Selfish Mama Matters

1.09 - Being in Alignment Demands Courage with Lauren Pietsch

• Lauren Pietsch • Season 1 • Episode 9

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In this episode, Tina Unrue chats with Lauren Pietsch about her journey toward a successful life, one she by all accounts attained, to include a good relationship and a financially secure job as a lawyer. But she realized along the journey that her future didn't include her present. So she broke free from both the partner and the job and set out to live a life of alignment, joy, and purpose and now helps others do the same.

Show References

  • The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer*
  • The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle
  • The Four Desires: Creating a Life of Purpose, Happiness, Prosperity, and Freedom by Rod Stryker

*Tina made an error and shared her summary of Michael Singer's The Surrender Experiment during the episode. More about both of Michael Singer's books can be found here: https://untetheredsoul.com/.

Guest: Lauren Pietsch 

Host: Tina Unrue

Lauren Pietsch: It's the hardest path, to be honest, to do this work. It's not the comfortable path. It's just that the path of like growing and evolving, there's a lot of growing pains in that.

Welcome to the Selfish Mama Matters Podcast with your host, and my mom, Tina Unrue. 

Tina Unrue: Lauren, I am incredibly grateful for you agreeing to be a guest on my podcast. Before we get started, can you please introduce yourself, share your pronouns, and tell us how you show up in the world?

Lauren Pietsch: Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you so much for having me, Tina.

I'm so excited to be here. Um, yeah. So I identify as, um, her, she and my name's Lauren Pietsch. So when it comes to showing up in the world, to be honest, , it kind of varies day by day, but I just try and wake up and live with a lot of love in my heart and try to just live in alignment with my values and with who I am as a person.

So as, as I said, like sometimes I show up, you know, a little bit differently each day, but I just try and be authentic and live according to my purpose and my values and who I feel I am, you know, on a soul level. 

Tina Unrue: Oh, that's a lot to unpack right there. I don't know that we're gonna be able to fit all of the dialogue that I would love to have with you in 30 minutes, but we're gonna see where this goes because I absolutely adore the term alignment and certainly values, purpose and just the undercurrent of what you said, which was, you know, just doing your best every day. I, that's what I call humaning. Yes. We talk about it as a verb here. We're just humaning. We're doing the best that we can here. Right? And every single day kind of offers up its own challenges, and some days are gonna be better than others.

Some days we're gonna be in alignment. Other days we're not gonna realize that we have been out of alignment maybe for quite some time. 

Lauren Pietsch: Mm-hmm. 


[00:02:22] Living in alignment with values
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Tina Unrue: Lord knows, right? We're doing our best. So, so when you talk about living in alignment with your values, what, what does that look like these days when you do that?

Lauren Pietsch: Yeah, it's a great question, and I guess for me to really answer it, I'd have to back up a little bit and Okay. Um, in order for me to really start living in alignment, I had to realize how out of alignment I, I was living for a really long time. Mm-hmm. Um, and so, you know, for many, many years throughout probably my entire twenties, I was doing everything, you know, the right way. I was doing what I, I should have been doing according to, you know, my parents doing what I should have been doing according to society. You know, I, um, graduated college and pretty much went straight into law school just to become an attorney. And, um, I know we'll probably talk about that a little bit more and that journey.

But, um, you know, as I kind of just continued living my life and just living the daily grind, I became just more and more busy and more and more distracted. And I became in, you know, involved in a relation, a long-term relationship that was, was healthy, but it just wasn't the right person for me. And, um, all that to say is I was living a very long time out of alignment with my soul and with my heart.

And, you know, I, I kind of just continued on that journey because I was continually distracting myself. And so one day I woke up, it was actually right when, about right when Covid started, about a month into Covid, and my soul was just like dying. Like I literally felt like my soul was like dying because of, because of how out of alignment I was spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically.

