Others’ Opinions & The Pursuit of Dreams

Welcome to the joyful journey podcast. If you're looking for more clarity in your life, clarity of purpose or how to activate that purpose, and you are someone who wants to operate from your highest self to be a force for good, you know this world craves, then this is the show for you. I'm Anita Adams, your host and guide to finding clarity and creating a life you love. Let's tap into our inner wisdom, access our highest self, and unleash joy. As we do this, we raise our vibration and heightened the collective consciousness. And that, my friend, is the joyful journey. Let's dive in. Hey, joyful journeyer I need to Adams here your host and today I want to talk about how to continue to follow the whispers of your soul, even when there are those in your life who don't believe in you, or try to push you down a different path. These people who often freely give their opinions and feel they know best could be well meaning parents, partners or friends. And it can be very difficult not to be influenced by them. I understand this scenario. Well, several years ago, I started a second business in the network marketing industry, which I built on the side of running my nonprofit film agency, and which by the way, I still do when I started this side business, I received a lot of negative reactions and unasked for opinions. I had people questioned my commitment to my nonprofit film business. Mark my foolishness for getting sucked into a pyramid scheme. roll their eyes when I shared what I did. And I was told unceremoniously by one of my friends that she will never buy anything from me, even though I never once asked her, and then a somewhat snide tone, she added, and Sara will never buy anything from you either. Those first few months in my new business, were by far the hardest. In some ways. I think I was driven by pure determination to prove all those naysayers wrong. I'm pleased to report I did, and that feels good. I can understand how some people just say screw it, though, and give up. It's hard standing in the face of rejection and judgment. That doesn't feel good. You know what feels even worse though. Giving up on yourself and letting the opinions of others dictate your life. If you are listening to the whispers of your soul, and going after your dreams, you will be confronted by people who don't believe in you, or who want to steer you in a different direction. This can happen for a number of reasons. Most commonly, these people who are trying to shut you down are looking at you and your dreams through the lens of their own self limiting beliefs. You playing big, which is what you're doing when you listen to your soul voice for guidance can initially make others feel uncomfortable. I say initially, because given time, if you continue to play big by going after your dreams, you inspire and empower others to do the same. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you are doing something others don't approve, find the courage to hold true to your own path. You'll be miserable if you don't. I've got three tips for you that will help you stay the course and hold on to your dreams. First, connect with others like you who are doing the same thing or something similar. Whatever dream you are pursuing. There are others who have gone before you find them, connect with them get inspired by them. No matter how niche The thing is you are pursuing or interested in pursuing. There are people out there doing the same thing. It's never been easier to find your tribe either. Start by searching Facebook groups to use my husband as an example he got into rebuilding and making things on old Singer sewing machines. Turns out there's a thriving Facebook community of people posting photos and sharing stories about their latest sewing machine find and the cool things they are making with these machines. So look for your tribe and get connect did. The second thing you need to do is trim the fat. What I mean by that is, let go of those friendships with people who don't believe in you or want to hold you back. You may not have to permanently end the friendship, you may just need to restrict your time with those people until you feel more confident in yourself and the path you were on. I put a friendship on hold for six months with that friend who felt inclined to tell me that she nor our mutual friend Sarah would ever buy products from me. I needed that physical distance from this person who clearly didn't support me and what I was doing. An interesting side note, our mutual friend Sarah not only decided to buy my products, she ended up becoming one of my business partners. That felt really good. And I had to restrain myself from flaunting that when in my friend's face boy, boy did I ever want to flaunt that one. If you have a spouse or partner that doesn't support you, that becomes a lot more difficult to deal with. In this case, I recommend having an open and honest conversation with your significant other with the goal to better understand their objections and concerns. Again, it is likely this person is simply seeing your aspirations through their own limited self beliefs, and are fearful for you. They may want to protect you from getting hurt. A heartfelt conversation can go a long way to win their support and ease their discomfort, particularly if your partner feels heard by you. After you listen to their concerns, then ask your partner for their support. Let him or her know how it makes you feel. When you don't get that support, and how important it is to you that you do get it. Ask them to be your champion. In addition to having this conversation, surround yourself with as many people as possible who do believe in you. Hopefully over time, and perhaps with a few more heartfelt conversations, your partner will come around. My third tip to help you stay the course and follow your dreams is to find a mentor or coach, someone who is in your business or understands the path you are trying to tap travel and who can guide you and inspire you. Ideally, that is someone you can reach out to and connect with personally. But it can also be someone you don't know but can follow on social media or read their books or listen to their podcast. There are a lot of amazing people out there doing exactly what you want to do or are doing or hope to do one day, find them. Finally, keep in mind, it does get easier, and the rejection and judgment from those close to you lessons, the longer you stick to pursuing your dreams. As the naysayers see your commitment for your dreams, they slowly begin to accept it and even admire you for it. There will always be people who will judge you though, particularly if you are pursuing something non traditional like network marketing or hosting a spiritual podcast just to pick on the things I'm familiar with. Steve Jobs once said, don't let the opinions of others drown out your own inner voice. He couldn't be more right. Remember, your inner voice of wisdom is always going to lead you to the grandest version of who you are. along that journey. You will come across people who don't believe in you who will try to push you down and stop you from being your best. Do not listen to those voices will listen to the voice of inner wisdom instead and you can't go wrong. May you be brave, bold and joyfully live life on your terms. Good luck with all of your crazy and wonderful dreams and if you know anyone who needs to hear this message, please share it with them. Thanks for tuning in joyful journeyer and we'll catch you next time.