She Sold Everything and Moved to Paris Alone: Reinventing Life Abroad (feat. Wani Manly)

SPEAKER_00 0:00

So what would it take for you to walk away from a successful career, sell everything you own, and move to another country alone?

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Our guest today did exactly that. She left a thriving legal career in Miami and moved to Paris with no plan, no French, and no safety net.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

What followed wasn't just a move across the world, it was a complete reinvention of her identity, her career, and her life.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

And today we're talking about the reality of starting over abroad, the courage it takes to embrace change, and what happens when you finally say yes to the life that's calling you.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Every journey has a story, and every story has the power to heal. My story hasn't been ordinary. I was adopted, I'm a survivor of abuse and trauma, and I have more than a dozen siblings. That's just the beginning of my story. Life has taken me on a long and winding road of healing and personal growth. A journey that ultimately led me back to myself and the path I was meant to walk. Along the way, I discovered that stories have power. The power to connect us, to help us grow, and even to help us heal. This is Travel Time Stories with Shannon. Real journeys, real stories, and real healing. Welcome back to Travel Time Stories with Shannon, where real journeys meet real stories and healing happens one conversation at a time. I'm your host Shannon from the Lone Star State of Texas, and some weeks I fly solo and talk about my own life story of travel, adventures, personal healing, and growth. Other weeks, I'm joined by my best friend Ann.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Hi everyone, I'm your co-host Ann from Missouri, and we sit down with inspiring guests who share their insights, expertise, and personal stories to help all of us along our own journeys.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

And today's guest is someone who truly embodies reinvention. So grab your favorite beverage and let's get into it.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Joining us today is Wani Manley, bestselling author, TEDx speaker, transformational attorney, and founder of the Changing Changes Everything framework.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

After more than two decades advising Fortune 500 companies as a corporate attorney, Juani made a radical life decision, leaving behind her successful career in Miami to move to Paris.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

Today she helps leaders and organizations embrace change as a superpower while living a life she once only dreamed about, splitting her time between Europe and the U.S.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Juani, welcome to Travel Time Stories. We're so excited to hear about your incredible journey. Thank you, Shannon. Thank you, Ann, for having me. And thank you to your listeners.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

We are so excited to have you.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

I've been looking forward to it as volunteer. Thank you. So let's talk about the moment that changed everything. You had this successful legal career, a stable life in Miami, and yet you made the decision to sell everything and move to Paris alone. What led to that decision?

