Erica: Hey, girl. By now, you know I have HER Collective, my online community for ambitious women who are done doing it alone. HER Collective is for the women who are smart, capable, and driven, but they find themselves stuck on the sticky floors like self doubt, burnout, and waiting for permission that quite honestly never comes. Inside HER, you get more than motivation. You get real support, real strategies, and real momentum.

Erica: We work on things like clarifying what you want now and what's coming next, building confidence without burning yourself out, handling hard conversations, career moves, and leadership moments with clarity, and surrounding yourself with women who actually get it. This isn't about hustling harder. It's about moving intentionally with the right tools and the right people in your corner. If you're ready to stop spinning, start choosing yourself, and build a career and life that actually feels aligned, I'd love to welcome you inside HER Collective. You can learn more and join us at www.joinhercollective.com.

Erica: Because honestly, girl, you were never meant to do this alone.

Erica: Have you ever found yourself saying, I can't believe this is my life. I can't believe this is happening to me. This isn't how it's supposed to be. Today's guest, Karen Allen, is just like so many of the other amazing women on this podcast, with her own sticky floor story.

Erica: She's a supermom that is just figuring it out as she goes. She's a keynote speaker that still experiences butterflies before taking the stage, a healthy eater who loves pizza and greasy burgers, and a super organized person who can never seem to find her AirPods. She is 100% human. She's also a recovering perfectionist and a woman who tragically became a widow and a single parent at the age of 29. Today, she's gonna talk about moving through grief, putting herself out there, and her process of believing and building in order to become.

Erica: She also talks about the power of your mindset, the science behind positive thinking, how to practice gratitude even when all hope seems lost, and the complexities of emotion. But most importantly, she talks about the power of choice and how you can stop and shift. You are listening to the podcast that empowers women to get seen, get heard, and get promoted. I'm your host, Erica Rooney, and I've made it my mission to help you break free from the sticky floors, those limiting beliefs and toxic behaviors, to bust through the glass ceiling.

Erica: I'm obsessed with all things growth and abundance, and I'm here to talk you through the tried and true secrets to help you level up your career and your life. We talk about the hard stuff here, imposter syndrome, perfectionism, fear, and burnout. So pull up a seat, pop in an earbud, and let's dive in. Welcome, everybody. I am super pumped here.

Erica: We have Karen Allen, who is just a ray of sunshine. Karen, how are you?

Karen: I'm good, Erica. So good to see you again, friend.

Erica: I love repeat people in my life because it's just so much more fun. So thrilled to have you here. I would love to just kick it off by hearing a little bit about you. You are doing all of the things. You are a mom.

Erica: You are a keynote speaker. You have the 100% Human movement, and I would love to hear more about that. So tell me, who is Karen Allen?

Karen: Yeah. It's funny because I feel like most of my life I've had identity crisis. Like, I don't know exactly what I'm into or what I love most. I'm just very multi passionate is what I found when I stepped into the world of entrepreneurship. But happy to be serving as a mindset coach and also bringing the message about our mindset and how powerful it is to different stages as a keynote speaker.

Karen: But my heart really is to serve, and the 100% Human movement is really this community of people who accept, number one, that we're imperfect. I'm a recovering perfectionist. So just to accept that we're imperfect is a huge feat. But with that, always on a mission to become better. And everyone who's in this community, they join through various ways. They join because they find me on social or maybe they saw me speak at an event or, you know, who knows?

Karen: It's just, they end up in this space and they have the same desire, which is we wanna become better. We wanna become better because we understand how that makes a ripple effect into the world, which is why this is called 100% Human, because we all, I think we focus so much on our differences that we forget how similar we are. For example, we've all experienced pain and it may be packaged differently, but we know what that feels like. Right.

Karen: We can empathize with other people when they experience joy or pain or success, and what have you. But what we really want to do is we want to be able to connect with others on this movement of growth, because when we become better, we make the people around us better. And that's how we make the world a little better too. It's this space of, we don't have to serve or save the whole world. We can just serve our corner of the world well.

