Unbound Ambitions; Career. Relationships. Wellbeing

Through Triumphs and Trials

September 03, 2024 • Penelope Magoulianiti • Season 4 • Episode 1

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Have you ever found yourself lost in societal expectations, yearning to reconnect with your true self?

Join me in this episode as I describe my transformative journey, how I changed my narrative, and how I'm helping others to do the same. For the first time I'm talking openly about my journey in life, while I'm giving more information about my new book "Claws Out, Thriving in a World That Wants You Tamed".

It's a book about authenticity and self-worth, a book full of wisdom from the conversations I had with thirty-three remarkable women from diverse backgrounds. This episode is full of insights on embracing our authentic nature.

Resilience, survival, and identity are the heartbeats of this narrative. Drawing from my personal journey and those of my clients, I illustrate the immense power of reconnecting with oneself after facing life’s toughest challenges.

By shedding old, painful narratives and embracing our unique strengths, we can thrive in a world that often seeks to tame us. Remember, you can transform your world and make your voice heard. Stay true to yourself and believe that you matter.

Love. Penelope

P.S. You can learn more about the book by clicking on this link.

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Penelope Magoulianiti:

Welcome to Unbound Ambitions, the podcast where aspirations meet action, dreams fuel drive and every ceiling is just another floor to break through. Here we celebrate the power of persistence, explore the art of balancing career and personal life and unlock the secrets to growth and fulfillment. Whether climbing the corporate ladder, navigating entrepreneurship or finding harmony in your daily life, unbound Ambitions is your companion in journeying toward your highest goals. Join us as we get real about challenges, present valuable information and equip you with insights for a life that's as thriving as it is grounded. Because here we believe your ambitions are just the beginning. And now your host, Penelope Magoulianiti.

Penelope Magoulianiti:

Hello everyone. I've missed you. How was your summer? Mine, it was great. The truth is, I took some time off to rest, but also to work on myself. I became the student and also to finish the book project that I was working on. I had this book inside me and I was planning to write a book. For over five years now, I've started and I stopped. I've started and I stopped so many times. But this year, beginning of this year, I've written on my vision board write a book. And this book written on my vision board, write a book. And this book is now available on Amazon and I am so excited about it.

Penelope Magoulianiti:

But first let me tell you a little bit what I have been up to. When I said I've been working on myself, I found myself in a soul safari trip and it was one of the best personal development. Safari soul work that me and go deep, deeper than I ever had before, and see where I was playing small because I was scared. And you may think that, after all this work that I've done on my mindset, on getting rid of limiting beliefs, other people judgments, I wouldn't need this work. But everyone does. Irrespective where you are in your journey, you need to work on yourself and I felt that I needed that and that's why I found myself in South Africa on this incredible 14 days trip, where it took me deep inside to find the real raw Penelope, but also it connected me with nature, with the animals, and it was just an incredible experience. I met these incredible people from around the world. We shared stories, we created new experiences together and new friendships emerged, and that's the other side of this beautiful trip.

Penelope Magoulianiti:

But today I would like to share the thing that clicked during this trip. So we were out on a jeep to see the wild animals the big five actually and our guide spotted a leopard on a tree and her calves. They were on another tree, because below the tree there was a hyena waiting for her babies to come down, for her babies to come down, and I was watching her how she protected what was hers. She came down and she sat in the same distance between her babies and Hyena and he just sat there and she waited. And our guide told us that if any animal, any predator, tried to deviate, to change by 1%, they would be dead. And he brought up the example of leopard and he said lionesses and leopards, they are fierce. They hunt, they kill, they protect. But if leopard tried to become a lioness, even by 1%, she's dead. And this is where it clicked. It just hit me Because, with the work that I am doing, the conversations I have with my clients, with my prospective clients, the common denominator is always we try to become someone else, we try to become like the male we work with, to dominate, to become more aggressive, like them, so we can be successful.

Penelope Magoulianiti:

But this is wrong, because this is when they come and they label us as aggressive, as bitches, as non-feminine, hard. This is when marriages collapse because they tell us you are so masculine, I don't feel connected with you. This is when women fight women and compete with each other and we bitch each other and we badmouth each other because we are not in our true nature. And this is where we suffer. And this is how this book came to fruition. I told you that I've been starting and stopping, starting and stopping, and then, after this trip, everything clicked into place, everything cured out from me, everything came into this incredible structure. And the book is not, you know, a huge book and the book is not, you know, a huge book. It's a tiny book. It's not a memoir, it's a guide, it's a reflection. It's a book where it gives real examples from real people, from real women.

Penelope Magoulianiti:

But before I started writing the book, beginning of this year, I've interviewed 33 women. 33 women said yes to my request to sit down with me and tell me their stories. And do you want to know the common theme that came up from these incredible 33 women from around the world? Incredible 33 women from around the world. Around the world, different cultures, different religion, different backgrounds, different marital statuses. Everything I did, this broad research, and the common theme is this when we forget who we truly are, we suffer. When we please others, we suffer. When we allow others to tell us how worthy, capable, beautiful we are, we suffer. We don't need anyone's permission to succeed. We don't need anyone's permission to succeed. We don't need anyone's permission to be who we are. The only person's opinion that matters is ours, and I know this firsthand.

Penelope Magoulianiti:

Believe me, I've been judged since I was a baby. I've been wrongly accused for my father's mistakes. People labeled me with bad names because I was his daughter and he was a bankrupt man. People told me that I wasn't good enough, that I didn't deserve success, that I wasn't going to succeed because I was a woman and my only thought and my only what's the word I'm looking for? The only thing that I was care about was dresses and dressing up. At work, they tried to give me more male clients because I was a woman. Imagine, imagine what was happening.