SPEAKER_03 3:35

You know, it was really quite abrupt, but it was probably it was a moment decision I made on New Year's Eve in 2010 where I had waken up that morning and I had plans to do like what I always wish to go out and party with my friends in Miami. But I just woke up that morning and I decided like not to go out and party, but then set to stay at home and to actually like to analyze my year because I didn't have like a really great year that year, to be quite honest with you. Um and I didn't feel like I feel like a fraud in a sense, so I didn't want to be out like partying and acting like, oh my like, I had this like incredible year, and saying, like what we always say is gonna be like my year, and really like looking at, okay, you know what? I really had a crappy year. And so I had this entire like you know, organic process of like, okay, meditation, and then like okay, looking at what went right, what went wrong, and like going through like and my list of what went wrong was a lot longer than like the first one, and really taking like radical self-responsibility to say, okay, what was really going on? And really the short end of was like I was really in love for the very first time. I was a brand new uh business owner and I had no business acumen. I just knew how to be a lawyer, and so um I just really was into the business. And so um then I'm just looking at my mindset, then I began to like kind of look in the like look into the future, like what I wanted to be, do you want to have? And I just spent the entire day just actually reflecting on that. When midnight came, I took like a sip of champagne and I passed out because I've been like doing it since six o'clock that morning. And so I joined quite a bit that day, and I never said that I wanted to leave, but I wanted to leave Miami, but when I look back, what I really wanted was like a very, very like deep and radical change. And so what ended up happening was like two days later, my whole life in Miami began part of all of these signs about Paris, France, French this and French that. And I just was like, okay, what is really going on here? Because for me, I wasn't like a typical American, like all, you know, cuckoo for cocoa puffs about Paris and French this and French that. I have no connection to France whatsoever. I'm West African, but my family isn't from we're from Liberia. We're not, it's not a it's not a Francophone country, so it made no sense whatsoever. And so I'm very much on the spiritual path, and so I I live like a very different life of, you know, living like a non-conventional life. And so I just kind of followed it. So like for an entire year, I kept all these signs, and then okay, I actually initially went to Paris to check it out. I went there for my birthday in March, and um, I was there for four days, and I was in this very receptive state, okay, God universe, like, what is the mess? Like, what's going on? I got nothing except really sick because it was really, really cold in Paris, and I was there like dressed like in Miami weather, meaning like with nothing on practically. And then I went to the French Riviera for the first time, and I was visiting a friend of mine from Denmark, and I had never been there before. And I went to basically every single city along the Riviera except Saint-Tropez. When I got to Monaco, like I had this very strange and overwhelming first case of deja vu where everything and everyone looked very familiar to me. And so I remember like just my whole routine was I would go to a cafe, wake up in the morning, I would take my journal and I would write, and I would have like a some quiche, and I would have like a glass of champagne, and I would kind of like do like the hop off and hop on buses, you know? And I just wander. And I remember like kind of like going to Monica, and I just heard a voice saying, Okay, go this way. And I turned a corner and I just see this like mosaic fountain, like in the shape of a in like the two fishes. I'm a Pisces, my birth is February 27th. And so I finally heard, like, from my heart saying to me that your life is in transition from a lawyer to a writer. And I was just like, that's it. Like, I was really like, what's the big deal about that? You know, like I came all the way out just like that. So I went back to Miami, okay. All right, God, I got the message. Okay, whatever, you know, okay, because I was kind of like blocking at that time. I was on a spiritual path, and like, you know, different things started to open up for me because I was raised to being a lawyer since I was like, I don't know, like two years old. And so, like being a writer, being a speaker, none of those things were really in my path. And so I thought that would be the end of the science, but they actually like, you know, continued on, like the quadruple. And that was like like very that was in March. And so, like, I remember like in August, like working in a building at a client site, and it was like one of these, it was like a super high building, it was like high enough, and I was just sitting there. It was the most beautiful day in Miami too, where like everyone's at a beach or on a yacht someplace, but I was like in a room, you know, like typing, like looking like drafting contracts, like just like so bored. And I remember like just singing like yellow butterflies, and I was like, wait a minute, anything like butterflies flew quite this high. And the minute I said that and I had I observed the butterflies, I just heard move to I heard move, and I went like this. I just looked at my chest and I heard move out of Paris. And I thought about it for like a second. I just said yes, and there was nobody with me. But when I said yes that moment, it was like I had parted the Red Sea energetically, and everything like the world, the universe began to conspire for me to move to Paris. It was like in a Miller crisis. I was trying to sell my condo in Miami. We found a buyer. So right away I was able to I sell my my apartment, I sold the car, I gave all my different charities. I kept my legal practice books and my friend's place, and then I moved. I know a single person in France. I didn't know one word of French, I had no plan A, B, C, D. I just followed the science moving me, like just leading me. Wow, that's a good thing. That's incredible, crazy story.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Honestly, when I look, I would never do it again.

SPEAKER_03 8:52

You know, not at this point.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

Uh there was a reason that you were supposed to do this, and your conscious, subconscious spoke to you and said, Hey, but you know, that kind of leap requires incredible courage. What did rebuilding your life look like in the early days?

