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Virago 24/7
Virago 24/7 is a podcast for women who are done shrinking.
I’m your host, Lyanette Talley—mother, wife, truth-teller, and warrior in progress.
Here is where we unlearn silence, honor our roots, and reclaim our voices.
We talk real life—identity, marriage, motherhood, leadership, and healing—with boldness and truth.
If you’ve ever been told you’re too loud, too much, or too ambitious...
You’re exactly where you need to be.
This is everyday growth. Everyday healing. For everyday warriors.
We’re not shrinking. We’re taking up space.
Virago 24/7
Blooming Where You're Planted
We explore the powerful concept of "blooming where you're planted" and finding growth in seemingly stagnant seasons of life. This episode dives deep into how to thrive during waiting periods while preparing for future opportunities.
• Summer adventures including Vegas, Jersey Shore, and Hawaii travel highlights
• Unpacking what it truly means to "bloom where you're planted"
• The definition includes making the most of current circumstances regardless of challenges
• Shifting perspective from waiting to preparing for your next season
• Personal story of feeling stuck as a young mother with unfulfilled career dreams
• How a mindset shift transformed a frustrating season into one of growth
• Three practical strategies for thriving while waiting: shift from waiting to preparing, move quietly with intention, focus on what's in your control
• Understanding that not every season is about movement – some are for rooting deeply
• Daily practices like mindset shifts and gratitude to help you bloom where you are
What is something you've been waiting on, and what would happen if you started showing up like it was already on its way? Connect with us on Instagram at Virago24_7 or join our Facebook group to share your journey.
Go to my website virago247.net for all things Virago 24/7
You can email me at virago247podcast@gmail.com
Instagram: virago24_7
Facebook: Virago 24/7
Thanks for listening and don't forget to share, share, share!
Everyday growth, everyday healing with everyday warriors!
Music by Deli Rowe: "Space to Move"
Logo by Kaylin Talley
Do you ever feel like you're doing everything right but nothing's moving, like you're stuck in that in-between space? You know where your vision is clear but the results are really quiet? Today I'm asking this question what if our growth is meant to happen right where we are? Like no big moves, no fresh starts, just you, me, us in this moment, rooted in rising. You know, this episode isn't about being patient. It's about trusting that becoming takes time and that sometimes the way is part of the work. You know it's part of the journey. If you've been showing up, pouring out and still wondering when it's your time, this one's for you. So let's talk about what happens in the weight and why it might be the most powerful part of us becoming. Hi, I am your host, leonette Talley, and you are listening to Virago 24-7. Virago is Latin for female warrior and 24-7 is for all day, every day. Virago 24-7 is a weekly podcast that brings diverse women together to talk about life and our experiences in this world. We share our views on self-love, mental health, marriage, children, friendships and really anything that needs to be talked about. Here you will find everyday growth, everyday healing with Everyday Warriors.
Speaker 1:Hey, everybody, how's it going? How was everyone's summer. Mine was really, really good. I did a lot, and most of June was a lot of traveling. I felt like a superstar, like this is what celebrities feel like jet-setting from here to there, literally every weekend. I had something, starting with the very beginning of June, end of May, beginning of June and anyways, yeah. So I went to Vegas for the very first time. That was my very first trip of the summer and we went. It was a group of us, a group of girls, women from my bootcamp group, and my very first time was very pleasant. I didn't know what to expect.
Speaker 1:We're older. We did, actually we did. We did uh go with two young, young, uh women, uh, because in our boot camp group we're a wide range of uh, ages and so there was a late 20s I forget, I forget how old they're in early 30s, late 20s, early 30s that came with us and we had such a good time. It's weird because I know their friends always say why do you hang out? Why do you all hang out with those old ladies? And we're in forties and fifties, so they have to tell them that we are so much fun and that we are so great. Don't let the age fool you. We are a load of fun. So that's what they have to tell their little friends when they're asked and questioned why they hang out with these old ladies.
Speaker 1:But yeah, it was really, really hot. That is one thing about Vegas and we were told that that's not even the extent of the heat. That was just getting started. So it was extremely hot, like you're just walking around in a sauna. And I am a huge sweater, not like a sweater that you wear, but someone who sweats a lot, not like a sweater that you wear, but someone who sweats a lot. That is me, and I have sweat pills that are prescribed and so I took those, but then with that it soaks up everything, even your saliva. So then you get really, really thirsty. So you have, like that, cotton mouth and dry mouth, and so, anyways, do I want to be thirsty or do I want to be sweaty? There's a trade off there.