I just was really unhappy and I just felt I was in the wrong relationship. I felt like I was in the wrong career and I, I left, I just left. I felt like this, you know, God, higher power, you know, pulling me out. And I moved and I left and I kind of did, went on a soul searching journey to kind of re figure out who I was because I had felt so lost.

You know, and at that point I was 32 and I just, I, I just didn't know myself anymore. So, to, I guess to get back to your question, like what does living in alignment for me look like? Um, it started with me figuring out what my values were and figuring out who I was as a person and what I valued and what I wanted out of life, mm-hmm. , you know, and, and what I realized that I wanted is I wanted to have a purpose and, you know, figure out what that purpose was. And for me, I wasn't, you know, feeling like I was helping enough people as an attorney and I really did wanna, you know, find a career where I could help people. So that was part of it is just, you know, living according to my purpose of helping people and inspiring people.

Um, I think living joyfully and, you know, just feeling connected spiritually is extremely important to me. When I'm, you know, connected to my higher self, my higher power, that's me living in alignment. And to be honest, just giving my, per myself permission to, like I said, just wake up and maybe not feel my best that day and not, not give myself a hard time, you know, like give myself permission to just like take it easy, walk to the beach, take a bath, take a step back. Realize like, you know, it's okay to not have our on days all the time. 

Tina Unrue: Hmm. So powerful, not having to have on days all the time. Right. Yeah. And what you also shared with us, you know, in, in the, um, kind of in your prior life, right? In essence, yeah. Where the misalignment in essence is what was the catalyst for becoming aligned.

Lauren Pietsch: Yeah. Right. 


[00:06:31] We don't have to always be "on"
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Tina Unrue: And I feel like that's really powerful for everybody who's listening to kind of dig into. I think a lot of times we just want life to always be happy and joyful, and we're always on, right? Mm-hmm. . And I think we have to start making room for the fact that the universe has a balance of kind of everything. 

And there can be incredible beauty in struggle and pain and discomfort. It can tell us something. And your misalignment, in essence, it sounds like kind of served as, as like the sledgehammer to like breaking up your life, right? So that you could kind of rebuild it in an intentional way. Does that feel accurate?

Lauren Pietsch: Like, I feel like you understand, I feel like you understand me so well. Tina , you can be writing my book. Yeah, no, that's, that's exactly right. Yeah, a hundred percent. And I like what you said just about that the universe has balance and this way of balance and it's, you know, like you had mentioned, it's sometimes ugly.

Tina Unrue: Right?

Lauren Pietsch: And raw. 

Tina Unrue: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I know that that is something that we talked about, um, you know, covering in the podcast and so we'll get to it, right? Like, how, you know, difficult it is to be in alignment, right? To, to even find out what your authenticity even is. Mm-hmm. , right? Mm-hmm. . Yeah. So, you know, let's just step back real quick because, you know, I wanna understand a little bit better and help listeners understand and get to know you too for, you know, how, what was the path for you to become an attorney? Like, do you, do you in retrospect, see that maybe you were pursuing that path because, it was maybe something your parents wanted for you or just what you thought the path to success looked like. Like help people understand what kind of was driving you in that path to begin with?


[00:08:34] The path to nowhere
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Lauren Pietsch: Yeah, great question. Um, I was always told from a young age that money doesn't grow on trees, you know. And I, my parents love them to death. They're both amazing people. But they also instilled a very like, kind of like strict work ethic in me.

Like as a kid I always kind of had a job. I was either working my dad's office or, you know, I started, you know, working in like retail when I was 16. Um, I've always just thought like, I need to work really, really hard to be successful because that's kind of what they told me. Like, I need to find a, like a profession, you know, like, um, a regular, you know, profession to, to really be successful in life and to, you know, have something to fall back on as well. Yeah. So that was it. That was a value that was ingrained in me from a young age that I didn't really question. Um, you know, so I got this in my head, okay, I need to be successful. I need to choose a career path that's gonna make me successful. 