SPEAKER_03 9:11

Gosh, it was really, really difficult. Um, initially, I think with a bunch of money, I sold my place at a loss. And so I was just going on faith. You know, I was really like heavily into the spiritual path and really like living like a life of surrender and just like wonder, which was so different from being a lawyer, you know what I mean, and just kind of going down the spiritual path. But like once I sort of opened like spirituality and like my whole life again to just become a different, a different, you know, frequency. And so I struggled a lot. I lost all of my clients. At the time I was doing securities law, like, you know, high-powered, like, you know, securities law, worked with public companies. I was general counsel, and I and I lost a lot of my clients, you know. And so I had like about five or six like bread and butter clients, which I was working with, and they all dropped me because I was living. So right away, I had to get, I had to get learn the learn the lesson of abundance, learn the lesson of, you know what, like, trust me, I've got you, you know. Then I had no idea that it was difficult to find a place to live in Paris. Like it's like getting like an MBA there, you know. So essentially I had to learn, I had literally when you sister all over, I literally did that. I had to learn how to walk, how to crawl, how to talk in a different language, you know? And I had to do with like really having faith of like the Bible says, like a of a mustard seed type thing, you know what I mean? Because and I literally was that because and and I had no idea like why I was there. You know, I didn't I always tell the people, I didn't go to Paris. Like Paris called me to it. I just answered the sign or answer answered a call to it. So and it made no sense whatsoever, you know. I mean, for like two or three years, people will ask me, like, Wannie, like, what are you doing in Paris? I'm like, I don't know. I would get so triggered because I had no clue either. All I was all I could say was, I'm just following my heart. I'm just doing what I'm supposed to be. And like nobody, it made no sense because I was losing everything left, right, front, and center. And my mom was like, Come back home, like, what are you doing there? You know, so it took, but I I just couldn't explain to people the path that I was on, what was happening for me. Like, I was like, I was super inspired. I was like writing books, like it was just vomiting, like coming out of me. And but it was just so different what I was groomed to being and had been like my whole life. And so it was difficult. Yeah, it was champagne, it was all sweet and like croissants, and you know, like what you think about Paris, but I was like literally, like, literally become a different person. Like I was being stripped away of everything that I was that I knew who I was, and I was being invited to suck in something completely different. So it was hard.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

Yeah, I yeah, I can't even imagine that because like here you are living your life, you know, everything's going good, and then you uproot yourself totally, move across the pond to Paris, and yeah, you left your home country, yeah, and in doing so, you pretty much left your titles, your networks, all your familiar surroundings that just all disappeared. And so, yeah, I can't imagine that happening. And yeah, that has to totally with your mindset just really mess you up.

SPEAKER_03 12:22

It did, but even at the same time as well, too, because it was like there was it was a great duality. I was actually living. It was like, okay, on one hand, I was like, it was difficult. I didn't know, I mean, I was like literally like learning, I didn't know how to speak, I mean I didn't know one word of French. Like I would like literally, I remember like the first time I used a washing and dryer, like when I found an apartment and I couldn't read French. I literally, here I am a lawyer, having my own business, like having all the success prior to. I literally was typing out the directions to be able to Google translate it. I was having to read children's books of like A, B, C, D, and E. Imagine like in your 30s, and like nobody cares like who you were. Like, they don't care about like the titles, like in the different things. And so it was a very, very humbling experience. Um, it was also very enriching as well too because I began to just really discover who I was because I was okay, you know what? So my my father was Minister of Finance for Liberia. So I grew up in like a very diplomatic like household. So like the path of law for me was like kind of like, okay, it's what you're supposed to do type thing, you know? Either then I become a become a doctor, but I was really not discovering who I was, and it was really quite beautiful, but it was, and I had different helpers where I was being shown like when you're really like, because I really believe like all of us get this calling, you know, to become something different, to live like a different life, right? To basically live the life you were meant to be living, but very few people actually answer the call because it is not, it's very uncomfortable, right? It requires to give up like so many of what you think is like, you know, what you're you know, like your comfort zone. And so, and I realized for me, like at that time, like when you actually answer the call, there's so much, there were so many people to help me along the way. You know, like there was this complete strangers to me. It was really quite beautiful at the same time, but I had to learn how to trust I would be okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

Yeah, yeah. And that that changed the way you saw yourself, right?

