Untethered Living: Embracing Change and Trusting Intuition with Life Untethered Coaching Founder, Emma Hull

Debra Coleman [00:00:10]:
Hello, friends, and welcome back to another episode of Have A Seat Conversations with Women in the Workplace podcast. I am your host, Deb Coleman. And before we get to this week's wonderful and insightful conversation with the delightful miss Emma Hull, let me quickly do a really cool thing, which is to introduce you to a new podcast on the scene called Conversations with Men I Wish I Never Had. Don't you just love that title? Amazing. I am not the creator of this podcast. It is created by another group of fabulous females, but I wanted to introduce you to it because if you enjoy conversations, have a seat with women in the workplace. You will adore conversations with men I wish I never had. Here's a little bit more about it.

promo speaker [00:00:55]:
Hey, listeners. I want to tell you about a new show just released on Voyage Media called conversations with men I wish I never had. This is a podcast where former master mariner and navy lieutenant commander Adena Grundy has candid, raw, cathartic and often surprisingly funny conversations with women about their experiences in traditionally male dominated fields like the navy, the merchant marine, and police force. These are the types of conversations that you might only privately have with your girlfriends, but we are sharing them for you to listen to. If you're someone who has ever had an experience working as a woman in a male dominated field, we think you will find a lot to relate to and commiserate with. Be prepared to laugh, cry, and be entertained. The first couple of episodes are already available, and we will be releasing new episodes every week. Check out Conversations with Men I Wish I Never Had where you get your podcasts.

Debra Coleman [00:01:50]:
Conversations with men I wish I never had. Check it out wherever you get your podcasts. It sounds amazing. Alright, friends. Well, on to this week's conversation on Have A Seat, conversations with women in the workplace. Once again, I am your host, Deb Coleman. And joining me this week is the delightful miss Emma Hull. Emma is the creator and founder of Life Untethered Coaching.

Debra Coleman [00:02:14]:
She led what some might see as a charmed life with a successful career, husband, lake house, ski chalet, along with all the trappings. Right? Just had it all. But Emma wasn't happy and she continued to battle anxiety and depression daily. Emma transformed her life when she realized that she had spent her whole life actually working towards a dream that wasn't even hers. When she began trusting her intuition, she found the inner strength to first imagine and then take steps to realize a whole new life for herself. You see, life coaching with Emma is a safe space where you cultivate the confidence to evolve in Untethered coaching, you get to take control of your life and master your destiny, letting go of guilt and expectations from yourself and others. I think it is so on point, especially in today's workplace for women. I adored my conversation with Emma, and I can't wait to share it with you.

Debra Coleman [00:03:26]:
We touch on all of those topics and more. So without further ado, here's my conversation with Life Untethered Coaching founder, miss Emma Hull. Well, welcome once again to Have A Seat Conversations with Women in the Workplace podcast, and I am so excited to be having a seat with Emma Hull, life coach and creator of Life Untethered Coaching. Thank you, miss Emma, for joining me this afternoon.

emma hull [00:03:54]:
It's my pleasure, beautiful. Thank you for inviting me on.

Debra Coleman [00:03:59]:
Absolutely. And I have to tell you, I'm a little fangirling because I love yoga. I I but I see that you are a yoga teacher, so it's like, oh, that is so exciting. Having a yoga teacher in my mists is so exciting.

emma hull [00:04:13]:
Oh, I love it. That's so great.

Debra Coleman [00:04:17]:
Well, as much as I would love to maybe have you back on to talk about our yoga, missus and, hits, Today, I thought it would be lovely to talk about a little bit of what you are an expert in, which is letting go of our guilt and expectations from ourselves and others and just helping us find some purpose in our lives and inspiration. You yourself led a very interesting journey from, as to quote you, a seemingly perfect life, to battling some challenges of your own, which is incredibly relatable to so many of us, especially women, you know, in the workplace as as and especially since 2020. I feel like 2020 lifted the rock up, and it just exposed us to so much of what maybe isn't going right in our lives, but it also it seems like it gave women the freedom to sort of seek out experts like yourself to figure out, okay. I recognize what's not working. How do I set it back to to good again? Right? So, can you share maybe the pivotal moment when you realized for yourself that the life you were living wasn't your own dream and when you began to trust your own intuition?

