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Hello, friends. Welcome back to another episode of Call Her Creator, powered by Stan. Happy New Year. I am so happy to be back in the studio. I'm so excited to go over things with you today that I just feel are heavy on my heart, but not in, like a negative way. Like, this is going to be a positive podcast, right? But it's all about letting the forces of things go. So if you pressed play on this podcast episode because you just, you feel ambitious, you feel capable, you're ready for a reset, but you're also just a little bit over, like doing things the hard way and feeling like you're forcing them, then welcome. This episode is for you. You don't need more motivation, you just need a little direction. And hopefully that is what I can do for you right now. Because here's what I know to be true. Forcing it is not working anymore. Not in business, not in content, not in life. And I think a lot of us are realizing that the strategies that got us to where we are right now are not the strategies that are gonna take us forward in this new year. So today I want to talk about getting in alignment, not forcing things. Not the fluffy version of work, but the real version. So we're gonna go over five things that I'm letting go of for this 2026 new year. And girl, if you can follow along, I promise you, life is gonna get so much easier for you. Now, before we get started, I have to tell you about the Dare to Dream giveaway that Stan's doing. Guys, you are crazy if you don't jump on this giveaway. They're giving away an entire year's salary paid. Yes. For a full year. To support your next chapter, your dreams, the life that you're building. Basically, Stan's gonna pay you for a year to go after your dream. So whether that's being a content creator, an influencer, want to open up your own online business, whatever that might be, you have to apply or they're never going to hear from you. And I wish I would have had something like this because I did not have this huge safety net when I, you know, left my corporate job and started my own thing. So this is literally like a little safety net for you to fall back into an entire year salary paid. There's even going to be like, if you don't win the main giveaway, there's runner ups too. So I'm linking the link to enter this giveaway in the show notes. You better go do it. Like I'm even going to tell you to Pause this podcast right now, Go do it, and then come back. Okay? Okay. Hey, friend. Welcome back to Call Her Creator. Powered by your all in One Creator Store. Stan. Stan is the easiest way for you to make money online. All of your courses, digital products, and bookings are hosted within your link in Bio. If you're ready to start your free trial, visit my show notes and click my affiliate link to get started today. All right, welcome back. If you've been doing all the right things and you still feel maybe off, I want you to know something before we go any further. You're not doing anything wrong. You're likely just out of alignment with yourself. And I've had more conversations in the last year than I can count with women who are super successful on paper. Maybe they're constantly online, they're growing their business, they are working, twerking, hustling. They're making that money. But there's this quiet undercurrent of exhaustion, of pressure, of confusion that they don't always know how to name. Like, I know that feeling because I've. I've lived it. I still kind of live it, but I'm doing things to get over this, right? This past year, it stretched me more than I expected. Scaling my social media agency, Influence marketing studio, expanding the Call Her Creator podcast, managing my growing team, speaking gigs across the nation, launching different offers, social media school, carrying responsibility not just for my income, but for other people's lives, livelihoods. I'd say it was growth. Yes, it was a lot of growth, but it was also revealing because growth has a way of exposing what no longer fits. And the biggest realization I had is this. The strategies that got me here are not the strategies that are going to take me forward and trying to force them to work anyways. Honestly, it cost me more than it gives. So today I want to slow this conversation down just a little bit. It's not a Do More episode. It's actually just like a recalibration. I'm going to walk you guys through five things that I am consciously letting go of for 2026. And I say consciously because you have to decide. You have to make a decision to let go of them. So I am consciously letting go of these things. Not because I've failed or they failed me, but because they've served their purpose. And now it's time to move on, girl. And if you're in a season of reinventing yourself, I think you'll hear yourself in this episode. So let's just get on to it. This first one, okay? The first one I'm letting go of for 2026 is the hustle. And does that mean I'm just gonna like, give up on everything I've worked for? No. But I am done hustling my little booty off to where I am exhausted all the time and not happy. So I, I'm letting go of Hustle as proof of my worth. And this is like the biggest one for me. I actually started letting go of this at the end of 2025. I had this breaking point where I just couldn't do it anymore. I've talked to you guys about this in past episodes, but I was at my son's baseball game and I missed him running home to home plate. And when he, he didn't notice, thank God, but I noticed he. I think I ended up being honest with him though. Now, my brain's kind of foggy now, but I believe he, he ran up to me and he was like, mom, did you see that? And I, I didn't because I was too busy on my phone like posting a frickin reel. Like, are you kidding me? These