“Watch Me” Revolution
The Post-It Note on the Mirror: Turning My Doubts into a "Watch Me" Revolution
What’s up, my beautiful squad? Welcome back to the blog.
If you caught last week's post, you know I was standing in a pretty dark place before we kicked off this season. Between the lingering panic from Simon’s car accident, navigating Nora’s new autism diagnosis, and getting doors slammed in my face by the traditional clinical community, I was ready to throw in the towel. I wanted to lock the doors to my wellness practice, delete the podcast feeds, and just crawl under the covers.
But then, the universe handed me the exact medicine I didn’t know I needed. Enter Renee Carbone Fleming.
Renee is the absolute queen of personal branding, a powerhouse entrepreneur, and a literal billboard-in-the-middle-of-Times-Square kind of badass. But when she sat down across from me on the mic for Episode 2, she didn't just give me a polished résumé. She gave me her truth. She talked about growing up with nothing, surviving the tragedy of her biological father's suicide, living on a pull-out couch, and navigating a brutal bankruptcy and divorce that stripped her down to nothing.
Sitting there listening to her, I got literal goosebumps. Because while her story is uniquely hers, that feeling of being completely broken, staring at the pieces of your life, and wondering, Who the hell am I?—that is a feeling so many of us know in our bones.
She dropped so many truth bombs in our hour together that I was practically vibrating. But there were three specific concepts she shared that completely reshaped how I’m looking at my own life and business right now, and I knew I had to scream them from the rooftops for you guys:
1. Do You Have a PhD?
Renee reminded me that you don't need a fancy string of letters after your name or approval from a gatekeeping institution to build an empire or change lives. You just need a "PhD" in Passion, Heart, and Desire. When the clinical world told me I didn't belong because I didn't have their specific degrees, I forgot that my own lived experience and my certification in RTT are exactly what make me uniquely qualified to help women build their inner foundations. Passion and heart will beat a piece of paper every single day.
2. The CASE Method
If you've ever felt completely frozen by analysis paralysis, you need this framework. Renee breaks down how to move out of "freeze mode" using Clarity, Action, Strategy, and Evaluation. For me, I realized I was stuck in the "freeze" because I was waiting for everyone else to tell me my steps were okay. Renee's advice? Get clear, take the messy action first, build the strategy around what works, and evaluate as you go.
3. The "WATCH ME" Manifesto
This is the one that I am currently writing on a post-it note and sticking directly to my bathroom mirror. Renee told me that when she was at her lowest, and the doubters were telling her she couldn't make it on her own, she plastered her house with the words WATCH ME. It stands for:
Withdraw from explanation (Stop trying to make people understand your vision!)
Act before approval
Take up space publicly
Commit without consensus
Hold the vision when no one else does
Reading those words felt like a lightning bolt straight to my soul. How many times do we dim our own light or delay our dreams because we are waiting for a committee of people—who aren't even living our lives—to tell us it’s okay?
Three Feet from Gold & The Ultimate Synchronicity
Renee also recommended an incredible book called Three Feet from Gold, and it hit me right in the chest. It's all about how people give up right when they are on the literal brink of their biggest breakthrough. It was the exact reminder I needed to keep digging. I KNOW in my soul I’m doing what I am meant to do, and I KNOW that it is going to be big. I could be only three feet away from that gold, but I won't ever know unless I keep pushing forward.
And speaking of the universe giving you a sign, ever since I started this podcast, I have consistently listened to and looked for synchronicities in my life. And oh my god, we had a massive one in this conversation.
Last season, our sweet guest DJ LoGory introduced us to the concept of writing a future life script, recording it in your own voice, and listening to it every single morning to map out the beautiful life you're working toward. Well, guess what? Renee does the exact same thing. She rolls over, brews her bed-side black coffee, and listens to her own voice memo to align her brain and heart for the day.
When the exact same unique tool shows up in my life from two completely different powerhouse people? I don't ignore it. Because... synchronicity. I am getting ready to record my own future life script right now, and you better believe I’ll let you guys know how it goes!
This episode was the ultimate reminder that every single one of us needs to build our own version of a financial and emotional "$100k Fuck-It Fund." We need a soul-aligned passion that belongs 100% to us, where we are the ultimate authority.
I walked into that interview feeling like a fraud, and I walked out ready to run through a brick wall. If people want to shoot down what we are building here at Sweet Soul Wellness, or tell us we're doing too much on the podcast... well, I guess all I have left to say is: Watch me.
If you haven't listened to the episode yet, stop what you are doing, grab your iced coffee, and go stream it right now. Your inner badass is waiting.
Until next week... skirts up, but keep your panties on!
With so much love,
Samantha Mandell