SPEAKER_03 14:22

It did, and it changed the way how I saw myself and how I saw the world and how I saw everything else as well, too, because I realized everywhere is your home, everyone is your family. And if you go over into the world, because I remember, like, for example, I I'll never forget going to a party. And I and because when I when I got there, I had no idea it was difficult to find a place in Paris, right? And so I was like, I think I moved them like 21 times, still like that, right? And I remember like, I remember meeting this woman, she was like, I'm going to Morocco. She was like, Yeah, something's just telling me like to give you my apartment for like two weeks. Like, do you need a place to stay? I mean, it was like just little things like that. And I was like, okay, that is only God, that is only the universe. You know, and it's because I was living like this, you know what I mean? So, and I couldn't, I couldn't have scripted that. So for me, yeah, it was really quite beautiful because there were so many miracles happening for me. But I realized the more I let go, the more I trusted that I, you know, I always say the people I didn't come here. Like I it wasn't my ego that brought me into a paradise, something else led me here. And so I do I just begin to trust you, whatever that is, is going to reveal my purpose here and what I'm supposed to be doing here, is gonna take care of me. And that's what actually ended up happening. But I had to change a lot. I did, I had to do the inner work for sure.

SPEAKER_00 15:42

Yeah. Well, one of the things in your talk that I listened to that I really loved and I wanted to ask you about and have you uh talk about that is what we're just talking about now, like with change. You say how people want things to change in their life, but then they're scared to make change. And the only way your external changes is when your internal changes. Yes. That was so powerful for me. And I had to sit and think on that for a while. I'd never thought about it like that.

SPEAKER_03 16:17

Yeah, you know, because we're we were never taught that. We were taught like, you know, we were taught that number one, it changes like this, it's an external event. It's like, no, it's like you command it, like whenever you want something to change, when you become a different person, when you stop reacting like the same way you've always been doing, then the extra, because the whole world's like a mirror to you, right? And it's like, okay, whatever's being reflected to you, it's something within is within you, it's actually initiating that. And I just realized, oh my God, okay, when I change on the inside, everything else changed on the outside for me as well, too. And so for me, I that realization came from me moving to Paris. And so my TED Talk was that is now what I actually speak about, and it's actually what I actually practice, what I'm tested on on daily basis is won't do.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

100%. I'm sure that yes, I have no doubt. Wani, do you think people underestimate how deeply travel and relocation can transform their identity?

SPEAKER_03 17:20

100%. You know, I'm pretty much used to it. So I have been I've lived in five different countries and I've been living abroad since I was one year old. So for me, it's actually quite normal. And I just, it's just in my blood. But I think from from American from an American perspective, because we're so far away from everything, I think it's very true for us, versus, for example, like Europeans or Latin, you know, or South Americans, where like everything's like much closer to travel. But it really, really changes you. And I also think because like we're programmed to believe like the US is like the best of everything, whether the whether this, whether that. And it's like, okay, there's a different world. Number one, it's programming. Number two, there are other places a lot better. But not saying, you know, everywhere you go is like it's there's a plus and minus type thing, but I really believe, like, yeah, we do. It'll change your life. To me, it's been more effective for me than any of my schooling, with the exception of me being going to law school. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

Oh, yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_03 18:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

My dad was military, so we got to live in Europe for four years. He was stationed over there. And it was very eye-opening and life-changing for me and my brothers as well, you know. So it's it was a good thing.

SPEAKER_03 18:35

Yeah, I personally think everyone, it should be mandatory for every US citizen to live abroad for at least one year. I it it'll definitely change your life. It'll change your perspective, it'll give you self-leadership. Because one of the things for me, like in the my personal mantra was like, because I had given up everything, it had to work for me. So I came up with this mantra of resilience, which was it's not working, it's not an option. Because I had no choice. I didn't have, I had sold the car, I had sold it to the home. There was no coming back. Even though I would say to myself, okay, if it doesn't work and parents acknowledge back to the US, I had no home to move back to. So I had to just make it work. And I think like when you were abroad, certain skill set and certain parts yourself gets revealed, gets, you know, like even for me, like speaking French, or now I speak it not fluently, but it's okay. I never thought I would actually learn it. But it's like, yeah, I can, you know. So it's like, yeah, 100% agree with you on that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

A lot, so a lot of people dream about moving abroad, but the reality of actually building a life or a business in another country is very complex, as you know. So, what are some of the hidden challenges of long-term expat life that people don't talk about?