Karen: And when we do that, it's because we're investing in our own personal growth, which creates that ripple effect around us. So it's beautiful because it's a space where I have just carved out. Like, I don't have to show up as a highlight reel. I don't have to show up with everything perfect. I just show up as I am, and it's with the intention of becoming better.

Erica: Well, and I love that about you because if you go to your website too, it's straight up, like, I'm a healthy eater that loves pizza and cheeseburgers. And it just allows you that space to be 100% authentically you. So I love the title of that because we are all just these perfectly imperfect humans. And I love that you talk about perfectionism. That is something we talk a ton about on this podcast.

Erica: I too am a recovering perfectionist. Have you ever read the book, The Perfectionist's Guide to Losing Control?

Karen: No.

Erica: Oh, you're gonna have to put that on your list. Okay. It is amazing. I just finished reading it. It talks about these five different types of perfectionism. It was written by a therapist, but she breaks down how perfectionism is actually our superpower and how we can utilize some of those tendencies to do better in the world, to continually grow. So you'll have to mark that one down.

Erica: It is a must read.

Karen: Yes. Thank you. Thank you.

Erica: But what brought you into this space? I would love to, like, take it back to the beginning.

Karen: Yeah. Well, life has a funny way of throwing you on a path that maybe you did not see for yourself. At least that's what my journey has been. I fell into this work honestly, and it was by way of a tragedy and life experience that completely changed my life, rocked my entire world. And my background is actually in HR.

Karen: So when I graduated from school, I knew that I liked helping people. So initially I was an admissions counselor for George Mason, my alma mater. And so I would travel around and help these high school students figure out what school they wanted to go to. And it was funny because I think I knew back then that I don't like selling. Like it felt so inauthentic for me.

Karen: And so as I had these conversations with these guidance counselors and with these students, my approach was, tell me what you do like. Tell me what you are looking for. Because I'll be honest, if George Mason isn't for you, maybe there are other places. It was just being helpful in that space of making a really big decision. And then that transitioned into recruiting. Because again, if I wanted to help other people, then how about helping them with a job?

Karen: Right. And helping them find what kind of work actually suits my soul work, my DNA, my interests. And so as I'm thinking that I'm totally aligned on the path that I'm meant to be, tragedy hits. And my husband, who was a CrossFit owner, he was a newly established CrossFit owner actually about six months in, was gunned down at his gym while he was teaching his class. And so I happened to be at home with our two year old son.

Karen: I was doing some interviews from home when I got the call. And I mean, that's just something you never expect. I was 29 when my husband died. You're not thinking about being a widow before you're 30. You can't imagine going through these different elements of life that usually are at the end of life when you're just starting off.

Karen: It's so hard to wrap your mind around that. And so that year ended up being a lot of losses. I lost my husband, my house, my car, and eventually my job. And so I remember crying in my car, and I do mean bawling my eyes out. I don't know if you've ever cried so hard that, like, it's just coming out of all areas.

Karen: You're like, my nose is running. I'm all a mess. Like, so I'm crying and I'm just like, what am I supposed to do? I'm a complete failure. And I had this moment that tied a forethought together for me.

Karen: About three months prior to being let go from my job, I started to feel this thing inside of me that was pulling me and it made me feel like I needed to leave corporate America. But to just up and leave my job as a solo parent, a widowed parent, not even just single and you kind of have a part time, would be irresponsible, right? Like that would be absolutely crazy.

Karen: So I just pushed that thought to the side, but it just kept coming up like, this isn't the place for me. It's not healthy. The environment wasn't healthy itself, but also just the construct of corporate America was not supportive of single parents. But I didn't have enough, we'll say, courage to take that leap of faith on my own. So when I was shoved out, we'll just say, that's just how I've described the termination.

Karen: I was like, okay, what am I going to do at this point? And I gave myself six weeks to figure it out, to grieve, because I really hadn't had an opportunity to just hit pause and grieve. I was trying to do it in pockets throughout my day and all that. But so when I went through that, I thought to myself, okay, I don't exactly know what I'm creating. I know how I want to serve, but I was still so fresh in my healing journey that I didn't have that level of clarity.