So when I went to college, I was undeclared, you know, for the first two years as, you know, like a student and, um, I needed to declare my major and I was just thinking about career paths. I'm like, okay, what, like personality wise, what could I see myself doing? What's gonna make me a lot of money in the long run? What, where's a career where I could like, grow from? And, you know, attorney clicked for me. You know, I've always been a strong, you know, personality. I've always been very driven, very goal oriented. I knew I could make a lot of money as an attorney and that, so I declared my major as political science and kind of just went on that path.

Um, so that was the journey for me. I was, yeah, like I said, I was 20 when I decided it, and I only took one year off in between. So I graduated college when I was 22, took a year off to study for the LSAT and do a little bit of traveling, and then went straight into law school when I was 23. So it was kind of a a no-brainer. I mean, I don't wanna say no-brainer decision, but it just seemed like the right decision, you know, like it just seemed like the right decision in the money-wise, the career path, personality-wise, all these things.


[00:10:51] Beliefs are often silent
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Tina Unrue: Mm-hmm. , I hope that everybody listening can kind of see themselves in this, whether you're a lawyer or not.

But I think Dan Siegel says something like, the environment creates the mind and then the mind creates the environment. And what he means by that is that our environment as children shapes our mind, shapes our beliefs.

Yeah. Right? And it's so ingrained that we don't question them. We just kind of grow up with these beliefs that we think are completely true, mm-hmm. , or these methods of decision making that we just don't question. And it, at some point there's friction that is caused, however, that shows up for us, that then starts to allow us to see that now our own mind can create our environment, right? So like the, the, the, the power shift in essence switches and it takes a lot of courage to do that without a doubt. To be able to kind of enter into that friction and start to live a life of intentionality. 

And so my question for you is, in that moment, early in the pandemic, and you are thinking of all the things about your life maybe that you weren't really feeling aligned with.

Lauren Pietsch: Mm-hmm. 


[00:12:23] The process of finding yourself
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Tina Unrue: You mentioned that you went on, you know, a journey to kind of figure out who you were. What did that look like? What did you do? 

Lauren Pietsch: Yeah. It wasn't a pretty journey, Tina. 

Tina Unrue: I don't think it ever is really for any of us. 

Lauren Pietsch: Not, it was not a pretty, 

Tina Unrue: It wasn't eat, pray, love? 

Lauren Pietsch: Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of tears. Um, you know, part of that was because I was leaving a partner of, of nine years, um, in the process. Someone that I loved very, very deeply and that I just, I, I just couldn't marry. Um, so that was, you know, part of the mourning process. 

But what kind of, I guess, transpired after I left and kind of, I went to my, so I went to my mom's house in, uh, in Newport, um, Newport Beach, California. And um, and I was living in San Francisco prior for 14 years, um, where I did college, law school, the whole thing.

I got to my mom's house and I mean, there's a lot of tears, but after about a few weeks of just kind of cutting off all distractions. I, I just kind of like, was just like, okay, I need to like, not stop drinking first of all, like stop distracting myself with like tv, the news, like, you know, all these things that are going on in the world, like, which, you know, were important, but like I just needed to find myself.

Tina Unrue: Yeah. 


[00:13:51] The book that changed everything
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Lauren Pietsch: And I started, I was given a book and it's called The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer. 

Tina Unrue: Oh. Um, , one of my favorite books. And. Life changing. 

Lauren Pietsch: It changed. It changed my life. It absolutely changed my life. And I read The Untethered Soul about, yeah, a few weeks after I left San Francisco. And just, you know, kind of was regrouping, and I was like, oh my gosh, your thoughts determine everything.

Like, I, like, it just clicked for me. I never really thought of it that way. You know, I never thought of life that way. Um, so that was my, I called that my gateway to my, you know, like all these other kind of things that I started looking into the Power of Now and like the Four Desires and just, you know, living or, or finding other kind of like doorways, I guess, to living intentionally, like you said. 