Penelope Magoulianiti:

And I was believing these outdated thoughts, these outdated norms, these outdated thoughts, these outdated norms, this male-denominated world that they try to change us, to mold us, to keep us down. And our mistake is that we believe them. We believe that this is the way, we believe that this is the the way that things they should be, and we try to change ourselves. And then what happens? We are unsatisfied, we are unhappy, we feel empty inside. And, the cherry on the top of the cake, they come and tell us oh, you're too aggressive, oh, you're too aggressive, oh, you don't know, you are too hard, you competed too much, you change to fit in, but you will never fit in. So we are losing ourselves in the process. I lost myself in this process. I became stiff, I became closed off, I was angry and bitter and I almost destroyed everything, my health included.

Penelope Magoulianiti:

Because, let's be honest, we cannot change others. We don't have the power to change anyone, but we have the power to change ourselves and the way we think we should behave, be. Show up. We have the power to change the stories that we believe. We have the power to embrace our flaws and please I'm not saying, don't try to improve yourself because you're perfect. You are perfect already, yes, but if you want to improve an area in your life, do it for yourself, not for someone else. Not because you want to make your boyfriend happy or your husband happy or your mother and father happy so you agree to go into law where you hate it, where you know that you are destined to be a teacher, or where you know you're destined to do something different. Stop being the yes woman. Know how to say no without being aggressive. Learn how to say no, thank you without feeling guilt.

Penelope Magoulianiti:

This is what I am talking about Through this book. It came out a framework while I was working on creating this book, and I call it the ROAR framework. Roar, like a lioness, like a leopard. Roar. Let your ROAR to be heard, your role to be heard and our role. It comes down to recognize, identify where we are playing small, identify what societal and personal constraints limiting, limiting beliefs we believe and we allow to hold us back. Then own, take control of your narrative. Develop a strong personal brand. Embrace who you are, your unique strengths, and then act. Implement what you've discovered. Put in action this new way of thinking, this new way of doing. Don't stay passive, don't become, become aggressive. Just step into your power and then redefine. Redefine by challenging the existing norms, by creating inclusive environments, the environments that you so much crave, and become a catalyst of positive change. Become the example for the next generation, for your daughters, for your nieces, for your friends.

Penelope Magoulianiti:

This is why I've written Claws Out, this is why I went out there and I've interviewed 33 women, because I've been witnessing my own mother suffering because she didn't know any other way. But we do, we do. We have access to so many resources. We have access to so many great things. We just need to start questioning is this true? Is this true? Is there any other way? We need to start asking different questions. My clients and I share their stories in the book, but they are anonymous, and I've changed a little bit their stories for obvious reasons, but the message is always the same the minute we stop pleasing, the minute we stop neglecting ourselves, the minute we start believing that we are enough and worthy and beautiful and successful. Everything changes Because we are successful in our own rights.

Penelope Magoulianiti:

A mother at home is the foundation of creating new human beings. Foundation of creating new human beings, of teaching them how to be good, how to grow up and become responsible, how to grow up and create a world. If there is any other profession harder than this, please let me know. There isn't. So if you are a mother at home, be proud of yourself. Believe in yourself because you are doing a great service.

Penelope Magoulianiti:

The women out there that they go to work and they come back home and they have to start working on a different area. The women who are taxi drivers by taking the kids from one activity to the next. The mothers who are sitting and listening the problems and they try to find solutions. The women who work and come back and embrace all these new roles. You are great, you are great, we are great, we are enough, we are worthy. So let's stop punishing ourselves and let's start believing in ourselves. Let's stop being doormats because we are successful in our own rights. Let's stop being preoccupied to change ourselves and let's start paying more attention to our power. Let's draw the line today and say you know what? I've given the power away, I've traded it for something else, but no more, because that something else is more dangerous. It's so dangerous when we judge ourselves so hard, when we put ourselves down continuously, when we put ourselves down continuously, when we punish ourselves.

Penelope Magoulianiti:

So all the themes that came out of the stories, they are themes of resilience, survival, identity and overcoming adversity. My story is a testament of overcoming adversity. My story is a testament of overcoming adversity. My clients' stories are great examples of survival, reconnecting with themselves after going through hell. Here I've said it, the age word, because it's true.

Penelope Magoulianiti:

When we allow ourselves to suffer so much because we believe to the old narratives, we live our lives in constant pain and suffering and the sad thing is that we are used to it and we believe it's normal. You can create a new way of being. You just need first to see the current one that you are in, that you are living it right now, without any sugarcoating. You have to see the raw and real. You can thrive only when you embrace your unique strengths, when you stop yourself from trying to change to please others or be accepted by others and you look yourself deep in the eyes and say I see you and I love you as you are. This is what the book is all about are. This is what the book is all about. This is what my work is all about.

Penelope Magoulianiti:

Claws Out. It's about helping you thrive by staying true in your nature, like the leopard in the book Claws Out Thriving in a World That Wants you Tamed. I'm so proud of this book. The book is available on Amazon and I will share the link in the episode notes. But before I close this episode, I want you to remember this Irrespective where you find yourself at this moment, you have the power to change. This moment, you have the power to change. Trust yourself and use your voice to tell others what you need and what you want. The Roar framework and living in the Roar it's a process and it's all about progress. It's about waking up each day and choosing to be authentically, unapologetically you. On some days, your role may shake the foundations of outdated norms. On other days, it may be quiet but firm. Both are equally powerful. You have everything to change your world and the world around you. Your voice matters, your dreams matter. You matter. Stay true to yourself. Much love.