Something New: You Can('t) Close the Book
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Good day, good people. This is the Imperfectly Phenomenal Woman podcast. I am Lauren. I am the host and the producer of this pod. And in each episode, I'm usually interviewing different women about limiting beliefs that hold us back from living fully and authentically. What I've been doing is the first two episodes of the month will typically be interviews with guests and

The third episode of the month will be a solo and the fourth episode of the month I will rest. But last week I was in Seattle working at a conference, so I missed my solo episode. So we're going to supplement it with this. And when I was thinking about what I should talk about in this episode, I had this realization that I am in such a point of change in my life that

in all the best ways. And so I think the limiting belief that I wanna talk about that actually just came up for me is that you can't close the book. So if you followed this podcast for the last few years, you would more than likely know that I named the different chapters of my life.

I've had a chapter called becoming, a chapter called leveling up, alignment and transitioning. It typically helps me know where I am in my own particular lifetime line and what I'm focusing on for the next months, years, whatever else. Naming the chapters has always been helpful for me. But now I think I'm at this point where I'm not just ending a chapter, I am ending like

a full on section of the book. I might be like, you know how books have series? So Harry Potter, you know, they got however many books. I might be ending a whole book now, y'all. Like what? So let's talk about it, about chapters, about books, about the different seasons of life and what might be coming next. The last book that I had was probably from 24 years old to 34. I'm 34 now.

And that book had multiple chapters. And when I look back on what that book included and like what that time in my life was the last 10 years, I think I would call that book the shakeup.

There is so much that happened in my life in those 10 years. So much. And so much change that happened in those 10 years. I experienced real loss. I experienced real love. Oh my goodness. Real love. I started the pod. I went to grad school. There was so much loss.

learning and laying of a foundation of my life and exploring and discovering and really getting an opportunity to meet myself between 24 and 34. And I think I would call it the shake up because everything that I thought to be true, or just in general, the way that I experienced the world before 24 was completely changed over those last 10 years.

My worldview was shaken up. My belief systems were shaken up. The people around me were completely shaken up, as in like changed. 24 to 35 was the laying of the foundation of who I am now. And who I am now often finds, I find myself thanking my past me for future things that I did to set myself up for where I am now. I'm consistently saying thank you to my past self.

for the work that I did. I also love that I got to travel so much in those last 10 years. I went to Santiago, Chile. I went to Helsinki, went to London, did solo travel for the first time and realized that I love solo travel. I need to go back to London again. Overall, that book of my life, The Shake-Up,

was a period of self-discovery, growth, and grounding into who I am. And so here we are now. It is 2025, 34 years old, and I know that I'm about to write an entirely new book. Entirely new, entirely different. There's about to be so much change that happens

after this moment. I don't know what's about to come, but I do feel really good about it. I'm not gonna lie and say that I'm not nervous about it because it's unknown. I don't know what's coming next, but I do trust that God has a plan for whatever is about to happen next for me. And what I do know about God is God don't play by me. He does not play by me, child. So I trust whatever is about to happen next.

in every area of my life, whether that's my work life, my love life, my joy, my health. Like I am at a turning point where there's so much new on the horizon because I've closed the book or I'm closing the book of that past chapter or past book of me, The Shake Up. And since things were shaken up, now I'm just in this place. I don't, I don't,

Well, fingers crossed that there's not much more shakeup that's about to happen. I think shakeup will always be a thing, but that's not, I don't feel like that's where I am anymore. I think things have kind of settled where they're settling and I can move forward feeling grounded in the new and the unknown. I think a part of what will be new next is I've had it in my spirit for a while that I'm only going to try to get to 200 episodes of this pod.

I say only like 200 isn't a lot, but I have like 15 more to go after this. Well, including this probably. 200 feels like a really solid spot. And then I think I want to press pause on the pod or even close that book too, because 200 is a really solid ending number for me, I feel like.

And after I end that, I think I want to just focus on whether it's creating. Well, I know I want to focus on creating the docuseries, but a part of me wants to get into like improv. A part of me wants to just, you know, have fun and dance. A part of me wants to create an entirely another show, right?

A comic book series, I have a lot of things in my spirit to make and create. I'm learning and accepting now that I am a director. I have been a producer. I am a host. I am a speaker.

It took me years to get to this point where I'm like, oh, this is the direction that I'm going and this feels right. And this is who I am. It's funny because a friend told me the other day, he's like, Lauren, you've always been a director. I'm like, okay, you know, you don't always realize who you are. And sometimes other people can see it so clearly in you. And they're right. I've always been a director of sorts, right?