And so once I read that book and started just diving deep into my spirituality and getting reconnected with my higher self, with my, you know, um, with my God, I really started living intentionally and started to re start loving myself again because I was in a place where I just didn't love myself anymore, and I didn't know who I was anymore.


[00:15:15] Forgiveness and release of guilt and shame
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Lauren Pietsch: So it was a process of opening my mind to this new way of thinking and really starting to genuinely love myself and forgive myself for making decisions that were out of alignment with, you know, my, my core or making, you know, I guess mistakes, so to speak, in my past, staying in situations for too long, I had a lot of guilt and shame during that.

And a big thing for me was it took me a long time to really forgive myself and deal with that guilt and that kind of shame. But once I started forgiving myself and just giving myself permission to be vulnerable and cry and like release pain that had been bottled up for so long, I started actually being able to live again instead of just existing in the world.

I actually started to be able to actually live my life and be free and start feeling free.


[00:16:12] Untethered Soul journey
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Tina Unrue: Thank you for sharing that because I know that that journey it sounds like was a tough one. Um, before I ask anything else about the journey, I just have to ask cuz I will forget. How did the Untethered Soul come to you?

Lauren Pietsch: Yeah, so my, one of my best friends who was really there for me in the beginning, um, recommended it to me cuz she knew I was just dealing with a really hard time. She's like, my sis my sister, really, you know, loves this book. Her sister was a big, a big yogi and she's like, and I read it and I think you should read it.

And I like, it became kind of my bible that summer cuz I just think I read it like three times or something. 

Tina Unrue: Yeah, yeah. So, so for those that are listening, the Untethered Soul, if you've not read it, we clearly recommend it. Possibly not highly enough. Um, and just a brief summary, it is the, Author, Michael Singer's, story in essence of how he came to realize that consciousness is something either in the brain or external to the brain that can perceive you. So, it was just his awakening in essence, and, and he shares a lot of his life story kind of realizing this, the struggle of kind of adapting to it and then his very kind of playfulness in essence with it as he goes through some really hard times. So, and really great fun, beautiful times too.

So anyway, that book is amazing. What a, a catalyst for transformation. That is incredible. I hope that you have told your friend how much you love her. 

Lauren Pietsch: Yes. 

Tina Unrue: For recommending that book at that specific time. That is pretty, pretty powerful. So you read the book and it really just served as like rebaselining who you were and kind of how you engaged with yourself and the world moving forward. I think that's a lot of what people I hope listening can gain from this, which is through the depths of our struggle is where we can find that, you know, it's so cliche, but you know, it's not our breakdown, it's a breakthrough.

It really invites us to see the circumstances of our life in a completely empowering way if we're open to it. And so that's, it's, that's what it sounds like this was for you, which is fantastic.


[00:18:57] The importance of stillness
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Lauren Pietsch: Yeah, absolutely. And just to piggyback off that, you know, during those times where the Universe is just really speaking to you and telling you like to be still, you know, just to be still, take a timeout, take a break, to just reassess. It's just so important to listen to that and to actually be still and shut everything off. And, you know, during that time I was meditating, I was journaling, I was, you know, releasing so much. And I think it was the first time in my life where I'd really been still like that before.

And it's really hard to do in our society these days. You know? And I know a lot of your listeners are moms and, and I'm, I, everyone's just so busy regardless, right? But that just adds an extra layer to it and it's really hard to be still, but it's so important, especially when you're going through so much and you're feeling so disconnected, it's so important to just be still take a time out and regroup.

Tina Unrue: Mm-hmm. And I think this is a really key point to bring up. Like the shift in essence from selflessness to selfishness. Because I believe that the term selfish is certainly defined with a negative connotation.