Speaker 1:But we went to a lot of hotels, and you know the big ones and I found out that I'm a Bellagio girl. Out of all the hotels that we visited and walked through, the Bellagio fits my personality and it was fabulous. We stayed in a hotel called the Fountain Blue and it was at the very, very, very, very end of the strip Before we got to Vegas. We were at the airport. We're telling stories and one of the women that came grew up in California so she spent many, many times and many years and many days in Vegas because her parents like to gamble and there is a hotel there called Circus Circus. So she would stay there as a young child with her parents Circus Circus. So she would stay there as a young child with her parents and she knew so much about Circus Circus. Told us all about Circus Circus how it was like the crappiest hotel on the strip, that there's a roller coaster inside, that it's been there for years and years and years. So we're talking about this and we get to our hotel and we open our blinds and right across the street from our beautiful hotel, fountain Blue, is Circus Circus and it's just exactly how she described it. So that was our first. Like just huge laugh is out of all the places, because we didn't really know what, where we were staying, because actually somebody else had booked the hotel who had to back out last minute for personal reasons. So they're the ones that booked the hotel.
Speaker 1:We had no clue where we were going. Our hotel was phenomenally just fancy, just really really fancy, and, yeah, circus Circus was right outside our window. We had great food, we saw Cirque du Soleil show and one night we decided to be young and free and we wanted to play the slots. So I'm not a huge gambler and a lot of us weren't really. You know, some of us could do certain things, but you know we weren't really there to gamble. We were just there just to hang out, have good food, see a show. And our hotel, as fancy as it was and as lovely as it was, was very boring and very bougie and very just like, wait a minute, we're not having a good time. So what do we do? We decided we're going to go across the street to Circus Circus to see what's happening over there.
Speaker 1:So we get there and the way I describe it and I'm not talking mess about this I know there's, you know people have their, the things that they can afford, you know, and Circus Circus has, you know, a special clientele, know, a special clientele. And you know it smells. The carpet smells like it's been there for a very, very long time since it was built and who knows when that was and just kind of not flashy like the other hotels and not clean and, yeah, just very smelly, very, very, very smelly. There was a certain every hotel had their own scent, very, very, very smelly. There was a certain every hotel had their own scent. And we would ask because I'm obsessed with scents and candles and sprays, because I love a home to smell good and I like where I am I even spray stuff in my car, I just like things to smell good. And so every hotel had their like signature scent. We would ask the people that work there, hey, what's the signature scent? And everything was always sold out, all the candles, so I didn't get to buy anything. But the signature scent for Circus Circus was like cigarettes, like moldy carpet, like that kind of smell.
Speaker 1:So we get in there and we hear music and we're like, oh my gosh, are they doing karaoke and this people? You know we weren't in bed really early the other days, right, but this evening it was, I think, almost midnight. When we go over to Circus Circus or maybe like yeah, 1130, almost midnight, and we're walking over to Circus Circus from our hotel and we go across the street, they're playing music. We think it's karaoke and it's a lady, a DJ with her table and her stuff set up and like three other people just sitting at a table, and it was music that we like. So we just come in there like gangbusters, like all right, and we just got the party started. We were the party, we brought the party, so we were dancing and we're singing and everyone was loving it. There's people coming out of the woodwork. I don't know the kitchen, the bathrooms. People were just like who are these girls, these women dancing to this lovely music? It was 90s R&B, hip-hop type stuff, stuff that we were in the clubs dancing to back in the 90s and early 2000s. So it was really really good stuff.
Speaker 1:So we're dancing pretty much for 45 minutes to an hour before she packs up and thanks us for just bringing all our energy and then we decide, all right, we're going to hit the slots. And we sat at a blackjack table and watched two of our friends play. We did the roulette table and I said you know what? I'm not a gambler, but I took some cash out and I said, when this is done, we're done. And I took $100 out and I said, when it's over, we're done. I ended up sitting at the roulette table and had some really good luck, won some, lost some and in the end I broke even. I walked home with my $100, which was really exciting and we saw someone get arrested at almost like what, two in the morning Because she, I guess, stole the money from another person. So there was a little, you know, a little tuffle there and we had the best time at Circus Circus.
