What if the real block isn’t leaving your comfort zone, but believing you have one in the first place? We explore a gentler, more powerful approach to growth: living as expansion. Instead of muscling through fear, we look at how language, identity, and energy can shift the way you move through your day so progress feels safer, more aligned, and actually sustainable.

I share how a single phrase - “stepping outside my comfort zone” - felt small and constricting, and how replacing it with “I’m expanding into this” changed my choices and calmed my nervous system. We unpack the psychology behind comfort zones, where it helps and where it hardens into a limiting identity. You’ll hear a simple metaphor for dissolving edges without burnout, and why the body responds differently when you frame growth as expansion rather than threat.

We also dig into practical tools you can use right away: micro expansions that compound into big shifts, a body check to discern danger vs. expansion, and a morning question that anchors you in your highest self. I walk through my “alter ego” practice and how living in her for one decision can change your frequency, your tone, and your outcomes. The aim is less forcing, more allowing; less proving, more becoming.

If this conversation lands for you, share it with someone who’s ready to stop shrinking and start widening the perimeter of who they already are. Subscribe, leave a review to help others find the show, and tell me: what imagined boundary will you dissolve today?

🦋 Would you like help walking through these steps, or with accountability, or deeper dives into these topics? Interested in learning more about working 1:1 with me to transform your life in your rediscovery? Schedule a free Discovery call with me here: https://stan.store/edgeofreal

🎧 Follow Edge of Real on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. And share this episode with a friend who you would like to help.

✨ Find me on Instagram @edgeofrealpodcast

📌 Leave a review, then email us a screenshot at edgeofrealpodcast@gmail.com and we will send you a beautiful free digital journal to help you work through some of your thoughts and get some clarity about what you truly want out of your life.

📹 Photo by Rob Merritt – used with permission.

🎵 Theme Music: Home by Vlad Gluschenko @vladest_art — Home

License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported: ...

We explore how self-trust erodes through small betrayals, then rebuild it through nervous system regulation, compassionate reframes, and seven practical steps that create proof you can rely on yourself.

• how self-trust erodes through people-pleasing and overthinking
• signals of lost self-trust such as overexplaining and decision paralysis
• energy, alignment, and why doubt repels what you want
• fear as self-protection and walking with it anyway
• regulating the nervous system to access intuition
• seven steps to rebuild self-trust with micropromises and action
• journal prompts to anchor insight into daily life

If this episode resonated with you, please share it with a friend. Also, feel free to leave me a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to help me reach more women who could use this kind of message and support.

If you’ve been listening and thinking, yes, that is what I need, I’d love to invite you to book a free discovery call with me through the link below.

🦋 Would you like help walking through these steps, or with accountability, or deeper dives into these topics? Interested in learning more about working 1:1 with me to transform your life in your rediscovery? Schedule a free Discovery call with me here: https://stan.store/edgeofreal

🎧 Follow Edge of Real on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. And share this episode with a friend who you would like to help.

✨ Find me on Instagram @edgeofrealpodcast

📌 Leave a review, then email us a screenshot at edgeofrealpodcast@gmail.com and we will send you a beautiful free digital journal to help you work through some of your thoughts and get some clarity about what you truly want out of your life.

📹 Photo by Rob Merritt – used with permission.

🎵 Theme Music: Home by Vlad Gluschenko @vladest_art — Home

License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported: ...

We take a hard, honest look at shame - the kind that tells you you’re the problem - and trade the old scripts for a new practice of self-return. Along the way, we unpack how culture taught many midlife women to internalize blame, explore why younger stories are reframing shame as something external, and draw strength from surprising places: the action-packed K‑pop Demon Hunters with a deeper message and Keely Jones’s refusal to carry someone else’s violation in Ted Lasso.

I share the language that helped me separate identity from behavior, and a personal moment of catching myself mid‑edit—tempted to polish away my pauses—then choosing to leave them in as an act of unshaming. From there, we get practical with four simple tools you can use today: name the shame and bring it into the light, regulate your nervous system with 4‑7‑8 breathing, reframe with compassion by asking what you needed back then, and take one inspired action that tells your brain it’s safe to be seen. We close with a journal prompt to help you hand back what never belonged to you and a reminder that freedom isn’t earned; it’s remembered.

If you’ve been shrinking, apologizing, or second‑guessing your voice, this conversation is a gentle push toward clarity, confidence, and self-acceptance. Listen for relatable stories, actionable steps, and a steady invitation to live unashamed—without waiting for permission. If this resonates, share it with a friend who’s ready to set down her shame, subscribe for future episodes, and leave a review to help more women find their way back to themselves.

🦋 Would you like help walking through these steps, or with accountability, or deeper dives into these topics? Interested in learning more about working 1:1 with me to transform your life in your rediscovery? Schedule a free Discovery call with me here: https://stan.store/edgeofreal

🎧 Follow Edge of Real on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. And share this episode with a friend who you would like to help.

