

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work. And so it makes it a little bit more of

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a challenge to land that position that you think

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I'll put it in my perspective that I think I'm

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qualified for and would be a shoe in. They'll

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be happy to bring me on board. Guess what? There

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are a lot of equally qualified folks out there

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that are involved in the same search that I'm

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in. And so that's what I found to be most surprising.

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Yes, I agree. So I can talk about a million negative

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things that clients and past clients and friends

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and so many different people have told me about

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how they can't find a job because of this, this

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and this and this. I was just saying for me,

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it goes back to some of those strategies that

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you were alluding to earlier, where I've really

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I've been a meditator for like 20 plus years.

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but I've added on to that understanding your

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vibration and your frequency and your thoughts,

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the power of your thoughts and your emotions

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and what that brings into your experience. So

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it's not just about being positive, like, oh,

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I can do anything. It really starts with, for

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me, being grateful for what I have, being grateful

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for the experiences that I've had that led me

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to this point, being grateful for the position

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that I most recently held because it literally

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opened up so much for me that even though I was

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separated without having done anything to cause

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that, it really has opened up my eyes and opened

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me up to a new process of thinking and understanding

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that my thoughts, my words, and my actions lead

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to what comes to me from the universe, from my

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experience. I create my experience through my

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thoughts. So if you, like you were saying earlier,

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if you sit in the negativity of, oh, boohoo,

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I lost my job and this is happening and that

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is happening, you're going to spiral and you're

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going to get consumed by... pity and negativity.

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Kim, thank you for the insight you shared and

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for being part of this conversation. And to our

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listeners, thank you for joining us in the Internal

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Shift Show. These conversations aren't about

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perfection. They're about reflection, clarity,

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and meeting people exactly where they are. Until

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next time, give yourself the space to pause,

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reflect, and choose your next step with intention.

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Good night. I'm Debbie Longo, Transformational

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Coach. Thank you.