MMS_StrippedDownandStillPowerful_AUDIO
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[00:00:00] Dr. Julia Bowlin: You are someone before you were everyone else's something.
[00:00:09] Welcome back to the Mindset Medicine Show. I'm Dr. Julia Bowlin, physician, author, and hypnotherapist, and the founder of Personal Awareness Medicine, and today we're not playing nice. We're gonna get real. And today's episode is really about being stripped down and still powerful. Who are you without the labels?
[00:00:28] Worker, mom, fixer, doer. And what happens when the roles drop and the real you walks in? I wanna ask you a bold question. Who are you really when no one needs you? Not the you that shows up to save the day, not the one who manages the inbox, the spreadsheets, the diagnosis, the dinner, the department or the drama I'm talking about the stripped down, unfiltered.
[00:00:53] Nothing left to prove version of you. Here's what I see over and over again in my clients, my colleagues, [00:01:00] my patients, and hell in the mirror. Sometimes we have been performing our identities, doctor, CEO, line worker, desk worker, mom, manager, entrepreneur, caregiver, overachiever the rock for everyone else.
[00:01:17] And while the outside world might be clapping for us inside, something might feel hollow. You might be doing all the right things, but feeling like you've somehow gone missing in your own life. So today we're cutting through the noise. We're stripping the layers. We are unzipping the roles and reintroducing you to you, the real you underneath the label driven life.
[00:01:43] This episode is for every human being who has ever asked, what's left, when I'm not fixing, proving, or achieving. I'm gonna help you unpack why we over identify with roles and how it disconnects us from our real power. What happens [00:02:00] psychologically when we lose a title or a relationship and feel like we've just lost ourselves?
[00:02:05] And how to drop the labels and reconnect with your worth at an identity level. And of course, you know, I'm gonna throw in some hypnotherapy tools that'll help you retrain your brain so that you can know that you. Are enough without the title. So let's get naked emotionally, spiritually, and psychologically.
[00:02:29] Let's do the hard holy healing work. So let's begin. What is the cost of carrying labels? I'm gonna take you back to 2022. My husband had just been diagnosed with cancer and I was working full-time in my medical practice seeing patients all day long. I was also on the side coaching women through burnout.
[00:02:50] Don't get me going. I understand the irony of this building a business, taking hypnotherapy training and running our household, and somewhere [00:03:00] in all of that chaos, I suddenly realized I was doing something gutting. I had no idea who I was without all these roles. I no longer had a pager clipped to my hip anymore.
[00:03:12] Those days were gone, but now I had something worse. My smartphone constantly buzzing with family needs, client calls, calendar reminders on-call issues, lab results, emails, and all the seven different roles. I was already holding up until one night I looked in the mirror. I was still in my scrubs from a long work day.
[00:03:34] I didn't even change out of my scrubs. Come on folks. That's kind of gross. I was drained down to my soul and I asked myself. What if I stopped doing what if I just was, and it was terrifying because we don't just do roles, we become them. And when the people we've taken care of no longer need us, or the job ends, [00:04:00] or the business shifts, or the identity gets pulled out from under us, we might go into free fall.
[00:04:07] And here's the problem, when you live to be the go-to person. You forget how to go to yourself when you're always on, your body never gets to rest. And when you are addicted to being needed, your worth becomes conditional. And that's the cost of caring labels. We trade clarity for chaos, peace for pressure, and authenticity, for applause and recognition.
[00:04:37] But that applause doesn't sustain a soul. Neither does trying to stay relevant in the eyes of the world by holding onto every damn identity you've ever picked up, just in case you're not lovable without them. So today I hope that we can start unlearning and I'm going to give you a hypnotherapy tool right now to help you break free [00:05:00] from the false connection between worth and role.
[00:05:03] It's called the label Drain Visualization. And yes, I created that. So what is it? It's a visualization technique that helps you gently detach your self-worth from your job title and your roles or your social expectations. And it works because your subconscious mind doesn't know the difference between imagination and reality.
