Figuring Sh!t Out

I recorded this for the woman whose thought about joining this retreat but told herself it wasn't possible. This episode a full, honest walkthrough of why this retreat exists, what it's grounded in, who it's for, and what we will be creating in the jungle together.
There are five days left to join us and a few spots still open.
BOOKING CLOSES ON 1/31. RETREAT IS MARCH 22-27TH.
Booking Page (Use Code FSO200 for $200 Off)
Book a Call with Me to Talk it Through: https://calendly.com/fontanavg63/costa-rica-retreat-info-session
Reach out over IG with any questions: https://www.instagram.com/byvanessafontana?igsh=OGQxcXdiMHRiM3g5&utm_source=qr

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"I learned how to reach for my dreams with a shaky hand. And time and time again, I’ve seen that once they are in my palms - it makes no difference if I really believe they should be there or not. Because here they are. In my hands. I cannot drop them. I have claimed them. They are a gift and yet - they have always been mine."
- an excerpt from my most recent essay "Dreams" (which I read to you in this episode <3) 
This episode sits inside of the humbling silence of realizing you've been playing it small when you've always been meant to shine - that you've been playing it safe when you've always been divinely protected to expand.
Your dreams already believe in you.
There is nothing to change here, nothing to fix, and nothing to do.
There is only remembering. 
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IF YOU LOVE FSO, LEAVE A COMMENT <3 RATE THE SHOW 5 STARS <3 FOLLOW WHEREVER YOU GET YOUR PODCASTS. I LOVE UUU
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COSTA RICA 3 SPOTS LEFT - CODE: FSO200 FOR $200 OFF - YOU HAVE UNTIL JAN 30 TO BOOK.
IG: @byvanessafontana 
TIKTOK: @butterflyfountain 
MAILING LIST (Sign up for 10% off Merch + a Free Energy Protection Meditation <3)
MERCH

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We won’t ever say it aloud - but most of us hold an ideal of perfection inside of our self-development routines.
And after spending enough time nipping and tucking away pieces of ourselves that we don't like in an effort to curate the most acceptable, palatable, "perfect" version of us - what many of us will find is this:
We are only as whole as we are able to accept the parts of us that don’t make us feel like it. 
We are only as healed as we are able to hold our brokenness. 
We are only as loving as we are to the pieces of us that we can’t fathom. 
And we will come to know, by peering into the depths of our own hearts long enough to see the it's shadows, that the space that is our bodies was created to hold love for our imperfect flesh. 
This episode is another reflection on a topic that is core to Figuring Sh!t Out: Shadow-Work. It is a continued conversation from recent dialogue on stretching our capacity for complexity within us and expanding our conscious creation in this world.
May it be a friend to you when you feel the tenderness of being deeply human.
xx
THANK YOU for listening!! If you love FSO & this episode, leave a comment!! Tell me what resonated, share what you want to hear next <3 Don't forget to rate the podcast on your preferred streaming platform!!
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APPLICATION TO JOIN THE FSO TEAM AS AN EDITOR (SOCIAL MEDIA / PODCAST) OR A COMMUNICATIONS ASSISTANT: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScsKyjL0Qfsl2jZimwm_TVrb1zLT798zoChzgp9_9IZEHitWw/viewform?usp=publish-editor
COSTA RICA spots are still open!! DM me over IG if you wanna chat about it / want a discount code <3 YOU HAVE UNTIL JAN 30 TO BOOK.
IG: @byvanessafontana 
TIKTOK: @butterflyfountain 
MAILING LIST (Sign up for 10% off Merch + a Free Energy Protection Meditation <3)
MERCH
If you liked this episode, you'll like these too!
Episode 21: A Beginner's Guide to Shadow-Work
Episode 37: Healing Self-Expression, Shadow-Work Series

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/figuring-sht-out/donations

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"We are mosaics. Pieces of light, love, history, stars. Glued together with magic and music and words." - Anna Kritzen
There’s a quiet grief that lives inside a lot of people.
Because we’ve learned how to contain ourselves.
Creativity was once somewhere we all went to feel alive, and became something we use to prove who we are. 
We learn to identify with a medium, a label, an aesthetic, a version of ourselves to be understood, admired, approved of. And without realizing it - these identities shrink us. 
This episode is about how identifying too tightly with a creative medium - or with being good at something - can quietly disconnect us from our true nature, which is plural, fluid, and undefinable. When creativity becomes performance, identity, or ego, it stops being an expression of our aliveness and starts feeding validation instead.
Today, I’m talking about creative repression, the “shadow artist,” and what it really means to be a starving artist - not financially, but spiritually. We’ll explore how boxing ourselves into one identity limits our expression, why losing passion is often a sign of creative deprivation, and how curiosity, play, and permission to be bad can reopen the door.
As Julia Cameron once said: ""You're either losing your mind or gaining your soul."
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THANK YOU for listening!! If you love FSO & this episode, leave a comment!! Tell me what resonated, share what you want to hear next <3 Don't forget to rate the podcast on your preferred streaming platform!!
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IG: @byvanessafontana 
TIKTOK: @butterflyfountain 
COSTA RICA spots are still open!! DM me over IG if you wanna chat about it / want a discount code <3 YOU HAVE UNTIL JAN 30 TO BOOK.
MAILING LIST (Sign up for 10% off Merch + a Free Energy Protection Meditation <3)
MERCH
If you liked this episode, you may like this one too:--

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This episode is not what you think it is. 
It is not a hustle-forward, all-gas-no-breaks charge to a new year. 
But it is also not a total rejection of the new year.
It is a subtle and soft invitation into moving forward with reflection, ritual, and intention. 
Through redefining and examining our relationship with "locking in," or what we turn out focus towards, we can refine our communion with newness in a way that feels true to us.
This episode offers a three-phase process to entering - might we even say *sauntering* - into the new year in a way that will allow our new year practices to feel like sustainable daily rhythms rather than temporary sprints & quick fixes. 
This is a conversation about where and how we spend our time & attention, and will give you a framework of tools to carry forward as you reflect on the previous year and look ahead at the new one.
It asks two questions to answer honestly, poignantly, (and to take time meditating upon):
What have you been locked into in 2025?
And what are you ready to unlock in 2026?
These questions aren't so much asking to be answered directly, yet used as pointers to the emerging answers within you that come from peering inwards and sitting with self.
May these suggestions support you as you continue to evolve & figure sh!t out in 2026.
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THANK YOU for listening!! If you love FSO & this episode, leave a comment!! Tell me what resonated, share what you want to hear next <3 Don't forget to rate the podcast on your preferred streaming platform!!
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IG: @byvanessafontana 
TIKTOK: @butterflyfountain 
COSTA RICA spots are still open!! DM me over IG if you wanna chat about it / want a discount code <3 YOU HAVE UNTIL JAN 30 TO BOOK.
MAILING LIST (Sign up for 10% off Merch + a Free Energy Protection Meditation <3)
MERCH
If you liked this episode, you may like this one too:
Ep. 72: CREATE OR BE CONSUMED
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Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
Digital garden: https://fransfieldnotes.substack.com/p/how-to-make-a-digital-garden-a-beginners
Wild geese podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4j9fApvoYIkFYkJrMeHifp?si=b7ade01156704390
You need to be bored: https://hbr.org/2025/08/you-need-to-be-bored-heres-why

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/figuring-sht-out/donations

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Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy