Entering a new chapter and leaving behind the things we thought were for us is always a daunting experience. But sometimes, the universe itself calls for us to start over and find a new life while carrying the lessons we've learned from our journey so far. To grow, we have to be willing to let go of the things that do nothing but hold us back.
So answer the call, trust yourself, and have the courage to make the big jump. It's never too late to live the life you truly want.
In this episode of The Pollen Podcast, Diana talks about day one of her true nomadic journey and what entering this new chapter means for her. It feels safe to stay in the comforts of the things we're used to doing and being around—we hold on to them. But sometimes, we need to just let life unfold. Like trees shedding their leaves, you've got to start anew and transition to a new life path when it's time. 🍂
Listen to this episode to learn why you should take the big leap toward the next chapter in your new life!
Create your own creative entrepreneurship story of clarity, professional confidence, and profit. Join Diana’s 90-day group course Camp Clarity and learn everything you wish you already knew, like how to land dream clients, harness the power of social media, and make the money you deserve. Learn more here.
🔥Here are three reasons why you should listen to this episode:
How we can be excited for and embrace the life changes we don’t expect versus resisting them.
Learn why you should say “F**k it” to your 5-year plan.
Be inspired to let go of anything that's making you feel stuck and enter a new life chapter.
📘Resources
Achieve the life, career, and clients you’ve always wanted (and fully deserve!). Sign up for Diana’s Camp Clarity Course now!
Take a week off and join the first Diana Davis Creative Retreat in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, from August 29 to September 1!
Attract your dream clients with my free masterclass!
Access other courses from the Diana Davis Creative
🎧Episode Highlights
[01:45] Diana Davis Creative Retreat
The first Diana Davis Creative Retreat will take place from August 29 to September 1.
Diana invites creative entrepreneurs to take a week off, lean into boundaries, and let go during the retreat.
The venue of the retreat is in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
The retreat involves exploring nature, live coaching, yoga, and meditation.
[04:17] Day 1 of Diana’s True Nomadic Journey
The first stop of Diana’s true nomadic journey is New York City.
New York has been the landing pad for Diana when things become solo. She moved there without any plans after her divorce.
The city is now holding her again after a six-year relationship.
Apart from being the city that never sleeps, New York is Diana’s soul city.
[06:15] A New Chapter, A New Life Path
Diana turned 32 on the day of recording the episode.
The new chapter of her life is a blank slate that she wasn't expecting.
[06:41] Diana Davis: “We've been throwing this cliche around a lot but, ‘When you make plans, God laughs.’ But if we can be excited for those changes, then I think we're in a good spot.” - Click Here to Tweet This
As a Gemini, there’s been a lot of chaotic energy around her.
Being on a nomadic journey is Diana saying “hell yes” to herself.
[08:00] Looking Back on Her Journey
Diana was lost when she first moved to New York. She hadn’t found herself in any capacity yet.
She’s grateful for the opportunity to be dating herself in the growth part of life she’s in.
She’s the same person today with layers shed from when she was 25.
Look back on your journey so far. Where were you physically and spiritually a year ago and five years ago?
[09:49] F the 5-Year Plan
80% of us didn’t plan for where we are now. One of Diana’s big things is to F the 5-year plan.
Getting divorced made her feel like she had received a second chance — a new life.
Moving to New York and getting divorced wasn’t part of her 5-year plan, but she’s grateful for them.
[11:06] Diana Davis: “Have some sort of idea and intention—maybe intention is the better word. Have some sort of plan but being very open to that plan changing. Because again, if the universe has something in store for you that's different from what you think, you can actually get really excited about it because it's going to be better than you could have ever imagined.” - Click Here to Tweet This
Tap into your desires and intentions, but let life unfold and make room for changing your mind.
[11:45] The Leaves You Need to Shed
The things we hold on to could be learning experiences for the next thing.
We have different stages in our lives. We’re never entirely sure if we want to do something forever.
Compost and fertilize your past for the next chapter, along with the dead leaves you must let fall away for new life to grow.
Trees don’t keep their leaves; they shed them when it’s time. What do you need to shed? What do you want to start?
[13:21] Diana Davis: “There's amazing things in store for you. But you have to be willing to see them, willing to trust yourself, willing to take the jump—the leap—when the universe says jump.” - Click Here to Tweet This
Enjoyed this Podcast on Starting a New Life Chapter?
It's scary to take the leap and start a new life chapter. But sometimes, you just have to trust the universe, scream, and go for it. Here's to filling up a fresh slate! ✊
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Transcript
I think it’s so interesting. We’ve been throwing this cliche around a lot, but when you make plans, God laughs, you know? But if we can be excited for these changes, then I think we’re in a good spot.
