Where I’ve Been: From Achievement to Alignment

Episode 1 of the Comeback Season I’m back. 🎙️ A lot has changed since I last sat behind this microphone, and this episode is the beginning of a new chapter for the podcast and for me. In this comeback episode, I’m sharing where I’ve really been: closing my yoga studio, working at Pilates, caring for my mother, becoming a flight attendant in my 50s, navigating bankruptcy, and somehow writing You Get What You Get at 30,000 feet while my own life was being rewritten. Then came the moment that changed everything. I was on a layover when my mother had a stroke. Within days, she was gone. In the aftermath of losing her, I began to understand grief, freedom, identity, and even my relationship with my mother differently. Selling her home became a release. Her notes and journals gave me glimpses of her love that I could carry forward. And the insurance money she left me allowed me to step into my next chapter with a level of ease I hadn't experienced in years. On January 2, less than a month after losing my mother, I moved into the Lakewood apartment I'd spent months envisioning. But I didn't simply manifest a new life. I walked toward it. For six months, I explored Lakewood, looked at apartments, talked about what I wanted, created a vision video, listened to myself affirm and visualize my desires, and took action before I knew exactly how everything would come together. That experience helped me understand the difference between achievement and alignment. In this episode, we talk about: What happens when an identity you've worked hard to build no longer fits Starting over in midlife Caregiving, grief, loss, and the complicated emotions that come afterward Bankruptcy and separating what happened to you from who you believe you are Writing a book while living the lessons inside it Visualization versus aligned action Receiving support after years of being the person who takes care of everyone else Why achievement alone can't tell you who you are What it means to create a life that actually feels like yours This is the beginning of You Get What You Get: Beyond Achievement, Into Alignment, a podcast for high-achieving women who are ready to ask a different question: Is this still the life I want? Because you get what you get because you get who you are. The audio is a little lower than I wanted it to be. I spent HOURS trying to get it just right, and eventually I realized I had a choice: keep chasing perfect or practice exactly what I talk about here. So I chose to release it. Turn me up a little for this one. 😉 The next episode will sound better, but this episode needed to exist more than it needed to be perfect. Welcome back. Dawn M. Rivers Transformational Speaker • Life Coach • Author of You Get What You Get A quick note about this episode 🎧 The audio is a little lower than I wanted it to be. I spent HOURS trying to get it just right, and eventually I realized I had a choice: keep chasing perfect or practice exactly what I talk about here. So I chose to release it. Turn me up a little for this one. 😉 The next episode will sound better, but this episode needed to exist more than it needed to be perfect. Welcome back. Continue the journey: 📖 Get You Get What You Get: https://dawnmrivers.com/book 🌸 Learn more about Dawn, coaching & speaking: https://dawnmrivers.com