81: The Power of Pause — Finding Clarity in a World That Won’t Stop Moving with Karen Bartholomew

Welcome with your host and business guru, Nakisha King. This podcast is the ultimate destination for women creative entrepreneurs who want to break free from burnout.

If you are overwhelmed by client demands and feel like you're doing this all alone, you, my friend, are in the right place. Now let's dive in for steps to take back your time and see simplify your workflow. All right, Nikisha, take it away.

Hello, gorgeous.

Welcome to the Iconic CEO Podcast, where we have amazing iconic creative entrepreneurs, coaches who come into this environment and share a little bit about their story and how they're helping you transform in your journey.

So for today, we have the amazing founder of the pause method, Karen Bartholomew, who empowers women and leaders to slow down and unlock their full potential.

With over 14 years of experience, Karen's coaching, her philosophy encourages intentional reflection and align action, enabling her clients and you to shed false beliefs and achieve sustainable success. Success. She's our person, people. She's one of our persons. Here is.

Her approach emphasizes the power of pausing over constant doing, AKA stop doing all the busy work, fostering confident and purposeful leadership. Karen, I would love to welcome you to the Iconic CEO podcast. Thank you so much for joining us.

Oh, my gosh, thank you so much. I'm so honored to share this message with you all.

Oh, we are as well, because I am very aware of busy life. I used to live that life, and that life drained me more, than sustained me, more than helped me with my goals.

And I think, think a lot of people hearing the pause method. I know maybe a question was sparked. What is the pause method? If you don't mind just jumping right into that.

Yeah.

And so I literally was just like, I'm tired of hearing everybody's voices. I'm tired of doing everything else that everybody wants me to do. I'm tired of saying yes to each other, to everything, and I'm exhausted.

And so somebody introduced me to this equipment, this awareness class where I could go for three days and really see how I was playing life. And I'm like, I'm in. And so when I got into that class and I really was like, whoa. Right. I literally took on myself for four months.

I'm like, I'm just going to do all these classes. I'M going to find out awareness of how I play life. I'm going to find out how I take it on physically and mentally.

And then I took a leadership class to find out how I ineffective lead from the side, from the front, from the back, from all over. And that just took me into this coaching platform, you know, that I helped people within 90 days break some huge, huge goals.

And so when I went through that, being sick of me, whatever the version of me was at that time, it was literally a long four month pause for me.

Right.

To really just get in there and figure out what did I want to create in my life moving forward. And so that's what I did. So it was a big pause, but my pauses are different.

My first real pause was taking a, you know, as a busy mom, taking a walk to the mailbox. Right. Just to take a moment for me to stop the busyness and just get still. Right. We just move so fast in this world.

And so that's how the pause method got started. I realized the steps that I was taking, I'm like, I need to put this together to help other women, you know, help other leaders in, in any industry.

And so that's how the pause method came about. I finally just put it together in an acronym and like I just broke it down. And that's pretty much what I coach on. Yeah. And it's been amazing.

It's been great to see the impact and how women have actually moved out of that, you know, woe is me or like, I'm just so busy and I'm not. All my dreams I put aside and like, I'm just a mom and like, you know, all those things that we say in our head. Right, right.

And so it's been great to really unravel that with women and have them break free from a lot of stuff that they're carrying, either from the past conditioning or just listening to other people's voices and finally saying no more.

So good. The reason I love this is when you say the pause method, sometimes people go to the extreme, right.

Sometimes they think pausing means stopping for like months or a week and not doing anything and sitting still. Right. And they get really nervous about that.

But what stood out to me is when you said, even just walking to the mailbox, that's a pause because you're going to come back to the noise. I remember one moment when I first had my first daughter and that was a hard time. Not hard.

It was just a transition, working mom to non working person. And I wasn't a Working mom. I was a working human without kids to now, not working with a child. It felt really, you know, out there.

And there was one evening, or I should say one morning when she woke up, but I was exhausted and I remember her crying and I just had to go outside in the stillness of the night. It was like one or two in the morning and I could hear her crying on the inside from the window. But I just needed that moment.

And that moment for me was a lifesaver moment. It was just a moment to breathe and be still, even if it was for a minute or two. And then when I went in, I was able to give her my all again.

