Are you feeling the pull to align your business with a deeper sense of purpose?

In today’s episode, your host, Maegan Megginson, welcomes Deepshikha Sairam, founder of The Muse Master, to share her transformative journey from successful business coach to creator of a soulful community for writers. Maegan and Deepshikha explore the delicate balance between entrepreneurship and spirituality, the courage to embrace vulnerability, and surrendering to the unknown.

Maegan and Deepshikha examine the importance of aligning your work with your inner calling and the power of accepting liminal spaces as part of growth. Deepshikha shares her struggles with self-worth, her journey through “the void”, and ultimately her current manifestation of an aligned business with The Muse Master.

Whether you're an entrepreneur battling burnout, a writer searching for purpose, or anyone exploring personal and professional alignment, this episode is packed with insights and inspiration.

Here's a taste of what you’ll discover in this episode:

Deepshikha’s fresh perspective on entrepreneurship (01:10)

Navigating the ups and downs of the online business landscape (05:02)

Recognizing misalignment and embracing liminal spaces (11:38)

Reflections on self-worth and building resilience (35:51)

The role of support systems during transformative journeys (36:52)

Navigating loss and the power of surrender (39:50)

The creation of The Muse Master and finding alignment (54:10)

Tune in for a profound conversation about finding purpose, embracing vulnerability, and creating a business aligned with who you are at your core. You can also watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/K7XtvM_8Jus

Connect with Deepshikha Sairam

Join the newsletter: https://themusemaster.substack.com

Mentioned in this episode:

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[00:00:30] I see parts of myself in each one and have learned so much, both in ways that I've directly connected to and about ideas I've never even thought of. Maegan is a great listener, asks great questions of her guests, and follows up to move each conversation deeper. I love how she connects in a very real way to her guests.

[00:01:16] So if you love podcasts so far, and you have a few minutes to spare, I would be so grateful, eternally grateful if you could pop over to Apple Podcasts, leave us a five-star review, just share one or two sentences about what you love about the show so far. It's great feedback for me and my team, and it will help us share this podcast far and wide, which means many more episodes to come in the future.

[00:02:10] And we talked about my journey as an entrepreneur, but more specifically, my journey going through huge life and professional transitions. We talk about this in terms of liminal spaces and being in the void. Deepshika and I love to talk about what it's like to be deep in the void. When you know that it's time to surrender what you thought you knew was true about your life and your work you can feel something deeper is calling to you.

[00:03:04] So today, Deepshikha is joining me to share her journey through these liminal spaces, and her experiences of living inside of the void, and she shared so much profound depth and wisdom. I know you're going to love this conversation. Just to tell you a little bit more about Dee, she is a writer and the founder of The Muse Master, a creative writing community designed to help writers tap into their full creative potential.

[00:03:52] Dee is a phenomenal human being and a generous podcast guest. So relax, take a deep breath, and prepare to dive into the depths as you learn about Deepshikha and her journey. Enjoy.

[00:04:58] Deepshikha: Oh my God. I am so excited to be here. I love the name. I just already feel deeply rested, which I didn't before. So...

[00:05:18] Deepshikha: Totally. I love the name, Maegan. I think you're doing something incredible, with this podcast.

[00:05:44] So yeah, I'm following the ease. Here it is.

[00:05:49] Maegan: Follow the ease bumper sticker. Yeah. Hydro flask. Focus sticker, all of the merch coming 2025. I'm just kidding. I'm not making merch. Okay, but, but we digress because we are here today to, talk about you and talk about your journey as a business owner. I can't wait to dive in.

[00:06:37] Let's get to it. Sound good?

[00:06:42] Maegan: Okay, great. For everyone who hasn't been a part of our friendship since 2020, over the last four years of our friendship, we've both been on a pretty wild personal journey, exploring spirituality, and personal healing. And what we've noticed with each other is that as our work unfolds, our businesses evolve,

[00:07:29] How's that sound to you?

[00:07:32] Maegan: Great. Well, let's rewind to the beginning of your entrepreneurial journey. Tell us about why you first went into business for yourself, and what was the first business you created?

[00:08:12] I loved being a mom, but I didn't want to be just a mom. You know, I had a successful corporate career before that. I knew that I had desires. I knew that I had a purpose and a question that I've always asked. And I still ask myself and I think I've always, I've always been asking this question: who am I?