Karen: But what kept pulling me forward was I wanted to be an entrepreneur that was a heart based business owner, that was helping other people in ways that at the time, people weren't actually looking for the service. But then, hey, then a global pandemic hit and people are like, oh, I actually have to take care of myself and my mindset. Look at that. So I felt like for about six years, I was planting all of these seeds. I was figuring it out as I was going along. I was leaving no stone left unturned.

Karen: I was just putting myself fully out there, not getting a lot of reward upfront, meaning like payment. I was working multiple other contract jobs and freelancing just to build this dream. And then the pandemic hit and all of the different connections that I had made, the places I'd put myself out there, came back around full circle. And so now I can wholeheartedly serve people and help them to develop a mindset that will withstand all of the different curve balls that life could possibly throw our way.

Erica: Hey there, listeners. If you have ever felt like you're stuck in a place, held back by self doubt, perfectionism, or that pesky inner critic, you're not alone. We all face those sticky floors that keep us from reaching the heights we dream of. But guess what? It's time to shatter those limiting beliefs and toxic behaviors to uncover infinite possibilities.

Erica: My book, Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors, is your ultimate guide to smashing through barriers, overcoming limiting beliefs, and stepping into your full potential. This book has been endorsed by none other than the great Mel Robbins, best selling author and motivational powerhouse. It's also been featured in Success Magazine, so you know it's packed with insights that work. Inside, you'll find real life sticky floor stories, practical strategies to help you handle your own sticky floor moments, and a whole lot of inspiration to keep you climbing. This isn't just a book.

Erica: It's your roadmap to success, confidence, and freedom. Grab your copy of Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors today at www.ericaandersonrooney.com. Whether you're in the boardroom, the classroom, or just starting out, this book is for you, because no one, and I mean no one, deserves to stay stuck. No one deserves to feel small, and you have glass ceilings to shatter. Let's do this.

Erica: When you think about just that short time span, that is a lot of curve balls that came your way. And I think anyone just in looking at you and how joyful you are and just happiness radiates from you, radiates from your eyes, from your smile. Nobody could ever imagine that you survived all of these losses. And then you went almost blindly into, like, I'm just gonna do the work, even though I have no idea what I'm doing or how I'm gonna get there. How did you find the faith, the power, the resilience to do all that?

Karen: Well, faith is definitely a cornerstone of just my internal makeup. Right? So I tell people I'm a God girl. I'm not very religious, but I have a very strong relationship with God.

Karen: And I think that our spiritual life, for those who do have a spiritual life and pursue that, it's very similar actually to personal growth because it takes a ton of faith. Like you're not always seeing what's happening there, but you can feel it and you can see the evidence of those things. And so there are two things that I feel like were contributing to my success that didn't come immediately. And I think that's really important for people to understand. You're not always gonna see immediate success.

Karen: But if you believe and you build, then it will happen. So I would work on these different projects or these different ideas, or I wanted to launch something. I wanna just put myself out there, we'll say. And a lot of failures were happening. Like, I wasn't launching a course and making six figures.

Karen: I'm like, who actually does that? But I just kept getting, if you've read the book, The Alchemist, they talk about omens, positive omens that are just like these little signs. Well, I didn't have that vocabulary, but I was calling them God hugs. It was like these different moments that would show up that just, they were letting me know that I was on the right path.

Karen: And again, it wasn't like this grand gesture, but early on in my healing journey, I started to practice mindfulness. And again, I didn't have the vocab. I didn't have the framework or anything. It was something I intuitively started to do. And I think because I started to wire my brain to be so present in the moment while also building towards a future, I was able to keep that balance of building and believing.

Karen: Building what I needed to do in the moment. Give my best in that moment, working through my perfectionism tendencies and really just focusing on doing my best. While also believing that more of the thing that I was trying to put out there was going to come back to me. Right? So meaning that if I'm serving a lot of people in a way that early on with speaking was free.

