Ep. 40 : Healing Through Play: An Inner Child Pivot Story With Shanna Stevens
What if your biggest pivot didn’t start with a strategy — but with laughter?
In this deeply human episode, Laura sits down with holistic life coach Shanna Stevens to explore grief, inner child healing, career transitions, and how play can become a lifeline during life’s darkest seasons.
Shanna Stevens is a holistic life coach, licensed educator, and speaker known for blending emotional depth with warmth and joy. In this powerful conversation, she shares the personal pivot that changed everything.
After leaving a codependent relationship and moving into a quiet mountain cabin to heal, Shanna found herself in deep grief. What unexpectedly helped her reconnect with herself? Play. Laughter. Creative video exchanges with a friend.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
✔️What it really feels like to leave a relationship and start over
✔️How grief can coexist with joy
✔️Why inner child work isn’t “woo” — it’s neurological
✔️How ignoring emotions eventually shows up physically
✔️Why high performers struggle to slow down and feel
✔️Navigating job loss and mid-career restructuring
This episode is both playful and profound, a reminder that healing doesn’t always begin with a plan. Sometimes it begins with asking: How do I feel?
Guest Information
Shanna Stevens Holistic Life Coach | Licensed Educator | Speaker
Website: www.shannastevens.com
If you’re in the middle of a pivot, relationship, identity, or career, this conversation is your invitation to feel, to play, and to trust that alignment brings peace.
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You are listening to the pivot point where we unpack the defining moments that shift careers and lives. I'm your host, Laura Dionisio, a founder of Lead Intact, and my mission is to spotlight the raw real stories behind career pivots, the fears, the hopes. The messy middles and the bold decisions that follow if you're feeling stuck or quietly wondering what's next?
Laura: I hope these stories help you see yourself a little more clearly and inspire you to start moving toward your own dream life. Let's begin.
Laura: Welcome, welcome Shanna to the Pivot Point Podcast. Shanna's a really good friend of mine. if you follow me on social media at laura.m.dionisio, you know that Shanna and I occasionally make these fun videos. I'm so excited y'all to have Shanna here today. Thank you Shanna, for agreeing to be on my podcast.
Shanna Stevens: You are welcome. Can me now? Thank you for having me. This is so exciting.
Laura: Okay, so before we get into it, I'm gonna read Shanna's amazing bio so that you all can get to know her beyond the banana microphone and the pen, microphone and the, the silliness that naturally comes up anytime the two of us are together. fine if you want seriousness, if you want seriousness, don't put us in the same room. Okay.
Shanna Stevens: That's right. That's right.
Laura: Okay, here we go. Coach Shanna. Steven is a dynamic, holistic life coach, licensed educator, and sought after speaker known for her infectious sunshine energy. With a passion for empowering individual to unlock their fullest potential, coach sh blends her educational background with unique holistic tools to guide clients toward meaningful transformation. As a podcast guest, she brings a wealth of knowledge and a warm, engaging presence that inspires listeners to embrace their journey to emotional wellness and self-discovery. Whether discussing the inner child, the healthy adult personal growth, or the importance of balance. Coach Shanna infuses every conversation with intuition and a healthy adult perspective alongside actionable insights when she's not coaching or speaking.
Laura: Shanna enjoys exploring nature and cultivating connections that uplift and inspire her. Join her on a journey of enlightenment and empowerment to discover how to bring more sunshine into your life. Thank you so much for being here. Shanna Banana. Okay. Talk. Real talk. This is how I actually start all of my conversations with Shanna.
Laura: We like send each other text messages, you know, social media reels and voice messages, and I always start with Shanna Banana. Shanna Banana, Banana.
Shanna Stevens: So fun, so fun to get in that energy. When, when, uh, when people. People close to me call me Banana, and when they call me that, it's like, oh, here comes the plate. gonna start playing. So I love when you do that.
Laura: yeah, let's start there because we've known each other. Can you believe this, Shanna? We've known each other for like five years. Yeah.