emma hull [00:05:32]:
Yeah. It's interesting. Says the, like, you know in your gut when something isn't right, but it takes a something to kind of tip that balance and to make you actually wake up and admit it to yourself and take action. And so I'd known for a good 18 months probably that, my life was not okay and I've been questioning it and wondering, am I brave enough to to walk away? And the pivotal moment, thanks to COVID I was working from home anyway. I run my business from home. But my husband was now working from home. And so I was in my office. He took over the dining table, as many people's experience was in COVID times and, he called me out, he's like, can you help me with something on my computer? And as I walked over I saw a message pop up on his computer that said, 'I love you, I can't wait to see you.' And of course he was not having a conversation with me And, I don't know how, but I managed to just pretend that I hadn't seen it and just to act normally.

emma hull [00:06:51]:
And, then, like, he I knew he was going away on a work trip in in a couple of hours and that he'd be gone for days, And so I just, like, kept my shit together excuse my language for a couple of hours. And then, like, when he left, I was like, right, that's like, I that is that was, like, the the straw that broke the camel's back, as it were, the the, the kick in the butt that woke me up to say, no, you, you need to change your life. You are not happy and you deserve more than this. So, yeah, at the time I didn't feel this, but thank you because now I have a much better life And if I didn't get that kick in the butt, I would still be where I was.

Debra Coleman [00:07:39]:
Wow. And what a kick in the butt that was. Oh my goodness, Emma. I can imagine. And I appreciate that you really condensed it down for us. But I can only imagine, the the, you know, the turmoil and what was going on with your heart and your mind and your body and your soul all during that time period. Wow. Unbelievable.

Debra Coleman [00:07:59]:
But in that, you'd it sounds like you did start to look inward and trust your own intuition. Would you say that that sort of got you through that sort of relying on, okay, this is what feels right to me. This is what I need to do to move forward.

emma hull [00:08:14]:
Yeah. Absolutely. A 100%. Intuition is a huge part of what what I teach my clients and and what helps me to stay grounded. And it's something that I I had been working on developing. Basically in my forties was really when I started to get in touch with myself and and think that I I get to choose my life. And so this opportunity to really stand up for myself and to make choices for me, not for anyone else, not because of society's expectations, really got me grounded in how to trust my intuition and how to love myself, how to embrace fear and gratitude and and move forward trusting that the universe has my back and and everything's gonna be okay.

Debra Coleman [00:09:10]:
It's it's feels like a big ask sometimes in the moment, to do that. But when you do kind of let go, I I it does kind of it's actually strengthens you. You feel like you're giving something away, but it actually it sounds like it really kind of brings some strength into your life. Maybe it's because you're making decisions and you're gaining some control back. I don't know.

emma hull [00:09:31]:
Yeah. You know, I was thinking as well about how much we, you know, talking earlier about yoga and that connection and, you know, being comfortable with this comfort and pushing yourself, believing that you can do more. And you know, there there's an element of that, of that surrender really was, a huge part of that, just really trusting that everything was gonna be okay and looking for evidence to support me that, you know, you you you are gonna be okay. Like, everything's worked out fine so far, and and not not trying to micromanage or control too much or be too attached to the outcome. You know, I was stressing, thinking, well, what what are my finances gonna be like? Like, can I actually survive on my own and going down in these rabbit holes of worst case scenario, picturing myself, you know, being this lonely old lady eating cat food? And right? That was the real image. And instead, just stepping back and saying don't don't go there, just control what you can control right now. Do what you know is right in this moment and trust that it's gonna work out. Okay?

Debra Coleman [00:11:00]:
Trust that it's gonna work out. Okay. Exactly. Exactly. Well, I'm I'm glad you touched on it because speaking of micromanaging, for many of us, balancing a full time job with our personal life can be incredibly overwhelming. So what would you could you offer maybe, advice or maybe a few tips on how to best manage maybe those stressful times and avoid the the the feelings of burnout, especially for those of us who maybe feel trapped in a cycle. Just, like, endless. It's just endless.

