Freeing yourself from the grip of shadow careers
... And getting on your heart's payroll
If you know any of my personal story, you might be aware of the fact that I spent a great deal of time moving from one shadow career to the next.
I’ve been a chef for many years, a health and fitness coach, a network marketer, a social media manager, just to name a few. Some years, I wore many of these hats at the same time.
What is a shadow career you may ask?
It’s work you settle for when you don’t have yet the spiritual stamina to embrace what your heart genuinely calls you to do. Here is the deal…
You will go from one shadow career to the next until you are ready to surrender to your calling.
In my case some of them were only meant to be temporary jobs. But I ended up staying in them more than I ever thought I would. Can you relate?
They fed the avoidance that I had with my own calling. They fed my resistance.
And that continued for me until the resistance was literally making me sick. By that I mean physically ill.
Why would anyone settle for a shadow career to begin with?
While the way too obvious answer is resistance or fear, I like to think that you owe to yourself more of an answer than these blanket statements.
Resistance is just another umbrella term for an inner conflict or lack of inner congruence that hinders your ability to pursue what you desire.
The resistance I was dealing with back then had many flavors. Some of the most potent were:
There is no bulletproof path to what I want, the unknown doesn’t come with guarantees.
How am I going to take care of myself financially? Is it just going to be another failed endeavor? I can’t afford to fail at this one…
Why would anyone trust me to help them heal and integrate, I have a hard time trusting my own gifts…
People who I love will really think I became totally insane.
These were just some of the voices that were within me back then and each one of them was pointing to old pain in my body that I needed to resolve.
And when I did, the outcome was a door blast open to create what my heart needed me to do.
The point is that you have to become very intimate with your own flavor of resistance in order to set yourself free from it.
You have to unveil all your unspoken fears so that you can extract yourself from under their grip.
What is your resistance saying? If it had a voice, what would it sound like? Please share in the comment section below.
Your shadow careers are pointing at shadow material that needs more light and love to be dissolved. And you owe it to yourself to illuminate these dark corners of your psyche. Would you agree?
Emerging from shadow careers and embracing the calling of your heart
A few months ago, my colleague and collaborator Lisa Berkovitz invited me to speak at an online gathering she created to support you in emerging from shadow careers.
And of course I immediately felt the resonance. So I said yes. The beauty is that you will have access to that talk and many other transformative ones for free!
Well, the event is here!
It's called: ON GOD'S PAYROLL, Thriving in the Highest Expression of Your Soul Work and Leadership. And it happens from November 11-15, 2024.
Click here to register for free!
I’m thrilled to be one of the featured speakers in On God's Payroll! The topic I'll share with you is UNLEASHED: Illuminating the Shadows that Prevent You from Fully Embracing your Calling.
Click here to learn more and join us, starting on 11/11!
*** PS: On another note, applications are now open for my last group immersion of the year. INTEGRATE is here. INTEGRATE is a 4-month immersion to help you harness the untapped power in your shadow, so that you can Lead, Love and Serve with an unleashed heart. Find more details and apply HERE.
As always, thank you for being here.
In gratitude and reverence,
— Xavier
thx 🙃🙃🙃🤗🤗🤗😘😘😘😍😍😍🥰🥰🥰
You message is speaking to me today. Though my resistance has not been conscious & I could not give it a voice. About a year ago I said enough to the shadow career/s as you name it, and told the universe it was time and to get showing up for me.
It has been handing me all sorts of experiences since.
Things have not been abundant financially for a long while, because I have been listening and trusting this call. It's been tough to say the least.
Today it feels like I could finally be at the end of this cycle. I'm done.
It is time, and I am in deep surrender & grief today. It's a good phase. I surrender and truly let go to being of & in service.
I love what you said in your instagram post - "scared of the surrender that comes with embracing your hearts work". I don't feel I've been scared, but to truly listen & trust, is not what most are doing.
To follow my own calling & knowing. Others say & think - "why don't you just go get a job? A 'shadow career right?!'
Thank you for reading & for sharing your words & posts that I have been following for a while now. xx