Have you ever found yourself at the edge of a metaphorical cliff, heart pounding, as you prepare to leap into uncharted waters? Join me, Lorayne Michaels, and experience that exhilarating moment through the lens of a transformative speaker retreat with the remarkable Tamra Andress and her colleague Candice. We uncover the magnetic pull of community and how a tribe of kindred spirits can not only hold space for your dreams but catapult you toward them. As I peel back the layers of laughter and tears shared among attendees, you'll feel the power of connection and the courage it breeds to step beyond the familiar and into the realm of your true potential.
This episode isn't just about personal breakthroughs; it's a tribute to the indomitable spirit of women everywhere. Together, we honor the divine purposes that pulse within each of us and the unique contributions that women make to the tapestry of life. Through stories and heart-to-heart conversations, I extend an invitation to join hands and hearts as we journey forward, buoyed by shared experiences and collective wisdom. Prepare to be uplifted and inspired, as we not only acknowledge the achievements of women but also send forth prayers of abundance and peace, ready to embrace the future with open arms and an unbreakable bond.
Have you ever found yourself at the edge of a metaphorical cliff, heart pounding, as you prepare to leap into uncharted waters? Join me, Lorayne Michaels, and experience that exhilarating moment through the lens of a transformative speaker retreat with the remarkable Tamra Andress and her colleague Candice. We uncover the magnetic pull of community and how a tribe of kindred spirits can not only hold space for your dreams but catapult you toward them. As I peel back the layers of laughter and tears shared among attendees, you'll feel the power of connection and the courage it breeds to step beyond the familiar and into the realm of your true potential.
This episode isn't just about personal breakthroughs; it's a tribute to the indomitable spirit of women everywhere. Together, we honor the divine purposes that pulse within each of us and the unique contributions that women make to the tapestry of life. Through stories and heart-to-heart conversations, I extend an invitation to join hands and hearts as we journey forward, buoyed by shared experiences and collective wisdom. Prepare to be uplifted and inspired, as we not only acknowledge the achievements of women but also send forth prayers of abundance and peace, ready to embrace the future with open arms and an unbreakable bond.
Hey, it's Lorraine. As you know, it's my joy and passion to teach and encourage others through this podcast, but my heart is actually at live events. Currently, I'm available for booking, so if you're organizing a live event, I'd love to share my story. Your audience will walk away with tangible tools on how to overcome limiting beliefs, break down obstacles and discover their gifts, talents and abilities in order to live a life that God created them to live. It's not the size of the audience that's important. It's the connection and impact that I will bring. For more information, email me at Lorraine at theboldbeginningscom.
Speaker 1:
Hello friends, welcome back to the Bite Size podcast. I'm your host, lorraine Michaels, and I'm just so glad you're here. Thank you for those of you who follow along and listen or watch every episode, even if it's not every episode. I so appreciate when you are here and when you interact with me and respond. I love hearing y'all's stories of how it impacted you, what you learned from it, and just the growth of it, the evolution of this podcast and how it's helping y'all helping the listeners.
Speaker 1:
So today is coming right off the tail of the retreat that I just went on, the speaker retreat I went on, hosted by Tamara Andres and her right hand, human, candace. She's an amazing woman as well and I absolutely love them both. They are very integral pieces of my story and, I'm sure, a lot of people's stories. But today's episode I want to talk about relationships and why the right community matters, and this is in life, this is in business and this is in faith. So why the right community matters and how it will either make or break you and again, this is can be taken in all aspects of life life in itself, business and in faith. So I just want to start with a recap, really and I'm going to try and do this as quickly as possible, because it was such an impactful, you know, couple of days. It was Wednesday, thursday, friday, a retreat in Virginia Beach and Saturday morning, you know, everyone had already left and we were gone. I came home, but it was so life giving, it was so life changing in many aspects. I, like I said, I'm so grateful for Tamara and Candace, for how they put this together and the wisdom that they poured into all of us. But it wasn't just that, it wasn't just what I learned from them to be a better speaker, you know, it wasn't just that. It was the community, the women that I got to be around, become friends with, develop a deeper relationship with. We learned so much. We learned a lot about ourselves individually. We learned a lot about one another. We learned a lot about this industry how to be a better speaker and whether that's.