Speaker 1:So come to find out my personality is what I told them. I said. My personality is I like to stay at the fancy places. I am a Bellagio girl, fountain Blue girl. But the people that I like to hang out with are the Circus Circus kind of people like down to earth, just no pretense. We're just there to have fun and have a good time and win some money and dance to great music. And so that was Vegas. It was a lot of fun. So I'm part Bellagio, part Circus Circus, which is fabulous. That means I'm just a well-rounded person. But yeah, that was Vegas.
Speaker 1:The very next weekend I went to New Jersey to visit one of my wonderful sisters that I have that we've been best friends since high school. She's one of the first people that we met that our family met when we moved to Georgia. So this was back in 1994. Went to high school together, we went to college together and we've just remained such great friends. But she's up in Jersey now and for the past five years she's had a very hard time having a baby. So her and her husband wanted to be parents and they did the most, they did all the things and finally they had a beautiful baby boy. And so me and my friend Adrian, we both went up there to visit Tiffany and her sweet baby boy and that was lovely, seeing her family, seeing him catching up with. The three of us stayed near the Jersey Shore. We stayed in a beautiful, cute little quaint town that just I felt like I was in a Hallmark movie, except the summertime, not the wintertime. It was just so quaint, so lovely and loved it. Stayed in the cutest Airbnb close to the beach and I loved the beach so much that I was able to walk and enjoy the Jersey Shore and wonderful restaurants, the Jersey Shore and wonderful restaurants, wonderful seafood. So that was a lovely trip.
Speaker 1:That following weekend after that it was a staycation here in this area, in the Atlanta area my really good friend Tanika had a women's day and she does events at her home all the time. She'll do a Galentine's and she'll do Christmas and she'll do something in the summer and it's always themed and we have to wear certain colors and the drinks are just right and the food is just right and everything is just beautiful. So this time she decided to go out of her home and we went to a hotel nearby where they have event spaces, conference spaces, and I had actually my Virago event there two years ago. So we went to that hotel and that was lovely. The theme was pink and orange, so think bright orange and like bright pink, and so we all had to wear that or a gold or white, and it was very, very vibrant and the theme was bloom where you're planted, and so that was. It was just one of those days of I got there Friday, left Sunday, I helped her set up the night before we did the event and then stayed the night and then I left Sunday morning. But it was so great just to have a group of women come together to laugh and to communicate and have awesome conversations and to do arts and crafts. And it yeah, it was. It was all women driven. We had someone who was playing the saxophone and was our DJ, like our MC was a woman, we made candles. They were women. So it was just really, really beautiful and I will get back to that because the meat of this podcast will be about that event. And then that following weekend, like I said, I was traveling every single weekend, would come work for a few days and then leave to go out of town.
Speaker 1:The last weekend, or actually that following weekend, I went to Greenville, south Carolina, with my hubby, phillip, and if you've never been there, it's the cutest little town. I just like it because Phillip and I we're real chill when we go on vacation. We need good food, some shops that we can look at, some wineries if there's some anywhere nearby and we're just chill. We like good food. Him and I can have great conversation and we don't need to go skydiving, we don't need to jump off bridges and do bungee jumping, like we don't need that excitement. We just like to be together and talk and chill and those are our vibes. So for some people it might sound like it's hella boring, for others, you know they, they they're probably matching our, our, um, our vibe.
Speaker 1:So we went to Greenville, stayed in a beautiful hotel that we've been wanting to go to. We've been to Greenville a few times and every time I see this hotel I'm like I'm going to stay there. It's called the the Bohemian and it's just just oh, fancy, fancy, just beautiful, and it's near there. They have like this. I don't even know what they call it Is it a waterfall, is it a river? What is it? I don't know, but it's water and I love listening to water and being near water. So our balcony overlooked this and you can hear it, and it was just fabulous. We had great food, we went to two wineries that were about 30 minutes away from the city and it was great.