Shanna Stevens: Has it been that long? That's crazy. To me, it feels like forever. It feels like longer than five years to me.
Laura: It does, and at the same time it's like it's been five years. It's just, I don't know, when you meet like a soul sister, a playmate, you know, it just seems like forever.
Shanna Stevens: Yeah, it does. Yeah.
Shanna Stevens: Time doesn't even exist when we we're, when when we're in play, time goes by so fast.
Laura: Mm-hmm.
Shanna Stevens: Time doesn't even exist when we're in play,
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: So let's talk about that. play because while the play all caps, capital T, capital P, the play, so, so Shanna and I have known each other for five years, but we didn't start what I call like play. I'm putting, playing in quotes, but it's not in quotes. We didn't start playing together even though we don't live in the same city, let alone the same state until probably what, like a year ago or like a few months ago.
Shanna Stevens: I would say a year. It's been a year.
Laura: It's been a year, right?
Shanna Stevens: Yeah. Because that play, I remember that play. For me, it helped me go
Shanna Stevens: through some grief.
Laura: Mm-hmm.
Shanna Stevens: It helped me process, some emotions The play actually helped me come back to myself through going through what I was going through and to be able to laugh. So healing for me.
Laura: only as much as you are open and willing to, would you mind taking us through what was happening in that point? Because I know this is the pivot point, but truly the play and fun, sounded like it helped you in that particular pivot. It helped me as well. But I would love to hear, and for the listeners to understand what was going on in your life and how did play especially play with me, you know, with somebody else, really help you?
Shanna Stevens: Yes.
Shanna Stevens: I'm pretty transparent about what I went through because I know I'm not the only one that, that has gone through something similar. I was in a relationship and. Because of codependency and low self-worth, I lost myself. I lost myself completely to the point where I couldn't even show up for anybody.
Shanna Stevens: I couldn't show up for them. I couldn't show up for me, and I was in a dark place, and I ended up leaving that relationship. Not certain about where I was going, what I was doing. In fact, I remember asking my spirit guides, I have to have a place to live, outside this relationship. What do I do? And I was, driving up towards the mountains to literally just sit and feel my feelings.
Shanna Stevens: up on the side of, of the road, the last house, before I got to the mountains was a log cabin. And. just happened to be a for rent sign in the window. So I went and knocked on the door and this lady comes to the door looking like my grandmother, my maternal grandmother. And it was so strange. I said, Hey, I'm curious about this for rent sign.
Shanna Stevens: And she's like, Hey, my husband will show you up to your apartment. it was just like, oh, okay. That's strange. I ended up connecting with this, these homeowners, uh, the landlords. This log cabin, there's horses out front. It's such a beautiful place to come to and heal it was $200 under my budget.
Shanna Stevens: Everything was included. This beautiful log bed log cabin. You could kind of see the arches behind me and it's just full of wood. And so I was. I finally guided to this place to heal this dark place I was in, and I intentionally didn't put a TV in in here. So there was, there was no tv. I literally was with puzzles, I was with books.
Shanna Stevens: I was with my thoughts and my feelings with a cup of tea, some coffee, I remember being in fetal position on the couch and crying. So much emotional pain and agony. And I was like, who am I? am I doing? And I remember feeling lost. Um, I remember feeling hopeless, confused.
Shanna Stevens: And one of the points for me was I was doom scrolling, what I call doom scrolling, just kind of flipping through my. Social media. And there was something that made me laugh. I don't know if it was an animal or a baby, but something made me laugh and I was like, oh my gosh, that felt so good to laugh out loud. I want more of that. And so I looked more for, for that. In fact, I think that was the time when the trend was, you make the sound, I make the face. And I was like, we gotta do this, Laura. Let's do this. Oh my gosh. And we had so much fun doing that, and that literally gave me something to look forward to, to, to laugh and play with you. And then we ended up making fun of ourselves with our singing bowls and our chimes around Thanksgiving. And I laughed and laughed and it really helped pull me outta that dark place. But then I was able to have a little bit of hope because I was, was able to the grief, feel the pain, and then know that, that there's something on the other side of that. So that, that laughter was a big pivot point in, in that dark place that I was in.