Debra Coleman [00:11:36]:
Like, I'm never getting off of this. You know, I hear you what you're saying, Emma, but I just can't seem to find that balance. It's just what if it's not my job, it's at home. It's at home. It's my job. And how can we maybe, say, hit pause and just sort of take inventory and put ourselves first again? Mhmm.

emma hull [00:11:55]:
Yeah. Definitely. And because I've experienced burnout my myself multiple times, so I I speak from experience. And, I learned this the the hard way. You have to believe that you are a priority. You have to make yourself a priority. And, you know, I was coaching one of my my, 1 on 1 life coaching clients on this just last week actually, and she had noticed that she was starting to to feel stressed and anxious and getting irritable with her family. And we dug into, like, what's going on? What's changed? And she had gotten busy and stopped doing her daily self care.

emma hull [00:12:41]:
And so the direct correlation is if you don't do your self care, then you start being more stressed, which then becomes this vicious cycle. So you have to believe that you are your number one priority. If you do not take care of you, then everything else is affected. And what self care looks like for each of of us is going to be different. And what's manageable in one day is gonna be different than another. But you need to do something every day. Day. And, you know, mindfulness is a really great practice that you can incorporate into whatever you're doing.

emma hull [00:13:27]:
So for example, we we all eat, right, so you can make the first sip of a drink that you have or the first bite of food that you have a mindful moment. Stop before you just put that food on your plate and shove it in your mouth, stop and look at it and appreciate the colors, the way it's presented, smell it and notice the different aromas and then when you take that first bite, do so slowly. Like put your fork down, chew slowly, notice the flavors and the textures, and don't take another bite until you finish chewing and finished that flavor has faded away. And while you're waiting for that favor to fade fade away, you can think about everything that had to happen to bring that food to your plate, bringing a little bit of gratitude as well, thinking about the farmers, the people that prepared it, how it got transported to you. And just by each time you eat or drink throughout the day, so probably about like 10 times throughout the day, you're gonna take that 20 to 60 seconds to be mindful. And everyone can do that no matter how busy you are. And that will really help to calm your nervous system down and give you little micro breaks punctuated throughout your day so that your stress and your overwhelm doesn't build up so that you blow up at your colleague or at your kid or your dog. So giving yourself those little moments each day would be my best piece of advice for everyone.

Debra Coleman [00:15:09]:
What I love most about that is the micro moments that you that you that you shared. That is great. Because I think when people hear, oh, take make time for self care, they think they have to just block out these large chunks of time during the day. You know, maybe wake up earlier or stay up later or, you know, maybe factor it in over a lunch hour or something. And and some people do, and that's wonderful. Appreciating the food on your plate or the food that you're you're eating, that is something that is so internal. You can do that without letting anybody else in. Like, no one has to know that's what's going on.

Debra Coleman [00:15:46]:
You know? Like, you just you know, that's something that you can quietly do. That's what's going on. You know, like, you just, you know, that's something that you can quietly do just internally yourself if you want to. I mean, of course, sharing in that moment, I'm sure, is lovely, but it's something that is just so personal to you that you can just simply do it, and no one is the wiser but you. You know? Yeah. Mhmm.

emma hull [00:16:08]:
Yeah. It is nice sometimes to be able to just deal with stuff privately. We don't Yeah. Don't always need to include everyone in it. It is. It's so doable. Right? And if you you tag a habit onto an existing habit that helps make habits stick. So you know you're gonna eat and drink, so just layering that mindfulness and gratitude onto it will really help shift your mindset.

Debra Coleman [00:16:36]:
Yeah. I love that. I love that. Yeah. So important. It's so important. I know many women out there are like, yeah. Yeah.