SPEAKER_03 19:50

Number one, it's not as glamorous as Instagram and Facebook and social media makes it. Everybody's lying to you, all right? Um, it's not, you're gonna be in survival mode. And when I even if you have money, if you're very wealthy, you're still gonna be in survival mode because number one, your whole system is gonna be different. For example, for me, I moved from Miami to Paris. Miami's like the eternal sunshine state or Florida's a sunshine state. Paris is like winter for eight months out of the year. There's no sun. My body freaked out, like because of lack of a vitamin D. And all of a sudden it was okay, what the hell's going on? I find myself going to a doctor, like having to get like vitamin D shots because there was no sunlight, you know? And so you have to give up your friend that, you know, your you don't have your your friendship circle, your network. For me, there was a language barrier for two. Europe, for example, which is where I've been living, is very bureaucratic. Um, it's very much like a very systematized way of living, whereas here in America is all about our individualism. And so many other countries are very much like that, with the exception like the UK, for example, which is kind of like a little to us. So it's a lot of changes that people are not really ready for. Um you know, making a business is a lot harder in different in different places in the United States. And so it is not easy, it is not for the faint of heart. And I don't want people to think that what people put in social media, they're people are lying to you. Like anyone, if you look, if you look at anybody who's just moved abroad for like the first three or four years, that are posting only like the highlight reels, I'm telling they're lying. And I can tell you because I remember writing an article for X Pant Magazine, and it was called When the City of Light Becomes a City of Darkness, and it's all about Paris, like what really happens when like the truth about really living here, right? The bureaucracy, you know, it's a very closed culture, right? The salaries are not very are not quite as high. And so there's just just a lot of just different gifts to adjust to. And I remember putting in like a call to get different stories. I'm telling you, nobody wants to speak to me with their what their name being revealed, revealed. Everything was all about on an an. An anonymity. Everybody was like super depressed. They were all on, what do you call it? They were all on medication. But when I looked at their Instagram, it was all like, you know, I'm in Paris and I'm doing this. And I'm just like, there was such a disconnect. People are lying. It's like I just want people to be like, it's just, it's very real. Like, listen to real stories like your podcast where people would tell you what it's really like. It's very lonely. It is extremely lonely because you don't really connect a lot of people, you know. So there is a very much of an intercultural difference. And so, you know, you're going to be looked at the secretary of state, especially if Trump isn't by as isn't if it's in his in office because everyone's like, the US is doing this. So it's like it's a lot of different moving parts too that people aren't really quite ready for, that your nervous system isn't ready for as well, too. Yeah. I can talk about it. It's a lot because I know there's like a I was just now the new American dream is to live abroad, you know, because people are just finding out. It's not just to escape the current administration, but it's also to really like it's very expensive living in the United States. I always, I mean when I got on my store, I tell my mom, I was like, oh my God, like what are you paying for? It's so much cheaper to live in for any other places, even like in Europe. That's you know, like in a city like Paris was very expensive, but it's actually much cheaper than the United States. So I get it. I get it.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

Yeah, yeah. I'm sure. You know, why you've built businesses across borders, um, which takes courage, persistence, and adaptability. Uh, what were some of the biggest risks you had to take along the way?