are the days of our lives. I'm never going to get that little baseball game back. So from that moment forward, I said, I am done doing this. On top of all that, my health took a really big hit last year with my autoimmune disease. And it showed up in literally every aspect of my life. So I had, you know, letting my, my children down, my health, my business, my relationships. I just, I had to slow down. I didn't really have a choice anymore, which I think is so fitting, especially if you're a believer in God and a higher power. I think that God knows just how hard to push us to where we're finally at this breaking point and we can't move forward without some sort of change. Like he's like, listen, sister, this is it. This is your hard moment. If you don't make a change, nothing's gonna change, right? So for most of my adult life, Hu Hustle has just always felt like safety to me. If I was busy, I felt valuable. If I was needed, I felt more secure. If my calendar was full, I just felt like important. So that mindset, it didn't come from nowhere. It came from building something from the ground up, from figuring out as I went, from being the person who had to make things work because there was not a backup plan for me. So when I started Influence, for example, the Hustle was necessary. I had to make this work because I had quit my safe corporate job. And I've known since I was little that I wanted to be a business owner. Like, I used to color rocks and walk them around the neighborhood and try to sell them as fish decor. And no, nobody bought my rocks. They were ugly. So I don't blame my. My neighbors for not buying them. But, like. Like, I've known, like, this is my destiny is to own a business and do my own thing. So fast forwarding all this. Like. Like, let's even talk about when I was growing my Instagram, hustle was a part of the deal. I said yes to every single opportunity because I needed that momentum. So hustle made sense. But here's what happens. If you don't reassess hustle as you grow, it quietly becomes your identity. And let me say that again. If you don't reassess hustle as you grow, it becomes your identity. I just heard. I was on. Who was it? I think it was Amy Poehler. I can't say her last name. I think it's Poehler. She's the funny woman. She has a podcast, and she had Gwyneth Paltrow on there. And Gwyneth had done, like, 15 movies in five years or something. I think it was 15 and five. It was something crazy because as soon as Amy said it, Gwyneth was like, yeah, psycho. And she was like, why did you do that? And Gwyneth was just kind of like, you know, like, I was getting these opportunities. I didn't think I had the choice to say no. And I can totally relate to that. Like, do you have something, like your business or just your job? Like, you don't have the choice to say no. That's. That's where a lot of us are. A lot of us don't have the choice. We just. You have to hustle. So at the end of this year, especially with, like, Darby going on maternity leave at the end of last year, I mean, end of 2025, I kind of had to take a look at how much I was carrying in this business still. Like, we're on year five, and I had to kind of look at it and be like, okay, Caitlin, it's time to stop carrying everything. Not saying my team doesn't do anything. They do so much, but I still carry a lot because, you know, like, I can do it faster or I can do it better. You know, I've got that attitude. Yes, I'm one of those people. But if you really want to step into your next era, like, you have to let go of things. You have to delegate you have to trust your team. You cannot hustle and do all the things yourself to break into that next level. So there were moments where I realized I was solving problems just out of habit. Instead of strategy, I was inserting myself where systems should have been. And I will note here now, like, we're pretty good at having systems and sops in place. Like, we have a document for almost everything. Every task, every role, it's. It's all somewhere at this agency. But it wasn't always like that. I had to be super intentional and actually do it. And Darby was super duper helpful with helping me do it too. And we were again, we were kind of forced into doing a lot more whenever she had to get ready for maternity leave. So for the sake of growth, all to say, some of my biggest breakthroughs this year, last year, sorry 2025 happened when I stopped pushing hustle and instead I just started to pull back and observe a little bit more. So when I asked myself what actually needs my energy and what just needs structure, it was a big like moment for me. So that's something I want you to look at yourself and in your business or whatever it is that you're doing, your job, your career, what actually needs your energy and what just needs structure. This can even be your life too. I'll say some things. At home, we have a housekeeper. Because I don't have the energy to build a successful business and come home and do laundry and put all the dishes away and, you know, clean my fricking floors and dust and all that crap. Like, I don't have time for that. I would rather give my pay to someone to do that so I can use that time to recoup my energy or work on things that are money making habits. Same with groceries. I don't go grocery shopping anymore. I use Instacart. I order my groceries. I love the app because they also have this little buy it again feature. So it's really like every single week I know what I'm buying, so I just order it. Good done. Car wash. I get my car washed by someone. I don't have the time or the height or the strength to wash my car. So I hire out those things. And that's one thing you will hear successful people tell you too, is like do not pay for things or do not, do not pay your