But I just needed that moment.

The permission, right? We have to give ourselves permission to take a pause. Yeah. I mean like literally when I used to be in board meetings, right?

And I'd be like, okay, something wasn't resonating, something was not feeling well. Well. And I would literally just say, hey, can you hang for just two minutes?

I just need to like go, you know, run the restroom, whatever you're going to say, right? Just so I could ground myself again. We just don't know. We're in this crazy fast paced world, right?

So like even like I was dehydrated for 10 years, right? And I didn't know I was dehydrated and took a, took a pause to really identify, you know, knowing that I wanted vitality in my life.

It's like, what do I need right now? I started drinking water every day and I'm like, whoa, that was not normal, that was very unhealthy.

But I didn't know because I was in it for so wrong, right? So really it just took somebody's challenge me to drink water every day.

And now when I get dehydrated from, you know, medicine or whatever it is, I'm like, whoa, I know what that is. Let me grab some water.

Right, right, right. You grab the water.

We need for the next two hours to make sure that we are taking care of ourselves, to be the best that we can be in the next couple hours. Sometimes it's just that two hours at a time.

Now let me ask you this. Why do you believe stillness is such a radical leadership tool for women, especially those who are used to moving fast and achieving more?

Because I think it comes from the achievement that we are not staying still. We're busy, busy and busy, right? We all want to achieve, especially as women. We have found our path in this world with power.

So tell me, why do you believe stillness is such A radical leadership tool for women.

Stillness is radical because it interrupts the programming that we have in our life.

Programming from, you know, conditioning all of our life from, you know, everybody else, kind of filling in our words, which become stories in our heads and sometimes they're not right.

But as women, especially those of us in leadership, we've been conditioned to believe that our worth is tied to some kind of output, some kind of performance to prove something right, achieving, doing whatever that is. So the pause method was born out of my own exhaustion.

I mean, I realized I was sprinting through life trying to meet everyone else's knees while silently disconnecting from my own real truth. And so pausing allows us to actually hear ourselves again.

It's not about doing less, it's about being more and aligned with who we truly are, the essence of the woman that we are. When a woman learns to pause and she becomes dangerous in the best way because she's no longer reacting, she's leading from clarity of who she is.

You know, it's all those voices like, you know, do this, do that, do this, do that. Right. I mean, I was so stuck a couple years ago, like living under somebody else's rules and it wasn't resonating.

And I really struggled for like a couple of years and I finally broke free of that and quit that job.

And as soon as I did that, I went to the mountains for a week, no phone, via creek, rented a cabin, and I literally got still for a whole week for myself.

Now I know a lot of people can't do that, but I was really able to redesign what I wanted, how I wanted to live and how, what I wanted to create for the next chapter of my life. And so it's just really, really important. Even women in organizations, you can just take a 10 minute moment.

A lot of us don't even like eat during the day because we don't take that time just to take a walk, you know, or just to like. I know some people that go under their desk and take like a 10 minute, just nap and it gets them for the rest of the day.

I love that. Go into your.

Just shut your door, close it, you're under, they don't even know you're in your office. Right. So it's a cool thing.

That's so, so true.

Yeah.

And, and you sharing that it is radical.

But it's not that people can't do it, is people don't choose to do it because the way that they value that, they may not value it as much as the Achievement that they're hungry for.

And it's a choice that the fact that you can go away for a week in a cabin, no phone, it's available to every human being, but you have to be willing to choose it. And let me tell you the truth in regards to this. People will choose it. That moment where they fall to their lowest.

And what you're in the world doing is say, you don't need to fall to the lowest. I can help you do it now where you're still on your high. That's the difference.

There's always a moment in people's lives that they have to choose that because they're forced to, because they're no longer able to cope.

Yeah.

They're trying to help. Yes. And you're helping them get there without having to go through that painful moment. And that's where it is.

I've been there, girl, so many times, you know, I, you know, literally for like five, four decades. Right. So I want to be able to share the message so other women don't have to go through that so they can actually recognize it before it happens.

Right, right. How do they see the signs that it's approaching? Right.

I think the issue is that we're so ingrained in the subconscious mind that we just keep doing things on autopilot that we don't really know how to get out of it.