[00:08:58] And of course, you know, on ancillary part of that was also because I wanted to make money. I wanted to make my own money. I wanted to have my financial independence and, you know, it was the silliest thing. You know how sometimes when you go to get a pedicure. And, they asked you, do you want the extra 10-minute massage, and you really want it because every part of your body is hurting, but you also feel so guilty about that extra 10.

[00:09:42] I was specifically into Facebook and Instagram. That was the first iteration and very quickly. As I entered the online business space, my goal became just to accumulate more. More money, more, media mentions, more email lists, subscribers, more followers, and of course I can only see this in hindsight now.

[00:10:29] I was so critical of myself. And I was again, once again, enmeshed with the identity of the business that I had created. There was no boundary between me and my business. I started as a social media marketing company, but I pivoted to business coaching. That is something that I was doing when we met back in 2020.

[00:11:12] And I don't know how it happened. I don't know how I went from, Oh, I just want the extra 10 worth of massage too. I wanted a million-dollar business, but everyone around me was also telling me that I could do it. Like I could build a million-dollar business. It was so easy for me to build a million-dollar business within the next three years.

[00:11:40] I didn't stop to question the people who were telling me that I could build this million-dollar business were mostly. White, mostly, you know, male or, you know, single women or women who had chosen not to have kids and all, there's nothing wrong with it, but their 24 hours were not similar to my 24 hours, you know?

[00:12:16] Maegan: So much to unpack here. Thank you for sharing., I want to come back in a minute to what happened when you entered the online business space. But first, I'm finding myself very curious to know what you did in the corporate world before you had kids.

[00:12:51] Maegan: What kind of book?

[00:13:02] It was erotic. It was called One Night Stand, and it was funny and it was based on friendships and love and, and sex and all of that, but I never got to finish it.

[00:13:14] Deepshikha: Well, let's pause on that question and I'll bring it towards the end of this conversation.

[00:13:42] You know, you've been a guide from the moment you came out of the womb in one way or another. So you started Bank of America. You have a whole corporate career in that Space. You leave that space to write a book. You're going to come back later and tell us why you didn't finish it. Then you become a mom, and you're so excited to become a mom, and you celebrate that you're becoming a mother.

[00:14:31] Okay, like we're going to wear the motherhood hat, but we also want to wear the business owner hat. We also want to wear the independent hat. There are all of these ways that you want to come forward and then I imagine your subconscious starts looking for an in. Right? You get this idea, let me, I want to work for myself, and at the time, 2016, 2017, online business is really... Coming in hot, like work from home, the huge movement for moms to do their own thing, working online and you, you find an opportunity for yourself. So you step into that space. And I love this clarity that when you stepped into the space, like your desires, your why, why am I doing this? They were very clear, crystal clear.

[00:16:13] Here's how. And what I hear in your story, Deepshikha, is that you got sucked into that, in the way most of us do.

[00:16:41] I do want to honor that part of myself because it was me who created a multi-six-figure business from zero, from being a stay-at-home mom to doing that. It was the same me, right? What you're saying is right about the fact that the soul is asking you for something.

[00:17:25] And that was a theme in my life. I have always felt unworthy. I felt that I was not deserving of love, of success, of friendships, of loyalty, of anything. So that was the core wound that my soul wanted me to heal. And the only way that I believe it could have done that was through the success of my business, when I could get at the top and see that, holy shit, I've made so much money, more money than anyone in my family ever made.

[00:18:15] Like you're still undeserving. And. So that was a way for me to come face to face with that monkey and say, Oh, I've got to get this monkey off my back. And that was when, you know, I, and I know you will talk about this later, but that was when the misalignment started feeling so true in my body.

[00:18:59] And for the most part, almost everyone I've met in the online business world has really good intentions. But we're all spun up in this way of existing, in this way of modeling what other people are doing, that takes us away from our connection to our soul. And, like you're saying, pokes and prods on all of the bruises of our core wounds.

[00:19:44] Deepshikha: Yeah, you can do this. Like I couldn't see it in myself, but people could see it in me, and with all good intentions. Like I loved the that I work with. Most of them. I loved them, my coaches, and everyone. Most of them had good intentions. Some of them not so much. But again, you know, we have all kinds of apples. You can do this. You can do... I did it. You can do this.

