My journey into the world of human design has not only lifted my spirits but also revolutionized the way I approach life, work, and podcasting. This episode peels back the curtain on the authenticity that fuels Self(ish) Confidence, and how my "projector" nature has reshaped my energy management. Plus, I'm beyond excited to let you in on a once-in-a-lifetime chance to join our inaugural international retreat in Barbados, where we'll merge the thrill of snorkelling with turtles plus transformative confidence workshops, and our Speak Up! event in Halifax that promises to be an unforgettable gathering with a vibrant roster of speakers and a VIP sunset cruise.
I'll take you through the intricacies of human design and how it aids in living a life true to one's essence, particularly for us Projectors and the bustlingGgenerators out there. Unpacking the nuance of energy types, I highlight how embracing stillness is not just a luxury—it's a necessity for balance.
Let's embark on a journey of self-transformation together, as I express my thanks for our shared moments and encourage you to share the empowering narrative of this episode with others.
Learn your Human Design - send me a DM for help with this!
Learn about the Barbados Retreat.
Thank you for listening to Self(ish) Confidence! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend or on your social media and tag me @jess.clerke so I can personally thank you for helping spread some confidence + love!
Check out my website at: www.jessclerke.com
If you're on instagram, come say hi!! 👋👋
My Personal Account ---> @jess.clerke
The Podcast Account ---> @selfishconfidence
My journey into the world of human design has not only lifted my spirits but also revolutionized the way I approach life, work, and podcasting. This episode peels back the curtain on the authenticity that fuels Self(ish) Confidence, and how my "projector" nature has reshaped my energy management. Plus, I'm beyond excited to let you in on a once-in-a-lifetime chance to join our inaugural international retreat in Barbados, where we'll merge the thrill of snorkelling with turtles plus transformative confidence workshops, and our Speak Up! event in Halifax that promises to be an unforgettable gathering with a vibrant roster of speakers and a VIP sunset cruise.
I'll take you through the intricacies of human design and how it aids in living a life true to one's essence, particularly for us Projectors and the bustlingGgenerators out there. Unpacking the nuance of energy types, I highlight how embracing stillness is not just a luxury—it's a necessity for balance.
Let's embark on a journey of self-transformation together, as I express my thanks for our shared moments and encourage you to share the empowering narrative of this episode with others.
Learn your Human Design - send me a DM for help with this!
Learn about the Barbados Retreat.
Thank you for listening to Self(ish) Confidence! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend or on your social media and tag me @jess.clerke so I can personally thank you for helping spread some confidence + love!
Check out my website at: www.jessclerke.com
If you're on instagram, come say hi!! 👋👋
My Personal Account ---> @jess.clerke
The Podcast Account ---> @selfishconfidence
Welcome to Selfish Confidence, a place where you can connect and be real about how hard it is to be your damn self. My name is Jess and my goal is to help you build confidence and belief in yourself to live any life path you want, even if it's unconventional. It's time to flip off societal pressures and connect with women who've also felt on the outside by their life choices. We're here to encourage you to grab the mic and speak your truth. I know it can be scary, but we're in this together. Let's get started. Hello, hello and welcome to this week's episode of the Selfish Confidence podcast. It's Jess here and, oh man, I am feeling that winter vibe. I am currently sitting here recording this episode with a heat pad just like in my lap to keep me warm and I just like feel that constant chill through my whole body, that winter chill. That's just like always there. We had snow all weekend. I think it's just like in my bones, if you know what I mean, and I'm just doing my best to stay warm over here, and it's really interesting that last week we talked about those things that are going to help you to surpass this season. That just kind of feels like the winter blues, and you're just like I know I'm not alone in this being just like a mentally hard season. We know waking up it's a little harder when it's cold out there, and so I'm sending you a big old hug if you're feeling that today too. And there was a point today when I was going to sit down and record this episode and I was just like you know what I need to wait, wait till I'm better hydrated, wait till I'm better energized, wait till I just feel like it's the best time possible to record this Because, again, this is a space that I never want to come on and come from, a place of like oh, I have to do it. And that kind of leads into what today's episode is all about.
Speaker 1:We were talking about how I found out about my human design and really how it transformed my whole life, like literally flipped it on its back and was like life is going to look very different from here on out. So before we get into all of the background, all of the story on how that happened for me, I wanted to share two really exciting things about retreats and in-person events. So it's a really exciting time because there's two big things coming up my very first international retreat. So we've had a lot here in Canada, in Nova Scotia specifically, we've had three retreats, but this is our first time going back to Barbados for one, which is really, really exciting. And I just found out this week that one spot has opened up. So I will put all the information for you in the show notes. If you're like, oh, like, that's been sold out for a really long time, yeah, since I launched it, it's sold out in a week and a half in June. So if you're new around here and you're like I really want to check this out or I really want to go, or I wanted to go then and it was just too far away, this spot might be for you. So I will put all the information below.