SPEAKER_03 23:39

I would just say um losing, for example, um I lost, like I said, I lost my entire like bread and butter of my law firm. Um, I had to change my practice of law. So when I even I I I did actually get back into start practicing again, but I began to just I rearranged my entire different what I actually how I my different practice, right? So for example, I was in securities law before, but I could no longer do it because I was not living in the US full-time and like the legal opinions that I couldn't actually write then. So I had lost a lot of like my client base, right? Number two, it's a lot harder to start a business in foreign countries than it is in the United States. So for example, and I love that. So in the US, you can set up a company like in two seconds, you'll need your lawyer to do it. But in France, like you have to have like an accountant, it's a lot of expense, it's a lot, even just to change like a corporation's name, you have to go to a court to actually get that done. So it's a lot more parameters, it's a lot more, and it's also not very easy. Because, for example, like those like socialist countries where like they're very much about everything, it's about the government. So, for example, we're like there, it's it makes it harder to be an entrepreneur than it is like to work, you know, to work like for a company there's a lot harder. So it takes a lot of research and development, um, a lot of patience, a lot of like um really figuring like what the system really is and really trying to like to see how you can actually you can mesh into it. But it's not you're you're not going to do what you're doing in the US and just kind of like put it back, just kind of like you know, plug and play. You won't be able to do that because it's a it's very different. Right. And it won't work. And a lot of people make that mistake, they're not successful with it. You do have to adjust big 100% big time. Yeah. And also, too, you have to work, you know, you have to be uh be accustomed to not getting a lot of sleep. So for example, like for me, like when I got there and I was like having to redo my practice, um, a lot of my clients were in the were on the the Pacific coast, like in California or in Arizona. So there was like a nine-hour time difference. I never went out for Friday nights. There was no, I never did happy hour because I was always working till one o'clock or two o'clock in the morning type thing. So you have to like basically, you know, you have to adjust a lot. It's it's not it's not very easy, but it's worth it. Wow. It's worth it. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

Yeah, that that time zone difference will get you. Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 26:04

Did you did you ever question whether you made the right decision and how do you deal with uncertainty?

SPEAKER_03 26:10

Oh my god, there were so many times where I f I feel like I was, yeah, I was banging my head against the wall because in the beginning I wasn't pretty at all. Because I remember even like my brother, one of my brothers was like, Listen, sis, you know, this little fairy tale you're living up in Paris, you know, you need to give it up and come back home. Because I had lost everything. Like I said, I had lost like all of my clientele. And so it just, yeah, I was questioning a lot because the journey for me didn't make a lot of sense at all in the very beginning. And I knew that I wasn't going to Paris to continue my old life, that I was going there to do like a completely different life, but I didn't know exactly what I was actually going to look like. And it wasn't until I did the TED talk that it all kind of came into being, it all like it made sense to me. Then it was a lot easier. But in the very beginning, like it just, it just wasn't at all. No. So, like I said, the most triggering question to ask me was, you know, wanting what are you doing in Paris? And so yeah, there were times when I didn't have any money, when I was calling my mom to actually help me, and I was like, oh my God, I was like, I just lost, I'd given him so much. I had lost all of my friends, my connections. I didn't speak the language. Like I said, nothing made sense as to what the hell I was doing in Paris. And so yeah, I questioned a lot. It took me like a long time to get Miami out of my system. There would be times where like there'd be certain, for example, like in the month of March, was like there's like a music festival, which was like my favorite, my favorite time to be there. I couldn't be on social media because I was just so distraught because I missed I missed my old life. It took me like a long time to let go of the old life to fully embrace my French life. Yeah. So yeah, I had, I, I had, I had a lot, those thoughts came to me many, many times. Like, what am I doing? Yeah, did you make the right decision? Because it wasn't easy. I mean, people are it is now, it's beautiful now. Like I'm there, I'm in the south of France in the summertime, in a Riviera, but it's like, no, it was I had to create that, and I had to do a lot of letting go, a lot of like going through the whole ups and downs. So, you know, it wasn't quite, it wasn't like all smooth, smooth sailing.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

But you did it.

SPEAKER_03 28:14

I did, thank you. I sure did.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

And you've built an entire philosophy around embracing change rather than resisting it.

unknown 28:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:26

Why do you think so many people fear change?

SPEAKER_03 28:30

Because we're addicted to the familiar. And it's not our fault because it's actually like neurological. Like our mind actually like craves our brain, craves like what's familiar to us because it used anything that's different to be not safe. And so, yeah, our life may suck, but it's like we're just we're just used to it being sucked. Like, you know, but because if it we were to, if it was to be in another spectrum, like it would be quite different. And so it's just like it's just how things work. But it's like, yeah, we don't want, we want change, but we don't want to change ourselves. It doesn't work, it doesn't work that way, you know. And so it's like we just we remain when people say they're stuck, it's like, no, it's like that's just that's really what's going on. But it's like I said, it's a thing you have to like fight with your brain, you have to like basically make the the unfamiliar familiar, and then you know, things kind of like start to rearrange itself. Yeah, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

Yes, very much so.

