Latest / The Black Sheep Leadership Podcast / MAKE PEACE WITH THE PRUNING ✂️Some Things Have to Leave for the Next Version of You to Live🧘🏽‍♀️

Transcript

MAKE PEACE WITH THE PRUNING ✂️Some Things Have to Leave for the Next Version of You to Live🧘🏽‍♀️ · The Black Sheep Leadership Podcast

• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Hey everybody, I want to welcome you to the Black Sheep Leadership Podcast.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Athena Renee, and this is where the underdogs, the misfits, and the black sheep come to turn pain into power so that you can build a life by design and leave a legacy behind.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: If this is your first time tapping in, welcome home, fam.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Pull up a chair.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad you're here.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're back again, welcome back, family.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's good to see you again.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: And thank you once again for trusting me with your time.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: I don't take that lightly.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's do this quick vibe check.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you're easily offended, sensitive, entitled, waiting on somebody to come save you, or you're allergic to accountability, get your ass up out of here.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: This ain't your safe space.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Go ahead, find you something safe to do.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Alright?
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're ready to think bigger, move smarter, and you refuse to live beneath your potential, stay locked in.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Because by the end of this episode, you're walking away with something that you can execute immediately.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: So let's get to work.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Now, in the previous briefing that we had, we talked about the power of sacrifice, right?
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: We talked about understanding what your next level may require you to give up on.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because to become something means you have to give up an older version of yourself, right?
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: But what happens when life makes that decision for you?
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: When a relationship ends, an opportunity disappears, or something you thought that would always be a part of your life is suddenly gone.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's where today's intelligence begins.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: So look, family, we've been working in our black sheep operating system, okay?
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: And that is OAE, observe, analyze, and execute.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's observe, analyze, and execute.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Today, today's briefing, we're gonna be moving from analyze into execution again, all right?
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Because recognizing that something has ended one thing, right?
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Recognizing that something has ended is one thing, but accepting that reality and deciding how to move forward is another.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Black sheep family.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever found yourself fighting to keep something that was already halfway out the door?
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it was a friendship where you've always been the one calling, a relationship where you're doing all the emotional maintenance and a job that no longer has room for you to grow, an opportunity that demands more while giving you less.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes, family, the door finally closes.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: But instead of walking away, you start knocking.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: You trying to see if somebody got a spare key.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Lord have mercy.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: At some point, you gotta ask yourself, am I fighting for something valuable, or am I simply afraid of letting it go?
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: So today's intelligence briefing, y'all, is all about being peace with the pruning.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Peace with the pruning.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes things have to leave for the next version of your life to live.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Let's unpack it.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Because there's three truths that you need to understand when something leaves, you don't necessarily, and when you don't necessarily understand why, and you're trying to figure out how to move forward without it.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, truth number one, family.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Not everything that leaves your life is a loss.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Let's start with something important.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: In gardening, we always talk about on this podcast that your life is like a garden.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: When you want a certain crop, when you want a certain harvest, you're gonna plant the correct seed, give it time, you're gonna do what you need to do, and before you know it, you're gonna get a harvest, right?
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Well, a part of gardening is something called pruning.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: And pruning is the selective removal of branches or any other parts of a plant to support its health, shape, or future growth.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm gonna read, I want you to hear it again, okay?
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Pruning is the selective removal, the selective removal, almost like surgery, but this is gardening, this is a natural process, selective removal of branches or any other parts of the tree or plant to support, so you're removing something to support its health, shape, or future growth.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: But see, pruning isn't simply about cutting everything in sight.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: So, Black Shea family, you know how we get to going.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: We like, you know what, I'm cutting everything off.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: We just start cutting stuff.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Are you that type of person?
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever just looked in your environment and said, you know what?
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so tired of this clutter, I'm tired of everything, I'm about to just cut everything, just I'm gonna just get rid of everything.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Then two weeks later, you're looking for those things, right?