Speaker 1:We are going April 28th. Two May 4th we are snorkeling with the turtles, we are enjoying a nice dinner show, hanging out and having confidence workshops with some amazing women. We also have an island tour and, just like, the villa is so beautiful right on the beach so we can just hang out, spend some time in the sun and really connect with each other, but also with ourselves. So I'm just like so excited for some warmth and some sunshine, but especially for the turtles. Okay, I'm a big fan of the turtles and it's just going to be such a fun week to get away. So, again, that is happening April 28th and this is like a fluke One spot just happened to open up, so maybe it's for you, maybe it was destined for you all along. So again, check the show notes, get all the information there or send me a message, because I'm happy to connect with you on this to help, if to see if this is the right decision for you.
Speaker 1:The second exciting announcement is that tickets for speak up, the very first in person event happening here in Halifax, nova Scotia, on October 5th and 6th, are going on sale next week. If you're in the sisterhood, you will get access to them early. As always, you get first dibs on everything if you're in the sisterhood, so you will be able to get tickets this weekend, but for everybody else, they'll be going out to the email list and then to the public next week, wednesday, valentine's Day. It's the perfect day to show yourself some love and get your ticket. There will be general mission options and VIP options that include a sunset cruise. We're going to be floating around the harbor, having some cocktails and really just enjoying a beautiful evening together before the full day event that'll be happening on the 6th from 9am to 5pm. I'm just so excited. I have an amazing speaker lineup for you, amazing people who are already so excited to be a part of this. We love you. I can't wait. I can't wait and can't believe that it's finally coming to life. So those are the two big things one spot open for the retreat and then tickets for the live event are going on sale next week. So, and it just feels like such an exciting time, there's so many things that are finally coming together that I have been dreaming about for a really long time and it just feels totally aligned.
Speaker 1:But let me tell you a little bit about how I learned about my human design and really how it's changed my whole life. And you might be like okay, jess, cool, sure it changed your life really, like it's one little thing, but this piece of information that I received, it really is a very unique design, and the reason why I say that is because it's not your typical what was created for you hustle culture that we live in. It's a design that requires a very different way of life, and I learned about this one day when I was going to go get my haircut in Barbados and there was this hairdresser who I really wanted to get my haircut by before I went home. So it was pretty close to when I was getting ready to go home. It probably was like my last haircut that I was getting down there and I was like you know what, I'm gonna go and get it done with this particular hairdresser and really make the most of this. You know, splurge on myself before I go back to Canada. And I remember we were sitting there and she had said to me like oh, jess, do you know about your human design? And I was like I'm here for a haircut. I don't know what you're talking about. And in that moment she gave me a full spit out on who I was in human design form, what it meant. And then the whole like salon was all talking about this.
Speaker 1:And it was a really interesting moment because I found out I was a projector and in that moment I was like that doesn't make any sense. Like I am an entrepreneur, I work all the time. I yeah, I struggle with burnout, don't we all? That's part of our society, right? And all of these things, right. I was in complete disbelief for the type that I was given.
Speaker 1:I wanted so bad to be a generator or a manifesting generator, and we've talked about this on the podcast too. I'll put it. The episode in the show notes talks about each of the different types. But generators and manifesting generators they have a lot of energy. They're able to work really long hours and do all the things and have ideas, as long as it's the things that light them up. And projectors and manifestors are a little bit different, where we don't generate our own energy and we need to conserve our energy in smaller chunks. It's a very efficient energy. I have now learned, but I learned in that moment that the best way for a projector to work was in three to four hour chunks and I was like, yeah, okay, I come from a background of entrepreneurs who worked 12 plus hours a day for years and years and years. My husband at that point we were living in Barbados he was working 12, 14 hour days every single day.
Speaker 1:There is value in how much effort and in how much work you do and, honestly, that's a societal belief. It's something that's kind of been placed on all of us. The more work you do, the more worthy you are, the more valuable you are. And when I learned that I was a projector, I really struggled with that. I was like what do you mean? I can't do all the things? What do you mean? I can't keep going? This just isn't fair and I really had to mourn how I visualized my whole life going forward in that moment and I started to go home and I did a little bit more research and I dug into it and I started to learn more about what this means. And even just on a base level, when I first started out, all I knew was my type and there's so much more beyond that when it comes to human design. But really you can start with that really simple spot your type and what does that mean? And maybe how's the best way for you to work and do things.