But I think that's complete B.S. I think that, you know, at the root of it, we should be able to create a life that reflects us, that looks like us. The ish suffix, that's all it is: in characteristic of, or unlikeness of. That is all it means. And whoever the, the dictionary gods were who came up with the, this term that it has a negative connotation. I think it's just ridiculous. 

Lauren Pietsch: I agree with you. I love that you're recoining that term too. 

Tina Unrue: Oh, I just, I so wanna take power right of, of this because it's just ridiculous. And kind of what you're doing is such a fabulous example of what it means to me to be selfish. It does not mean that our lives have to be either/or. So if I'm gonna make life like me, then that means that I'm being irresponsible and I'm not taking care of my children. And that is not at all what it means. 

And this is what I want to hear from you, Lauren. in your quote unquote prior life when you were a lawyer and you were with your partner in San Francisco, I can only imagine that you just like me, felt like you were living life, you were a part of your life. You, you did not feel necessarily a disconnection, quote unquote, to self until the discomfort, of like the circumstances and the externally um, visible and tangible things of your life became like, wait, what is this?

And, you know, I don't know if I'm happy, right? Like, we, it, I think it tends to show up first in our relationships, right? With, with other people or with our careers or what have you. And that is where we can start to see that we had a selfless life, meaning it wasn't about us. We were living and surviving on very subconscious patterns, patterns that often, um, and beliefs quite frankly, that did not revolve around us.

They revolved around what others thought success looked like, what others taught us about how we should show up in the world for others, right? Like all of these things. And so that's what I mean by being selfless. Lots of times selfless is used as this very high characteristic that we should all seek to be where we're giving of ourselves to other people.

And again, it is not either or, because I feel that when we are being selfless from a place of a lack of understanding and a lack of connection to ourselves, we're just depleting ourselves. We're just going through the motions. We are not truly connected and we really have little investment and connection to really what we're doing or who we're serving, or how we're showing up in the world. But when we make a shift like you did, and you start to really know yourself, that is where power happens. Because then once you know yourself, you can start to align yourself with all the things that matter to you, and then true selfless becomes a beautiful thing because you will give of yourself in service to the thing that lights you up. And that's the whole point. And so as moms, most of us planned and chose to have our kids, and we're very loving and grateful for our families. But we can also express the challenge that it also presents in today's society and in a myriad of ways.

So we can hold space for both of those to be true, right? How grateful we are, but also how difficult it is. But when we can really know ourselves truly, and feel like we can fill our own cup, then we can show up for our kids in, in a much more peaceful way. 

So when I say all that, does that feel true for you and your journey? Do you feel like, you know, it was a bit of like a selfless kind of experience that you had and now you pay more attention to yourself and, and what feels true and right for you? 

Lauren Pietsch: Yeah. Tina, that was just so, that was completely beautiful. I think I got chills a couple times as you were speaking because, you know, every, everyone's journey through this is totally different.

Like what you're, what you were just speaking about, you know, like motherhood. You know, so many paths to finding yourself are just com, they look completely different, right? But then it feels the same, like what you're talking about feels the same. You feel right. This kind of like, you know, emptiness at first and you just feel disconnected.

But then as you were talking about, just like as your cup gets fuller and fuller, then you're actually able to shift into pure selflessness. And I just, I loved hearing you talk about that. It just, yeah, that rings so true for me. It rings so true for me.

One of the things that I love to think about is like, what brings me joy? And I didn't know the answer to that question. I feel like when I first left my journey a couple years ago, I think, you know, I forgot about what actually brought me joy. And it's the little, it can be the littlest things. But I spend, now I focus, you know, my practice, my coaching practice on helping bring attorneys more, uh, balance and join into their life, but little things like looking at the flowers or just going on walks or like music, really enjoying music or taking baths are just so important for me, and they really do fill my cup. And it's like living, doing little things each day that really do fill your cup. You're a thousand percent right.

You're actually able to show up for others and be there for others in a totally different way when you're already full, right? And so you can, like, like you a asked and like you, like you said, show up for them in a much more selfless manner because you have so much more to give when you're in that state.