Laura: Yeah. And you know what
Shanna Stevens: Yeah.
Laura: this too is because I didn't even know in the beginning that Shanna, that you were in a dark place. That you were going through a really a, was gonna say relationship pivot, but a life pivot And, and here's the thing. I have a lot of clients coming to me initially asking me for help in their career.
Laura: And then later we talk about the relationship. And so that's why I think this is an important topic. I know like this is the pivot point with career, but let's be honest, like life, be life and life isn't like, oh, okay, let's just focus in on career. I know relationship pivots happen, you know? And so I bring that up because for me, Shanna just sent me like a, this is what we would do.
Laura: 'cause we live in different cities, different time zones. We would send each other videos and we didn't know what the other was gonna send. And to Shanna's point, I also was just like, I'm so excited to get my work done. I think I was still working in corporate at the time and this is what the time like for me personally.
Laura: Looking back, was in denial of the pivot that my heart wanted, which is to leave corporate. So I was kind of in like a quiet space. Quiet like uneasy though. And so. you know, not wanting to really do my work, blaming myself, feeling lazy, feeling unmotivated, like just, just that cycle. But when Shanna and I started playing, it was like, oh, I can't wait to finish this.
Laura: Actually, I see that she sent me a video. If I finish this task, I get to watch it, and then I get to respond, you know? And
Shanna Stevens: Yeah, yeah.
Shanna Stevens: a big turning point for you. I remember that. And just sending each other random videos and then playing off of the video that was sent, it sparked creativity, spontaneity, which is from our child, right? So we were able to into our inner child, give that inner child, Play again, spontaneity again, joy, laughter, and it really helped create more healing
Laura: huge because I didn't even realize I was in a slump until we were playing. And I noticed, I started being excited again about my business, you know, you're, remember I was just kind of like, wow, this was so fun. And then you opened up to me with what was happening.
Laura: You mentioned inner child quite a bit, and for the listener who was like, I don't understand the hype with this whole inner child stuff, why is that important and what is the inner child.
Shanna Stevens: Love it. This is one of my favorite questions that I get. What is the inner child? When people say, the past is behind you, it's not, the past is in you. So the inner child is literally from when we're, um, ages zero to six years old. And that's, that's when we are so vulnerable. We're, there's no discernment at this age and everything around us, we try to take in as what is true for us. So that then becomes our navigational system when we're adults and let's say mom is, is cooking dinner and the baby's crying trying to get everything taken care of around her and the baby's needs. Mom ends up putting baby down on the floor to get other things done, but baby doesn't realize that mom's not coming back.
Shanna Stevens: And so it creates some neglect or abandonment, some kind of wounding. That wounding goes with us into our adult. phase of life we go back and we reparent ourselves. And there's something really big happening right now is people are going inner to do their inner work or inner child work.
Shanna Stevens: They're able to go back and literally give that little one what they never got. And it wasn't no blame on our parents of, of any kind. It the par our parents did the best that they could. And I love my parents For what they did for me. Uh, but they, they didn't know. They didn't know what they didn't know. Sometimes trying to, to help break up baby's sleep patterns is leaving 'em to cry in the crib at night. And yes, that can help one way, but in another way it's creating some kind of, of wounding or, or pain points for that child. And then that's what we get to take a look at as we get older. So that inner child is so, so sensitive, so important. we all have it. If you're human, you have an, an inner child or a few inner, children's, what I like to call 'em, that just wanting our attention. So that's, does that make sense?
Laura: It does, it sounds like it's really the path towards healing. And you mentioned earlier that it's the, it's the path where your true creativity lies. And just to give some practical examples for the listener. 'cause they might be like, okay, I hear you, but Mm. You know, like, mm, I dunno. In, in the moment when we first started playing, sending those videos, we even wrote a song, remember? That was, we co-wrote a song, which maybe add to the end of this podcast. We'll see how I
Shanna Stevens: That's a great idea.