Speaker 1:I really had to transform everything and decondition what I had told myself for years was worthy. I had to decondition how I thought my business had to look, how I thought my life had to look, how I thought my energy worked, and I really had to go back to the basics and find the things that lit me up. And as I did that, I went through this process of starting a podcast which you're here listening to. Two and a half years later, I started the process of my year of confidence. I really just started to dig a little deeper into what this meant for me and human design.
Speaker 1:I loved from the beginning because it was based on my birth time and my birthplace and I couldn't mess that up. I've done tests like the Enneagram or you know any kind of personality test that asked you a bunch of questions and I always really struggled with it because my questions would change day to day, like the answers that I had would flow with my personality or flow with my energy or flow with, you know, my emotions, and I just never felt like I get an accurate reading. So I loved that this was really simple in the sense that all I had to do is put my birth time in there and it came out for me and I was like, oh, and it was weirdly accurate, as I started to learn more and more about not only your type but your profile, the numbers that are in there, your authority, how you make decisions. Everything just started to make sense. And you might be listening to this and you're like Jess, you know I'm not into this thing. I'm not into this human design stuff. It's not for me and that's totally okay If it's not for you, don't worry, I'm not here to sit here and convert you into being, into human design.
Speaker 1:I really just wanted to share how knowing something about myself really transformed the way that I think, the way that I work and the way that I act. Even before coming on this mic today, I had to lay down for a little bit to recoup my energy, to make sure that I was coming on here as my best self. A prior version of me, the one that didn't know how my energy worked, would have just pushed through and sat on this mic and maybe made a really unaligned podcast episode for you. And a big reason why I wanted to share this with you today is because we often tell ourselves that we are outcasts, or we're weird, or we're different, or we don't fit in or we just have to suck it up and keep going, and I just don't believe that to be true. We are all made differently. We all have unique gifts and unique ways of seeing the world and unique ways of living in the world, and if we can really step into that and see it on paper that we're not just a weird black sheep, that we just are different. It really helps you to give permission to yourself to live in that truth. And maybe you don't need a permission slip. Maybe you're someone who's like I am, me and I am just going with it. I don't need a chart to tell me that, but I really did.
Speaker 1:For a really long time I just thought that I was, I didn't know. I really I can honestly say, looking back, I just really really didn't understand why I was so tired all the time, honestly, to the point where in Barbados I was just getting iron tests all the time. I was really trying to figure out what was going on. Why was I so exhausted? And then I learned that it wasn't necessarily low iron, although I do have, that it was the energy of being around people that I was burning myself out by just consuming energy all the time, even if it was just energy from my partner and learning that by being alone, and even sometimes sleeping alone, I could refuel my energy a lot better. And there was just little things here and there. That just started to make sense once I learned about my human design, and I want to give you a few examples, because maybe you're listening to this and you're like I'm a projector too.
Speaker 1:Jess, hands up to the projectors, because I really do think that it is very opposite. What works best for a projector than what society tells us is best for us. Eight hour days, you know, nine to fives, and have a business on the side and probably some extra jobs and all of the things society tells us. Work hard, you will be rewarded, and a projectors lifestyle is very opposite from that. Sure, you can work hard, but maybe not for eight hour chunks, actually definitely not for that long. You're really efficient. You can get a lot done in three hours and then the rest of the time you need to be resting. You know slowing down, learning more about the crafts that you like, or you know pushing yourself to read a book or whatever it is for you. It really forced me to slow down a lot and to find what works best for me.
Speaker 1:The other thing that really really helped when I learned that I was a projector was mostly around the energy of other people. I never quite understood that when I went out to events or I went to dinner with friends, that I just had this burst of energy, almost like I was a whole different human. But then afterwards I would be like done, exhausted and need like days to recoup. It was like the whole world thought I was an extrovert, but only I knew that I was like a major introvert and I just needed extra time to recharge. And once I learned that, I knew that I didn't have to like pad my schedule with too many things. I could really space out my engagements and make sure that I'm feeling my best before I go into these things.
Speaker 1:And I actually think this advice is really for any type, because all the types are designed for you to live authentically, to live in that truth that you are and to do the things that light you up. Sure, you might have energy more energy than me to do things, but that doesn't mean that you saying yes to a whole bunch of things that do not align with you are actually going to help you to feel more energized. They're just going to help you to feel burnt out, and that's where I was when I first learned this information. So in the show notes I'll put where you can find your chart information. You'll need your birth time, your birth date and your place of birth. That's all you need, ok, and you'll put it in there and the chart will pop out for you and you'll be able to see. And maybe you're a projector too and if you are, it's going to take a little bit of deconditioning to really step into this life that you're about to really thrive in and truly I am thriving in a much better place than when I, where I was building a business and a side hustle on all the things and just not understanding why I was exhausted and burnt out and just didn't feel the best.