Exactly. That's exactly what it is.

Yeah.

Subconscious autopilot. And that is exactly how the subconscious works. It's not doing anything bad. It's doing its job.

And that is its job it's been doing for billions and billions of years.

Right? Yes, yes.

So we understand that now with us being in a hustle culture as we can see it. I want to ask you this, actually, I want to go back. How can you personally see fear isolate women from their purpose or their potential?

And what I mean by that is, like when we think about why they're doing what they're doing, why they're hustling, it comes from a place of fear. Fear of not having their freedom, financial freedom, the freedom to grow, do whatever they want in the industry that they're in.

But how has it isolate them, this fear, from their purpose or potential? And what's one moment where fear almost kept you from stepping into your next level? So share with us.

Yeah. So fear is a way of masquerading as logic. Right. And it thrives in isolation.

I've coached so many high achieving women who looked put together on the outside, but internally were like so stuck in the loops of doubt and fear of judgment and fear of being too much, you know, And I know the loop because I lived it.

The moment that stands out to me is when I was considering hosting my first retreat and I had the vision, I had the heart, had the message, but I almost didn't launch it because I told myself, you know, who do you think you are? Right? What if nobody shows up? Right? What if. No, you know, who's going to pay for that, right? So I played.

I almost played really small for a moment, but then I actually, you know, took the time and like I. But I felt it. So here's the deal about this. I literally took the moment to feel it and I'm like, wow, like, how did I get there again?

Like, what, what was that? Right?

And it didn't last long, cuz I can bounce pretty quickly now and I can recognize it because you know that the brain works really hard to keep us really comfortable, right? You know, and in suffering mode most of the time.

But I told myself, you know, I paused, I challenged that belief and I asked, you know, what if it works? You know, that shift in perspective from fear to faith, right. Changed everything.

And now I've created spaces where women don't have to hide behind fear anymore.

Because if you really look at what fear is, fear is actually, we really don't know what's going to happen an hour from now when I get off this podcast, I don't know what's happening tomorrow, right? So what happens? Fear comes from bringing our past history, and I always call it a history, a library of history.

We bring it forward and we attach some story to the fear and then we don't move, right? But really, if we don't know what's going to happen and this universe is working for us, then what do we really have to be scared of?

I mean, this world's been working pretty well on itself for a long period of time. We don't really need to have a memo, right? Yes. Or the agenda. Right. I mean, I mean, it'll just keep moving on, right? Regardless of what we do.

And so what I challenge women to do is like, where is that fear coming from?

When do you first remember as a small child, like, having that come into play, and then we like look at that and go, okay, so that was when you were 14 years old. Like, but is that true today? Are you really not safe today?

And so, yeah, we can go back and remember evidence from the past, but if we really look at today, right, it's like, it's not true. Like, because, you know, I am safe, I'm in a great community, I have a house, I'm married, blah, blah, blah, whatever those things are.

And then all of a sudden, it's like, you can see people go, they really think about that. It's like, well, then how would you show up every day, every morning if you knew you were completely safe?

Right?

And people are just like, like, you know, and that's when you tap into really like, okay, now let's move into forward, into faith. Right? And what you can design for your life because now you're not coming from a safe freedom. Right?

Okay. So good and so factual. A lot of. I have an acronym for fear. It's false evidence Appearing real. It came from. I think it's either.

I've heard it many times. I don't remember who said it, but it's so true.

It's so true because you're looking at your past. You're taking that evidence and applying it to your present. And then you're making that your future. And then you're scared to do the action.

And then you don't do the action. You don't get the outcome. And then the spaghetti theory goes in. Let me throw everything at the wall and see what. Right. And that is it.

So I loved how you share that. And I want everyone listening to understand fear doesn't exist in regards to your life not being at jeopardy.

There's no bear in front of you, no lion with their teeth showing, with their salivating over you. That's not happening.

Just because you take your story from the past of an experience you had no control over and apply it to your today where you are fully able to choose. You have to learn to disconnect that. You have to learn to ask, what if? What if there are women out there who want to show up for my retreat?

What if a woman's out there willing to pay that number? I'm so scared to ask, what if it's all about her and not me? What if?

Yeah, that's big. Because if you take the focus off yourself and just who you're serving. Yeah. It completely changes your outlook.