Karen: I was not getting paid to speak, but I was invited into these places where I knew a message would make an impact. Well, later on, those same clients would have a different opportunity that was paid. And so it was just really believing that if I served well, if I served wholly, that it would come back around. And every time I showed up fully and with my whole self, it always came back around later.

Erica: Well, I love that. And in the keynote speaking industry, they call it putting in the reps and doing the work. And it can be so challenging sometimes because you don't see what that is. And when I'm trying to work myself through those situations, I imagine that I'm standing in like this large circle of domino trains. You know, if you knock one down, 10 of them go, and you knock one down, maybe two dominoes fall, maybe no dominoes fall. But one of those domino trains out there is a long domino train that's gonna take you somewhere that you can't even envision.

Karen: You just don't know which one it is. Right. Exactly. And that's what it means to really have, you know, there's a lot of this grind and hustle culture and all of that. And I don't think it means to sacrifice your well-being, but it does mean that you have to be consistent and persistent.

Karen: And when you are, you will receive the fruit of your labor.

Erica: Yeah. You gotta show up. You gotta do the work. It's hard. And you are also a certified grief specialist.

Karen: Oh, you said it.

Erica: How did that come to be?

Karen: Very early on when I was deciding what kind of business I wanted to create, and this is a funny story. Because I was so entrenched in my own healing journey, and this is important to recognize. I knew, or I could see by looking back, there are different stages of growth. And if you've been through something traumatic, or if you're just healing from things in your past, you can't be in that survival state and also growth state at the same time. There's actually this, like, at a cellular level, studies have shown that you can't be in both.

Karen: So when I was in that healing state and I was really just thinking about survival, I was taking on a lot of what other people were projecting on me. The main thing that people would project on me is that I could be someone who helped corporate America understand how to deal with grief in the workplace. I could be like that kind of grief consultant, we'll say. And I will tell you there are a lot of moments where I did something that I knew was not aligned with actually the work I wanted to do, but I just didn't have that clarity. Although going through that particular certification was extremely helpful, because part of the process is you have to go through the experience of the grief recovery method before you're able to share that with others.

Karen: So that was something that was part of the early stage of the business where I was thinking that the service was going to be helping corporations to deal with grief in the workplace. And while there was a lot of good work that was done there, America doesn't wanna talk about grief. It's hard.

Erica: It's sticky. It's icky.

Karen: It's uncomfortable. Right. And we don't wanna get that close to other people's problems. And so that was a great learning experience, because what it helped me to find was that I didn't wanna focus on grief. I wanted to focus on growth.

Karen: And that gave me new language that, again, I was already kind of doing intuitively when it came to positive psychology, mindfulness, neuroplasticity, growth mindset. I didn't know these things until I started to find what was possible. And I saw evidence and research through books like Carol Dweck's book, Mindset. Sheryl Sandberg had Option B. That's where I learned about post traumatic growth.

Karen: She and Adam Grant co wrote that book. So I started to find the avenue that I wanted to really pursue, but that was one of the early moments of education. I would say personally and professionally was going through that experience. But it's definitely something that I carry with me today and something that I still use to help others who are in the early stages of their healing journey.

Erica: I love it. And I think it's an important step to share because Instagram, Facebook, all the social media share this, like, she was here and now she's here. And she just went from point A to point B with nothing else in between. And so many women who are in these spaces, we try a lot of things before we know what it truly is. And each little nugget provides a little bit more clarity and it kind of lights the path.

Erica: So it's not the mission of the 100% Human movement, but it is a piece of your story that led you to that. So I love that.

Karen: Absolutely.

Erica: Oh, well, so we talk a lot about sticky floors, right? The limiting beliefs. We've mentioned so many on this podcast already. You know, we've talked about perfectionism. You've gone through grief.

Erica: When you hear the term sticky floors and you think about the life of Karen, what just resonates with you? What is your sticky floor story?

Karen: Man. Well, I think there's a lot, as you mentioned, there's a lot of different sticky floors. The thread that kind of is interwoven into all these different chapters of my life is definitely the self doubt. Mainly because I was trying to create a life based on societal norms that are just kind of passed down to us. You're supposed to go to the right school, and you're supposed to get the right job, and you're supposed to marry the right person, all of these things.