time and things where you could hire someone to do it. So those are just three simple things right there. Housekeeper, grocery shopping, car wash. There's more. If I was super duper Richie Rich, I would Totally bring in a private chef because that's another thing on my list that I just, I do not have the energy at the end of the day to cook a meal, but I do it anyways. But I also suck at cooking. Like I try my best and you know, little things like that too. Like some people are like, oh, I can't afford a food delivery service or whatever. But it actually makes more sense for me and my family half the time to have like you know, hello fresh coming every week. Because then I'm not using my brain power to plan meals and I'm also not having to like go through what groceries we need for what meals and who can have what. I just simply go in, pick what we need and blah, blah, blah. So those are just a couple things. If your success only works when you're tired, it's not aligned, okay? It's borrowed energy. And borrowed energy always comes due. The second thing I'm letting go of is forcing content that doesn't feel like me. And this one is especially important if you're a creator. There was a season this year where I could feel myself slipping into like this content autopilot. And I was just posting because I should. Talking because the algorithm rewarded it, or creating because consistency had just become this obligation instead of really truly expressing like my creativity. And if you think about it, for almost 365 days I posted twice a day. And if we do the math there, that's like 730 posts. 730 times I posted Instagram because I was on autopilot and just thought I had to maintain that posting hustle. So towards the end of last year I pulled in Gracie to help me create content cuz I could not do that anymore. And then even now like it's early January and I have not been posting twice a day. I'm posting like once if I get to it. Cause I'm doing like some internal business, money making. I'm, I'm really focused on growing my business this year and like content is my number one sales driver. Like me posting to Instagram is going to make a sale for me. But I just, I don't know this starting this year I was sick. I got neurovirus. By the way, we went to New York last week and on the way home, throwing up everywhere. So this week I've just been out of whack. So I just haven't been on my A game. I haven't been posting like I should. Where am I going with this tangent, right? But what I'm trying To say is I'm not going to force myself to post, just to post. Like I have to be in the mood for it. I have to have a reason for it. Every single post that I share is going to be tied to some kind of offer or funnel so that I can grow my business with my efforts. And something that people don't really talk enough about is that your audience can honestly feel like if your content is getting stale or like it just seems repetitive, they might not like unfollow you, but they'll disengage and they'll stop connecting with you. They can tell when you're not in it, they can tell when your content is different. And you know, I am beginning to get, get in that groove of posting with intention. And so that's something I'm going to tell you too. I'm not going to say don't post because posting makes us money and gets us brand awareness for our businesses, but be intentional with it. The shift really happened for me when I started writing down what I really wanted out of my business and then creating content around those goals. They were calculated ideas. So I started playing around with like more talking head videos. I started sprinkling in more self help content because it brings me joy. If you guys have seen that reinvention content that I share on, call her creator. Sometimes I'll collab with it on my own Kaitlyn Rhodes account because it is something that I'm super duper passionate about. And I'm trying so hard to like push my audience to look at me for that advice too. But they're still, they're still, I'm still in that Instagram growth expert content hamster wheel. But slowly but surely I'm gonna get my passions out there. But, but you can do this too. Sprinkle in things that you're passionate about. If your content drives you up the wall or stresses you out or you feel like it's forced, take a second, you know, write down what you want to be known for, what your goals are for your business, and then create your content around that. Forcing content disconnects you from your creativity. And creativity is where your authority actually lives, especially in 2026. So I'm choosing to resonate with people, over reaching people, like saying less but really meaning it and becoming the expert. The third one I'm letting go of, and this is a big, big, big, big, big, big, big one. I'm letting go of comparison as my compass. So comparison is sneaky, right? It doesn't always look like insecurity Sometimes it just looks like you're researching or you're just scrolling or. Oh, let me just get some ideas. Yeah, no. Okay. I. If you're constantly measuring your pace against someone else's timeline, on Instagram or Facebook or YouTube, whatever it is, you're always going to feel behind. And worse, you'll make decisions that aren't even yours. You're making them because of other people and what you're seeing them do. And I've watched creators chase growth they didn't want the responsibility for. I've seen people scale faster than their systems, their boundaries, their nervous system. And I felt that pull myself. Like I said last year, it was a pretty big eye opener. I was at that part where my nervous system couldn't handle it. My boundaries were being stepped on, so I had to just take a step back. So alignment requires discernment. Discernment is another, like, word