Speaker 1:I did not want to get on another Zoom, I did not want to have another game night on Zoom during the pandemic, I just wanted to be alone and I felt a lot of shame around that. I should want to be around more people and I should want to do all the things right. I felt that for a really long time and giving myself that permission slip as a projector to step back and to refuel my cup before I stepped into these new things or making sure that the engagement I was saying yes to felt really good, was transformational for me. And, above all, the biggest thing that changed for me was slowing down, and right now we're creating a program called Confidently you, and it's all about creating these habits around your life that are going to help you to feel more confident, that are going to help you to step into your truth and are going to help you to feel like an amazing human being, the one that you were designed to be. And it has nothing to do with human design.
Speaker 1:But the reason that this topic came into my head so much was because most people in there are generators or manifest generators. Again, they have energy, they can go for days, they can do all the work that lights them up. And last week, our theme was stillness and finding ways to slow down and even just like, instead of multitasking, just focusing on one thing at a time, or slow, like doing some slow motion, like eating your food really slow or reading your book a little slower, or just like finding ways for you to just take the pace back a little bit. And society makes it so hard for us to do that because it's just go, go, go. Put everything in two speed, go as fast as you can eat as fast as you can. I only have five minutes. Let's be more efficient. How can we get more done? And it's all about that more, more, more, more, more.
Speaker 1:And I think that's why we're so exhausted and so burnt out and overstimulated, because our phones are just a constant source of information all the time. And so last week, as having this theme around stillness and slowing down, I noticed it was really hard for a lot of my generator types, a lot of my higher energy types, because they're just not used to. And I don't think this is just a human design thing, I think this is a societal thing as a whole. We're not used to slowing down. Slowing down feels weird If you're not watching TV and scrolling your phone at the same time, or you're not, you know, eating your lunch and watching TV. You are like a slug. Society makes it that we need to be doing, doing, doing all the time. So going back to stillness felt really uncomfortable, felt really like just like ugh, like like no, why I'll slow down when I'm dead, kind of energy.
Speaker 1:And I truly do believe the only reason that I started slowing down more and allowing more space in my schedule and allowing more space to take a nap or just to just read a book or having a longer, slower morning. I used to have so much guilt around not having that 5am morning routine that I thought all successful coaches had to have. The only reason why I stopped those things and really deconditioned those beliefs was because I learned I was a projector and it gave me the permission to be still. It gave me the permission to slow down. It gave me the permission to understand myself in a new way and instead of trying to live out of alignment, always hustling and pushing more and working harder and don't get me wrong, I work a lot. Okay, I'm not sitting here saying like I don't, and that doesn't come from a worthiness standpoint. I do think sometimes I'm doing a lot and I think society sees that too as someone who's hosting retreats and doing events and all the things. But I will say I did take a nap today. I did have my pockets that I really needed and I would have never done that had I not learned this.
Speaker 1:So if you're listening to this today and you just feel like something's off, you feel like you don't belong in this world or you're overstimulated, overtired, overworked and definitely burnt out, I would challenge you to look into your human design, not just because I'm here to be like you're a projector, which, if you are. Actually what spiked this topic today was seeing someone post that they had learned that, maybe why they had been having burnout for so long, and I was like, 100%. I messaged her I'm like you're a projector, right. And she's like I just learned that. And I'm not saying that's the only way, but there is a lot of truth in learning this about yourself and just learning another thing about yourself a little more into you and your human design and all of those things. So, again, check out the show notes for you to be able to look this up. And if you're like, okay, I'm in, jess, I want all the information, tell me more. I'm a projector, too, or I'm a generator, manifestation, generator, manifester or reflector.
Speaker 1:I do offer human design readings through voice memo. So we send voice memos back and forth over three days to really dive into your type, your authority, your profile, you know your gates and also all of your centers, which right now, if you're like just dabbling into this, you're like, whoa, okay, chill, girl, chill. But I promise once you start to learn about your, you're gonna be like this is eerily accurate and it will transform how you work, how you think and really how you rest Most importantly, I think, how you rest, even those who have the higher energy and create their own energy. This helps them to shift into a season where they might be able to be a little bit more still, learn a little bit more about themselves and step into some really cool gifts that they have. And, that being said, I am gonna pop off here, probably take a little bit of extra rest today and really ease into this beautiful season, with live events happening, in-person retreats happening and so much excitement.
Speaker 1:So I hope you have a wonderful week and, again, check out the show notes, check out your type and send me a message so that we can connect on your beautiful human design. What's up, sis? I am so glad we could hang out today. If you love this episode, send it to a friend or share it on your social media and tag me so I can personally thank you for helping me sprinkle some confidence in the world. And don't forget you are magic. Let's show the world your shine.