Karen: And you're like, well, how the heck do I know what's exactly right for me? Because what's right for me at 22 may not be right for me at 32 or beyond. Right? And so one of the earliest sticky floors that I know was holding me back from leaning into my authentic power was just playing small and dimming my light. And then I found that it started to show up in different ways, and I spoke to a therapist one time about this.

Karen: I said, sometimes I just feel like I feel bad for being positive. I feel like, gosh, I don't know. This is a hard world that we live in. We go through a lot of stuff. You know?

Karen: We see things on the news. We hear things within our family, our friends circle. Who am I to wanna bring this bright spot? And he said, Karen, this world is so dark, and it's so chaotic. Wouldn't you want to bring some light?

Karen: And it was that moment where I was like, wow, there I am again. Like, just feeling like I need to dim my light. And it was always me getting in my own way. Now, are there other things that have been sticky floors? Absolutely. But the one that has really been a trend throughout my life in these different chapters has been me doubting myself, or me shying away from the different talents or gifts that can help other people.

Karen: And I'll tell you that when I started to recognize the gremlin and the friend, which is actually a terminology that's from Michael Singer's book, The Untethered Soul, but it's certainly something that I felt before I had that language. I started to notice those two things in my head. I started to make a decision from the friend space instead of the gremlin space. And that really helped me to get unstuck.

Erica: I love that. So self doubt is a big one. Do you ever feel that bubbling up from time to time in the work that you do now?

Karen: Oh, absolutely. It's actually not something where you're like, oh, I'm cured. Like, it's not that.

Erica: No more self doubt for me.

Karen: Right. Right. Right. I'm envious of people who are like, I totally overcame that. I'm like, how did you do that?

Karen: Because this is what I've noticed, and this is actually what's part about being 100% human, goes back to this point, is that I still feel self doubt. I just choose not to operate from that space. Part of being 100% human is just the complexities of all of the different emotions that we feel. And sometimes we can feel two conflicting things in the exact same moment. And so while I may feel doubt and I feel uncertain and maybe even judging myself before I do something, I can notice it, but then I can choose to redirect my thoughts in a way that will promote the kind of behavior that I know I really want to put out in the world, because our thoughts and our feelings then equate to our behavior.

Karen: So again, I think that's why when I dove deep into what's going on inside of my mind, when I could identify, oh, there's a gremlin narrating my life, or there's gonna be a friend narrating my life. Now, when I notice the gremlin, I get to choose if I'm going to stay in that space or if I'm going to redirect the thought that will then create a different action. An action that's actually aligned with the person that I want to be. And that's a huge piece of my technique Stop and Shift that I teach in my keynote and in my book. The shift is all about aligning yourself with the person who you want to be. But in order for you to do that, it does start with your thought life.

Erica: Yeah. So I have a feeling that we're gonna dive into the book now. So tell me all about the book because I love the idea of stopping and shifting. What is this?

Karen: Yes. So there was a moment where I was thinking about the person who killed my husband, and I couldn't stop thinking about this monster. It kept replaying in my head so much that I would feel physically sick. And then I wouldn't wanna do anything. I'd lay in bed or lay on the floor.

Karen: And I remember thinking about all of the different opportunities that they had to make a different choice. Like they didn't have to get in the car and drive to the gym, or they didn't have to get out of the car when they got to the parking lot, or even if they had the gun pointed at my husband, they didn't have to pull the trigger. And there were all these different moments where they could have had a different choice. That choice would have led to a completely different outcome in my life and the ripple effect of Richard's life. And so, as I was thinking about that, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

Karen: I'm like, Karen, you have the same power, the power of choice. So what are you choosing right now? And I started to feel that whatever I was focusing on was expanding inside of me. So as I was focusing on this monster and all of my anger from the way that Richard died, the anger got bigger, the fear got bigger. And so I started to gently redirect my thoughts.

