This episode examines the difference between seeking clarity and cultivating courage when pursuing meaningful desires. Through the story of an unexpected summer in Portugal, Sara reflects on how practical concerns can mask fear and postpone deeply held dreams. The conversation is especially relevant for women entrepreneurs and leaders who feel called toward a vision yet find themselves waiting for the “right” time. It also explores how business strategy, inner healing, and spiritual connection work together in bringing that vision into form.
In this episode, we explore:
- How a long-held dream of a summer by the ocean was repeatedly postponed for practical reasons.
- Why jealousy can point toward desires that have not yet been fully honored.
- The distinction between clarity and courage in making important life and business decisions.
- An IFS-informed understanding of protective parts that resist change and visibility.
- The value of integrating business strategy, psychological healing, and spiritual practice.
Resources:
- Join the free training for spiritually mature women in business here.
- Subscribe to elle-même, Sara’s Substack
Key takeaways
- Waiting for more clarity often conceals a need for courage.
- Protective inner parts seek safety rather than additional information.
- Fear need not disappear before meaningful action is possible.
- Sustainable growth comes from integrating practical, psychological, and spiritual dimensions.
- Permission to pursue a meaningful vision ultimately comes from within.
- Awareness of life’s impermanence can clarify what truly matters.
Episode FAQs
Why does it sometimes feel like clarity is missing when the real challenge is fear?
Because fear can present itself as a need for more information or better timing, both of which feel responsible and socially acceptable.
How does an IFS perspective view hesitation or procrastination?
It understands these responses as protective parts attempting to maintain safety rather than as flaws or self-sabotage.
Why integrate business, psychological, and spiritual work?
Important blocks often arise where these areas intersect, making an integrated approach especially supportive.
What role does courage play in pursuing a vision?
Courage allows action to occur alongside fear, rather than waiting for fear to disappear completely.
Read the Full Transcript
Hello, beautiful women. I am recording today from a little historic hilltop town near the Atlantic Ocean in Portugal. My recording quality might not be as good as it usually is because I decided not to pack my big podcast mic. I want to tell you how I got here because it is not the story I was planning to be living this summer.
Last December, Chris and I were packing up our final short-term rental in Bordeaux and moving into a longer-term home. Before we had even had a chance to imagine our first summer in Europe together, his family organized a long visit. I love his family, yet I felt something sink in me because I had a long-standing desire that had not fully formed into words: to spend a month by the beach with Chris and Sadie, living a simple European summer rhythm.
When I looked at our calendar, I quickly concluded it was not possible that year. We planned a one-week anniversary trip instead. Notice what happened. I had a real desire, and practical reasons immediately closed the case. Yet the desire remained.
Months later, friends mentioned they were spending several weeks in Portugal. I felt jealous, and I have learned that jealousy often points toward something important that I want but am not allowing myself to have.
Then summer arrived with record-breaking heat waves in France. Between our first year abroad, my father’s death, family visits, and our unlivable apartment, Chris and I knew we needed another option. I searched in a part of Portugal we had once considered for our move and found a place available for three weeks beginning exactly when the next heat wave was forecast. We booked it.
I complained before leaving because I was tired of traveling and wanted to stay home. Still, we came, and on our first evening walking through this beautiful town, I realized I was living the very dream I had nearly denied myself.
The experience showed me how important it is to honor our desires. I speak with many women who have done extensive inner and outer work, yet when it comes to investing in themselves and bringing their deeper vision into form, doubt and practical objections arise. They often say they need more clarity or a better time.
With love and directness, I want to say that what they are usually waiting for is not clarity but courage. Clarity is information. Courage is movement. If lack of clarity were the issue, the clarity already present would have moved them by now. They already know what drains them and what calls them. The challenge is allowing themselves to want and have what they truly desire.
Waiting for clarity or convenience is socially acceptable. Admitting fear is far more vulnerable. Fear can disguise itself as a need for more research or better timing. I know this because I did it with my dream of a house by the ocean.
Courage is not forcing ourselves forward. When a woman freezes, goes blank, or keeps reversing course, I hear protection. There are often parts of us trying to keep us safe because of past experiences, disappointments, or fears of visibility. These are not flaws. They are protectors.
Protective parts do not respond to more information. They seek safety. Additional courses, certifications, or even healing modalities cannot create readiness if what is needed is compassionate leadership toward the frightened part within.
The courage I am speaking of is the willingness to turn toward those parts, understand them, and lead them gently. Fear does not have to disappear for movement to happen.
Many women have invested separately in business strategy, therapy, and spiritual practice. Yet the blocks often appear in the spaces between those domains, when a soul’s vision must become a real offer, a visible message, or a concrete action. That is why I integrate the outer world of business, the inner world of our parts, and the sacred world of purpose. The obstacle itself becomes the work.
No one else can give you permission to pursue your life. Belief from others usually follows your own courageous yes. Walking through this town by the ocean, I discovered that honoring my desire led not to chaos but to a grounded fulfillment and deep gratitude.
Notice where you tell yourself you need more clarity or more convenient circumstances. Ask gently whether what is truly needed is courage.
I often return to the words that open my book, The Book of She: “God is within her. She will not fail.” We do not walk this path alone.
My father’s death has also clarified something for me. Life is finite. The life postponed until a future moment of readiness is being lived now. There is no later that is more prepared than this moment.
Carry this question with you: If I stopped waiting to feel ready, what do I already know it is time to do?
The women who change their lives are not those with the most clarity, healing, or credentials. They are the ones who let their dreams become larger than their fears and allow courage to lead while bringing fear along with them.