Speaker 1:Normally, philip and I he takes two weeks off in the summer and we'll take a week to ourselves, just the two of us, but it just didn't work out that way. So we just did a long weekend and then, a few days later, we celebrated our daughter Corinne's birthday, and then the five of us went to Hawaii, and my brother, my youngest, youngest brother, anthony, lives in Hawaii and he lives there with his wife and his two daughters. Phillip and I went there two years ago and we were able to meet the oldest daughter, noah, and now we were able to meet the youngest daughter, harper, and they're just the cutest little babies. Harper was nine months. She was born in September, so she's about to be a year old, and then Noah is two, and where they live is just so beautiful such a small little island, very secluded, not much to do. But the kids loved it. Our youngest, corinne, will never want to stay anywhere but a Four Seasons. We got to stay at the Four Seasons because we get the family and friends discount, which is huge, and so we get the benefits of that and stayed in a beautiful hotel room. It's just a gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous place resort. But, yeah, it was wonderful to hang out with the nieces and for the cousins to meet each other, and that also was a very chill vacation lots of beach time, pool time, hanging out with my brother and his wife and the girls. It was lovely.
Speaker 1:And then we got back and, yeah, back to work. School just started this week, so we are getting back to the routine of things and so it's been a really, really good summer. And, yeah, I've been busy. I've been busy, so that's why you haven't been hearing me here on this microphone. So, yes, let's go back to um, the women's weekend.
Speaker 1:The theme was bloom, where you're planted. So that was Tanika's theme and she had asked me. So in the in the morning time we did arts and craft, we did, we made candles, we painted, um, we chatted, we ate, and then in the afternoon we were going to have just like an open group conversation. So Tanika had asked me to pretty much host that segment, that part where I'm just, you know, making sure that the conversation is flowing and that, yeah, that we keep the conversation going. Fortunately, we had a group of women that were not shy and that were willing and able to talk, and so I didn't really have to guide too much, which was great.
Speaker 1:But in my preparation for this event, I did look into this topic of bloom where you're planted and what does that exactly mean? I'm sure we've heard it before bloom where you're planted, but what does it mean? So the definition that I saw online says bloom where you are planted is a popular saying that encourages making the most of your current circumstances, no matter how challenging they may seem. It means to thrive and grow in your present situation, finding ways to be productive, content and find happiness regardless of external factors. Sounds beautiful, right when you're reading it. Yeah, it's just bloom where you're planted. That's easy enough.
Speaker 1:But have you all ever been in a position in your life, in a place in your life, where you feel like stuck? And then you read something like this and it's like, oh well, just bloom where you're planted, just be grateful, just love where you are. And you're like F that you don't know me, you don't know my life. So take that definition and take your things and all your optimism and go somewhere with it. But when I read into that and I started looking at what does that look like? Bloom what you're planted, what does that mean?
Speaker 1:And I think it's really important for us as women to understand where we are in life. And it's not necessarily saying that we always have to be optimistic and we always have to just love everything we're doing and raising the kids and working, and doing the groceries, and cleaning the house and da-da-da-da and da-da-da-da those day-to-day things that we have to do get highly overwhelming, highly just tedious, and then we're supposed to do it all with a smile. So this is not about just always being happy and always being just optimistic and just loving every moment and every day, but realizing that as women we have to be aware of why we're feeling a certain kind of way, and my thing that I've learned throughout these years and being on this podcast and talking to different women, is understanding why we feel what we feel, allowing ourselves to feel whatever feelings we have, but also not sitting there, because when we sit there, we affect everyone around us, and our family, especially our little ones that we're raising, our husbands that we're married to. We affect them if we're not aware of ourselves, our feelings, why we tick, what makes us tick, what we want out of this life, our words, our actions, our thoughts. You know it carries a lot of weight. We have this ability to influence those around us, so because of this, we need to be the best versions of ourselves. We need to live our lives in this full bloom, wherever we're planted. So what does that mean? Like I said before, bloom where you're planted means embracing your current season, and for a lot of us, our current season can feel like we're just waiting, you know, waiting for our moment, waiting for the thing that we dreamed about when we were little. Sometimes we wait for this perfect condition, this perfect timing or this perfect version of ourselves in order for us to bloom. But what if our growth, your growth is meant to happen right where we are growth. Your growth is meant to happen right where we are, not after the next promotion, not after the next move, the next relationship or this perfect timing. What if we just need to look around and realize what can I do with the moment that has been given to me? And one of the things that comes to me for me personally comes to mind is when the kids were little. You know, my kids are older, so I feel like I have this newfound freedom where I get to go to Greenville and not worry about childcare. I get to, you know, go to New Jersey and Vegas. And, yeah, I've been on many girls trips throughout the years, but there was always like this, this feeling of me being the one making sure everything was right and before I can go on these trips because that's what we do as women is making sure that everything is just right, so that when we're not around, everything still functions, and so one of the things that comes to mind is when my kids were little and I've said this before on this podcast that I always envisioned myself being this career woman.