Karen: Now, years later, this is happening in the first year of losing Richard. About four or five years later, my mom says to me, Karen, what do you think it was that helped you to move into this space of healing and into the person that we see today? As you mentioned, bubbly, bright, it's kind of the energy I bring. And I went into a meditative state and I started to think about it. And it brought me back to that moment where I realized that it's almost like your mind's eye staying focused on the problem, or your mind's eye staying focused on solution or even possibilities, which is an expansive way of thinking.

Karen: And so I started to say to myself, like, as I was figuring it out, what was that thing you were doing? If you can share this with other people, it could help them. And so I thought to myself, well, I stopped focusing on the thing that was hurting me and that was crippling me. And I shifted to find a new thought, a new positive or productive thought. And there are so many things that help us to do that, but just that small framework of, oh, I notice it, but then I shift my attention and my focus into a more positive direction.

Karen: I found out later that that pattern and the repetitive action of that pattern harnesses the power of neuroplasticity, which is the ability for the brain to rewire and create new neural pathways and new habits and new patterns and actions. And so that's where that came from. It was something that I started to do intuitively. I practiced it for years without even having the language to describe it to people. And then once my mom asked me and I dove in deep to really figure out, okay, what is this thing that's happening inside?

Karen: From then on, I'm like, I think I should be telling everybody about this. And that's what I've been doing ever since.

Erica: Well, it's so true because I love talking about abundance. I believe in an abundance mindset and where you put your focus, that's what becomes abundant in your life. So yes, if you're focusing on the negative and all of these bad things, that is going to be what continues to expand in your life. Versus if you're trying to focus on the things that you have to be grateful for.

Erica: And so many people could sit there and say, I've got nothing to be grateful for. Somebody just murdered my husband. Right. And absolutely honor that grief and live through that and do whatever you need to do to heal. But like, let's also find the things like, I am breathing today. When we are laying in our beds crying, and please do that. We all need to do that, but there are always, you have a son. You have air in your lungs. You woke up today.

Erica: Those are all important things to focus on when it feels like there's nothing to focus on.

Karen: Yeah. And I'm actually glad that you brought that up because that was one of the first small practices, as I had started to have a desire to not feel like that anymore, which was the space of hopelessness. I don't wanna live anymore. This pain is too much for me. And then I was like, okay, but I'm bound and determined that is not gonna be my son's story, that he loses both parents.

Karen: I will not let that happen. But from that point, I still had to make a choice. If I don't want that to be his story, then what am I choosing? Because at that point, I was choosing to live on autopilot. I was choosing to sit in the misery.

Karen: And sure, again, honor those emotions, but you don't have to stay stuck there. And so at night, I would fall asleep and I would be so basic in my gratitude. I was like, thank you for a soft pillow. Like, thank you for clean water. And that's how it started.

Karen: But now it is like a way of being. My son and I drive to school and I'm like, oh my gosh, look at that beautiful cloud in the sky, or, oh my goodness, the tulips. And all of a sudden now I see all of the blessings that surround me, even on the hard and stressful days. And that's really what you wanna do when you're bringing in any positive habit. For example, like gratitude, it seems so minuscule and you're like, oh, it's not that big a deal. But we are constantly bombarded with stress.

Karen: We are constantly bombarded with negativity. Don't you wanna bring your life and your mind and your heart into balance? So if you do, then you have to be more intentional about amplifying the good. And a gratitude practice is just one way to do that.

Erica: Absolutely. And I see this with people that I work with. When they hone in on something negative, they just stay stuck there. And nobody wants to do that. Like really, nobody wants to do that, but it's what we do. And the more you practice those small pieces of gratitude, and like you, when I was going through a really depressive time in my life, I sat down. I was like, I'm going to write out a 100 things to be grateful for.

Erica: And sometimes it was like, I'm grateful that I can read. I was grateful for the roof over my head. I was grateful that I had a pen to write with. I mean, so many people live on less than $10 a day. They don't have roofs over their head.

Erica: So there's so much to be grateful for. And when you do that, you'll notice that when something big does happen and it is really hard to deal with, you can still see the positive side in it.