[00:20:25] If I want to find an answer that I can't, I want to guide. I want Maegan to guide me in finding that answer. But if I am putting my power in your hands and I'm telling you, I don't know anything about my life and my business, Maegan, you tell me who I am. That's when I'm giving my power totally to someone else.

[00:20:52] Maegan: And sometimes, sometimes it sounds like, tell me who I am, but more often it sounds like, tell me how to succeed.

[00:20:58] Maegan: This is what I hear from people all the time. Okay, well, what should I do next? I want a seven-figure business. How should I get there?

[00:21:30] You're looking to someone else to tell you what it means to be happy, what it means to be successful, to give you a roadmap for how to go from point A to point Z. Just notice with curiosity. Where are you handing your agency and your inner authority to somebody else? Okay, so make a note of that. Come back to Deepshikha's story because here you are, you've created the success, right?

[00:22:18] You start to feel the whispers of the soul saying to you, that you've gotten a little off course. Hey, listen up. I need you to do something different. So tell me about that process for you. The process of like really coming to terms with the fact that something needed to change.

[00:22:46] And I think people like you and me, Maegan, who are. Really soul business owners. We are, we are soul people. We are here because we know we have a purpose. We want to live fulfilling, meaningful lives.

[00:23:22] on my counter for way too long. It had lost all its fizz. So while I was going through the motions and while I was launching my programs and making money and dealing with my clients and doing all the things, it just felt flat. Everything just felt flat. It had lost the fizz. I felt like my life had lost the fizz. And again, I was looking for answers outside of me. So I was going to the coach. I was going to psychics. I was going to mediums. I was meditating. I was doing all of that. And all of that is great. And it works. But again, as you said, giving the agency to the outside of you rather than listening to your soul.

[00:24:16] Different things. And, there's an author that I love. Her name is Maureen Murdoch. She wrote the book, The Heroine's Journey. And she talks about this in her book. And, there's a quote from her and she says that women find their way back to themselves by moving down to the depth of their being.

[00:24:52] It's the initiation that, Oh. Listen to your soul. So that's what it felt like. I could use so many words to describe it. I felt burned out. I felt depressed. I felt off. I felt I didn't feel like marketing my business anymore. I felt like I wanted to burn it down. You know, I started to spend a lot of time in voluntary isolation.

[00:25:20] Maegan: And I just want to connect back to what you said a few minutes ago, that this is the moment on our spiritual journeys, too, where all of our old wounds start rearing their heads in the most violent, intense way that they ever have before. So there's this discrepancy, right? From the outside, I look like I'm, you know, I'm dead.

[00:25:59] Everything's going so great. But then you go home, and you melt down inside. And you're criticizing yourself and you're like drowning in fear and panic and like all of your old stories. You don't feel like you have a community. You don't feel like you belong. And then I love all the labels you used because six, six of one, half a dozen of the other, I'm burnt out.

[00:26:36] No, you're never going to feel better. Hate to break it to you! Until you turn inward and you say, okay, I have to meet myself. So you got to the point in your journey where you knew: I have to meet myself. Tell me what happened then.

[00:27:10] So health crisis, financial crisis, you know, breaking up of marriage or relationship or losing a, an old friendship, Things are going to break down in your life because everything is like pointing towards what you need to look at. And so that's what started happening in my life. You know, things started breaking down.

[00:27:51] I am nothing. And all that self-doubt and that inner critic was at its highest. You know, it was just so loud in my ear that I couldn't even comprehend that. Oh, maybe it's just, it just means that I need to take a pause. I need to take a break. But so because I was not listening to that, Oh, this water has gone flat. Instead of drinking it,

[00:28:18] And that's when I decided after taking a couple of months of break that, Oh, something needs to change. And, you know, you and I have talked about it on my podcast. That was when I was in the void. You know, I, I knew that something had to change.

[00:28:38] Maegan: Great.

[00:28:59] I was not the profit and loss of Socially Group. It took me a long time to make that connection, which is so wild. But yeah, so I was in that, in that darkness, in that void, I was knocking on the door of the underworld. And I was enveloped with that darkness.

[00:29:40] It is scary. Let's be honest. It is. It's scary to go there. It's scary to be there. And also, every single person listening to this can be with that fear. So I just want to say that. Like, if it feels scary, don't stop listening. It is scary. And you're really brave. You're courageous.