Laura: yeah, you know what? Yeah, let's do that.
Laura: But give a practical example of how us basically letting our inner child play helped you in this post relationship Like what happened after?
Shanna Stevens: You know, that play I realized brought a sense of safety. The laughter brought in. I'm safe to laugh. I'm safe to extend myself to you to start being creative. Um, that that's really what the turning point was for me, is I felt safe . I felt I felt creativity. It was just never saw that coming.
Laura: Yeah, especially since you were describing that you were crying in fetal position on the sofa,
Shanna Stevens: yeah. So painful, so dark, so, so hard. Such a hard place. And then through the doom, scrolling. Not that that's my go-to tool, but at that time, that was pivotal for me to find myself joy, laughing the, what I consider the dumbest things, the silliest things that animals do or babies do or or children. And because that's what it was.
Shanna Stevens: I was watching a child being silly an adult, but to them they were just being themselves by saying, saying something or doing something that we would. Say it was wrong or incorrect, but they were just being authentically them. That brought me so much joy to watch that authenticity, and I was like, that's what that feels like.
Laura: Mm-hmm. And what it sounds like to me, first you emphasize that the safety was important, within yourself, but also to reach out to me. The joy, the creativity. It really sounds like you created space. And I just want the listener to know it's not that we replaced, it's not like Shanna replaced, her, her grief and, and all that with this.
Laura: So can you talk to us about what was that like holding both the grief and all that while playing? Like, how is that possible? Because I can see a listener being like, no, I, I don't see how you can play and be sad at the same time.
Shanna Stevens: that, that's a great question. So to hold both at the same time, or to, or not. What if, what if it's not holding both at the same time? For me, it was, I was chin deep in the grief and the pain, and looking for searching for a way. To feel different. And so going to my phone, it's not something I would do is go to my phone for an answer or a tool.
Shanna Stevens: But at one of the darkest moments, that was the energy I had, was to pick up my phone and move my thumb and, and that was it. So the whole both at the same time. I would say was able to do one while I explored another, and then as the exploration continued, the joy started to grow
Laura: Mm
Shanna Stevens: the grief started to not be covered up, but I was able to feel through the grief quicker because the joy and the laughter propel that.
Laura: I just quoted you. I was like, let me write this down. Okay. I have to repeat it. It was so good. I've got goosebumps. The joy allowed you to explore the grief you were feeling. And as you did that, the joy grew and it allowed you to feel through grief quicker.
Shanna Stevens: That was really good. I just got chills.
Laura: High five, mic drop with a banana. I think that's the beautiful thing about when we started this is we didn't, I didn't expect this.
Shanna Stevens: That's true. We didn't even have it planned out.
Laura: Nope.
Shanna Stevens: It's just like , what are we feeling
Shanna Stevens: next?
Laura: Mm-hmm.
Shanna Stevens: Such a bright, shiny moment on the other side of that.
Laura: hmm.
Shanna Stevens: You know, my, my relationships with my coworkers changed my relationships with my landlord, changed my relationships with my neighbors, and friends and family changed because of feeling, allowing to feel that, that dark despair and not hide it, or not push it down, , to spotlight it with the joy and recognize, Hey, I.
Shanna Stevens: I went through some pain. I went through some, some grief and loss, and I claimed that I owned that. And because I did that, I was able to move it through. And it doesn't sit in me anymore. It's not here. Joy is here. And the conversations that I've had with people, they're like, you're different. I was like, I hope so, man. I went through some stuff.
Shanna Stevens: and this is, this is what's cool. They saw, they, they physically saw a difference in me because I wasn't carrying that grief.
Laura: same, say more about that.
Shanna Stevens: So to carry that grief, that grief was so heavy that it landed me on the couch or on the floor, on my bed and not able to move. It was that heavy. So when you physically see somebody going through grief, they don't look happy. Their eyes, their their skin. There's a different tone, a different energy about someone just is carrying that. So when they said, you look different, there's something about you that was validation to me I did it.