Tina Unrue: Yeah, yeah. So for those listening who happened to be attorneys , or maybe they were attorneys in a past life and they resonate with a lot of what you said, um, you know, how do you help specifically attorneys, um, you know, connect with themselves and make life reflect more of them. That's what I love to say. I want moms to create a life that reflects more of them, not less. So I'm sure you do something similar. So how do you help your clients, you know, reach a state of more joy and happiness? 


[00:27:13] Values-driven work
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Lauren Pietsch: Yeah, that's a beautiful question. And I, I also work with other professionals too, any kind of executives, high level professionals. But I do focus on attorneys a lot because I was one for seven years and definitely can relate to the overwhelming stress, you know, associated with the job.

But I think the first thing that I really, you know, work on with my clients is getting them reconnected to their, their values and what they really, truly want out of life. Because I think everything stems from your values. If you're not living according to your values, you're, you're just automatically gonna get out, out of balance and become, you know, depressed and um, disconnected.

And so I think just trying to work with clients on their values and, and refiguring, you know, like basically figuring out like what you actually really do value and then working to make sure that those things are a priority in your everyday life and how you show up. Because I really do think that it starts with that and like everyone's values are also different too, I wanna say. 

Like just because, you know, I value spirituality and like, you know, like health and fitness and stuff doesn't necessarily mean that the next person is not, is gonna have the same values. So it's really figuring out what your specific values are and what really speaks to you at your core, and making sure then that your actions and the way that you're living kind of starts meshing with that and the way that you're able to, you know, show up in the world meshes with your values. So that's kind of the, the start of it, for sure. 


[00:28:57] Choosing the courageous path
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Tina Unrue: If you had to describe the strength that it takes and the courage to not just identify your values, but also stay in alignment with them and kind of reach that state of like, authenticity. Like, this is truly me. Like I, this is who I am. This is, this is all my quirks. This is all of my strengths. These are all my weaknesses. Like, you're just kind of in a full state of acceptance and just truly being who you feel like you were meant to be in the world. How would you describe like the strength that that takes and how one can work to really master it? 

Lauren Pietsch: That is such a beautiful question. It takes a lot of freaking courage.

It takes a lot of freaking courage, you know? And it takes a lot of persistence and patience with the self. And I'm not a very patient person, to be honest, where I was not for a very long time. It takes a lot of forgiving yourself too, and just like loving yourself. 

But you're right. It's the hardest path, to be honest, to do this work. It's not the comfortable path. It's just that the path of like growing and evolving, there's a lot of growing pains in that. There really is into really digging deep and unpacking so much because you have to do that work before you actually, you know, start moving forward as well. So a lot of times there is a step back too in the process and it's, it's a hard path. Sometimes you take 10 steps, you know, back one day before you take two steps forward. 

So it's a continual journey of strength and giving yourself permission to fall back a lot and to digress at certain points in your life. Giving yourself permission to know that that's okay and that, you know, ultimately deciding that this is the way that I wanna live though, and then I'm gonna keep moving forward. Even if I have 10 bad days, I'm gonna choose the 11th day to, you know, get outta the house and take a step outside and continue this journey basically of, of growth and persistence and intentionality as you put it. Yeah, and it's, it's not the easy path. It's not the comfortable path. 

Tina Unrue: Yeah. You know, I thank you for sharing that because I think it's really important for people to see themselves and the stories that we share here on the podcast.

And you know, again, you don't need to be a lawyer to connect with what Lauren is saying, and quite frankly, you don't have to be a mom, even though I know that that is the predominant listenership here. I think a lot of women can relate to the sense of not feeling and understanding, you know, a connection to self as they were growing up.