Debra Coleman [00:16:43]:
But it it it sneaks up on you if you don't. And then I firmly believe it starts to show itself in in maybe not so good ways. You know? And maybe physically or mentally or emotionally, it it will somehow come out. And so your suggestions, I love that because it's very, like, you're taking control. You're recognizing it. It doesn't have to be this big production. It's just these little moments throughout your day that are naturally organic throughout your day that you can just add to. You know? Everybody has to eat, like you said.

Debra Coleman [00:17:13]:
So why not add a nice mindful practice to when you're eating? You know? That sort of thing. So

emma hull [00:17:19]:
Mhmm. Beautifully put.

Debra Coleman [00:17:21]:
I love that. For me, back when I'm also working from home now, but when I used to work in office, for me, it was the drive home. That was my quiet time just to sort and I would many nights, I would drive without anything on the radio or nothing just to you know, that's just my sort of, like, meditative drive thing. Of course, it all went to hell when I experienced road rage and started yelling at people that would cut me off. You know? That was few and far between. Most of the time, it was a pretty nice quiet experience, so I get it. I love that advice. Oh, so along that same line though of thinking, what about the women who feel guilt, to do something like that? Like, I don't know if I can do that.

Debra Coleman [00:18:03]:
I don't know if I this isn't the time to put myself first. Maybe I'll wait, you know, until blank, fill in the blank, till the end of the day or till my my little ones are out of the house or you know? How do we how do we let go of some of that those types of burdens, some of that negative talk?

emma hull [00:18:21]:
Yeah. And women are just so bad for putting themselves at the bottom of the to do list.

Debra Coleman [00:18:28]:
Right.

emma hull [00:18:36]:
Costing you. So you're saying I don't have a minute right now to stop and and do some breath work. I don't have 45 minutes to go to a yoga class. Okay. But what is it gonna cost you if you don't do that? What is the impact going to be? And like you said, it might well be that you end up, like, yelling at your family, cutting off someone in a road rage incident. Maybe you type and then send an email at work that you really shouldn't have. So if you turn it around and stop and look at the cost of you not practicing self care, that might just be enough of a wake up call and the idea of the guilt that you're then going to experience because of the actions that you take because you haven't done your self care. That can be very motivating for for a lot of women.

emma hull [00:19:39]:
So so looking at, well, what happens if I don't do this?' versus, you know, if we look at what happens if I do do this, that's, like, the wonderful sunshine and lollipops perspective that I love. But when your brain's in that that sort of more more negative place, work with it and go there and and just, you know, embrace that and think, well, here's the consequences, and use that as a motivator for you to do your work on you so that you don't experience the negative consequences of not doing so.

Debra Coleman [00:20:17]:
Beautifully put. Exactly. That's the last thing we want is to experience those negative consequences. But if we flip the coin around, good good perspective there. Yeah. There is nothing wrong with putting ourselves first. I think it's so hard. It on one hand, it saddens me that we're even, you know, having that type of conversation, but then it also make gives me hope, to talk to experts like yourself to help remind us that it's okay.

Debra Coleman [00:20:44]:
You know? You know, we're not saying to be narcissist and run around, you know, being with all this selfish behavior, but it's okay. And and however it fits into your life to put yourself first and not feel guilty about it. It's okay. Well, so all this talk of of this wonderful advice and, you know, it does require and and depending on I'm sure if you see it, experience it with your your clients, I would imagine it requires a lot of courage and confidence as well, to make to actually make these changes and to get our mind wrapped around maybe in a different way. What advice would you give to someone who is experienced some hesitation to take even that first step towards making some needed change, fearing it might maybe, disrupt the stability maybe that they've built. Like, oh, this all sounds wonderful, but I don't think that there's room in my life for that. It would really upset the apple carton. I just I'm afraid of that type of mentality.

