Megan Imbert: [00:00:00] Hello, my courageous friends. Today I wanna talk about the courage to be alone, the courage to know yourself. This is a certain kind of courage that I don't think we talk about enough. I feel, I feel uniquely qualified to talk about this as a 39-year-old that's never been married, I've been very vulnerable about when I moved to Austin at the end of 2019, and then the pandemic hit. In March of 2020 where I had left friends and family and reacquainting with myself in a new city, making new friends, going through my evolution. I've talked about my plant-based medicine journey since 2021, and the recalibration reintroducing myself to myself as I've had incredible transformations. Not only am I meeting new people, [00:01:00] I'm also meeting new versions of myself. And so what I'm talking about here, this is not the kind of courage that wins the awards or makes the headlines the quiet, unwavering courage to be alone, to choose solitude, not because you've given up on connection, but because you've decided to connect with yourself.
Megan Imbert: It's in the moments when nobody's texting. No one is calling, no plans are being made, and there you are. Just you. No distractions. No masks, no performances, just you, your breath, your thoughts, your heart, and that is where I'm talking about having the courage to meet yourself there. That time alone with yourself, listening to the sound of your own soul. To feel the ache of any [00:02:00] of your unmet desires, the whisper of your wildest dreams and the truth, you've been too busy, too afraid, or too numb to hear. We've been taught to seek ourselves through others, through the relationships, through the roles. Recognition. There's a much deeper wisdom that lives in that silence. There's magic in wandering the world, not to escape yourself, but to rediscover the parts of you that got buried under obligation and expectation.
Megan Imbert: I believe when you're alone, you start to remember, I think one of the greatest adventures in this life, I. Is to get to know yourself, to explore what this world can offer you in your experience. Remember what lights you up without anybody else's approval remember what moves you, [00:03:00] excites you, soothes you.
Megan Imbert: You reclaim the freedom to be curious again about art, about nature about your damn joy.
Megan Imbert: You start to realize that happiness doesn't arrive when someone chooses you. Happiness arrives when you choose you over and over and over again, and when you choose you and what you're doing is in alignment with you, you're gonna attract the right people. The courage to be alone is the courage to come home to your body, your knowing, your presence.
Megan Imbert: It is the foundation for everything. Your purpose, the partnerships, your peace. When you know who you are, you stop settling for what does not match your frequency.
Megan Imbert: There's a sacred rebellion when we choose ourselves. You become a sacred disruptor, when you start [00:04:00] to reclaim your power in your voice, your truth, and start living in a hundred percent alignment with that, there's a softness in solitude.
Megan Imbert: There's a richness to your own inner world. You're not incomplete. You yourself, your soul is a whole world, a whole universe that's waiting to be explored.
Megan Imbert: How do you develop the courage to know yourself? You might be sitting here listening. Where is she going with this? How do I begin to truly know myself? How do I sit with solitude when it feels unfamiliar, when the quiet is uncomfortable? You start by creating space, not just physical space in your house but that emotional, energetic space, space without noise, without numbing, without the need to constantly do the doing is the [00:05:00] distraction.
Megan Imbert: Taking a walk without your phone. Sit on the floor. Just sit on the floor and breathe. Journal not for performance, not for perfection. Let your truth, let your soul spill on the paper. Start to ask yourself simple questions. What do I love? What makes me happy?
Megan Imbert: Where do I wanna go? What feels good? What tastes good? By being curious, not critical, not judgmental, curious, when we think about exploring ourselves,
Megan Imbert: it's not a task to complete. It's an adventure. We explore ourselves by noticing. What lights us up, what drains you pay attention to, what feels expansive, and also what contracts you explore by trying things. And I'd [00:06:00] encourage you to try the things that have nothing to do with productivity or outcome, just pure curiosity and desire.
Megan Imbert: Pick up the paintbrush. Book the solo trip. Go to the dance class. Let wonder, childlike wonder, be your compass. Let play lead your day. Let the silence speak.
Megan Imbert: Exploring yourself, not looking for who you should be, but by getting honest about who you already are. Underneath any expectations, underneath the fear, underneath the roles and the labels that you play, the roles and the labels that we play box us in. It doesn't allow for the beautiful mystery to unfold.
Megan Imbert: When we really get alone, we can begin to grieve the parts of ourselves that we've ignored. We can forgive the parts [00:07:00] of ourselves that we've hidden from being loved. We can celebrate the parts that we've not fully met yet.
Megan Imbert: When you take the time to get to know yourself and be alone, you learn to stay when it's uncomfortable, you stay when it's quiet, you can stay when your old stories rise to the surface. This is the frequency of courage it's not loud, it's not showy, but steady, sacred, unshakeable. Exploring ourselves is the most intimate journeys that we will ever take, and it has the power to be the most liberating. Listen deeply, and there is no rush. Our souls are not a destination. It's the living, it's breathing, it's unfolding moment by moment,
Megan Imbert: and we are each allowed to fall in love with every piece of it.