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's so funny and it's so aggravating at the same time.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: But pruning isn't simply about cutting everything in sight.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: See, a good gardener understands what needs attention and why.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: And when we apply that principle to life, there's a powerful lesson.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes removing something creates room for something healthier, it's just like clipping dead ends, right?
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's the only way your hair will grow properly.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: You have to clip, you have to clip those dead ends, those split ends, right?
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to make the distinction, right?
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to understand the distinction because removing sometimes removing something creates room for something healthier.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the distinction: every separation isn't automatically divine intervention.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, every separation isn't automatically divine intervention because we try to make everything so spiritual.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: I do too, right?
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because when you realize that you truly don't, we control our decisions, but overall, friends, family, it's a lot of stuff that's truly out of our control.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like as a black sheep, we didn't sign up.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: I I mean, there's no way in the world you could have told me that I personally said I want to come here as a black sheep and sign up for that.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: No, I don't think so.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: But that was something that we could control.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm saying that to say everything we have to remember, everything is not a divine intervention.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Every person who leaves isn't toxic, and every closed door isn't guaranteed that something better is waiting around the corner.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I know that's a hard pill to swallow.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes relationships end because people grow in different directions.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the opportunity just expired, sometimes circumstances change, we make mistakes, and sometimes we simply don't understand why something happened.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's life, right?
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's life.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: Don't get me wrong, family.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: Again, we have to walk a fine line between understanding divine intervention because you know what season you're in, you know where you're at in life, right?
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes when you do lose things, something may not be right around the corner, but something is on its way in your journey, and in that time in between, it may be a development period, right?
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: You just don't know, and I truly believe as a black sheep, we are chosen in this path, and we don't understand, or we're chosen for this journey, and we don't understand what the creator we don't understand everything that he puts together for us for our training to play this role that we're playing, right?
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: And when I'm talking about that, I'm saying when we get the manifestation of why we are here, when we get to the pinnacle of what we why we're here, because heavy is a head that wears a crown, so you know it has to be a process in between.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm saying that to say you have to know yourself, know yourself and understand.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know what, sometimes they would maybe they wasn't toxic, and we just had to grow in different directions, and it's unfortunate sometimes, right?
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: It is sometimes opportunities do expire, right?
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's life.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: The real question is whether you're willing to examine the situation without allowing it to permanently stop your growth.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's the whole thing.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: The real question is, are you willing to examine the situation without allowing it to stop your growth?
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: See, here's the deal with life in general.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: You either level up in something or you learn a lesson.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: There's no losing and all of that, right?
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: You either level up because even a prune is a level up when something is clipped away, it means it's no longer needed.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: It would not be allowed to take away if you if you could not manage without it, and sometimes with pruning, even though it may feel like man, a lot of pressure on us, a lot of weight is on us, that's the only way that you can grow as well.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so this is why you have to really analyze analyze the situation to know how is this particular pruning happening, how is it happening to me or for me right now?
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's not about happening to you.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: How can I use this scenario?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: How is this happening for me right now?
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine you're you've been sitting at the table with somebody for 10 years, you know their stories, habits, dreams, you've shared experiences, you got history together.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: Then one day they're no longer sitting there, and every time you look at that empty chair, you feel their absence, so you refuse to invite anybody else to the table.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: You stop having meaningful conversations and join the company that's still present because you're waiting for that one person to return.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Black sheep.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing wrong with missing somebody, there's nothing wrong with grieving a relationship, but eventually you have to ask, and I'm honoring, am I honoring what we had, or am I allowing its absence to control everything I still have?
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's a different question.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: I promise you, family.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: And listen, as a black sheep, when we find people that we really like and love, we don't want to let them go.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: We don't want to let them go.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: And even though some of us consciously know that at some point in time, all good things have a cycle and season in your life, right?
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: And unfortunately, some of the best people, you know what's really crazy about being a black sheep, some of the best people that you meet in your life, they're there for a season, they're there only for a season, and this is why family.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: I know we've been through a lot of different things, but this is why I always tell you guys to be unforgettable.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: When you meet people, you can tell when it's authentic connection, it don't have to be romantic, it could just be a friendship where y'all really care about each other, y'all really love each other, y'all really helping each other in this season.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is why I always say be unforgettable, be all you can be, like the army says, in that time, because you don't know how long you'll be blessed with that person, and that season may come to an end, and it may not be nothing that went wrong.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's just how your that's just how the bank is set up.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's how your bank is set up, that's how my bank is set up sometimes, right?