I think our, all of our parents, I think for the most part, uh, did the best that they could, that they knew how to do and they raised us however they needed to raise us in the circumstances and the environment and all of that that they needed to. And I think we're just now, as a human species kind of exploring what it means to kind of make space for our children to really be themselves and to try to help see our role as a mother is not necessarily always the teacher and the corrector and you know, all of that, but more of like the supporter and the person who's supposed to usher this soul through their own journey. 

But in doing so, it's a lot of work because now we're having to make space for this little human who, clearly has tantrums because the need to be able to have a blue cup instead of the pink cup and you know, things like that. Right. 

So we just have to deal with the emotionality of these little beings and try to allow space for ourselves to mature alongside our children. Because that is what, at least I liken this work to be. It's our evolution. It is us continuing to mature. It is us giving up the, the false notion that we're grown, I'm using air quotes now. Right? And that grown means we're done. We've now reached that pinnacle where we can tell our kids everything. Yep, I got the answers. I know exactly what to do. 

That is like the biggest lie. We are constantly invited to evolve, constantly invited to learn, and you know, whether it is our career, whether it is a relationship with a partner, whether it is a relationship with our children. , Whether it is our, our relationship with something like money or time, it can be anything that allows us to gain a better understanding of ourselves and what our beliefs are, what our values are, which you've said is so important, which it is.



And so, you know, what suggestions do you have for people to, you know, start their journey and to feel like they're making more progress than they are setbacks. 

Lauren Pietsch: Yeah, that's, there's so much in there that I just rings so true for me in that.

Yeah. You're just a, you're like the soul sister or something because you're just speaking my language. Gosh. When you, I just love how you said that, you know, as a mother you're just like a soul usher because I did. That was just so beautiful. And you know, you're obviously raising the consciousness of humanity by looking at motherhood like that. And I'm sure your listeners are as well. And I think that, you know, was just so beautiful. 

So in terms of answering your question about getting started on the journey, it really depends on, I think, where you're at in this journey already. And I'm sure you're, the listeners are already at a conscious level, if they're listening, if they found you.

Tina Unrue: Yes. 


[00:35:19] Suggestions to start the journey
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Lauren Pietsch: Um, it really, it's, it's kind of simple, you know, like it's simple but difficult taking time to be still. Especially when everything is so chaotic. Uh, when you start to feel disconnected, I think it really is important to just set time aside. If it's a bath, if it's a walk outside leaving your phone at home, like go on a walk, smell the flowers.

Um, you know, I think as, as women, it's really important for us to get out of our head, you know, cuz we get stuck in our head and that's a lot of masculine energy. And, you know, as, as women really feeling like ourselves, um, I think comes down to also feeling very feminine. And femininity comes from our intuition and it comes from being in our body and it comes from shutting the mind off. Mm-hmm. And not letting it go rampant. I really do encourage my female clients to, and especially as an attorney, cuz their mind's going, you know, a million miles a minute and it's a very masculine field just to calm your mind, calm yourself, take a step back, be still, get a little more in touch with your like feminine essence and nourish yourself in whatever way that feels right for you.

You know, like I had mentioned for me sometimes that's taking a bath, taking a walk, meditating, journaling. It really, whatever feels right for you, give yourself permission to be still and bring joy into your life, especially when you're feeling very disconnected. So that's definitely a start and um, that's what I kind of tell all my clients to do when they're kind of in that space where they're, they are feeling that way.

Tina Unrue: It can be something as simple as, you know, bird feeders for me. I know that might sound completely lame. I have a connection with birds. I have no idea why, but I do. my husband bought me these two beautiful hummingbird feeders during the middle of Covid 

We had the bird feeders for a better part of a year without really seeing any hummingbirds.

Lauren Pietsch: Yeah. 

Tina Unrue: Now they are everywhere. 

And so it just brings me such a sense of joy to be able to see them. Sometimes we can kind of wish our circumstances were different, right? Wish things were easier. And what I wanna offer you here that Lauren is kind of saying is carving out time to create intentionally, to do something that you find beneficial or that nourishes you, like for me it's birds, really can go a long way in handling the other moments in life that might be hard or challenging.