Laura: Mm mm Oh, so good. Shanna. And you mentioned that, that there was a, a light. At the, the end, right?
Laura: Like, tell us more, like what changed? We did the play thing. You started opening up more flowing emotions, more what was the light at the end of this tunnel? At the end of this pivot? What happened afterwards?
Shanna Stevens: I ended up spotlighting myself. I literally changed my hairstyle
Laura: You did.
Shanna Stevens: Differently through this. Yeah, because that version of me, I didn't know, I didn't recognize anymore. And so I ended up being a lighter, more playful, enjoyable person. people were like, you seem light. Lighter through this. So in the end, I, I was, it was me at the end.
Laura: Hmm. I love that. And because you spotlighted yourself. Shanna may not brag, but I will brag for her in Shanna spotlighting herself. I know a lot of people commented, like on social media, on LinkedIn, like, you look different, something's different about you. And Shanna's like, oh, it's my hair, of course.
Laura: And they're like, no, something else. There's
Shanna Stevens: That's true.
Laura: And, and weren't, you also asked to be a speaker? Like
Shanna Stevens: I was like, in this energy, so, tell us more. How did that happen? See, like, Shanna's not, she's not gonna brag, but this is what friends are for.
Shanna Stevens: well, thank you. Thank you.
Shanna Stevens: I, I receive, I had an opportunity to become a, a keynote note speaker and. Share a little bit more about the tools that I used. and we literally spotlighted the inner child work through this keynote speaking opportunity, and I asked in advance to please have tissue sitting around the tables around the room.
Shanna Stevens: And there was probably 50, 60 people in the room as we. did an inner child, script with them where they were literally visually themselves as a child and then bringing them with them, and half the room. I'm not kidding you, half the room was tears they, I had, uh, a handful of them stay afterwards to get more questions answered , they said that they've never had. The permission to cry, let alone cry in a full room of people. They found themselves crying.
Laura: like, sorry to interrupt, but like give context for the listeners in case they're thinking, oh, this was like a life coach retreat or whatever.
Shanna Stevens: No, this was a, this was an annual wellness, conference that they've had, other speakers come in and talk about wellness. And, they said, she, one of the directors said to me, so it's quite common that they, they have similar topics and similar things happening every year. Do you have anything different that you can
Shanna Stevens: do for them?
Laura: And this
Shanna Stevens: I said, yes,
Laura: right? Like this wasn't
Shanna Stevens: yes.
Laura: coaching space. That's what I wanted to let the
Shanna Stevens: This, this is the corporate world. Yeah, this wasn't life coaching. This is your everyday, man, woman going to work. I don't think they realized what they were coming to when they saw.
Shanna Stevens: I called it from knowing to doing so. They knew the information, but they didn't know how to do. So what we did is we tapped into that inner child and then they started feeling something so to do is
Shanna Stevens: in your body,
Laura: Mm-hmm.
Shanna Stevens: to know is in your mind.
Shanna Stevens: So we went from, from knowing to doing, they started feeling something around that child energy. I gave them tools. We, we went through tools to tap back into that, to help change mindset. We changed mindset through feeling, feeling different. Not just knowing, but doing. And the people in the room were just, it was so simple. We took it to childlike. So simple. All that child wants is a hug. Are they willing and open for a hug? Can you tell that your child. What you never got to hear. And the room I hear the sniffles and I, I start seeing people grab their kleenexes and just something as simple as that sparked something in them to make some changes. It was so powerful. It was so beautiful.
Laura: Powerful.
Laura: Mm-hmm.
Shanna Stevens: So after.
Laura: tool that the listener can, can take that you shared? Just so like, like, I'm sold this corporate, know, setting child people crying. What's one tool they can use, starting today.
Shanna Stevens: Ask yourself, how do I feel first thing in the morning? How am I feeling? You give yourself permission to feel you. You literally are going in a different direction. Or how am I feeling? If you get asked to do something, how do I feel about that? So one tool ask, am I feeling? How do I feel?