Debra Coleman [00:21:46]:
Have you had clients that were just, I hear you, Emma, but I'm just afraid to jump in the pool, you know, or even to dip my toe in because I've built up these healthy slash unhealthy walls, and I don't wanna I don't wanna do anything to rock the boat.

emma hull [00:21:59]:
Mhmm. Absolutely. Change is uncomfortable. We fear change. And just because of the way humans are wired, we'd prefer to put up with the discomfort that we're in right now and to stay in a situation that isn't serving us. We'd prefer that discomfort over the discomfort of change and actually doing something to make it different. And so, you know, my advice is to know that your thoughts are completely normal. It's just your human brain doing what human brains do.

emma hull [00:22:40]:
And knowing that by embracing that fear, you can move forward and you can change your life and do it a little bit at a time. Don't you know I mean obviously I just completely tore up my life, left my marriage, quit my job, created a whole new life for myself. If you wanna do that, I'm totally here to support you with that, but I generally recommend that you make small incremental changes. So pick something that is meaningful to you and start implementing that. So maybe, you know, you're you're struggling with the idea of of self care, and so, you know, you give yourself 5 minutes on a Sunday morning where you lock yourself in the bathroom or whatever you have to do and you read your book. They you know, start small. Maybe it's that in the evenings, like say when you're driving home, you have quiet time, like just a few minutes where where you don't have to talk to anyone else. Maybe you start introducing, listening to a meditation at your at lunch.

emma hull [00:23:56]:
Start small with something that feels meaningful to you and introduce that and pay attention and notice the impact that it's having. And then as you get comfortable with that new change, then you can introduce another one and another one. And so you can just incrementally grow. But don't let that fear of change stop you from starting change, because you deserve better than being stuck where you are. You deserve to live your life to its fullest, and you have the power within you to create that.

Debra Coleman [00:24:37]:
Wow. So powerful and so beautifully said. Oh my gosh. Well, I have to follow that up with, what does it mean then, Emma, in your words, to live a life untethered?

emma hull [00:24:54]:
Oh, that's a good question. So for me, it's not being constrained by societal expectations, not being constrained by what you think you should do. I've got my little air quotes on that. That you get to do what feels good to you, to get outside of that box and to not be tethered to to anything that you get to live your free, wonderful, fully expressed life in a way that that brings you joy.

Debra Coleman [00:25:41]:
I just feel like I should clap. I did that's just so it's just so beautiful. And, I mean, who wouldn't want that? You know? And, of course, being whatever that tether is for us, of course, that's individual. But to actually live untethered from that, that anchor that is holding you back from living your best life. Just you saying those words just made me, like, take a deep breath in. Just like I don't know. Like, I I it was just a reaction to the words you were saying was like, and then let it out. Like, okay.

Debra Coleman [00:26:13]:
That's what it means. Like, just, the freedom.

emma hull [00:26:17]:
Oh, I love that. Yeah. And it's really it it really is unique to each of us. Right? So what your dream of being a life untethered is can be completely different to mine. And don't judge yourself by anyone else's dream. Have your dream and know that that is perfect for you.

Debra Coleman [00:26:41]:
Your dream is perfect for you. Exactly. Exactly. And thank you for pointing out that it doesn't have to look like anyone else's, because I think that that's something that we as women famously are so good at is that comparison. But, yeah, it's so true. Love it. Beautifully put. Oh, well, if we are interested in learning more about you, Emma, and your coaching platform, where can my listeners find you?

emma hull [00:27:08]:
Absolutely. I'd love to connect. There's a few different ways. So, my website is life unteashereddot com. I'm on social media at thelifeuntethered. And then I also I have a podcast. It's called Redo You, where I teach the in 5 minutes each week, I give you tools and tips that you can use to rediscover and reinvent yourself. So there's there's a few different ways you can connect.

emma hull [00:27:40]:
And I actually if you don't mind, can I give a little plug to an event that I've got coming up?

Debra Coleman [00:27:46]:
Please. Yes.

emma hull [00:27:47]:
Great. Thank you so much. So on June 21st at 6 PM Pacific, I've got an online workshop. It's completely free, and it's called, thrive, not survive. And it's all about practical mindfulness for daily life. So thinking about the the mindful eating that I spoke about earlier, it's gonna be other tips like that so that you can bring little bits of mindfulness into your day and and experience the the benefits, the the health and mental health benefits of mindfulness.