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: And when you become unforgettable, when you treat people the way you would want to be treated, when you give them that unique love, the way you love one people, in a holistic type of way, they will never forget that, just like you won't ever forget them.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because black sheet family, we can pick up really quickly when people being fake with us.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: We know when people really mess with us.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: This is why we don't want to see those folks go, right?
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: But we can't control the flow, right?
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: Because everybody has been called to do different things, so you can appreciate a chapter without spending the rest of your life trying to reopen it.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: And and listen, and sometimes the first step towards peace is accepting that the chair may remain empty.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: And listen, family, I know it's a hard, crappy spill uh pill to swallow sometimes.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's like really life, how can I meet one of my favorite people in the whole wide world and they only around for a season?
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, come on, you know what I'm saying?
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: But that is the flow of life, and I rather like there's a question that a lot of people say, would you rather love and not and love and lose or not love at all?
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know what?
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I would rather love and lose, and to be honest with you, it do it does feel like a loss.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna sit here and act like it doesn't feel that way, but that doesn't mean that it is a loss, right?
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: It really doesn't, it might feel that way, but everything will always work out in the end for you, you know.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: So, truth number two stop confusing history with destiny.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this one right here, y'all, is so important for the black sheep family, y'all, because some of us have been loyal to people long after relationship stopped being healthy, that thing been dead, just rotten, and sometimes it's not because we're afraid to leave, it's because we remember who those people were when we needed them.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: Man, listen, will the real shimp slim shady please stand up?
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's me all day.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's like you could buy me a daggone biggie bag or a biggie bag from Wendy's, and I'll remember for a whole decade, and you just doing all kinds of stupid stuff for the last nine years, and just because you bought me a biggie bag from Wendy's when I was hungry and didn't have no money, I will stay down with you, just keep on trying to make trying to fix it up, right?
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: They and this is how it is with some of you, too.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: They help you through something, they believe in us, they were there when nobody else was, and that history matters.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: But check this out, y'all.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: History doesn't automatically guarantee that there will be lifelong compatibility because people change, priorities change, circumstances change, and sometimes two people who genuinely cared about each other discovered that their lives are moving in different directions.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's not automatically betrayal, that's reality.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, but on the other hand, on the other hand, though, you can feel it when a relationship is no longer serving whatever it's supposed to be serving.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: See, and that's when we really have to start looking at our relationships and things around us like food in the refrigerator.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: We're looking for what that expiration date.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: Think about it.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: You bought something, it was good, you enjoyed it, you might have even paid a pretty good penny for it, right?
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: You paid a pretty penny for it, but now it's expired, and you're standing there saying, But I paid for this, I paid for this, it's just three days, it's just three days expired.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's not so bad.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: You smell it, and it got that little tainted rotten smell to it, but you still be saying, But I paid for this.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: This was expensive, okay.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: And you're about to make yourself sick trying to recover some dollars.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we approach relationships and opportunities the same way.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: I've invested five years, I've known them since childhood, I've already spent so much money, I've already put in too much work into this.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: Listen, those things matter, but they don't answer the most important question, family.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: Is continuing that relationship commitment or investment, is it still healthy and worthwhile?
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: Is it still healthy and valuable?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: And don't get me wrong, I'm not telling you to abandon people because they're going through a difficult season, y'all.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm not telling you that.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Healthy relationships require commitment, patience, communications, and sometimes sacrifice.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: But commitment should not become an excuse for ignoring persistent disrespect, harm, and fake foolery day after day, year after year.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: It should not become regular in the rotation of the relationship or friendship or commitment.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely not.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: See, sometimes you repair, sometimes you establish boundaries, and the relationship change, and sometimes you acknowledge that you you've done what you reasonably could, right?
