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I'm Taking a Creative Sabbatical · Your Body Knows

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Your Body Knows, a podcast for women ready to return to their bodies and reclaim their power, their truth, and their way forward.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Shanetta McDonald, a somatic life coach and writer.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Each episode will explore the messy, beautiful work of healing, self-trust, and learning to feel at home in your own skin.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Whether you're in a season of transition or simply longing to feel more like yourself, this space is for you.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Let's listen in.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, hello.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the podcast.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to your body knows.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: This is your host, Shenanna McDonald, coach, writer, mother, community builder, all of the things.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I wanted to hop on here and have a little honest conversation with you about the podcast and where things are right now, ahead of our next episode, which I'll talk about a little bit later, which is really exciting for me.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if you've been listening for a while, you know that this podcast has been a little stop and go over the past year, I would say.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: Launched in 2020, rebranded in 2025, last year.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, what year is it?
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, rebranded last spring, relaunched, and then maybe this year in particular, uh, it's been a little stop and go.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm at a point where I want to be honest about that and about where I am with it, because I don't have, you know, some big, perfectly thought-out plan for what comes next.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: But what I do know is that I am taking a creative sabbatical in December.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm so happy for me, and I hope you are too.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: I'm giving myself some time to step back, regroup, and really think about what I want the next chapter of my life to look like.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: And that includes this podcast.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: So here's the thing: I've had a big year personally, professionally, creatively.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: I have, I started off this year in Costa Rica doing an ayahuasca journey, which was incredible.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: Came back home, sold my home, uh, relocated uh just to another area of Los Angeles, uh, began to co-parent, um, assigned a bunch of new clients, which has been amazing.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: I have written, let's see, one, two, three, five, what four essays this year.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: Wait, what do you think?
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: Five essays this year, two of which have been published so far.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I wrote about my ayahuasca journey in Essence magazine at the beginning of the year, and it was just published in British Vogue.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, go to my Instagram and check it out if you haven't already.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um I did the Artist Way 12-week creative program.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: I led a group of women to do that program this summer.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: I journaled every single day for 12 weeks.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: I did an artist date every week, uh, did a bunch of tests and uh, you know, exercises during the program, learned a lot.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: I launched Gathered last last month, uh, a community for women who happen to be mothers.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: I have signed, um, I think I have mentioned onboarding new clients.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's been non-stop and so much good.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: I went to New Orleans, I went to Essence Fest, uh, my daughter changed schools.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's been a lot, you guys.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and in a lot of ways, this has actually been the best business year I've ever had.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a plus sign.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, like I mentioned, signing more clients, more coaching, more writing, and doing more of the work that I actually want to be doing.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm really proud of that.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm grateful for it, but it's also made me take a step back and look at how I'm spending my time and my energy and what I'm actually able to sustain.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: I actually started to do this over a month ago.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh my calendar just got out of control, and I started to become very intentional about what deserves my time and attention.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um my health is a big priority right now.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'm in the perimenopause window.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: So there's that uh taking care of my daughter, being a mother is really important right now.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um my creativity, creative pursuits are really important.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh my spirituality is really important, and they're not a community, it's really important.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um outside of that, that's really it.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, even though this podcast comes out every other week, so we do bi-weekly now, it's still a commitment.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: There is planning, recording, editing, thinking about what I want to say and how I want to say it, and all of that takes energy.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: I also think I've gotten to a point where I really need to be intentional again about, you know, energy, where it goes, what I'm doing.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I just cannot afford to keep uh investing in things that aren't feeling good or aren't supporting the work that I'm trying to build.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I don't mean that in a cold transactional weird way.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, not everything has to make money and not everything has to have a measurable return on investment.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's always nice when it does.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I do need to feel connected to the things that I'm doing, long story long.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I need to feel like there's a reason why I'm doing them.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I also have to be honest with myself when something isn't feeling the way it used to.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's a part of what's happening with this space.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: When I first started in 2020, there was a really strong community element to it.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it was about creating space for conversations, connecting with women of color, um, hearing their stories, highlighting their stories.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: I used to have a blog back then, um, and also exploring the things that we are all navigating in our lives, which I think I still do.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: But over the time, over time, excuse me, in the past year I would say the podcast shifted.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: It became more connected to my coaching work, um, and honestly, a little bit more of a marketing platform for my business.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with that.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: My business has evolved and naturally the things I create evolve with it.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: I've evolved.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I do think I've been trying to figure out what this podcast is supposed to be now.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: Is it a community community space?
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: Is it a space or a place where I share my own thoughts and experiences?
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, is it a way to introduce people to my work?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: Can it be all other things?