Speaker 1:I went to school for journalism and I minored in languages. I loved learning French and I speak Spanish, so I was, you know, was trying to learn more about Spanish, like the grammar, and I wanted to learn Italian. That was going to be my next one. I spoke German and English and meeting new people and being around different cultures and different ethnicities and just thriving in that arena. And then I got pregnant at 21, got married at 25, had another baby at 28, and the third at 30.
Speaker 1:And so all of these things happened very quickly in my 20s where, by the time we had our third child, I really felt like I was drowning, like this is not my life, this is not what I signed up for. I know that there were people looking at me saying be grateful, like this is wonderful, you just married this wonderful man, you have these beautiful children. You should just be happy where you are. And intellectually, of course, yes, yes, yes. But deep down in my spirit, my emotions were like out of whack, like this is not what I wanted for myself. And so I don't know if I've told the story before, but I'll tell it again if I have.
Speaker 1:There was one day where I'm home with the kids. I'm a stay-at-home mom, I'm just trying just to survive. At the time I didn't have this huge group of friends like I do now, the friends that I did have. You know, we went in different directions and I started the whole mother and marriage thing way earlier than they did, and so we were not on the same page and we were not living the same life. So I was really lonely around that time and so the kids were just it for me, and Phillip was working hard. We had just opened a new practice and that consumed his time, and so there was one day I just got literally overwhelmed. It really felt like someone was choking me and I couldn't breathe and I felt like I was going insane and I packed a little bag and I said you know, I just have to get out of here. I didn't even tell Philip. I said, as soon as he comes home from work, I'm just leaving. And I think Corinne, she just turned 15. She had to be less than one, because I don't remember that she was even walking at the time and I remember literally he comes home, I have her in my arms and I literally hand her off to him. Poor guy didn't even put his stuff down and I'm like I have to go, I'm leaving. I don't know where I'm going, but I have to go. I just can't. I can't stay here Not one minute. I will call you and I'll let you know where I end up. And so poor guy didn't even ask any questions. I didn't even give him time to ask questions.
Speaker 1:I left and I got in my car and I didn't know where I was driving. I just started driving and I didn't make it that far. I think I made it. I started driving north of us, north of Atlanta, and I made it maybe two hours away I don't know it was either like past Greenville somewhere, I don't know, but it was still in Georgia. And I remember getting a bottle of wine. I found a restaurant, got some takeout, found a hotel, checked in Gosh. I think what I really needed was just quiet, quiet. And so I sat and I watched TV and I drank my bottle of wine and I ate food, and then I slept and I slept and I slept and I slept and I slept. And then I woke up the next day and I was so rested and I felt so much better, and one of the things that I grabbed before I left was my Bible.
Speaker 1:If you're new to this show. I have a very strong faith in God. I believe in him, I believe he exists, I believe in Jesus, I believe in all those things. And I brought my Bible and I'm sitting there the next morning and I'm just like Lord. What do I do? Because this feeling cannot continue, because I am not the best version of myself for my kids, I'm not the best version of myself for this family and I cannot continue this way because it's going to rub off on them and it's going to alter how they see things, because I'm not happy and it shows I am not. Listen, I don't know how to fake my emotions. I try and it doesn't always last. It doesn't work for me. So my emotions, you will see it, you will feel it, and it's not always fun.
Speaker 1:But I remember opening my Bible. I just opened it and the Bible that I have has different devotions within the Bible and it will refer to certain scripture and it has like its own little um translation of what that scripture means and how we can use it in our lives. So I opened it up and it landed on this devotional that was literally about being bloomed where you're planted. It didn't say that it wasn't the title, but that's pretty much what they're talking about that God picks us to do certain things at certain times in our lives and we just need to be the best version of ourselves in that time. And it's not going to be forever and I'm trying to think all the messages that I got from it. It's not going to be forever. This is just temporary. But while you're here, you've got to be the best version.