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: So stop demanding.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: There's no need to demand an immediate explanation.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: You've done everything you can do, right?
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you won't understand why something ended until much later, and I know that's an uncomfortable truth, but that's how life is.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes you just want you're not ready to accept it.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: See, like this is why I always always continue to tell you, family, don't ever get into that compete and compare crap because life knows when.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: All right, endless, continue to think about it, replant it in your mind.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, that's a prison in itself.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the closure you're waiting for isn't another conversation, it's accepting the information you already have and deciding how you're gonna live from there on out, right?
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to understand every ending before you're allowed to begin again, and this is again where black sheep advantage comes from because or comes into place, because a lot of times, unfortunately, we've dealt with separations and having to walk away from different things, right, and continue to begin again, right?
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: Truth number three pruning should create growth and not bitterness, right?
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now, here's where you have to be careful because when some people experience repeated rejection, disappointment, or betrayal, it's easy to develop the philosophy that sounds like I don't need anybody, everybody fake, I'm cutting everybody off, I ain't gotta be bothered no more.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody gets access to me, period, right?
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't I completely understand where some of that comes from.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: I trust me, but black sheep, if every painful experience convinces you to build another wall, eventually you'll have an impressive fortress, right?
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: You out here like Fortnite, you got a good fortress, and ain't nobody gonna be inside but you, right?
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because when you build these huge walls, you gotta realize nobody's getting out and nobody's getting in, including the healthy relationships that you actually want, peace that you actually want, friends that you actually want, opportunities that you actually want.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: This is why peace with the pruning it doesn't mean becoming emotionally unavailable, it simply means developing enough discernment to recognize which relationships, opportunities, And things like that deserve continued investment, and which ones require distance.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, now check this out, family.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: Some relationships don't need or some relationships need boundaries, other ones need honest conversations or time apart.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: Everything is in seasons, right?
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: We're just talking about seasons.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's not always permanent.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: But guess what?
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it genuinely needs to end.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to use the same solution for every situation.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: You also don't have to turn everybody who leads your life into a villain.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes a relationship was very meaningful, and its season is simply over.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: And if faith is part of your life, you may believe God can use that painful transitions to teach and redirect you.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, family.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I want you to know that if you're going through something like this right now, I have been I have really been going through something like this for the last almost six months now.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I I accepted the fact that the season was over with, and you know, I'm gonna forever continue to grow, but that doesn't mean moving on without that person is not a pain and an emptiness in your life, you know.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: But as I stated, if you are faith-based, because that's why I am, I have to be.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: I have to be, you know what I'm saying?
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because I know that a lot of times, friends, we use people, especially as black sheets, we get people and we don't want to let them go.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's like we be holding on like octopus with suction cups and everything, right?
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like, no, you're not going nowhere.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: Seriously.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: So um, and that's just not what it was for.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's just to teach you something or be with you for a lesson, the help you need, to give you an example of how something should feel, you know, different things, right?
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's why I say sometimes that relationship was very meaningful, but the season is simply over, all right?
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: But like I said, family, that doesn't mean you have to pretend that the experience didn't hurt.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: Peace isn't denial, it's learning to move forward without allowing the expiration to dictate all of your future decisions, okay?
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: And here's my final point: some of the things we need to release aren't people, sometimes it's version of ourselves.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: Release that, guys.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: We used to be one way back in the day, we're done with it.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: The version that constantly seeks approval, the version that refuses to try to to that refuses to try because failure might be embarrassing, the version that overcommits trying to people please everybody, the version that starts believing that um starting over means starting from nothing.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes a relationship you're true you're struggling to outgrow is a relationship you have an old identity with.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes a relationship you're struggling to outgrow is the relationship you have with your old out identity.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: See, Black Sheet family, a lot of people, they always want to leave you in a version of yourself of who you was yesterday, five years ago.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: This is today.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: I will never forget within the last three weeks.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: I was with someone that I know, and they asked me, hmm, what's going on with you?