Diana Davis: Welcome to Pollen, the podcast for creative entrepreneurs. I’m your host, Diana Davis, multi-passionate creative, business coach, Gemini, manifesting generator, matcha drinker, and travel junkie. I’m also the founder of Diana Davis Creative, where I went from a six-figure photography business to coaching creative entrepreneurs like you. If you want to have a career and a life you love, you’re in the right place.
On this show, I’ll be coaching on all things creative entrepreneurship, and you'll hear stories from fellow creative entrepreneurs that will show you it is possible to do life the way you want to. They’ll share the nitty-gritty of their journeys, like the real shit, and how they are doing it differently. I’m stoked to have you along on this journey. Let's go.
I’m excited to see what you all think of this particular episode of Pollen. I’ve been hearing a lot, “I love your stream of consciousness episodes’, which they really all are except maybe the guest episodes. This is really a stream of consciousness episode taken from 1 AM, looking at the Manhattan skyline out my hotel window. Day one of being nomadic. Day one of a new journey. So let me know what you think. You’re allowed to hate it also, but you’re allowed to love it, too.
Some things I want to tell you before we get started is we’re doing our first DDC, Diana Davis Creative, retreat this August. August 29th through September 1st, actually during the week that is purposeful because this is for creative entrepreneurs and I want you to take a fucking week off. Lean into boundaries and letting go for those days. And then, you can actually pack on a little vacation weekend of your own if you want before or after.
This retreat is going to be in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. It’s actually one of the towns that I sort of grew up around. We were in a really small town of 500 people, so most of the time for groceries, we’d drive over a mountain path to Steamboat Springs an hour and a half away to go to Walmart and buy groceries. So Steamboat Springs is a little bit of my stomping grounds and I really love it, and it’s quite literally one of the most beautiful places I’ve been. Definitely one of the most beautiful places in Colorado.
And because this is a podcast and you’re listening to me just painting a picture, Steamboat Springs kind of has a valley and then the mountains around it. This is up kind of on the ridge of Steamboat. It’s going to be green and beautiful, just kind of leaning in a little bit to the crisp edge of fall. There is a pool that almost is like an infinity pool, just kind of on the ridge of the mountain. There is lodges with amazing rooms and accommodations. There is firepits. We’re going to explore nature, which is all optional. We’re going to do live coaching, we’re going to have yoga and meditation led by a lot of the people who have been in Camp Clarity and Ascend before, so this is going to be somewhat of a reunion with people who have met virtually before and new people.
So you’re invited. It’s going to be epic. I am so excited to bring this to you. I’ve been asked to do retreats for a really long time. So it’s coming to life. I can’t wait to have you. Spots are obviously limited because it is in person. So click the link in the show notes, and I can’t wait to see you in person.
Hello from Manhattan, New York City. I am sitting in a Florida ceiling window glass hotel room on kind of the Lower East Side, East Village area looking at the Freedom Tower right now. It is 1:47 AM on June 7th, which is my birthday. So I have a whole day ahead of me. I landed just a few hours ago. This is technically day one of my true nomadic journey, New York being my first stop. Pretty exciting, pretty bittersweet. A lot of things happening in life and in business, and I’ve been sitting her reflecting for the last 45 minutes or so about how New York has been this landing pad for me when things become so low.
After my divorce when I was 25, I came to New York. It was my big leap. I moved here without a job or a plan, knew quite literally no one, and I made it happen. And now, day one of nomadic journey, coming back to home base in New York City after a six-year relationship, and it’s holding me again. And I gotta say it’s hard for New York City to not give you a lot of life when people are still standing on the street corners at 2AM and the lights just are still alive, which my former partner would say, “That’s really sad because there’s a lot of bankers up in those buildings, working still which means that’s why the lights are on.” But in so many ways, it’s the city that never sleeps and it’s always been my soul city. It really makes me feel like I’m on the top of a mountain, taking a big, deep breath.
Here we are, just kind of stream of consciousness again. You all said you really liked that episode. But just reflecting on the journey ahead. I am 32 today, and this is not where I thought it would be. Another chapter starts now. A totally blank slate that I wasn’t expecting, and I think it’s so interesting. We’ve been throwing this cliche around a lot but when you make plans, God laughs. But if we can be excited for those changes, then I think we’re in a good spot.
And it’s just so interesting how things and energy can get chaotic. I don’t know how it is for people who aren’t Geminis or manifesting generators, but there’s been a lot of chaotic energy around me, which I actually kind of love. Like this morning, my wallet was missing and I had a flight at 3PM. It ended up being in a deep pocket in a duffel bag deep within my storage unit, but I figured it out thanks for the help of my mom and dad, talking me through where I’d been and what I touched and where I put things, and just getting a lot done before I left, feeling on top of the world, having people sign up for Camp Clarity, just saying “hell yes” to themselves, which fills my heart up because I know their lives are about to change. Not because I’m the best coach in the world or this is the end all, be all program. It is pretty fucking rad, and it does change a lot of lives.