Karen: Yep. And the reason why, though, not to dismiss this, is because of the science behind it. And that's the part where I was hesitant to share with people. Oh, I do these things. It sounds very woo woo, but small gratitude practices, they literally change your brain.

Karen: Over time, and actually, let me say this, everything changes your brain. Your brain is constantly changing whether you want it to or not. But it's either being molded and shaped by negativity, or it's going to be molded and shaped by good things. And that's where positive psychology comes into place, because when you build on the good, the good gets better.

Erica: Yes. And I will tell you, I love the science piece of it because I love The Secret and the idea around The Secret, but I struggled with it for so long because it was too woo woo, you know, because you can't just go out there and be like, oh, money will come to me in the mailbox. I'm a millionaire. Like, you have to do the work. And so I love how neuroplasticity has really come into play and they're actually doing the work on the brain to understand that we are in control of our thoughts. We are in control of how we view our situation, and we may not have control over a lot of things, but we got control over that.

Karen: Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think there has been a lot of evidence pointing us to this.

Karen: You know, the parable of the second arrow is, like, you may not be able to control the first thought or the first feeling, but you can control the second one. Right? You may feel pain, but you don't have to create suffering. Like these are things that have been around for years. Right?

Karen: But now, because we have the technology where we can study healthy brains, we can see why those positive habits actually create an impact on our lives, because it is changing the wiring of our brain physically, chemically, and structurally.

Erica: And I think it's important to notice too that this is not toxic positivity that we're talking about here. You know, we're not saying, like, everything is rainbows and sunshine. And I think your life and everything that you've been through shows that, but it shows that you can grow from something devastating and honor those feelings, but still make a very beautiful life.

Karen: And that's what it means to be 100% human. Right? It's about making life beautiful in the mess, because we're not gonna be able to avoid or eliminate all those different pressures, those different life experiences and hardships. We cannot avoid that, but we can choose how we interact with it.

Erica: I love it. I love it. So if you had to get back, Karen, to the Karen who had no idea about the 100% Human movement, who had no idea how to move through this grief and was losing her job and had no idea how to provide for her son, what piece of advice would you give that Karen today?

Karen: Well, there are so many moments that I've heard things audibly, but, like, nobody said them to me, and I would dismiss them. But then I started to tune in. And so I would just tell her to, like, listen closely and listen quickly.

Karen: Because sometimes we get these little glimpses of what we should do. We kind of know what direction we should go, but then we start to talk ourselves out of it. And when you have that feeling, yeah, it may feel scary. It may feel like it's out of reach right now. But pay attention to it, because if it didn't come from you, like if you didn't think, oh, I'm going to do this, and it all of a sudden just came through you, that is something that I believe is leading you on that path. It is a positive omen. It is a God hug, whatever you wanna call it. So pay attention to them, pay attention to them often, and pay attention to them sooner.

Erica: That's so powerful. And Karen, where can people find you? You have a podcast, so tell me about the podcast.

Karen: Yes. Well, we had Erica on. It was a great conversation. It was so much fun.

Karen: It's In the Details, it's a Success Magazine production. I get to talk to so many different guests like Erica. So many different guests from all walks of life, and we like to get in the details, not just focusing on the success, but all the things that have led to that. But I also have the 100% community where you can get the newsletter every week, your weekly mind shift. But if you just pop over to my website, karenallen.co, you'll be able to find all of the goodies that we have available.

Erica: Oh, amazing. I'm gonna link all of these things, including her book. And where can they find it, on Amazon or where else?

Karen: Amazon, Target, Barnes and Noble, Books A Million, anywhere online where books are sold.

Erica: Anywhere, guys. Anywhere. But you all know I'm an Amazon queen.

Karen: Amazon is the fastest delivery, though.

Erica: Yeah. Amazon is life. Well, Karen, thank you so much for being here today.

Karen: Thanks for having me, Erica.

Erica: Thank you for listening today. I hope you found Karen's story as empowering and inspiring as I did. If you enjoyed this episode and you want more insider content, head on over to Instagram or LinkedIn and give me a follow.