Laura: I love that. So listeners. Very simple tool. You can start after you finish listening to this amazing episode. How do I feel? How did I feel listening to Shanna share this story? I
Shanna Stevens: Hmm.
Laura: love to know like what are some of the things that people, you said people came up to you afterwards.
Shanna Stevens: They did. So this was so beautiful. There was three sisters there that showed up at this workshop at the same time. They never do workshops together. They, they just happened to be in the same town and city and came to this conference, this workshop together. So three of them showed up afterwards and, one of 'em was in tears and she's like, I feel like.
Shanna Stevens: wasn't enough for my sisters. I feel like I wasn't seen and heard. It was so heartbreaking. as the person in front of her, literally validated her and said, it sounds like you felt like you weren't heard and seen. And she's like, yeah. And her sister sitting next to her said, we had no idea you felt that way. And so it really created this little. Family reunion of, of come to come to Jesus type energy of, wow, we didn't know you felt that way. And she had never cried in front of her, her sisters before. So she was giving herself full on permission to be vulnerable from our child in front of her sisters in this moment that she's never had before.
Shanna Stevens: And it was so beautiful and vulnerable. It was, um. Life changed. She told me it was life changing. To have the realization that she was able to give her little child in that moment permission to feel seen and heard, and then her sisters validated that we see you, we hear you.
Laura: Hmm.
Laura: What I love most about this is a lot of very success oriented people. I'm gonna raise my hand 'cause I definitely was one of those. Get so wrapped up in their career and doing better. And what I love about this story is that I'm sure many if not all of the people came to this conference with the idea of how can I use whatever's taught to help me further my career?
Laura: And what I love is that people came up afterwards to talk about how you made an impact ' cause I think that's what us very success oriented, high performer people forget is. We are human first and it's so important to address like shanna's sharing inner child like whatever you're feeling on the inside whatever beliefs you may have picked up along the way.
Laura: So I really, really love that story. Shanna, I
Shanna Stevens: Thank you. I like the way you bring in the high performer. There was a lot of high performers in that room. Yeah. And to watch them come to a tier in, in just a vulnerable place was very empowering. The other group that came. To me also said that it was very vulnerable or empowering to see people be in touch with their emotions.
Laura: Mm-hmm.
Shanna Stevens: That right there was so empowering, just to hear the feedback. So as a high performer, you know, high performers, like you said, we're, we're human first and inside humans are emotions, right? So. What, what was it for you, Laura, as a high performer? At what point did you say, Hey, this is, I have emotions and feelings that, that are in there.
Laura: Mm-hmm.
Laura: I liked to ignore my emotions.
Laura: I'm like, this is not helping me climb the corporate ladder, so therefore it doesn't matter. And. I'm sharing this because I ignored it so much that it got to the point when I finally got some space not because I created space, but because at the time that's just the situation I was in. I started having physical manifestations. So this is why I always caution high performers, you think you're okay now, but at some point your body's gonna be like, Nope. And that's what happened to me, is I started having panic attacks. I started being unable to breathe, just looking at my calendar. And of course I hadn't done this work yet.
Laura: You know, this was the beginning of my journey. I didn't, I was like, inner child. Like I don't why, you know? But it was at that point where I was like, well, something has to change. Now granted, my motivation was something has to change because this 10 minute anxiety attack is keeping me from my work.
Laura: So my intention wasn't great, I'm just being real. over time, like Shanna said, it's like I started discovering the, like the childlike joy in things. I'm talking about looking at the snow, like I'm talking about literally stopping and smelling the roses, and then it's like I woke up and I was like, is all this for? When I actually don't even feel great. That's weird. I guess my feelings were trying to tell me something. Imagine that.
Shanna Stevens: Yeah. Yeah. So it was a physical manifestation for you?
Laura: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Because I was ignoring the whispers, and the hints that
Shanna Stevens: Yeah. was trying to tell me.