Megan Imbert: I've [00:08:00] organized a few journal prompts on the courage to know yourself and be alone when I'm alone and not distracted. What feeling arises? What parts of myself have I silenced or hidden in order to be accepted or loved? What would it feel like to let them speak now?
Megan Imbert: What hobbies, activities, or places that I go make me feel most alive, most like me? And then think, how could you spend more time there? If no one else's opinion mattered, what would you be doing? What would you be creating? What would you be exploring right now? What beliefs about being alone have you inherited? What does it mean to be alone? What are you afraid of? What are you afraid of discovering if you truly got to know [00:09:00] yourself?
Megan Imbert: In what moments throughout the day do you feel most connected to your inner world? Your body, your spirit, your heart? And how could you create more moments like this?
Megan Imbert: What is one small, courageous step or activity you can take this week to deepen your relationship with yourself? Write a letter to the version of you who's been waiting patiently to be known, seen and cherished. What would you wanna say to them?
Megan Imbert: We live in a world that rewards speed and constant doing self-exploration is not a race, but it begins with our presence. And maybe that starts with five minutes of silence in the morning. Or maybe it's sitting with your coffee, noticing how your body feels without rushing to the next thing. Make room for stillness and then follow your curiosity.
Megan Imbert: What have you always wanted to try? What have you secretly dreamed about but never gave yourself permission to [00:10:00] explore?
Megan Imbert: Discomfort is what's going to arise at some point in this process because the moment you stop filling the space, you'll meet what you've been avoiding doubt. Old wounds, loneliness, but I have a secret you are made for this depth and you can hold it all.
Megan Imbert: Breathing through the pain, breathing through the
Megan Imbert: ache. Healing is in the feeling. Let the tears come if they need to. Let your anger speak. If it wants to write it out, dance it out, and giving yourself grace and being present with the beautiful existence that you are in, the sacredness of your own presence, the beauty of simply being with yourself because you're choosing to be with yourself. Self-exploration is not about fixing. It's about witnessing and [00:11:00] loving and accepting, become intimate with your truth this is how you build trust with yourself this is how you build sovereignty within yourself. Let yourself be messy. Let yourself wonder. Let yourself be joyfully surprised.
Megan Imbert: This episode was inspired by my feelings recently of not knowing where I fit in the world, knowing how deeply I feel and how relationships have changed and realizing some people might not have the capacity or the capability of showing up for me the way that I might show up for them, but it's not in some kind of like righteous way, but realizing everybody can show up for each other in different ways and having that emotional maturity to also realize , I've got me not dependent on anyone what am I looking for? What type of support or love do I really need in this moment that I cannot give myself? So I wrote this in my journal. One of the [00:12:00] most tender lessons I continue to learn as someone who shows up deeply with presence, love, and emotional availability, is that it won't always be met in the same way.
Megan Imbert: I listen with my whole heart. I hold space, I feel others. I see what is unseen. I hear what is unsaid. I witness the full spectrum of their humanity, pain, joy, and all the in between. And when I need that same depth, I. That same tenderness. It's often quiet, not because they don't care, but because they may not have the capacity or the capability.
Megan Imbert: That doesn't make them wrong. It just means that they might not have the tools or the nervous system capacity or the lived experience to hold what I hold. It can feel lonely, disorienting, but it's also clarifying, expansive, even. Every moment of mismatch teaches me. It refines my discernment.
Megan Imbert: It strengthens my trust within myself. Not everyone is meant to hold me. Not everyone can, and [00:13:00] that's okay. My heart is sacred, my energy intentional, and the way I love deep, raw, real. It's a gift. I honor it now with more wisdom, more softness, and more care. And as I sat with that I thought, what am I looking for?
Megan Imbert: What am I lacking? What am I missing? What am I seeking outside of myself? Ultimately I'm craving more depth and love in my relationship with myself. I'm not lacking. I'm not lacking anywhere.
Megan Imbert: This is the journey on me loving myself even more, understanding myself and appreciating myself and being so okay with my rawness and depth. And when we are alone, not to confuse that with someone being lonely all of the time, there are moments of loneliness or moments of wanting to share [00:14:00] and have someone witness all the different parts of your life and experiences, but there's also so much richness and depth in the experience of getting to know myself.
Megan Imbert: And continuously being on this adventure of getting to know my soul and myself. I hope that you spend some time thinking about the journal prompts, spending some time alone and really feeling your body and knowing that it's okay because ultimately part of this humanity renaissance and getting back to humanity is getting back to the connection to each other.
Megan Imbert: But we can only be connected to each other so long as we're connected to ourselves. So part of this is building that love and connection and appreciation for ourselves, and then we can extend it to others around us. I hope that you have a beautiful week, and I'm sending you so much love.