It changes everything because it's not about you and it's never about you.

Right. It's like when you walk on stage, don't if you're nervous about it. I mean, you can still be scared and very confident.

Right.

In your message.

Let me tell you, I'm going to be honest. If you walk on the stage and scared, you're focusing on you Yes. I promise you, there are days I walk on stage and I'm not scared.

And I know I'm not scared because it's not about me. It's about the one person in the crowd who needs exactly what I'm giving. That is why we are there together.

It's a point in time where we're supposed to meet, and it's a point in time where I'm delivering. And once I'm done delivering, I may meet that person again. I may never meet them again, but my job is done.

Exactly.

That is it.

A hundred percent.

That is the intention. So now let's go to hustle culture.

Oh, okay. Okay.

So we hear a lot about hustle culture, but not enough about the cost of hustle culture. What did breaking free from Hustle look like for you?

And how can ambitious women begin to reclaim their time without feeling like they're giving up their drive?

Yeah. So my first thing is time blocking. Right. I'm a huge proponent of being a student on my calendar.

But besides that, breaking free from hustle wasn't about walking away from their ambition. Okay. It was really about reclaiming ownership of how we lead and live. Hustle had me performing, like, checking boxes, chasing numbers, always on.

But inside, I was depleted and really disconnected. I remember at a time because I've been in the mortgage business away from this.

This that I do for 17 years, and someone said to me, I want you call 100 realtors today. And I'm just thinking to myself, wow, okay, I'm on.

But what I realized in doing that is I lost the humanity of myself and the humbleness because I was so, like, focused on the number of making. Making sure I hit that number right so I wouldn't get in trouble or whatever that message was at the time. But if we reclaim on how I lead and live.

Right? Like, really, if I took a deep internal work to untangle the value from my productivity, for me, the pause wasn't a detour.

It was actually a breakthrough. So now I help women reconnect with purpose so that their drive is rooted in alignment, not burnout. And burnout's real.

Let me tell you, reclaiming time doesn't really mean you're giving up success. It means you're finally defining it in your own terms. And so I know that I can get all my work done.

Like, you know, I work from ten to four every day, and. But that first part of my morning is for me. Well, I don't have any young kids anymore. Right. They're all adults.

And so that first numbing is for me and my little pup, right? I literally just designed my morning and it took a while to get there, but like, I designed my morning to what works for me.

You know, I get up, I have my coffee, I work out. Then I actually will read a devotion. I'll read 10 pages of a book that, you know, I'm always learning. I love to learn, right?

And you know, and then I'll actually put with my dog for a while, throw the, you know, the ball in the backyard and do whatever. And then by the time that I get ready, it's always 10 o'. Clock. It just, it just happens, right?

But then I stop at 4 and that's my time also to be able to reconnect with friends or my parents or, you know, make phone calls to my kids or whatever it is.

And then the evenings, really, for me, it took me a long time to get that down because when I first became an empty nester after being a single mom for like, you know, 20 years, I didn't know what to do myself. Like, if I wasn't busy, I was like, oh my God. My kids were like, mom, you gotta get some hobbies.

So I really, really had to like, figure this out for myself. And I. And I did. But it took a lot of pausing, a lot of pausing.

You know, I think we're programmed to do a lot because when you're in school, you're programmed to become an employee. You become the employee, you're in full. I gotta make the money because I have to survive, which I understand.

And then the moment where that pause, a lot of MD nesters go through it because you don't have the kids. You might be in a transition of not working the regular way. You used to work because you're maturing and, you know, in time.

And then there's what to do with myself. It's something that I interestingly was aware of and I started to put things in place. So for me, what that means is I learned how to play mahjong.

A lot of older women play it. So I went and I played. I love it. We get together and we play. I like it because it stimulates my mind, it keeps me on top of my game.

But I like it because I have some community. And these are women who are not young and in corporate or in coaching, they have the retired, right? Yeah, they are. They have the time to do this.

And their kids are not 10 and 13 like mine. They're. They're adult children. But I like it. And I wanted to have something because I love building.

So when my girls go to college, I don't believe I won't have anything. There's a couple things I have also going on. But I always tell my husband when they go, that's our time to shine. I don't know. I would relax.