Shanna Stevens: Well, yeah. You had to get the thing done at the right time at the right, you know.
Laura: Yep. Yep. A plus plus.
Laura: I want to pivot, no pun intended to basically why so Shanna's a really good friend of mine. If it wasn't obvious, I wanted to pivot on like what we initially came in here to talk about, because I think it's really important for the listeners, obviously everything we talked about also, like really, really good for the listeners, both of us are, we're like mid pivot after the pivot.
Shanna Stevens: Yeah, I, I would say I'm right in the middle of the pivot.
Laura: mm-hmm. After, and, and this is what I think is important for the listeners to hear. Sometimes you make that big pivot. You're like, aha, I'm on top of the world. And then you look up, you're like another mountain. So Shanna, tell us about this pivot, this mid pivot, and how is it different from the last pivot, whether it's relationship, career, or whatnot.
Shanna Stevens: Oh, this is so good. Oh, so yeah, relationship. So the relationship with my is where I go with this. All the relationship with myself and others, is what I just got done talking about. But the relationship with my career, my career is literally, I'm in the middle of this. And I wanna share a, a story here real quick while we're talking about this. I was hired at, in, in an organization for, diversity, equality, inclusion. And, the administration had changed and things had changed and so many companies had to restructure. There was a, a lot of restructuring going on around this. And I had built, a lot of. Of improvements and things that were very positive, that the community was loving, the staff and employees were loving.
Shanna Stevens: And then it came to a, a halt. And, last day in that organization was December 30th. So like a month ago, and knowing that that was coming to an end, I found out about it, halfway through the year. But the, the organization was so grateful, so gracious to keep me on for a few months while I transitioned. And so I knew it was coming to an end, so I put myself out there, in the, the resume world and nothing was landing. And so it got to. of December, felt myself starting to get anxious. I started to feel the fear creeping in and I was so curious. I was like, where's this fear coming from?
Shanna Stevens: When I feel fully supported and I know I'm gonna be okay? Where's this fear coming
Shanna Stevens: from? And so I was sitting in my office, here's the story I'm gonna share. I have this button. Cute little button. I was sitting in my office the last day that I was to be there sitting with a coworker who I was training to take over some of my responsibilities and, uh, I, I felt, started to feel anxious again.
Shanna Stevens: That anxiety come up and whatever reason. I looked down on the floor and I see this button on the floor. Now, I wasn't wearing anything that day that matched this button. My coworker wasn't wearing anything. There was nothing, no couches or chairs that carried this pattern. And she's like, Ooh, there's a message in that for you.
Shanna Stevens: You should look that up. And I was like, oh yeah, I tell everybody else to do that. Thank you for telling me.
Laura: Mm-hmm.
Shanna Stevens: I looked it up. I looked up. Random button found on the floor. What's the spiritual message of the random button found? it came back to me and it said, one door closes needs to close before another one can open. And it was, I got chills throughout my whole body. She got chills. I started getting teary-eyed. She got teary-eyed and she says, there it is. You have to close this door before the next one can open. And it was so profound, and that brought so much peace into my body. She's like, you, you look different.
Shanna Stevens: Like even after just that short message, something's different about you. You know what it was, it felt aligned. I felt alignment in knowing that one thing needed to close before the next opened , and that alignment brought me peace.
Laura: Oh God. That's so good. That's so good.
Shanna Stevens: So I hang onto this button. As a reminder, there are doors closing as other ones are opening.
Laura: Oh my God, my heart feels so full.
Laura: You know, what I love is that when I asked about what's different about this pivot compared to the previous, you were real. You didn't go straight to I'm at peace. took us through like the vulnerable moment of Yeah, I felt some fear and what I'm hearing from you that the listeners can, can take from this.
Laura: It's like it, when you are aligned, it doesn't mean that you don't feel fear anymore. You still feel it. The differences, Shanna chose to turn to curiosity. Like, where is this coming from? Without trying to find an answer, without trying to solve it. And then Shanna was open to signs and messages, she then listened to her body where she felt alignment and that's what led to peace.