of the year that I would like to put in my little. I've basically got a jar of words at this point that are my 20, 26 words. But look up the word discernment. It means trusting that your path does not need to look like anyone else's to be valid. Right? Discernment helps you really, like, discern between the two things. Let me just give you a quick little Google of the word discernment. The ability to judge well and perceive things clearly, especially what's not obvious. Involving deep insight, wisdom, and keen perception to distinguish truth from error or the better from the best, often through slowing down, reflecting, analyzing. So again, this is another word of mine, discernment. It's basically just like the ability to judge well. So you're not behind guys. You're just building something that fits your life. And you're using clear discernment to do that. And you're not comparing yourself anymore. So bye bye to comparison. You're the thief of joy. I hate you. Do you guys sometimes, like, listen to me and you're like, this girl is off. Because actually, I am. Okay. Fourth thing I'm letting go of is saying yes out of fear. Ooh. So this could mean a lot of things, right? This could mean the fear of missing out. Like, your friends invited you to go away for a trip and you say yes because you don't want to miss out. But really, like, as soon as you go on that trip, you get sick to your stomach and homesick and you want your kids and your husband like, hey, that's me. Fear of disappointing someone. So you say yes because you don't want to hurt their Feelings or fear of being forgotten, That's a big one for me. Like you don't, you don't say yes because you want to, but it's because you feel like you might be forgotten. I said yes to things this last year that looked really good on paper, but they dreamed the living life out of me and I had to own that. Not with guilt, but with honesty. My dream job that I always tell people is to be like a motivational inspirational speaker, to be on stages to talk to people, to enlighten them, to encourage them, to motivate them. But this last year, quarter four, I had like three or four back to back speaking engagements and they were all like way like the closest one was eight hour drive back and forth and then the other ones were like several states over. So I had to miss my kids and my family and I'm just like, do I actually want this? And I think I still do, but I think there's a season for everything. And I think I need to be extremely intentional with what speaking engagements. I say yes to make sure I'm getting paid properly, you know, not just doing things because I, I don't want to be forgotten about. Every yes has a cost. Sometimes it's your time, sometimes it's your energy, sometimes it's your creativity, sometimes it's your alignment. In 2026, my yes has to feel super duper clean. It's not going to feel rushed, it is definitely not going to feel pressured and it's not going to be performative and you need to do the same. I actually just had to give a no to a local business here in town who wanted me to speak for an hour, which would have turned into three hours, let me be honest, for free. And typically I say yes to those things. In fact, the last five years I said I've said yes to everything, but I said no this time. And their response back was not very friendly. By the way. Like you will catch shit for telling people no. It sucks, but it is what it is. But I had to just take that one on the cheek and move on because I'm tired of doing stuff for free. If I continue to give away my time for free, I'm never going to have time for things that I truly love and want to focus on or the people that I actually, you know, that pour into me or my kids, my husband. Like if I'm always just giving yeses to everyone else, guess who gets the no's, guess who gets limited time. Them Some things I really want to say yes to But I have to be picky about where my energy goes because we only get so much of it per day. And then you add in, like my Hashimoto's. I'm even more protective of my energy because I don't have any extra energy to waste. Aligned growth does not require you to be available to everyone. It requires you to protect your energy so that you can fully show up where it matters. Oh, that one is. That one is really, really near and dear to me. And I hope one of you have heard that. And you're like, oh my God, she's speaking to me like, you do not need to say yes to everything. This is your year of no. Okay, this is your year. Or at least this is your year of intentional yes. The fifth thing I'm letting go of is looking back at the past. Harping over it. Harping over people who don't deserve it. Harping over old versions of myself. There are versions of you that worked for a season and you can be super duper grateful for that version of you. But you don't need to resent her. You don't need to live there anymore. I mean, heck, like, I'm not the same version of myself that built my business in the early days. I'm not even the same person I was six months ago. I'm not meant to operate the same way that I did last summer. What, six months ago? January, December, November. October, September. Yeah, August. I am not that same person. Not the same person. Alignment is allowing yourself to evolve and to evolve without guilt. You don't owe anyone consistency. You owe yourself honesty. And this is another big one for me too, because I'm noticing with myself, I. I'm not the same version of myself. Right. That's what I said. So there are people that are still very close to me that I still don't like. Maybe I don't talk to them on a day to day basis. So like, maybe we talk sporadically or something. They might not know even that I'm not the same version of myself I was six months ago. Or maybe