I could relax because I've created those days for me now so I don't have to transition into that. I already live it. So it becomes habit. Like how you said you have your mornings and your evenings and your. That's yours.

But that's what I want people to know. That is all available to you. Now, you may think it's not, but it is available.

It is.

You don't need to be an empty nester. You don't need to retire.

I know. I.

Yes, yes. You can make what you wanted to hear.

You're doing it now, right?

Yeah, I'm very clear. People call it boundaries. I don't call it boundaries. Friday through Sunday is just my days. I just choose those days to be mine. I claim my days.

Monday through Thursday, I will work and give you all of me because that's the days I've decided to give you all of me. But Friday through Sunday is the day I don't compromise, you know, And I don't want to ever compromise.

I hold those sacred, like how you know your program that you're building. So I totally get that. So I want everyone listening to this to know that, one, you're not by yourself.

Two, what you're looking for is available to you. The fact that Karen has the pause method and you're like, this sounds like something I'm interested in.

I want you to definitely go on our show notes and get her information there. And I just want you to know she is really good at what she does and I want you to trust it. And you don't have to do anything big.

You don't have to make any choices, just a conversation to start so she can know where you are and help you in that journey. So authenticity often feels like a buzzword. Everyone is using it on social media.

Being authentic because, you know, back in the days, everybody was fake. Today is like, let's be authentic. Let's be our real self.

Right?

What does being your authentic self mean to you? And what are the fears or beliefs you think most women need to shed to actually live that way in business and in life?

Yeah, being authentic is real. It's being your true self. Right. Authenticity for me means no longer like shape shifting to be palatable right.

It means, you know, I'm not shrinking my voice to make other people comfortable or staying in roles that no longer fit me because they once did. But even I'm not the same person today as I was yesterday, right?

So a lot of people, like, they, they're a different person today, but they're still living in that container from before. And that container is very small, right? And so you can only fit so much water in this container, right? In this bottle of water.

The bottle is actually the container and we're the water, right? And so you can't expand outside because you keep fitting into the bottle of water, right?

So what I would say is that it's the courage actually to live and lead from your truth, not performance. And so. But to live that way, we have to shed some deep rooted beliefs.

So the ones that, you know, that we have to earn our worth or that it's safer to be silent, or that we can't have both softness and power, you know, as women, you know the word. Well, she's aggressive. That used to really bother me, right? And I'm like, I'm not aggressive. Like, I just like, get the shit done, right?

You know, so do you want me to get it done for you or, you know, like, you know, to be stuck in that word, right? And after a while I was like, I just changed the word when I hear it. I'm just, I'm. I'm compliment. It's a compliment to me now, right?

Where before I'd be just like, ugh, authenticity is born. When you stop asking, why do they want what? Who do they want me to be? You know, you start asking, who does God? God is for me, right?

Whoever it is for everybody else. But who did God create me to be? That's the work I do inside. My new program, Santum is helping women to return to their original version.

You know, I always ask, you know, when we're born, everyone thinks we're just these precious little babies, but somewhere along the line in our, you know, you know, our years, we decided we're not precious anymore. I'm like, how did that happen?

I know how when you started having free will, when you started having your own opinion, you were no longer precious. You were the rude kid.

Yeah. And I went out in the world, you know, with all of this stuff. We go out in the world at 18 and then I'm like, oh, my God, I don't know who I am.

And then we bump up against things that we're like, well, I know I'm supposed to do that because I've been told that way all my life. But I'm like, that's not aligning with who I am.

And so I really help women and go, well, who is that person down there in the pit of your stomach, right? Because that's the person we want to come out. We want to take that subconscious autopilot belief, right?

And we want to bring it conscious so then you can't stick it back there anymore.

A lot of times, you know, we ask people, you know, what would it be like to live in, you know, safe or to live worthy or to live, you know, after we go through a series of things and they literally get stuck because it's so deep in their subconscious. But once they start thinking about it and bringing it out, you can't push it back in there anymore. It's there.

So when something bumps up against, you know, your belief or who you true, your true essence of who you are, you don't need to react anymore. I always say there's a trigger and then there's a reaction or a response, right?