Debra Coleman [00:28:22]:
How exciting. And, when is it again? Repeat the date again.

emma hull [00:28:26]:
Yeah. It's on Friday, June 21st at 6 PM Pacific, and all the info will be on my website and social media. I'm actually just starting promoting that today, so it's great that we're doing this interview.

Debra Coleman [00:28:39]:
I love it. Oh, that's great. Wonderful. Have you done anything like that before?

emma hull [00:28:45]:
Yeah. I do. I love doing, little free workshops because it's a great way to share resources with people. And, like I was saying before we came on, I love doing these interviews as well because anywhere that we can they inspire and give tools to other people. I know I pick up lots of tools and inspiration online, so it feels wonderful for me to be able to to do the same thing.

Debra Coleman [00:29:16]:
Love that. And I can tell just in your answer, we can't see each other, but I can tell, like, you're you just got with warmth in your tone when you were describing it. So it really shows how much you love to serve others in that way. So that's amazing. Thank you for providing that. I will definitely have links in the show notes too and ways to connect with Emma to learn more about Life Untethered Coaching and this event coming up as well as her redo you podcast, which I told her before we recorded. Love love that name. So so cool.

Debra Coleman [00:29:47]:
Oh, well, miss Emma, before I let you hop, would you have time for one more quote question?

emma hull [00:29:53]:
Absolutely. I'd love to answer another question.

Debra Coleman [00:29:56]:
Okay. This one is a little, just a little silly, but it's a way for us to get to know you better. And I feel like maybe you answered this a little bit already, so I apologize if you're repeating yourself a bit. But, when life gets a little crazy and Emma is being pulled in many directions, how do you reset and rebalance? What are some of your more treasured activities to help you bring it back to center?

emma hull [00:30:23]:
Oh, that's, easy one to answer. It's a bath. Or so either a bath or where I am right now in the Kootenay's in British Columbia, there's loads of hot springs. So going to the hot springs is even better than a bath.

Debra Coleman [00:30:39]:
Color me jealous officially. That sounds amazing. Oh, hot springs. I love it. That is fantastic. Well, we are selfishly happy and thankful for your special bath because then it frees you up and allows you to continue to be a a wonderful life coach for us with life untethered coaching platform. That is amazing. Miss Emma, honestly, this has just been a really evolving conversation, honestly, and I really appreciate your insights and ways that we can help with guilt, with expectations, with, manifesting change, may need a change in our lives, and guiding us to live a life towards being untethered.

Debra Coleman [00:31:25]:
I really appreciate you taking the time today.

emma hull [00:31:28]:
Oh, it's my pleasure. It's been so fun chatting with you.

Debra Coleman [00:31:33]:
And that wraps up my delightful conversation with miss Emma Hull, founder and creator of Life Untethered Coaching. If this conversation landed with you, if Emma was just hitting on points for you that you're like, yes, I need more of that, please, I highly encourage you to check out the show notes where you will find links to connect with Emma as she said. You will find a link to her Life Untethered Coaching website as well as links to her Instagram, Facebook, as well as a link to her podcast, the Redo You podcast, which is so insightful and so it's just on point. Emma does quick snippets, and she shares with you practices that you can implement right then and there as well as her own personal thoughts on on life affirming topics. So definitely definitely add Redo You podcast to your podcast library. You will not regret it for a moment. I would like to once again thank miss Emma for joining me this afternoon. It was a an incredibly just awakening conversation.

Debra Coleman [00:32:33]:
She really touched on a lot of point pain points that I think that women especially experience in today's age, especially in the workplace and as we meld both our personal and and business lives together. So thank you once again, miss Emma, for joining us, and thank you, my dear listener, for joining us this week. I hope you found this conversation of value. If you did and you're interested in finding more conversations like this, please check out the show notes for one more link, and that is a link to the have a seat website where you will find additional conversations just like the one I had with Emma with other amazing females who are just killing it in their spaces. Alright. Well, you know the drill, everybody. Until next week, stay safe, be well, and remember, keep having those conversations.