people you've known for a very long time, like since birthday or even family, you know, they. They knew a version of you, but you're not that version anymore. Here's something I need to tell you. When you decide that you're not that version anymore and you step into that new version of you, you are going to get pushback. You are sometimes going to be seen as the enemy. You are going to be the villain sometimes. But you have to stay true to yourself. And if, like, we all know if we're. If we're being good humans or not, right? Like, I am a super duper believer in, you know, being kind, leaving others better than how you found them. If I'm being a little shit, I'll admit that I'm being a little shit. But if I'm just stepping into the new version of myself, that's better. And that's what we. We talked about, this self loyalty, then I can't feel bad for those people that just don't get me anymore. And I can't chase those people, and I can't change for those people. They have to grow with me. And so when you stop looking at the past and step into the new version of you, like you, I'm warning you now that it is. This is probably one of the hardest things to let go of because there are going to be people that will not accept it, and you might lose relationships over it. I did. I lost quite a few. And they still hurt, too. They still hurt months later, still hurting. But I'm learning to work through it. And I'm learning, again, self loyalty and just remain a good human. And the door's always open, you know, to talk with these people and have an adult conversation and. And figure it out. But sometimes people aren't able to meet you at that level. So. Okay. With all of this said, I just feel, like, super duper deep right now. This is. Y' all don't really understand, but, like, this is truly something I'm heavily going through right now, and it's nice to talk it out. I talk to Chatgpt about it a lot, and he gives me really good advice, but it's good to just be real with myself for a minute. Okay, so for January, for the whole podcast, looking forward, I'm working on doing little themes for us. So, like, each month when I have a podcast show, I'll have some type of theme to go around it. It leans into, like, the reinvention season, right? So, you know, we're going to have a mix of marketing episodes on here, but we're also going to have really deep conversations like the one we did today. And today's conversation leans into this month's theme, which is Dry January. So, no, this isn't like the dry January we're all used to. This isn't about just alcohol and not drinking. It's not so much about rules or restriction or proving discipline. For me, Dry January is about drying out the things that quietly have drained me, the habits that have Kept me stuck the patterns that I've outgrown But I keep repeating the noise that makes it hard to hear what I actually want. Dry January is about taking a pause from whatever has been numbing, distracting, or pulling you out of alignment. And maybe that is alcohol or maybe it's overworking, or maybe it's over committing. Maybe it's saying yes too much. Maybe it's doom scrolling, people pleasing, constantly being on whatever that is. Dry January is going to be the space that you need. The space to notice how you feel when you're not running on autopilot. The space to reconnect with your energy, your intuition, your priorities. The space to start the year with intention instead of pressure. And this is important for me because I've learned the hard way that you don't need to force a new version of yourself into existence. You just need to create the conditions that allow her to emerge naturally. And the people that are important will come along with you. The people who didn't care in the first place will be left behind. And I'm just, I believe in that wholeheartedly. And I know some of you are craving that same reset. Not like a super dramatic overhaul, just like clarity, calm direction. So that's why I created this free January reset checklist. And it's something that I'm going to give to you guys to help prime you for this month and honestly for the entire year ahead. Because we just. You got to prime yourself for this new year that's. That's coming about inside of this. You're going to be guided through a simple grounding reset that helps you identify what you're letting go of and then what you're creating space for and how you want to move through this next season. With alignment, it's not overwhelming, it's not rigid, it's super simple. It's just designed to meet you exactly where you are. And I hope that if this episode resonated, resonated with you, you will get the free January reset. And you can grab it in the show notes. It's just meant to support you through this reinvention season in a way that actually feels good to maintain. It's not like a chore. It's easy because forcing is not working anymore. Okay. I also like, just keep in mind too, like, if you've been forcing it, you have not failed. It's just a signal that you're ready for something more aligned, something more sustainable, something that feels like home in your own life. Like, how does that. That makes me so excited to think about. So thank you guys for being here. Thank you for growing with me. If you liked this episode, please leave me a review wherever you listen to podcasts and send it to a friend. I think this is a really good episode for anyone, honestly, that just wants a, you know, a good plan going into 2026 and something that they can just get rid of instead of like, oh, I'm gonna do this, do this, do this. No, this is actually what you're gonna not do for 2026. I think that's just a little bit easier for someone going into the new year. So I hope you like this episode, and I will see you again soon. Thank you so much.