But now I am actually claiming it because I do have vision. I also feel like this next part of my life, I'm about to do a lot more interviews with other people. Like for these last however many years I've been bringing people on to interview them. I think I'm at a point where I want to go on other people's platforms to be interviewed. Because you want to know what? There's so much less work involved in that. So much less work.

I'm so comfortable just showing up places and speaking. But when I have to also edit it and when I also have to invite people and when I also have to do so many other pieces to make this thing function, it makes it harder to manage. And I really want my focus right now to be on film. Acting keeps coming up in my spirit. It's the weirdest thing. So maybe acting. I don't know. That feels so weird. I don't know.

What? I don't know. We'll see if that becomes a thing. But I'ma just go with it. Let's just flow. See where I land. It's been dope to have this thing recording my life since 2019. Like I have this entire book almost of this series, like this volume recorded almost each week-ish. That's pretty cool. But it's not just pod that's about to shift. I

I love that I'm smiling as I say all this because I know I'm like so ready for whatever this next shift is about to be. I really don't know where I'm going. I know that I want to help homeless folks. I want to go on other people's platforms. I don't know. Even as I say all this, my body feels different. This is exciting. I don't know what's about to happen.

But let's go. I want to submit to film festivals. Oh, you know what else I want to do? I want to submit this podcast to different festivals and such.

I don't know. I don't know why I didn't do any of that at the beginning of this or while I've been recording it, but I feel like when I'm done, I can actually, well, you know, I could do it now, but when I'm done, I want to submit it to different festivals and such for review and, you know, who knows? Who knows? Who knows?

Who knows what's about to happen next? I don't, but I'm here for the ride and I'm here for wherever the road is about to take me. We're about to walk this path, y'all. I don't know where your path is leading, but we about to walk this thing. We is gonna walk this path and we are going to let it unfold. I'm not forcing nothing on this path.

You are not about to force nothing on this path. We're going to let this path unfold because I trust whatever God got in store for me. I know it's going to be good. Why? Because I know abundance is his will for me. So I'm about to be Gucci. Let's go. So ready. Where are we going?

I don't know. I'm getting in the car though. Join me. Join me in the car. Join me in the car. We are about to ride off into the sunset, my guy. It's going to be cool. This is going to be great. It's time for something new. And so as for now, this next book that is about to be written, I'm just going to call it something new for now. Just something new. And I encourage you to think about where you are in your life.

Are you starting a new chapter? Chao, you know what I forgot to mention just now? Also, my one third life crisis happened during the shakeup. Wow, what a time. But where are you right now? Are you in your one third life crisis? Do you feel like you are at the beginning or the end of a chapter in your life? There are no set time limits for any of these things, by the way.

If you're in a chapter, like what would you name this chapter of your life? Like I mentioned, I've been in ones called leveling up, alignment and transitioning, becoming, you can name it whatever you like. You could just keep it simple and let it be what it is, you know? Or do you feel like you're closing out an entire book or maybe it's just a single book with parts in it? For me, I feel big, big changes coming every

And I don't know what it is. I don't even really know what I'm walking towards. Actually, I have a general idea of what I'm walking towards. But what I've also learned is not to limit myself to the confines of my own imagination because what I have seen happen in my life and how big it can be in comparison to what I thought I wanted and needed is

it would be foolish of me to just try to go with what I think I want for myself. So for you, what chapter are you in? What's the name of this book? Are you happy with where you are? Or do you need a change? If you've been supporting me since 2019,

Let me just say thank you. I'm so grateful that you have been listening to this pod for however long that you may have been listening. This might be your first episode. This might be your hundredth. Who knows? But I hope that you have gotten something from it. I hope that you will go back and listen to other episodes too if you haven't listened to them all. It's still going to be here. I'm not deleting it off of the apps.

And I might repurpose episodes in another way at some point in the future. But just know that I appreciate you and the time you've taken to spend with Imperfectly Phenomenal Woman. So with that being said, let's do a few more episodes, a few more interviews, a few more solos. I'm smiling as I say this. And then we gonna close this thing out and go into the next book, something new. Love you, darlings.

I hope you have a fantastic week. If you want to connect with me, I am at IP woman podcast on Instagram on Instagram.

whatever else I'm on, it don't matter. Also go to lauren.e.will. That's the main one that I view on my personal page. I was hiding from myself for a long time. Something else that happened during the shakeup. Then only to realize that, you know, I should just embrace who I am on my personal page. So I spent years building up IP Woman podcast on Insta and

And, you know, now just leaning into me and who I am. So follow at Lauren.E.Will. Also, feel free to share this podcast with a friend. If you've been listening to it for a while, feel free to leave a comment on or a review on Apple Podcasts or maybe on Spotify. I think people can review on Spotify. I don't know. But anyways, I will chat with y'all next week. Farewell.