Speaker 1:
You know, some of our journeys are different. You know, some of us were speakers and coaches, some of us are authors, some of us are, you know, working with children. Some of us are working with adults. There's so many different variations of business tree. It's our ministry, because we're all believers, that went and we're all wanting to make an impact in the world in one way or another, whether it's through speaking, teaching, coaching, whatever it may be. So there was a lot of learning and the community that we had was phenomenal. We bonded together, we laughed, we cried, we shared. We shared a lot about our personal journeys. We shared a lot about the stuff that was so deep, so meaningful for us, like what our vision is of our testimony or our vision is for our business right, and all of it is different. All six of us have different visions of what God is leading us to, what God is equipping us to do and say into this world and we challenged each other.
Speaker 1:
These three days was a challenge. It stretched us. We had to get out of our comfort zone. We had to get out of our comfort zone. Some of us don't want to be up on stage speaking. Some of us just want to write and be an author and have our words beyond paper and not up in front of people speaking. So that was getting out of comfort zones for some people.
Speaker 1:
I personally got out of my comfort zone by doing not one but two polar plunges. Have you all ever jumped in the ocean in the wintertime In the morning? Like seven o'clock in the morning, it's like 30 degrees outside and 20 degrees in the water. I don't know how, I don't know what the degree of the water was, but it sure felt like it. It was freezing, it was beyond freezing.
Speaker 1:
And then just doing that you all know I do cold plunges. That's in a controlled environment. I slowly insert my body into cold water and I settle in and I can breathe and I can regulate my breathing. I can regulate my thoughts, feelings and emotions. It's in a very controlled environment, whereas in the ocean I have absolutely no control other than of my legs, of running myself in and running myself out. And so let's sit on this for a second about control. We were just talking about this in church today. Control is something all of us humans want and crave and desire, because it makes us feel safe, and that's understandably so. That's a human condition, is feeling safe. So therefore we want to have control.
Speaker 1:
And so doing cold plunges I have some. I have control, full control over when I get in, how long I'm in, how I'm breathing when I get out all of that doing a polar plunge in the ocean. I have no control over the ocean. I have no control over the temperature, where, if it's in an ice bath, I do, I can just use the cold water, I can add ice, I would. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:
And so with the ocean, I can't. I can't control the waves. Before I got in, I was saying I'm not getting my hair wet, I just had a wash day. I'm not washing my hair, I'm not gonna get it wet. Had no control over that, god straight up dunked me in the ocean. That wave encapsulated me.
Speaker 1:
So but, and I had to get over that, right, and I had to stop and think and be like I'm not gonna get upset about it because I'm bonding with my sisters in Christ, I'm pushing myself out of my comfort zone, doing something that is only gonna benefit me, and I just had to release control, I had to surrender my control, and that just helped me put it into perspective with other areas of my life that I'm trying to control right, this business trying to control the money, the income, trying to control who I'm interacting with, who's on my podcast, what podcasts I get onto, what events I'm going to, what events I'm going to speak at. It's all these aspects of control when, at the end of the day, ultimately, I only want what God wants. I want that he has given me a vision and he has given me a gifting and ultimately, it's up to him. It's up to him where, where I'm going to go with this, it's up to him who is going to hear me, who I'm going to impact. It's up to him as long as I stay focused on him, as long as I keep him the center of it all, as long as I don't.
Speaker 1:
Oh, someone said it I can't remember if it was this weekend or where I heard it but God gives you the vision, right, the vision, the dream, and it's up to us to continue to focus on him and how that dream is going to come to fruition, how God's going to use you to impact the world, how God's going to, how God's going to use you and how it's going to unfold. So, once you get that vision, once you get that dream, it is not our job to chase the dream, it is not our job to make said dream come true, because then it becomes us taking control of it, then it becomes us managing it and manipulating it and doing everything in our control to make it happen. So we just focus on him and we lose focus on the vision that he gave us and we lose focus on the main thing, the important thing, right? So I mean that's for me, that's 100%. That was a revelation that I had, because I was so fixated on. God gave me this vision. Why isn't this happening? God gave me this dream. Why isn't it happening? I'm doing this, I'm doing this, I'm contacting this. You know I'm me, me, me.