Nature is one of the best, greatest teachers, isn't it? 

It is. 

Lauren Pietsch: Just being with a dog for like a few minutes too can just, ugh, just bring so much happiness to the day. 

Tina Unrue: Yes, yes.

You just shared so much with us. I'm so very grateful for your time and your energy and, and you sharing your story. Before we wrap, I would like for you to share with us what's mattering most to you in this season of life. 

Lauren Pietsch: Yeah, this is so beautiful and I'm just so grateful for you, Tina. We kind of just found each other on a whim and Yeah. 

Tina Unrue: I know. 

Lauren Pietsch: I'm so happy we crossed paths. 

Tina Unrue: Yeah. 

Lauren Pietsch: You know, for me what's most important is just showing up as authentic as I can be each and every day. And we talked about this, quite a bit during the podcast. Um, but just being able to love myself, I think first and foremost, so that I can show up for others and love others, um, in the, in the truest way.

And so that's just the most important thing for me right now. And it's just to really show up for people in the best way possible and to really make my life meaningful and make a difference in other people's lives and do the best that I can to inspire people and help them grow, and, be on this continual journey of self-growth myself.

So, yeah. 

Tina Unrue: Yeah. And you know, I just want to reiterate one more time how beautiful it is and how important it is, the takeaway for listeners to hear that you have become more selfish, right? Again, air quotes. And yet it has put you in a place where you want to serve others more. Like get that people. 

Lauren Pietsch: Totally 

Tina Unrue: Get it. Right?

Like you are not necessarily choosing to figure out, okay, what do I need to do to serve these other people? It's just coming from a true place of being in alignment with yourself and knowing that that is the way then to give best to others.

And honestly leave the legacy and a footprint here for who Lauren Pietsch is. And so I'm so grateful to have connected with you. If people wanna follow up with you, how do you recommend they find you? 

Lauren Pietsch: Yeah. So, um, in terms of following up, the best way actually is just through email.

So, uh, it's my, my first name, Lauren underscore, and my last name Pietsch. It's spelled p i e t s c h at yahoo.com. And I have Instagram as well. It's Lowe, l o. And then my last name, P I E T S C H. So I'm not the most active person on social media. I'm trying to be better, but I am launching a website. It's just still under construction, and I hope to get it up in the next couple weeks, but that's just the best way to reach me now.

And I appreciate you so much, and I just, yeah. I'm so happy to have spent this hour with you. 

Yes. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Tina Unrue: I love to hear people's story of how they embarked on their self-growth journey. Fortunately or unfortunately, the catalyst is usually one or more hardships or awful experiences, mental/emotional breakdowns, et cetera. But they all eventually lead people back to themselves. Lauren's story followed the same arc.

We both love Michael Singer's book, the Untethered Soul. I loved learning that that book was instrumental to Lauren's journey. If you've not read it, you should. I'll drop a link to that book and the others that she referenced in the show notes. 

Lauren detached from a career and relationship that she knew weren't in alignment with her future. And as we discussed, that takes a significant amount of courage, intuition, and self-reflection. It also requires clarity about what you want your future to look and Lauren believes for sure that values are the basis for everything. And I also believe that it's necessary for us to really believe that we are deserving and powerful enough to create the future that we have envisioned for ourselves. 

Lauren, it was my honor to chat with you and share your story of becoming. I know you are elevating the consciousness of the world with your work.

Lauren's info will be in the show notes. I encourage you to connect with her or with me to let us know what resonated from this episode.

If you enjoyed this episode, I would be deeply honored if you would leave us a review, share the podcast, rate the podcast just so that other mamas who might need to hear this message can find it and maybe get the same benefit that you did. Thank you all for being here. Thank you for daring to be selfish, and we hope to see you next time. 

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Tina Unrue

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