[00:30:19] There is a phase of the journey between where I am and where I'm meant to be. And that phase is called the void. It's a liminal phase where you don't know. You are surrendering, you are releasing what has been, and you have to do that before you get to know what is going to be. And that is scary, but you can do it.

[00:31:03] And then you're kind of, you're digging your own grave. So, we all have to make a choice, right? We're at that moment where we, have to choose, do I step into the void or do I turn around and kind of double down on the way I have been living my life? You decided to step into the void.

[00:31:31] Deepshikha: I do want to say that I don't think anyone knowingly steps into the void. I don't think we can do that. It's the unknown. Right? And as humans, we are meant to stay away from danger. So our nervous system is built in a way that we don't

[00:32:07] That's fine, too my number one lesson, and we can talk about it more in detail later, is the void is unavoidable You're going to go, you're going to get into the void, you're going to go into it kicking or screaming, you're going to go into it with a lot of resistance, or you're going to go into it with some surrender.

[00:32:45] Maegan: Famous last words

[00:33:17] So much empathy and grace and self-compassion for yourself, because that's the only thing that you need.

[00:33:40] It's a death of all the things that we have taken on ourselves and we think that that is who we are. So the void for me was really painful. I had to, layer by layer, Maegan, let go of all those false identities. I had to come to face the fact that I am not my business. I am not this identity that I had created for myself.

[00:34:25] It's a lot of unshaming. It's a lot of letting go of these beliefs that we've created about ourselves. You know, and as women, we believe in all kinds of shit that being rich is something to be ashamed of, that we need to feel guilty about being a woman, about making money, about the clothes that we wear, about our weight, and all of that.

[00:35:12] And her sister is the queen of the underworld. And once she goes there, she has to go through these seven gates. And I'm just going to, tell the quick version of the story, please go and check it out. And at every gate, she has to let go of a piece of clothing. So her crown, her necklace, her robe, and everything.

[00:35:56] And then she's revived and then she goes back up with a new identity. And that is the journey. It is. It is not a surprise that all these strong female archetypes in our world have taken a journey to the cave. You know, we say the cave, you know, a lot of Mary Magdalene spent her life in a cave.

[00:36:35] Maegan: Love the story. And I just want to honor for a moment all of the vulnerable things that you're sharing. Thank you. Every time I hear new layers of your story, I learn new things about you, about myself. I think this is the power of people in general, but also business owners specifically, when we start getting more honest with each other about what's happening behind the landing page, you know, behind the email list, when we start talking about how my life journey is interweaving with my business journey, like this is where we.

[00:37:35] I was very conscious that I was at a threshold, and I had to choose. Are you going to step through or are you going to double? So for me, it's like, it was a choice. And there was a real awakening in making the choice. Now, if I would have said no to the choice, I probably would have been forced into it eventually.

[00:38:10] And I want to think about how I enter that space. Like, you, you have so much choice. You have so much agency in this process. And I completely agree with, like, there are moments, there have been moments for me in the void that have been, like, dramatic, and intense, and Whew. Like these deaths, just one after another, facing wounds. I have also been surprised by my experience in the void, how much stillness and silence there is for me, and how uncomfortable that has been. There could be weeks where there's just nothing happening, you know, and I just feel alone and it feels dark and it feels quiet and like that, that's the wound that I have to feel and face.

[00:39:17] And that no one tries to fix it or solve it. They just witness you and your experience. You know, they're like, I can't help you, but I'm here with you. And I'm, I'm curious. I mean, I know we have had that with each other, in the last year or so, as we've been talking about this and getting to know more about one another's journeys, but did you feel like you had enough support when you were going through this season in the void? Tell us a bit about that.

[00:40:03] And again, coming back to that grace and empathy, is so important that. Okay, maybe it might take me a little bit longer. Maybe I'm resisting it too much. Now, I understand that the first time I didn't know anything about this void. So I went kicking and screaming.

[00:40:39] Talking about support. I had an amazing spiritual mentor who was with me, and she supported me throughout.

[00:41:04] And for me, as soon as those two years were over. I was like, yes, two years are done. I'm done. I'm going to get out of it now. And guess what? It took me four years, right? So everybody's journey is so, so different. And that was a bane of my existence. Looking at people on Instagram and they would talk about the journey and they would be like, oh, but now I'm happy, and I'm all healed, and I'm in my second relationship on, I've created this new business and I'd be like, damn it.