So if there's a trigger and there's a reaction, that's not really good. It's not really a rounded response. There's some work to do in the gap, okay? And that gap is where all the work happens. Like, why were we triggered?

What happened to us that, you know, somehow up here, you know, the stories that we tell ourselves, which are just made up of words, right? Like we can change the narrative because that was back then, right?

And then the trigger and the response, you know, when you said the in between. The in between is your interpretation.

Yes.

The trigger is the circumstance. The trigger is not really a trigger. It's an action of someone else.

And when you see it, that action, you, the in between, interpret it based on your values and beliefs that you've been given or programmed to believe. And if it goes against that programming you are, then there's something that goes to you, especially if it goes against your programming.

Like it's wrong is how you see it. You would then get into. And this emotion will be triggered. This emotion will come up. You'll be angry, you'll be sad.

And every emotion you have, you have a physical portrayal of that, your action. That's the reaction, right? So when you're angry, you're yell, how do I know?

For instance, Karen is angry because she's yelling or she's very passive aggressive, right? And it's not because of the trigger. It's because of how she interpreted A circumstance that happened. You know, someone said you're aggressive.

So how did Karen interpreted that? I'm aggressive. Remember what you said?

Your meaning of what the word aggressive meant back then was, like, negative, because that's maybe what you were taught. You were taught that was. Or you seen it, or that's how you interpret it.

And now when you're passive aggressive because someone said that to you and how you interpret it, it's your action. It's something I learned about. And this process I just shared with you, I learned because that's how I coach myself.

So normally when something happened and I have an emotion, no matter what the emotion is, I'm not triggered by society. I'm not nothing. It's like, nikisha, what are you interpreting? What are you making it mean? What are you making it mean?

That's the question you have to ask yourself to find out that in between space, between the trigger and the reaction, what are you making it mean?

Yeah. I call it our perceiving self. It's how we perceive ourselves, which a lot of it is probably a lie, you know, the lies that we tell ourselves. Right?

Yeah.

Yeah. Because a lot of it's not true. Right. So really, I encourage people to be very curious, like, be a little inspector.

Like, interrogate your beliefs when you get triggered. Right. Like, figure out why. Why that's going on. Right. So just even with family members, right. I was very triggered by a lot of stuff.

And finally I was just like, you know what? They don't know any different. They're, like, stuck. And the perceiving self of whatever happened to them, you know, and I can.

I can let them be how they're going to be and still stay very grounded.

Yes, yes, very grounded.

And also, though, to put some, you know, things around that.

That said, I'm only going to spend so much time with that person, and when that person starts coming up against me, it's no longer good energy for me. Then I actually can give myself permission to, like, say, oh, I have to get going for whatever reason. Right.

And so I don't stay in spaces long enough to allow that to happen.

Remember the board meeting that I said when something stirs up and you just want to, like, like, or tell somebody, you know, they're not correct or something, it's like, ground yourself, figure out what. What is that? Do you really have some real truth that they're going down the wrong rabbit hole, then?

Yeah, you need to come back and present it in a way where your audience is actually going to hear it.

Okay.

Yeah. So, you know, it's. It's just a lot of that is work, I gotta tell you. It's work. However, the other side of that is so wonderful.

It's so, so much freedom to be able to live from there.

And then what happens is, even if you're doing the work right, then the people that are in your world start seeing that, and they're like, what's going on with Karen? Like, she's like, you know, coming from a different world, but I like it, but I don't know what it is. Right.

Exactly.

I mean, parents change their parenting, right? And all of a sudden, you know, divorce. Divorcees, right. Start.

You know, they see this change in this person, and they're expecting a certain way because that's the other thing. It's like, people expect us to be a certain way. They're comfortable with that way because it actually allows them to be who they are. Right.

Which sometimes isn't healthy. But when you get healthy, like, this is where you could lose some friends and some family members at different times. Right.

Because you're getting healthier and they don't like it. It's kind of like an alcoholic that gets sober, and now that. That a partner doesn't know how to deal with the sober person, they like the alcoholic.

Yes.

You know, and I'm like, oh, man, I got to figure this out, because this is a new person. I don't really know. You know, I like the drink. Right. Or whatever it is. Right.

Yes.

So, yeah, so. And I've. I've.