✨ Find me on Instagram @edgeofrealpodcast

📌 Leave a review, then email us a screenshot at edgeofrealpodcast@gmail.com and we will send you a beautiful free digital journal to help you work through some of your thoughts and get some clarity about what you truly want out of your life.

📹 Photo by Rob Merritt – used with permission.

🎵 Theme Music: Home by Vlad Gluschenko @vladest_art — Home

License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported: ...

You now that quiet nudge you sometimes feel inside, that whisper that something just feels off? That heaviness in your body, flatness in your mood, or racing thoughts you can't quiet? These aren't random feelings - they're powerful signals that you've drifted out of alignment with your authentic self.

In this deeply reflective episode, we explore what it truly means to live in alignment and the subtle (and not-so-subtle) ways our bodies tell us when we're off course. For so many women, especially in midlife, we've followed external rulebooks for so long that disconnection becomes our normal state. We handle everything - career, family, home, relationships - while feeling increasingly empty inside, waiting for some future moment when we'll finally "get to" live fully.

Your body knows the truth before your mind does. Those knots in your stomach, that tightness in your chest, the shallow breathing - these physical sensations are your nervous system waving red flags, asking for your attention. Understanding how your nervous system works reveals why you respond the way you do to stress and why those responses might have worked in the past but no longer serve who you're becoming now.

The journey back to alignment isn't about thinking your way through - it's about feeling. Through simple somatic practices, like the 90-second exercise shared in this episode, you can learn to acknowledge sensations, give them space to be felt, and watch as they naturally move through you rather than staying stuck. This acceptance is the beginning of freedom, the first step toward making conscious choices rather than reactive decisions.

Ready to reconnect with your truest self? Try the suggested alignment practices this week, including the somatic reset and taking one micro step that feels aligned with who you really are. And remember—living in alignment isn't about perfection. It's a continuous practice of noticing when you're off, tuning in to what that's telling you, and gently choosing again. Your path to alignment is waiting, and you don't have to walk it alone.

🦋 Would you like help walking through these steps, or with accountability, or deeper dives into these topics? Interested in learning more about working 1:1 with me to transform your life in your rediscovery? Schedule a free Discovery call with me here: https://stan.store/edgeofreal

🎧 Follow Edge of Real on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. And share this episode with a friend who you would like to help.

✨ Find me on Instagram @edgeofrealpodcast

📌 Leave a review, then email us a screenshot at edgeofrealpodcast@gmail.com and we will send you a beautiful free digital journal to help you work through some of your thoughts and get some clarity about what you truly want out of your life.

📹 Photo by Rob Merritt – used with permission.

🎵 Theme Music: Home by Vlad Gluschenko @vladest_art — Home

License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported: ...

Ever feel that familiar tightness in your chest when someone says something that pushes your buttons? That sensation isn't just discomfort, it's a doorway to profound personal growth.

Emotional triggers - we're taught to avoid them, manage them, or push them down. But what if these uncomfortable moments are actually powerful mirrors showing us exactly where we need to heal? In this deeply personal episode, I share a recent interaction that could have sent me spiraling into old patterns of people-pleasing and self-abandonment. Instead, it became a catalyst for standing even more firmly in my truth.

The difference between peacekeeping and peacemaking transforms how we handle triggering situations. Peacekeeping comes from smallness - abandoning our truth to maintain an illusion of harmony. Peacemaking emerges from strength - honoring ourselves while remaining kind. One drains us; the other empowers us.

Your body remembers past hurts, which is why seemingly small moments can feel so overwhelming. When someone's criticism activates old neural pathways, you're not just responding to the present moment but to every similar wound from your past. Understanding this mechanism gives you power to choose differently.

I walk you through a practical six-step process to transform triggers into growth opportunities: pause and name the emotion, regulate your nervous system with breathwork, identify the underlying belief, reframe it with compassion, take inspired action, and extend kindness to yourself throughout the process. This work is especially powerful in midlife as we shed old roles and find our authentic voices.

Ready to see your triggers not as setbacks but as signposts pointing toward your truest self? Listen now, and discover how life's most uncomfortable moments might actually be invitations to become exactly who you're meant to be.

🦋 Would you like help walking through these steps, or with accountability, or deeper dives into these topics? Interested in learning more about working 1:1 with me to transform your life in your rediscovery? Schedule a free Discovery call with me here: https://stan.store/edgeofreal

🎧 Follow Edge of Real on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. And share this episode with a friend who you would like to help.

✨ Find me on Instagram @edgeofrealpodcast

📌 Leave a review, then email us a screenshot at edgeofrealpodcast@gmail.com and we will send you a beautiful free digital journal to help you work through some of your thoughts and get some clarity about what you truly want out of your life.

📹 Photo by Rob Merritt – used with permission.

🎵 Theme Music: Home by Vlad Gluschenko @vladest_art — Home

License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported: ...

What happens when you stop waiting to become your future self and simply embody her right now? Discover the radical power of living as if you're already on the other side of transformation.

Most of us believe identity transformation happens after achievement - once we've lost the weight, gotten the degree, healed from heartbreak, or figured everything out. But what if this approach has it backward? Your identity isn't just a story you tell yourself; it's a frequency you're broadcasting into the world that shapes what comes back to you.