SPEAKER_03 29:20

And it's more of an identity thing. Like, I'll tell you for me, like, so for example, one of the things I'm the a change that I actually go through now is actually letting go of being a lawyer. Imagine my entire life since I was two years old, it's been groomed to be one thing. And now I'm like, I'm okay, and now for me, law is like the back burner and being like a speaker and a consultant and like really like you know, just taking the stage. But I've had to like really reprogram myself to say, okay, I am an in-demand, high, you know, highly booked and highly paid speaker because my mind, it it's not familiar with that. Yeah, I've been speaking, but it's like, no, like, no. I mean, you can't deny that I'm a lawyer. Like, it's in my DNA. Even if I'm not talking about law, like I'm always my perspective is actually looking for that. But I've had to like reprogram my mind and to make that to be very familiar as opposed or equally with the week, what I would do like on a normal like day for practicing law. So yeah, it takes practice and it takes intention, intention and practice to rewire your brain and your identity.

SPEAKER_01 30:18

It does.

SPEAKER_00 30:20

Yeah. But it can be done. It's not something that happens overnight. No, it's you have to you have to continually work at it.

SPEAKER_03 30:28

No, despite what Instagram and all these cooches were telling you were lying to you. Like they're just they're lying to you, you know? So it's like, yeah, and you have to do the activities to reinforce like the new identity, you know, whatever it is you want to be. Like for me, for example, like part of my day is actually pitching. Like, I actually pitched it, which is how I connected with you. I researched and then I want to podcast, I want to speak on because that's the job of what a speaker really does, right? Reach out to companies to you know, to podcasts, to events, it's okay, I want to speak. And so you have to like reinforce the talk with the the the affirmations as well, too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:06

I agree completely. Wow. So how did your personal leap shape the framework that you teach today?

SPEAKER_03 31:14

Oh, it's everything because for me, I, you know, I it's not something that it's it's really what I I embody, like what I what I I came up with, and I realized, like, you know, my God, that's how I got from here to there, you know? So like the first was really having to change your perspective about change. Just like, for example, okay, whenever when you you ask them, can you tell me what thing about change? Everybody says it's hard, right? No matter, I don't care what audit is about to speak in front of, everyone just has a viewpoint that change is actually hard. Like, it's not. You know, but so you have to like divorce yourself from that line, from that language, from that mantra, and so you know, and say, no, it's an opportunity, you know, it's uh it's beautiful, it's different, it's new. Say anything, but it's actually hard. And so for me, yeah, the framework is like what I discovered, what I live, and what I actually teach. And like I said, what I'm also very tested as well too, because the universe will keep testing you on all like, you know, on your perspectives and all like what you're what you're sharing.

SPEAKER_00 32:15

Because yeah, and you it should. Yeah. And and like you were talking about the all the signs that you kept seeing before you actually went to Paris. If you're not listening to what the universe is trying to tell you, it's gonna keep like slapping you upside the head to try to get you to say, hey, yes, pay attention.

SPEAKER_01 32:35

I'm trying to tell you something important.

SPEAKER_03 32:38

Yeah, you know, and it's really unfortunate because I really I love life, you know what I mean? And I love all of life, you know. And I always say, and I know we all have different religious beliefs or spirituality, different types, but I'm like, you know what? I've never believed like we were just here hung and dry. Like there's nothing here to guide us. And I'm like, no, the birds, like, you know, you know, singing in the morning is like it's a lullaby, there's something it's but we're not paying attention because we're too busy like on these things, and we're not really me. I just I live in a realm of okay, like, okay, what else is there? I'm always paying attention to the designs, the insights or intuition, like, okay, what is showing up for you? Even if you were not like woo-woo like me, okay, you can look, okay, what is working in my life right now, right? Say, for example, for in if you have a desire to, you know, to, I don't know, to, I don't know, be a travel agent, right? And but you were like an accountant. So maybe you just keep getting invited to go on trips. Okay, that's just tell you, okay, that's like a sign right there saying, hey, you know what? Go this direction type thing. But people don't, people don't really, they just dismiss it. I don't. Never.