I've had to take an inventory of a lot of people in my life, and I've had to, like, tell myself, well, they were here for a great season. I learned from that relationship, but it's time to let that relationship go.

So good. So true.

Yeah, so true.

I want to talk about the iconic CEO energy.

Oh, yes.

Now, if you're speaking to a woman who is burned out, playing it small, or letting fear lead, what would you say to remind her who she is and what's possible on the other side? If you can give me three things, like, so we can give her three actionable steps for her iconic CEO. Go ahead.

Sure. I would look her in the eyes and say, you're not broken. You're buried and buried under expectation roles and some survival patterns.

But what's your truth? It's still there. And what is the fear that you feel that's covering it? Right. Because the. We're down here, amazing human being. Right.

And what happened is all these fears and different things are just, like, on top of it, and it's just dimming your light. So once we let all that stuff go, then we can actually. Our light just comes through. It's just the voice of old programming. It's not your future.

Right. You were never meant to hustle your way into worth. You were born with it. Precious being. Right. And you don't need to become anything.

You just need to return to who you are. And so.

And that's the work that I love to do, is help people bring that back out and become this bright light where they can be free of all those old patterns.

So good. Thank you, Karen.

You're so welcome.

Thank you for your knowledge, your wisdom.

Thank you for your experience you've encountered so you can produce this for the people who are right behind you, right beside you, who are struggling with this. And this is the one thing I love about the environment or the world of coaching. It became big during COVID and before that, people were doing this.

We had Earl Nightingale. We had so many Napoleon Hill.

Oh, my people. Right.

As. Right. They were always in our world. We just never called them coaches in that moment in time. Right.

But they were always here, those guys. Right.

Yes. And notice they work all my training. Yes. But notice they were men. And men have masculine energy compared to feminine. There's a difference.

So the fact that now you're offering this to help women, especially moms, especially corporate, when we're juggling a lot, we require it. I remember my transitional years. I didn't have it because this wasn't a thing when I had my baby.

Oh, yeah, me either. Yes.

So nowadays, I hope a lot of our beautiful listeners take advantage of. Right.

Yeah. And I would say when you talk about the masculine energy. Right.

It's like I feel like, you know, women keep adding more and more and more to our world and keep getting more and more exhausted. And I would like them to coexist with their, you know, the masculine in their world. Actually, let's add a little bit to their plate too. Right.

Instead of us just taking it all on, I think we've taken on a little bit too masculine. And I'm not saying bad standpoint. Some of us have had to do that.

Right.

Which is fine.

But, like, let's get back to where we share the wealth of raising our children and share the wealth of our homes and share the wealth of our worlds together.

And that's exactly where you find your yin and yang and your harmony.

Yes.

That's why I never believe in balance. I Don't want to balance anything. I want harmony. Yeah, yeah, right. Like integrated balance.

In my world, I'm like, there's no balance.

There's never balance. I gave that a long time ago. I was like, no, I just like harmony. And I feel like that has given me such joy between my husband and I.

Like, we are that harmony and it has helped us grown so much as human beings and as couples. Right. So, so, so good. Thank you once again for your time.

Thank you for contributing to the growth of our podcast and also to the growth of our listeners. I truly appreciate you everyone. Thank you guys for tuning in today. I will see you next week.

Have an amazing week and definitely hit that review, hit that follow button and make sure share with us your take on this. I would love to hear from you on here, on this page or even on Instagram. And before you go, Karen, how can anyone find you to connect to you?

Well, they can find me on Instagram. Just Karen Bartholomew, FaceTime Karen Bartholomew. I have my own website, Karen Bartholomew.com. however, it is getting revamped as I shared with you.

We're launching a new program for high level women that are in, you know, entrepreneurs or corporate. Basically it's going to cause be called Sanctum, which is a sacred space for private retreats and coaching for women.

Perfect. Thank you so much.

Appreciate you so much. It was a pleasure.

Thank you for joining us today. We loved having you with us. Remember, each action you take, no matter how small, adds up to big results.

If today's episode fired you up, hit subscribe for more insights and visit our resource hub which is linked in the show notes. There you'll find tools to streamline, organize and grow your business. Keep moving forward and we'll be right here to cheer you on next week.