[00:05:24] And when you visualize detaching from your roles, your nervous system gets a little message. And that message, folks, is that I am safe being me even when I'm not performing. So try this now. If you are in a safe place and can close your eyes, please do so. If you are not, just listen and come back to this exercise and do it later.
[00:05:46] Closing your eyes, taking a deep breath in,
[00:05:52] and exhale, picture yourself standing in front of a mirror. You're wearing a long coat, made up of [00:06:00] name tags and sticky notes, and each one of them says something different. CEO, caregiver doer, super mom, super dad, super, CEO. The reliable one. The dependable one. The smart one, the fixer. Now slowly start peeling them off one by one by one, and as you do, repeat this phrase in your mind.
[00:06:34] This one is not my role or my identity. I'm enough without it. Peel, breathe, release. Once they're all off, take that coat off too and just let it fall to the floor. Step out of it and look into the mirror again. [00:07:00] Who's there? The softer, stronger, still powerful person, just not performing anymore. That is you.
[00:07:17] Take another deep breath and just imagine the weight falling off of you from all those rules, because what's left when the rules drop? That's when you can start reclaiming the identity from the inside out. So now that you've dropped the labels, you can open your mind and your eyes. Well, you can open your mind and your eyes, and at least in your mind's eye, you might probably be wondering, okay, now what?
[00:07:44] What's left? What? I'm not being the fixer, the achiever, the doer. Or all those other labels you may have stuck to your body.
[00:07:55] If stress and overwhelm or that relentless inner critic has been running this show, it's time to [00:08:00] take back control. You don't need another motivational quote or a feel-good pep talk. You need a system, a tool, something that actually works when life gets messy. That's exactly why I created mindset medicine worksheets.
[00:08:11] No fluff, no filler, just proven strategies that are powerfully designed to help you rewire your thoughts for clarity and confidence. Break the cycle of overwhelm in minutes. Set boundaries that stick without guilt and turn stress into focus and action. This isn't about theory, it's about real transformation.
[00:08:29] And the best part is each episode of this podcast comes with a worksheet designed specifically for what you're learning today. No more wondering how to apply this. It's all mapped out for you. And if you're ready to stop spitting your wheels and start making real shifts, grab today's worksheet below because life's too short to stay stuck.
[00:08:47] Check out the episode specific worksheet in today's podcast. Show notes below. The link is right there for you.
[00:08:59] Here's what [00:09:00] no one else tells you. What's left is the good stuff, the deep stuff, the divine spark that you've been buried under, the grooves of productivity and perfection. But that can feel a little unnerving at first. You can feel a little naked because we have been conditioned to believe that if we are not doing, we're not valuable, and let me offer this.
[00:09:25] You were someone before you were everyone else's something. I'll say that again. You were someone before you were everyone else's something. When my husband got diagnosed with cancer, everything in me wanted to jump into fixer mode. Organize the appointments, do the green smoothies, schedule acupuncture, order supplements, do my energy, reiki, healing on him.
[00:09:48] You name it, I was gone there. I even created a master homemade DIY, post-cancer radiation ointment. That was magic, [00:10:00] but it burned him, so I didn't try it. So I hear it. So let me offer this. You were somebody before. You were somebody else's something. And I say this because I knew in the long run he didn't want all that.
[00:10:15] My husband, not in the way I thought he should, and I had to sit in this brutal truth. I didn't know how to just be with somebody in pain without trying to make it better. Makes sense. You know, I am a physician, but I'd never had to just be with somebody in their pain. Without making it better, I had to learn to drop the label of healer and become something so much more powerful, a witness, a partner, a presence, and I'm still working on that.
[00:10:53] Every single day I just wanna do something to help, but most of the time he just needs a witness. [00:11:00] A partner and somebody there. So let me ask you this. Who are you when you're not being useful? Who are you when you're not being needed, and who are you when there's no one to impress, no inbox to clean, no spotlight, to stand in because that version of you, the one who exists without the performance is your truth.