Speaker 1:
I was doing all the work and I started to shift my focus on the dream and off of God when God was the one that gave me that dream and I needed to focus on him and how he's going to help me get there, but how I'm going to get me there, if that makes sense. That just went off on a tangent and down a rabbit hole on that one, but that was all about control. So we need to make sure that we hold on to things loosely, because I would never want God to have to pry something out of my hand. I don't want to be holding something so tight that he has to rip it away from me. I would love to just be able to hold things loosely and focus on God and let the rest of it unfold. So that was a Lot a bit about control and about getting out of your comfort zone and how that's healthy and how that is gonna impact you in a Positive way.
Speaker 1:
So let's talk about the right community versus the wrong community and why it's important. I'm gonna give you some examples of what it feels like to be in the right community. What it looks like and what it feels like the right community is life-giving. They're encouraging, you feel charged when you're around them, you feel renewed, you feel fresh, you're excited, you're creative. They help you with your creativity. They push you and encourage you in a good way. They challenge you in a good way. They help you to level up, they're creative with you, they brainstorm with you, they dream with you, they bring you closer to God and closer to the mission that God has planted in you and, and conversely, the wrong community and the wrong crowd of people.
Speaker 1:
You'll feel drained. You'll look at things negatively, you'll be angry quick to be angry. You'll see the bad in everything, the negative in everything. Maybe you're negative yourself. You're more cynical, judgmental. You make bad choices, you make unhealthy choices. So you can see the difference and I want you to stop and think about people in your life that Bring about one or the other, and my hope and prayer is that One you can recognize that easily and you can see, you can play in your mind who is the right people and who is the wrong people in your life, and my prayer is that you surround yourself with the right people.
Speaker 1:
I know it took me many years to figure it out and I ran with the wrong people for a very long time, and that was because I had a self-worth issue. I didn't think highly of myself, I was very insecure and I was starved for love and attention, and so I gravitated to Anything and anyone that gave that to me, that gave me that dopamine, hit the feeling of loved and acceptance. And it was the wrong crowd, it was the wrong people. But being in this space, I mean it doesn't even have to be in an entrepreneurial space, think about church. It doesn't even have to be friends of faith. And I want to encourage you, if you are not a person of faith and if you do have these good people in your life that aren't of faith, friend, find a church, find your faith, find Jesus, because that's what he teaches us is one, to be in a community and two, to have all these things, to be that person, that life-giving, encouraging, loving person.
Speaker 1:
But, like I was saying, it took me a while to get out of that relationship, to get out of those relationships that were of the wrong, and this weekend it was all of that, it was all of the good, it was all of the right people and that just encourages me because, you know, I had people, I had them praying over me. We were all praying together, we were all just Encouraging one another, helping one another dream, and it was just so impactful. This whole weekend was so deeply impactful and it really opened my eyes to true friendships, to God's calling, to what I need to do and how I need to change, and that was the other thing. It challenged me. It challenged me to be a better wife, to be a better mom, to be a better business person, and it really got me thinking of how can I be better, how can I show up better for everyone in my life. So this was just an amazing weekend.
Speaker 1:
I hope to unpack it even more, but I just want to encourage you To find your people, to find the right people, and I have given you a list of what the right people look like in your life and what the wrong people look like in your life, and I've given you a list of how, how that impacts your life, what that looks like, and Also what it looks like having you know, being in that community, what you do and how, how you show up better. So, friends, what an impactful weekend to Kes, rachel, natalie, kristen, candice, tamara I Hope I'm not forgetting anyone Tamara, Kes, rachel Y'all are amazing. I'm just I'm so grateful, so, so, so, so, so, so grateful. Candice, kristen, kes, natalie, rachel, tamara, victoria All of you women have impacted me so very deeply and I'm so grateful for this retreat that I went on that I got to be a part of you.
Speaker 1:
Women are amazing and you're also very gifted and you all are doing amazing things for this world and you're following the path that God has laid before you and I just pray nothing but abundance and peace and I just pray that you guys continue to do what God laid on your heart and I can't wait to continue to do life with y'all. So I hope y'all have a wonderful day and Like that episode, share it and please it costs you nothing to give it a review and we'll catch you on the next episode of the bite-sized podcast.