The most profound changes happen not by asking "how do I get there?" but "who am I when I'm already there?" This episode dives deep into the science behind identity as energy, backed by Einstein's E=mc² and Tesla's teachings about frequency. Your thoughts carry electrical signals, your emotions add magnetic resonance, and together they create an electromagnetic blueprint that influences everything around you. When you align your thoughts, feelings, and actions, you create coherence that magnetically draws your desires closer.

Through practical embodiment practices like morning check-ins, visualization, body language resets, and detachment rituals, you'll learn how to make the micro-choices that gradually tune you to your highest self's frequency. This isn't about becoming someone you're not - it's about finally allowing yourself to live as the person you've always known was inside you. The universe meets you where you are, but it also rises to meet you wherever you're brave enough to go. Ready to step into your fullest expression?

Listen now, and remember: you're not lost, you're on the edge of something real.

🦋 Would you like help walking through these steps, or with accountability, or deeper dives into these topics? Interested in learning more about working 1:1 with me to transform your life in your rediscovery? Schedule a free Discovery call with me here: https://stan.store/edgeofreal

🎧 Follow Edge of Real on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. And share this episode with a friend who you would like to help.

✨ Find me on Instagram @edgeofrealpodcast

📌 Leave a review, then email us a screenshot at edgeofrealpodcast@gmail.com and we will send you a beautiful free digital journal to help you work through some of your thoughts and get some clarity about what you truly want out of your life.

📹 Photo by Rob Merritt – used with permission.

🎵 Theme Music: Home by Vlad Gluschenko @vladest_art — Home

License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported: ...

Midlife transitions often strip away roles that once defined us, leaving us questioning our identity and worth beyond titles like mother or wife.

• Society tends to assign women value based on what we do for others
• Roles like mother, wife, and caregiver become entwined with our sense of self
• These roles are parts of us but not our complete identity
• When roles change, we have the opportunity to rediscover our authentic selves
• We can choose which aspects of former roles to keep and which to discard
• This transition is about rediscovery rather than replacement
• Journal to explore who you are when no one needs anything from you
• Experiment with new passions or reconnect with old ones
• Reconnect with your body through movement and self-expression
• Use your voice to say yes or no according to your true desires
• Create regular rituals of self-expression without agenda
• The woman who emerges isn't smaller without her roles - she's bigger and more authentic

If you'd like coaching support through this transition, find the link below to schedule a call with me to see if working together makes sense for you.

🦋 Would you like help walking through these steps, or with accountability, or deeper dives into these topics? Interested in learning more about working 1:1 with me to transform your life in your rediscovery? Schedule a free Discovery call with me here: https://stan.store/edgeofreal

🎧 Follow Edge of Real on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. And share this episode with a friend who you would like to help.

✨ Find me on Instagram @edgeofrealpodcast

📌 Leave a review, then email us a screenshot at edgeofrealpodcast@gmail.com and we will send you a beautiful free digital journal to help you work through some of your thoughts and get some clarity about what you truly want out of your life.

📹 Photo by Rob Merritt – used with permission.

🎵 Theme Music: Home by Vlad Gluschenko @vladest_art — Home

License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported: ...

Reclaiming visibility in midlife means finally aligning the version of yourself the world sees with the woman you truly are inside. In this episode of Edge of Real, I share personal stories and practical tools to help you rediscover your identity, step into your authentic confidence, and embrace the power of becoming visible again.

Here’s what we’ll explore together:
• The moment an acting coach’s simple question exposed how I had abandoned my true self
• Why assertiveness is not selfish - it’s the bridge between integrity, self-expression, and empowerment
• Six ways to reclaim your visibility in midlife: personal style, speaking up, challenging limiting beliefs, pursuing new passions, building meaningful connections, and prioritizing your physical presence
• How power posing for just two minutes can shift your hormones and boost confidence
• The link between intermittent fasting, clarity, and reclaiming personal power
• Journal prompt: What identity inside you have you been putting off choosing?

If you’ve ever felt invisible or disconnected from your real self, this episode will remind you that midlife isn’t the end of your story - it’s the beginning of your most authentic chapter.

Download the free guide with 6 Ways to Reclaim Your Visibility in Midlife https://stan.store/edgeofreal

🦋 Would you like help walking through these steps, or with accountability, or deeper dives into these topics? Interested in learning more about working 1:1 with me to transform your life in your rediscovery? Schedule a free Discovery call with me here: https://stan.store/edgeofreal

🎧 Follow Edge of Real on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. And share this episode with a friend who you would like to help.

✨ Find me on Instagram @edgeofrealpodcast

📌 Leave a review, then email us a screenshot at edgeofrealpodcast@gmail.com and we will send you a beautiful free digital journal to help you work through some of your thoughts and get some clarity about what you truly want out of your life.

📹 Photo by Rob Merritt – used with permission.

🎵 Theme Music: Home by Vlad Gluschenko @vladest_art — Home

License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported: ...