[00:11:22] So let's help you connect with that truth right now. How about another hypnotherapy technique? I call this one the inner room exercise. This is a closed eyes, internally guided practice that will help you meet your uncondition self, the version of you that exists beyond achievements and trauma and identity roles.
[00:11:43] And it works because the subconscious stores your purest identity beneath the layers of all your learned behavior. By mentally visiting a symbolic space where roles don't exist, you'll start to access and anchor yourself into the authentic self. So let's try this now. [00:12:00] I want you to sit comfortably and close your eyes if you are in a safe space.
[00:12:04] Breathing nice and deeply, in and out.
[00:12:13] And as you exhale, imagine yourself walking towards a quiet, peaceful doorway. This door leads to your inner room. It's a space in your mind where you are, just you. No responsibilities. No expectations, no past, no future only presence. So let's open the door to that inner room and step inside. Notice what it looks like.
[00:12:41] What are the colors? What are the textures? How does it feel to be here in this inner room? The space of your mind. That's just you. Is it safe? Is it spacious? Is it still? [00:13:00] Now, ask yourself silently, who am I when no one is watching? What do I love when no one needs me? What does my soul crave more of?
[00:13:21] Who am I when no one is watching? What do I love when no one needs me? What does my soul crave More of? This room is always available. It is your sanctuary, your source, and your truth. You don't have to earn this space. You just simply go there. Just return to it at any time. Look around. This is your haven.
[00:13:53] And when you're ready, gently open your eyes, feeling calm and at peace, and return [00:14:00] back to me. I would like to anchor today's transformation with some real world actions. Here are three micro but mighty shifts that you can start today to step out of your roles and back into yourself. I would like you, first of all to practice the I Am statements.
[00:14:19] These are statements that don't include what you have to do. These are simply, for example, I'm someone who brings healing energy. I am a visionary and a guide. I am love in motion. Come up with at least three I am statements. For me, I am a Tasmanian devil. Sometimes I'm okay with that. I am scatterbrained.
[00:14:43] Sometimes that's a fact. But I am love in motion and compassion, and I know that down to my toes. So by repeating these aloud, it's gonna help your subconscious anchor the identity to your essence, your being, [00:15:00] not your functioning. Next, number two, set a 15 minute label free window every day. You don't have to schedule, you don't have to work, you don't have to solve, you don't have to fix, you don't do checking up on things.
[00:15:13] You're just being, I call this unstructured time UST time. This is time that allows you to breathe, to reflect, to simply exist in your body and your soul without any agenda. Removing it under UST time, unstructured time gives your creativity and your soul space to do what it does best, and that is be you a human being, not a human doing.
[00:15:46] Third, I would like you to write a, who am I beyond the labels list? I'll say that again. I want you to write out who I am beyond the labels list. So start with things like this. I'm [00:16:00] not my roles, I am blank. Fill in 10 statements posted, revisit, let it remind you of who you really are, especially on the hard days.
[00:16:12] The thing that I write sometimes is. I am compassionate. I am intuitive. I am capable of being fully present and listening without my mind going 20,000 times faster than it should. I am hungry. I am allowed to be exactly who I am. These are just some examples. Alright, so here's what I want you to do right now.
[00:16:42] If you can please share this episode with one woman, one man, one friend, somebody you knew might be living under a pile of labels. Text it to them, DM it, send it in a message, and just say, I thought of you. You deserve to hear this and help me reach my goal of a hundred people [00:17:00] in a hundred days. And if today's message hits home, come connect with me.
[00:17:04] This work doesn't stop when the episode ends. It deepens because you spent enough years being everyone else's, everything. It's your term to come home to you. Until next time, be happy. Be healthy and be fulfilled.
[00:17:26] Thank you for listening to Mindset Medicine with your host, Dr. Julia Bowlin. To learn more about mindset medicine, go to www.juliabowlinmd.com and connect with Dr. Julia to find out how our team can help you today. Join us again next week for more expert tips, tools, and strategies to become healthier, wealthier, and wiser in your personal and professional [00:18:00] life.