Shanna Stevens: Yes.
Laura: I love that. And so, yeah. Because here's the thing, it's like I can imagine the me of 10 years ago. Who's feeling the fear? 'cause I very much was a little bit a, you know, I'm a recovering control freak. I'll admit it. And the thing is, the issue that I had before about the woo stuff is that I felt like what, you just sit there, meditate and it comes to you.
Laura: But what I heard just now, with Shanna, no, she's taking active choices now. I think the trouble sometimes with high performers, with, I dunno, the culture we're in is we think action is sending out resumes. Talking like physical action. No, but Shanna took action. She chose to turn to curiosity.
Laura: That's a choice to be open. a choice. To listen when her coworker's like, you should look it up, you know? So all of these are active choices, and so I think the listener can take from this is no, we're not just gonna go sit at the mountain and, and meditate and wait for things to come.
Laura: It's no. You the opportunity to actively choose where your thoughts go, how you're feeling. And
Shanna Stevens: Beautiful.
Laura: I,
Shanna Stevens: Yeah. Thank you. I love that.
Shanna Stevens: You know, the old version of me took the word job. This is what was taught to me, quite a few years ago. The word job was just over broke. JOB just over broke, and they taught you don't wanna be in your typical JOB. You wanna aspire and do things differently. that came to me the middle of this letting go the next one comes. Someone recently said it's like a trapeze, a trapeze person that's hanging onto one and letting go. There's a moment of time where there's no hanging onto any of it. You're in the middle of that. That's where I'm at right now, becoming something is coming. And so I get to be. So to become, I took the word JOB and I said joyous opportunities becoming, and the energy just holy shifted for me.
Shanna Stevens: many opportunities are coming to me right now. I know it's, I got chills all the way up the back of my head and it has been so fun just to see it different, to stay curious about it, to stay open, to be, just be.
Laura: I was gonna ask you like any advice you want for somebody who's in the middle, but you just said it. That reframing instead of just over broke to joyous opportunity becoming, that's it. I love it.
Laura: for people who are like, I want more Shanna. I wanna work with her. I wanna be in her energy. I wanna see what these play things that Laura and Shanna are talking about. How can people find you and connect with you?
Shanna Stevens: Yes. Uh, be on the lookout on socials for our play and, comment, jump in, enjoy with us. Um, I'm on social. I'm on uh, Instagram, LinkedIn Facebook. Um, then Shanna stevens.com is my website. I do an inner child guide, uh, a soul guiding questions. I've got a PDF out there. If they just email me, I'll, I can send it out to.
Laura: Okay. Love it. I'll put all of that in the show notes.
Laura: Listeners Shanna, I have one last question that I ask all my guests. I'm very curious how you're gonna answer this. The question is, if you were an item in a coffee shop, you can be anything. You can be a drink, a pastry, non-food or drink item in a coffee shop, what would you be and why?
Shanna Stevens: I love that. I would be, I would be the sunbeam coming through the light,
Shanna Stevens: through the window.
Laura: Oh,
Shanna Stevens: Can you feel that?
Laura: Mm, mm-hmm.
Shanna Stevens: That's what it is. And I would shine on your. Your coffee bean. I would shine on your laptop. I would shine on your smile. I would shine for you.
Laura: Oh, I got the biggest smile. Oh, right. Now it, this is Shanna. This is so good.
Laura: I'm so happy. I'm so glad we did this. Thank you so much for being here. And I know we're gonna do more things together, so stay tuned. Listeners,
Shanna Stevens: Yep. Yep.
Laura: All right. Thank you so much, Shanna
Big thanks again to Shanna Stevens for sharing her story so openly. These conversations are such a reminder that no pivot is too messy, too late, or too unconventional if something she said resonated. Don't keep it to yourself. Share this episode with someone you know who needs it, and when you are ready to start your own pivot, head to www.leadinta.com or free resources or book a free 20 minute call with me.
I'm here for you.