SPEAKER_01 33:46

Right.

SPEAKER_03 33:46

Yeah. But I'm not very, I don't go like over, I'm not overboard about it as well. I'm just like very open to life. You know, I'm very engaged and very for me, like, for example, like one of the things I really do is every day for one hour, I go and I walk outside in the sunshine, and I leave my phone. And I'm I'm just completely into nature. I'm very present, and it's because I want to be back, you know, because you can only like receive the signs when you're like when you're in a present moment, not when you're, you know, listen to like a podcast or a book or whatever. But so I leave my phone here for one hour every day every day. I go walk outside.

SPEAKER_00 34:19

That's yeah, you have to be in nature and being out in nature grounds yourself and connects you. Yeah, and yeah, then you're open, you're open to everything that that's going on at then at that point.

SPEAKER_03 34:31

Especially, which is what I love when I come here to Houston when it has to see it because it's very much in nature. I don't know how it is for you and Anne, like in Missouri where you are. Are you in the city? Like, is it very around? Okay, great. Yeah, good.

SPEAKER_01 34:44

I am in the city, but not a big city. I'm on the outskirts of a smaller city.

SPEAKER_02 34:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:50

Um, and yeah, we have tons of nature, and yeah, I love nature.

SPEAKER_02 34:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 34:55

So but I'm with Shannon. Nature grounds you. Mother Earth is she grabs onto you and says, Hey, come back down to Earth.

SPEAKER_03 35:05

Even just like being in the sun, you know what I mean? Even like if you were in the sun, yeah. It's just to sit in the parking, just because like the way our lives are now is like it is, it's not conducive to that because we're so much like in our we have our to-do list, right? We wait for our company. I'm like, you know, for like one hour per day, I'm just it's me and nature of me in the sun. Absolutely. There's no, there's it's a non-negotiable of mine every day.

SPEAKER_01 35:28

I love that. Yeah, so I do too.

SPEAKER_00 35:30

Everybody should implement that. If you're because seriously, if if I'm like feeling depressed or had a bad day, if I just walk out in the sunshine for a little bit and just stand there in the sunshine, yeah, I just start feeling lighter and so much better. And it's free.

SPEAKER_01 35:48

Oh, yeah, vitamin D.

SPEAKER_00 35:50

Yeah, and it's free. It doesn't cost me anything.

SPEAKER_03 35:52

It's free, it regulates the nervous system, you know, because I'm really into that as well, too. And like breathing type means, but yeah, for me, the sun getting vitamin D, it's just it's priceless for me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

Yes, I agree. And you can tell the difference when you uh like we've had very rainy days this week. So for four days this week, you know, no sunshine or whatever, and you can just tell the difference when you don't get that that real sun feeling every day.

SPEAKER_03 36:22

100%, yes.

SPEAKER_01 36:24

So if you could go back and talk to the version of yourself right before you made the move to Paris, what would you tell her, Wani?

SPEAKER_03 36:34

Enjoy the ride. Like, there's nothing to be worried about. There you go, girl. There's nothing to be worried about, like you've got this, like it's so yeah, I would have because I I do tend to worry a lot. Um, and I it's one thing I I do work on. And so, yeah, it was quite scary. And so I would tell her like not to worry, you know. I'll share with you, like when I was six years old, I said two things which were that I wanted to live between the US and Europe, and I wanted to have three homes. And when I said at the time, like everyone laughed at me, like, little girl, like what are you talking about? You know? And that little girl really actually did that, you know. And so I'm so proud of myself. Yeah, okay, it's my mom's house, but who cares? Like, I'm here, you know? It's like I'm here for who cares, or I can get an ARP, but it's like I'm living like that six-year-old's dream, and it's just like it's you know, I realize like everything works out, like your desires. I would tell her your desires you want will come true. The ones that are from your heart. So stop worrying so much. You got this. That's what I would tell her.