But the big thing I think for that is them saying “hell yes” to themselves. And I think that’s what this nomadic journey is to me is saying “hell yes” to me, and I’m realizing, kind of comparing last time to this time six years ago, seven years ago, when I was freshly divorced, I had never lived alone. I’ve never really been alone. I’d really monkey barred from relationship to relationship, and I was pretty lost. I hadn’t found myself really in any capacity yet. I didn’t even know what clothes I liked to wear, what shower curtain I would choose, where I wanted to be.
And now, I’m so grateful for this opportunity to be dating myself in the growth part that I’m in.
I’m a obviously completely different person or really the same person but just like layers shed than I was when I was 25. And I’m so excited to experience being on my own journey truly at this point in my growth ‘cause I wasn’t an entrepreneur at that point when I was 25. I wasn’t into the personal growth. I was considering myself a Christian, very spiritual but definitely playing by a lot of rules and there’s a lot of guilty. And things have just kind of unwound and expanded, and I think sometimes they have to unwind to expand.
So this is just a reflection episode at 1:54 in the morning in New York City. Things are different, and I would love for you to reflect for yourself where you were a year ago, really? Where were you a year ago? What was your mindset? What blocks did you have? Where were you physically? Where were you in your business? Where were you five years ago? Did you plan for what you’re doing now? Because my bet is about 80% of us didn’t plan for where we are now, couldn’t have even fathomed or maybe had a general idea where we wanted to go, but one of my big things is fuck the five-year plan. After I got divorced, I felt like I was given a second chance at living my life. Like kind of like game over; you get to start again totally fresh knowing what you know. And I’m so grateful for that. Moving to New York wasn’t my five-year plan. Getting divorced wasn’t my five-year plan. None of it. But I was so grateful for it.
And none of this was my five-year plan either. And here we are, and it still hurts. And I’ve cried probably more this week than I ever have quite literally in my life. Bobby and I did a closing ceremony this week that I got from Mark Groves, which was also hilarious because we planned this big thing, and it ended up all falling apart and we just had to roll with it.
I think it’s necessary for us to have some sort of plan. Even the closing ceremony. Have some sort of idea and intention. Maybe intention’s the better word. Have some sort of plan, but being very open to that plan changing. Because, again, if the universe has something in store for you that’s different from what you think, you can actually get really excited about it.
Because it’s going to be better than you could have ever imagined.
Fuck the five-year plan. What about living now? What about yes, tapping into your desires and intentions, but letting life unfold and making room for changing your mind? Which is huge. We go through these spurts of we have to stay in the relationship, we have to stay in the job, we have to stay in the city because we’ve built so much here. And we’ve put so much effort into it. How could we waste that time by throwing it away?
What if those things were just school for the next thing? What if those things were meant to be let go of sometimes? Sometimes, I wonder if partners are meant to be forever. We have such different stages in our lives. I don’t know if I want to coach forever. I thought I wanted to photograph forever, and that ended, too. So grieving it, and as my coach talks about, composting it, fertilizing the next chapter with the things that we’re letting fall away. The dead leaves, if you will.
And again, I love my friend, Nicole Wilde. It will always stick with me, this meditation she did during COVID where she said, “The trees don’t keep their leaves.” Can you imagine a tree with every leaf they’ve ever had intact? Dead leaves, just layers and layers and layers of them. Trees don’t keep their leaves. They shed them when it’s time. What do you need to shed? What do you want to start? What can you be open to in this life? Because there’s amazing things in store for you, but you have to be willing to see them, willing to trust yourself, willing to take the jump, the leap when the universe says ‘jump’.
I really want to make a reel out of this. I could find the audio. I know I could go record it myself, I guess. But The Notebook is one of my favorite movies. Don’t at me. And I love so many scenes in that, but I love the scene where Noah is, like, Allie’s on the rope swing and he’s, like, “Get in the water. Get in the water!” And he’s, like, “I’m sorry, baby, please get in the water.” And she screams and just goes for it. And I was talking about that the other day because Noah’s the universe and we’re Allie, and it’s scary to take the leap, to trust when we’re hearing, “Jump, jump, jump! I’ve got you!” And sometimes, we just have to scream and go for it.
Here’s to a new chapter. Here’s to a new slate. I’m so excited to take you along with me. There’s probably going to be different sound quality, sirens, men yelling out windows. Who knows? Because this is just the first stop and I’m going to be taking this little microphone all around the world.
Screenshot this, share it on social, and let me know where you want an episode to be recorded, and I’ll put it on my list. Wisconsin doesn’t count. I love you all. Make it exciting. I have a big list so far. I’m really excited to share it with you. Stay tuned. Thanks for being here.