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: I believe it can, but I don't necessarily have a concrete answer for that right now.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: I also don't have a strong vision for it.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think one of the things that's been really difficult is not always knowing what's resonating with people that are listening.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: I have the data, you know, I have some data.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: There's not a ton of data in podcasting, but I have some data.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, outside of that, though, I haven't gotten a ton of feedback about what people are connecting with, what they want more of, and what they're getting out of the conversations here.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think I've had some incredible guests.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: I also am really intentional about finding new storytellers who are not on every other podcast that's out there, you know.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm a I'm a podcaster, which means I listen to podcasts.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: And when I tell you sometimes I'm like, oh, this person is on all the podcasts for this week.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: Great.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: I only need to listen to one of those interviews.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: I don't need to listen to all five of them.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so I've always been really intentional about that from day one.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'm not saying that to put that personally on you.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: As a listener, I know people are busy.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: I know most of us are listening to podcasts while we're driving, you know, walking, cleaning the house, um, you know, doing 12 other things, myself included sometimes.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm not expecting everyone to send me a review or an email after every episode.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: But when you're creating something, it helps to have sent sense of what people are responding to.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: And when you don't have much of that information, it can be harder to know what direction to take something in, especially when you're also trying to figure out what you want it to be.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the bigger part.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: That's the bigger part.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's the bigger picture for me.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm re-evaluating, I'm thinking about what I want to create, what I want to offer, and what actually makes sense for the season of life and business I'm in right now.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um I also think there's really something important about allowing yourself to do that, allowing myself to do that without feeling like I have to make a definitive decision about anything right now.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I encourage all of us to do that.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I didn't want to come on here and tell you that I'm ending the podcast because that's not what I'm saying.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what the podcast is gonna look like next year.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: I doubt I'll change the name or the branding.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's beautiful, I think it's on par.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I just don't know if I'll I'll come back with a new format or a different approach.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, or it could be just something along the lines of what I'm doing now.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: I just genuinely do not know that yet.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I am allowing myself to get more comfortable with that.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: I actually saw this week, maybe last week, that Les Alfred, the host of She's So Lucky, is also taking hiatus for the rest of the year.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: And while our podcasts and our audiences are obviously at different stages of life, or maybe there's some overlap, um, it was just a reminder that taking a step back doesn't have to mean that something has gone wrong.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you just need a fucking break.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I applaud her, I applaud myself for just pausing, you know.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um the podcast is not my only thing.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: I have a lot of things.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: I have a few different spaces that I show up in.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: And my intention for my creative sabbatical is a few things.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's number one, two to rest.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I say December is what it'll start.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: It may start sooner.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but to rest, to just have more ease, more spaciousness in my days.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um through that rest, if something comes of it, great.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: If not, fine too.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I would love to walk away with some vision for everything.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: If that doesn't happen again, I'll be okay.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but to literally be creative, you know, and finally is to do that without some sort of outcome attached to it.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um and and more will be revealed.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: More will be revealed.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because I think a lot of us are trying to figure out how to keep showing up for the things we care about without running ourselves into the ground.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: And for me, that means giving myself permission to pause and to take a breath and to create without immediately needing to turn that creation into something else.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, to think about what I want to do next without feeling like I have the answer today.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: Because I have ideas, I have things I want to write, I always have stories I want to tell, I have work I want to do with my coaching clients, topics I'm excited to explore.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I want to have the capacity to actually enjoy those things instead of feeling like I'm trying to keep all of the plates spinning, feeling like I have to do it.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: So that's where I am.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um again, Creative Sabbatical in December.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: There is one more episode scheduled for you before then, it'll be out in two weeks.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's going to feature my spiritual advisor, Precious, who is amazing.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: I've been working with her for at least three years now, I would say.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: She's a spiritual advisor, she's a medium, she has all the clairs, clairvoyant, clear audience, clear sentient.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and she's just like a gem of a woman.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: She's based in Los Angeles, and um, she's been an integral part of my my spiritual journey.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so looking forward to sharing that with you.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a really good conversation, especially to close out this stretch of the podcast.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: And then after that, I'm gonna take the time I need to rest, reflect, and to actually not figure things out.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um if you've been listening to the podcast, or that you've been here since the beginning, or you just found me recently, I just want to thank you.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you all for being on this journey with me, for being patient for listening.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I do all this myself.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: I edit, I probably shouldn't edit myself, but I do edit myself.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: And uh who knows, maybe things could change next year.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: I have no idea, but it is just me.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: I am a mom to a four year and a half year old.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: I have two businesses in addition to my writing career, um, which is a ton thing.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so yeah, mom is gonna take some time.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I know there are a million things you could be listening to, but I always appreciate you all spending some of your time here with me.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: And like I mentioned, I don't know what's gonna come next for the pod, but I do know that I want whatever I do to feel intentional.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that I wanted to feel connected to who I am and the work I'm doing, but I want to be able to show up for it because I actually want to be here, not because I feel like I have to keep going, just because I've been doing it.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I'll be giving myself a little space to let that unfold.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: And that is it for now.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: I will see you for that final conversation with Precious in two weeks.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, first week of November, I guess.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: And then I'll be taking my November slash December break.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for showing up.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: Staying loyal.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: Take care.