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: You didn't look like that when you were staying.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: And they mentioned a place that I used to stay in the Chicago area.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: And family, do y'all know that was over 15, 20 years ago?
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: 15, 20 years ago.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: That was just so funny to me, but that shows you how people try to have you identified as somebody they knew back 20, 30 years ago.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's a different kind of pruning because you're not that person anymore, because nobody can make that decision for you, family.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: You are the one that's outgrown all these things.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to apologize to nobody for changing.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you're upgrading yourself, this is why we are running with the black sheep operating system.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: If you say it is time for a new version of you, it is right, and when you accept that person that you're becoming, that old identity gets left behind, and you know you just gotta cut it off.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: So here's the intelligence: not everything that leads to tragedy.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: History matters, but it doesn't automatically determine your future.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: And genuine peace doesn't require bitterness, isolation, or pretending something never mattered.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes your repair, reposition, sometimes you repair, you reposition yourself, and sometimes you release it.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: The wisdom is knowing which response the situation requires.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so let's drop these three moves real quick on you.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, identify what you're still holding on to, a relationship, opportunity, expect it, expectation, or the old version of you that you're struggling to release.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: Ask yourself, am I holding on because it's healthy or is it hindering me?
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: Or am I be just simply because I'm afraid of what happens without it?
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: Move number two, separate the lesson from the loss.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: Write down what you ex what the experience taught you.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: If it was somebody that had to go, you know, the seasons ended or whatever, write down what the experience taught you.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: What would you do different?
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: What boundaries or standards have changed?
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: What did you learn about yourself?
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: Don't let the pain be the only thing you take from the experience.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know, I know that's a hard pill to swallow sometimes as well, family, because it seems like sometimes you can meet some of your best people or hear some of the best experiences that was very conflicted with who you are, and even in a situation.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: For example, how sometimes people meet um some of their favorite people, and they're like in a at a season where their money is super tight, and they just want to go out and have a good time, and the things the other person wants to do don't even cost money, but your funds are so tight at that time, you can't even enjoy it.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's just crazy.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: And and you just learn how to separate the lesson from the loss.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes when the money is real tight, it's teaching you like a lesson, for an example, would be learning how to enjoy everything, the ups and the downs.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: Move number three make room for what's still growing.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: I was listening to a minister, and he was saying, God only uses what's left.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: You may or may not be a believer, but you can only use what's left.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: Only what's left.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: Think about it.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: After you've paid all of your bills or whatever you gotta do, you can only utilize what's left.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: Identify one area in your life that deserves more attention because it's still growing.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: Your health, career, business, relationships, right?
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: Your personal development.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: Redirect some of your energy you've been spending on what's left towards something that has remained and still has room to grow.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, family, because we have to stop watering what you've already decided to release, and we have to start trying to water what already left.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: All right, and sometimes black sheep pruning isn't just about relationships, sometimes it's about recognizing that a career, an industry, or professional identity may no longer fit the life you're trying to build, right?
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's just it is your career, it could be a business or anything, right?
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: But specifically with everything that's going on now with the careers, well, before you make a major career decision, you need more than frustration, right?
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: You need intelligence.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're thinking about making a career move in 2027, even if you're thinking about making it right now or during this season, don't make your next move based on hype, fear, or somebody else's career advice.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: I've created the 2027 career pivot report to help you look at the actual intelligence from career opportunities, salary potential, and AR exposure, skills, credentials, location, and long-term career ROI.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: Before you quit, retrain, relocate, or reinvent your career.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: Get the intelligence first, family.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: Regardless of what move you plan on making, get the intelligence first.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're if you are one of those people that's in line for a new career, or you're ready to reinvent the one you have, you can grab that 2027 career pivot report in the link, it'll be in the show notes, okay?
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: But, anyways, Black Street family, you don't have to hate what you're leaving.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: You don't if you're leaving the job, leaving a relationship, friendship, city, you don't have to hate it, family.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: And you don't have to chase what's already left.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: Take the lesson, make peace with the transition, and give yourself permission to grow.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, family, because information is everywhere and execution is rare.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'll see you in the next briefing.