Speaker 1:And so I sat there and I cried and I prayed and what came to me is that I get to be home with my kids. And, yes, this is not how I envisioned my life and, yes, I wanted to be this jet setting career woman, using my languages and meeting people and just traveling and just spreading my wings. And I felt like being in this house in the suburbs of Atlanta was not allowing me to spread my wings, but I had to get it through my mind that this is where I was needed and this is where I am, and so we have to make the most of this. So what does that look like? This is where I am, and so we have to make the most of this. So what does that look like? Being grateful that I get to stay home, because there's many women that don't get to do that, being grateful that I get to raise my kids full time and I don't have to be somewhere nine to five. I can take them to the park or we can have long lunches and at a pizzeria or wherever.
Speaker 1:And I went home. I thought I was going to stay the whole weekend, but I ended up going home that day. I checked out, I came home and I don't even remember if Philip and I even talked about it. It was one of those things where I said I'm fine, it's going to be okay, I'm good now. I just needed that. And I'm not saying that everything was perfect after that. But my mindset had to change and it had to flip that this is just temporary. And now these days, yes, they feel like they're long days and they're going on forever. And this sucks balls because I did not envision my life for this. But now that I'm all these years removed from that day and from that moment damn, does it go by fast and gosh am I grateful that I was able to change and shift that mindset and bloom where I'm planted.
Speaker 1:And then I started doing things that were fun for me, like I found local modeling. I always thought I wanted to do some modeling when I was younger as well. So I found some local stuff nothing major, but I would do some runway stuff for a local boutique and so I was able to get my creative juices out in that and I did that for a few years and it was actually fulfilling. It wasn't anything amazing I wasn't on covers and magazines and getting paid all this modeling money but it was fun and it got me out of the house. So I did that and I started writing and reading more and just not allowing myself to stay stagnant because I kept telling myself one day it'll be your time. One day it'll be your time to do whatever you want. So another thing that I did around that time was join my bootcamp group, and I wasn't feeling good about myself. I didn't like the way I looked after having the three kids, and so I joined this group and it just opened up everything for me.
Speaker 1:All the friendships that I talk about and these relationships with these women that I talk about all the time were formed from making that decision and then also plugging into the church that we're going to. At the time we started going to the life groups that were there, with people that were in the same boat as us as far as, like you know, raising children and raising small children, and so I found amazing friendships through that and so by running away for that one day and then coming back and saying self, what can I do differently in order not to feel this way, I just said yes to those things and my whole life just opened up after that. And it's funny, as we're talking right now, I just had this epiphany that that is the definition of blooming where you're planted. It's just funny when you're going through life and things happen and you have all these stories, you don't realize that that's what that, yeah, that that's what it is Like. I decided to bloom where I was planted, yeah, and I didn't even know that that's what I was doing.
Speaker 1:So some points to remember when you're trying to bloom what you're planted is to understand the beauty in your current challenges, your roles or your limitations, and also to reflect on what this season or this moment is trying to teach us, and also to remember that not every season is about movement. Some are for rooting deeply. So some other tools that we can do to bloom now. To bloom today is daily mindset shifts, which is harder for some of us, but if you are intentional about it, can become a habit. Because me, as a born pessimist, I've had to learn to do daily mindset shifts. So when my mind is starting to go sideways to a place that it doesn't need to go, I consciously have to talk myself off the ledge. Gratitude exercises, you know, these are all things that we know to do. We just got to do it.
Speaker 1:Looking around you while you're driving or walking, or just simple things, and finding that little glimmer of the day, so for me is the sun. I love when the sun is shining through trees or it's shining in a way that is just beautiful, like through the clouds, and anytime I catch those moments, I'm thankful for that. So just it has to clouds, and anytime I catch those moments, I'm thankful for that. So just it has to be little things, or grateful for a hug from my 17 year old son. The other thing is setting micro goals in your current space. So those are things that we can do to remind us of blooming where we're planted. And you know, this is all going to look different for all of us. We're going to shift a little bit, because for a lot of us you know, some of us are happy where we are. We don't have big ambitions, we are happy just to be where we are, probably for the rest of our lives. You know, and I envy some of those people, the people that are just happy where they are. I'm not saying that I'm not happy where I am, but you know, we're always setting goals and we're always looking forward.
