You know that feeling when you look around your life and think, how the heck did I get here?
Yeah. Me too.

Three years ago, I made a really bad business decision. Like, the kind you lay awake at night replaying in your head, asking yourself if you were temporarily possessed. (Spoiler: I wasn’t. I was just scared.) Fear got the best of me, and instead of trusting myself, I let it guide my choices.

I vowed to claw my way back and I want to tell you everything I learned about Karma, leadership, trusting yourself, and why you are always free to grow and evolve, even if you built the thing that’s making you feel stuck.

Mantra for today (and every day after this):
✨ I am not trapped by what I’ve built. I am free to grow. I am free to evolve. ✨

Let’s get into it, friend.

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Empathy Can’t Be Faked

If you want to be a good leader — a real one, not just someone with a fancy title — you have to have empathy.

Real empathy. The kind you can’t fake. The kind you can’t learn from a leadership conference or a how-to podcast. It’s either stitched into your DNA or it’s not.

I used to think I could teach it. I thought, if I just show people what empathy looks like, they’ll get it!
Girl, no. Nope. If someone isn’t wired that way, no amount of you bleeding out emotional labor is going to install it into their system. It’s a painful but freeing realization.

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You Can’t Project Your Values Onto Other People

This was a hard pill to swallow: just because you live with integrity doesn’t mean everyone else does.
You can’t make someone care. You can’t make someone be loyal, or honest, or compassionate.

Sometimes we trick ourselves into thinking people will evolve, that they’ll “grow into” the values we hold so dearly. And sometimes they do… but only with little things. Big things? Core things? Those don’t change much. Not really. Not without deep, internal work most people aren’t signing up for.

You have to trust your gut when it whispers, they’re not your people.
Even if it’s inconvenient. Even if it’s heartbreaking.

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So… What Is Karma, Really?

Let’s be real: most people think karma is just some woo-woo idea, like horoscopes or mercury retrograde or manifesting a Range Rover with a Pinterest board. But just about every major religion has their form of “karma”. In Christianity, it’s the idea that you reap what you sow (2 Corinth 9:6, Gal 6:7, Proverbs 22:9, Hosea 10:13, and on and on).

But living through all this? I finally see karma for what it is, and it’s so much more practical than people think.

It’s about relationships.
It’s about the tiny deposits you make every day — the kindness, the loyalty, the grace you offer when no one’s watching.
It’s about the way you treat people when you don’t need anything from them.

Because when your world falls apart — and trust me, it will, at least once — the people you’ve invested in will come out of the woodwork. They’ll rally around you, speak life into you, remind you who you are when you forget.

And if they don’t? If you’re standing there alone?
Well, maybe that’s karma, too. A hard mirror reflecting back at you.

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You Can Do Hard Things Alone

If you were the kid who did all the work in your group projects at school, let me tell you a little secret:
That’s probably going to be your life. And honestly? That’s okay.

Being self-sufficient isn’t a curse. It’s a superpower.
It doesn’t mean you’re destined to be alone. That’s something I’ve spent a lot of time in therapy unpacking. It just means you can do it alone if you have to. And that’s powerful.

Every time I hear Taylor Swift sing, “You’re on your own kid, you always have been”, I want to cry. But there’s some part of me thats crying tears of pride. Pride for the person I’ve become who doesn’t need anyone and still chooses to live in community with others.

The key is to be smart about it.
Only take on what you know you can manage. Don’t put yourself in positions where you’re depending on people who have already shown you they’re unreliable. Protect your peace.

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The Ones You Can Depend On? They’re the Quiet Ones.

You know who’s gonna surprise you?
Not the loud, flashy, ride-or-die talkers.

It’s the quiet ones.
The ones who don’t get involved in drama.
The ones who don’t constantly need attention or validation.
The ones who maybe don’t even share much about their own lives.

They’re the rocks. The ones who show up when it matters, without fanfare. The ones who don’t post about it, don’t need applause for it, just are there.

And if I’ve taught you anything, remember, when people show you who they are, believe them (Maya Angelou) and when people TELL you who they are, DON’T believe them for a second.

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Karma Is Your Army

Because here’s the thing:
When you’ve lived your life treating people with respect and grace, genuinely caring for them, encouraging them, meaning every word — you’ve built something way stronger than a business.
You’ve built a community.

And when you’re bleeding and broken and feeling like you have nothing left?
They show up.
They remind you who you are.
They lift you when you can’t lift yourself.

That is karma.
Not some cosmic punishment or reward.
But the real, tangible exchange of goodness.
The bank account you didn’t even realize you were filling, paying dividends when you needed it most.

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Trust the Long Game

It can be wildly, excruciatingly frustrating to not be able to “set the record straight” when you’ve been hurt.
You want to scream your side of the story from the rooftops.
You want everyone to know the truth.

But trust me on this:
When you act with integrity and gratitude — and they don’t — in time, people will see it.
You don’t have to wave the receipts around.
You don’t have to beg anyone to believe you.

Truth reveals itself. Always.
It just takes longer than we want it to.

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Choose to See Goodness

Here’s something that’s radically changed my life:

If you believe things are working for you, you’ll find proof of it everywhere.
If you believe things are working against you, you’ll find proof of that too.

Your brain is always looking for confirmation.
So why not feed it something good?
Why not train it to see the goodness and positivity all around you?
Why not look for the lessons instead of the losses?

When you put goodness out into the world — even when it costs you, even when it hurts — you will see it come back. Maybe not the way you expected. Maybe not from the people you expected.
But it will find you.
It always finds you.

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So if you’re walking through a season of betrayal, heartbreak, fear, or failure right now, here’s what I want you to know:
You are not trapped by what you’ve built.
You are free to grow.
You are free to evolve.

You are strong enough to do hard things alone.
You are wise enough to know who your real people are.
You are brave enough to keep your heart open anyway.

And karma?
It’s working in your favor — even when it feels like all hell is breaking loose.

Stay steady.
Stay good.
Your harvest is coming, friend.

Kendra