Speaker 1:And for those of us who are feeling like we're just waiting because when we are in these seasons of life, we just feel like we're waiting, waiting for our time, and as we're waiting, we're getting frustrated. And so when I was researching this bloom, where we're planted, a lot of the things that popped up was the waiting game, the waiting game, the waiting game. And what do you do when you knowing in the back of our heads that this is temporary, that when we get our chance, or when we feel like nothing's happening and everyone else is living their lives because you know we love to compare our lives to others they're living their best lives and we're just sitting here waiting? What shall we do? And there are three things that I found that we can do. They're very, very, quite simple. Oh, that's funny, because if everything was as simple, we would already be doing it right.
Speaker 1:So number one is shift from waiting to preparing. So if the opportunity to do what it is that you're waiting on, if it came today, right now, would you be 100% ready? So let me ask again if the opportunity to do what it is you're waiting on, so think about what you're waiting on If it came to refine prep and level up so that you can be fully equipped when the moment comes. So sometimes we think we are ready, but we got to be honest with ourselves Are we really? Are we really?
Speaker 1:I feel like I maybe wasn't ready to go jet-setting and be a journalist. I don't know, maybe that's what I do tell myself in order to make myself feel better. But I've learned that with life, that when we think we're ready, we're really not and God is preparing us for when the right time is coming. So, instead of seeing it as me sitting here waiting, start preparing. What can I do to prepare? Do I have to grow as a person? Do I have to be emotionally mature? Do I have to know how to communicate? Do I have to know how to handle conflict better? Do I need to learn how to forgive? Do I need to learn how to heal from the past? So many different things. Only you know what that thing is.
Speaker 1:Number two do not use waiting as a time for you to pause. Sometimes God is aligning what you can't yet see. This doesn't mean do nothing. It means move quietly. It means move quietly, but with intention. A lot of powerful moves happen in silence. I liked that one because it's true. What can we do to prepare for that? You know, when I wanted to do the podcast, I didn't announce it to everybody. I just started researching, I started preparing, I started figuring out how do I get it started, what is the goal behind this? And I did a lot of quiet preparing. But before that, years before that, I had to learn how to communicate. I had to go through some things in order to be able to talk about it to you all. I needed some talking points.
Speaker 1:Number three focus on what's in your control. So you know, we all think things are out of our control, and there are real things that are out of our control. But if you really sit down and think about it in any situation, is this something I can control? And I learned this from my husband, philip. Philip, because I am an emotional being and what he has taught me is anytime I got very emotional about whatever a spat with a sibling or a parent or you know whatever big feelings I was having His question always to me was can you control this? What can you do differently? And that really started shifting my mindset as to what can I do to change this. And if I can't, I have to let it go. I just have to let it go.
Speaker 1:So number three is focus on what's in your control. So list action steps that you can take today that will push your overall vision forward. And we have to remember that even the small wins are powerful and small wins are fuel and small wins are something to celebrate. You're just waiting. We can do this simultaneously. We can bloom when we're planted and be our best selves and grow in the way that we're supposed to grow. So when that opportunity comes of whatever it is that you've been waiting for, that, when it falls in your lap, that you're ready to move forward with it. So those are three things to take away from quote, unquote the waiting game. So let's not see that as a negative. Let's see that as a positive.
Speaker 1:So what is something you've been waiting on, and what would happen if you started showing up, like it was already on its way? What will you do differently? What will you start doing? What would you stop doing? You know, I would really love to hear your journey and those who are currently in the waiting game. I would really love to hear your journey. You know, I know there's some of us that are still in that waiting game. What does that look like and how are you feeling? And for those of us who have been in that waiting game and come out of the other side, what does that look like? You know you can share and inspire me and inspire others to keep going.
Speaker 1:So at Virago247, that's my Instagram handle or Facebook I have a Facebook group called Virago247. A Facebook group called Virago 24-7. So, as always, I thank you all. So, so, so much for being here today. Glad to be back. Hope all of you had a fabulous summer and we will be talking soon, but before we go, I want to leave you all with this Bloom where you are. Bloom despite the weeds and grow tall and beautiful anyways. Bloom where you are, even if you wish you were elsewhere. Take in all the light when the sun is shining, and know that the rain is necessary when it's not. Know that everything you need to bloom is right inside of you. You already have the strength and capability to grow. Nourish your body and take care of your mind. Keep learning and growing. Let your true colors shine. Thank you so much for listening to Virago 24-7. Let your true colors shine. 24 underscore seven. And on Facebook, at Virago 24 slash seven and just connect with us and share your story. We'd love to hear from you.