[00:41:52] So to your point, to answer your question, yes, I had a lot of support, but also I felt so lonely at certain times. I felt like I had lost, so much of my community. And I did lose all of my community. I lost a lot of, online friends. And so I was alone, but I also had support at the same time.

[00:42:33] You know, it's like as we grow and evolve, we shed what no longer resonates with who we are. There's a way in which you will feel lonely in this process, but it doesn't mean you have to be alone. I love the way you're saying that, yeah, there were moments when you felt lonely, there was a lot of loss, there was a lot of grief, and you were well supported at the same time. And that's, that's the invitation I want to offer people listening.

[00:43:30] Oof, it's painful, but on the other side of it, so much richer. So much richer. Now, we were going to save this for a little while later, but it feels right to talk about it now, Dee, which is how, you said this earlier, the void's not a linear process, it's a labyrinth. And the reality is that once you kind of surrender to, okay, I'm a person in this lifetime who is doing deep work.

[00:44:13] So it's in and out, and in and out. What wisdom do you want to share with us about the impermanent nature of coming out of the void and how we can navigate with more grace coming in and out, in and out?

[00:44:37] Maegan: Do not half-ass your death.

[00:44:55] Maegan: I checked all the boxes.

[00:45:15] For me, what it meant was letting go of my business. Letting go of that identity that I had created that was, had now become enmeshed with the money that I was making.

[00:45:38] Deepshikha: So for me, that's what that meant. And my, again, I think all of us, we pick one core lesson when, before we are born, we're like, this is the lesson I want to learn this lifetime. And I think so far for me has been my self-worth and I've struggled with it throughout my life. And for me, that has been the biggest lesson.

[00:46:26] All of those started to get loose.

[00:46:48] Deepshikha: And let's celebrate that, like, let's celebrate the chaotic, messy nature of this rebirth, right? Birth is messy. Birth is violent. Birth is chaotic and intense. And we celebrate it, right? Let's come together. Let's celebrate it. I also want to say we don't give a thought that nothing grows without some chaos and darkness. Like even just look at the way plants grow, look at the way a baby is born. Any, anything that, grows or takes birth, there is some chaos, some mess, some darkness involved in it.

[00:47:49] Maegan: Mm hmm. Well, I think the beauty is that as you go through the void, you learn that you've been whole the whole time, right? It's like, Oh, you realize, Oh, I was, I, there was never a problem that needed to be solved. And it's hard. I say that lightly because until you're in it and feeling it the brain can't make sense of that logic on its own. I just want to offer it up and, and highlight what Dee is saying again, to say to those of you listening, you can do this. And yes, it's messy and hard and chaotic, and it's also beautiful. And you develop such a powerful, loving relationship with yourself, clarity about your voice, that all of a sudden you don't need to live life through this hyper-vigilant, I'm scared.

[00:49:04] Let's talk about a way in which you can live the question, and I think that's a nice way to ease into the waters, of this type of personal work. Dee, tell us what it means to live the question instead of seeking the answers.

[00:49:39] Let's just let it go. What would my life look like if I didn't have a business anymore? And I think what it means for me was a full surrender, like complete surrender, and I thought that I had surrendered before. Again, it's like, it's cute. Like, you know, I thought that I had surrendered, but I was always pushing for the answer, right?

[00:50:31] It's unknown. You're stepping in shit. And there's there you can hear the monsters screeching from all different places and after a while, you know you just stop resisting everything. You stop scratching the walls and getting out of your way and you just stay there in the stillness. And that's when the monsters kind of go to sleep and you start hearing your voice. And that's the kind of surrender.

[00:51:28] And at first it was so crazy. This is the first time I'm talking about it. I like... My brain would create. Okay. You need to do this. You need to do this. Like maybe I should take a tarot reading course. Random. Okay.

[00:52:06] My intuition is telling me that I should go and get in touch with the psychic and get the answers from her. And I had the confusion going on in my mind. So I put everything down on a sheet of paper. And I was like, I am not going to take action on it for a month. And if after a month, I still feel like I need to take action on any of this,

[00:52:42] That was the whisper of my soul four years ago, six years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, 30 years ago, always.

[00:53:10] That's okay. Or maybe I'll, I'll be a stay-at-home mom who writes. And so again, like, you know, not attaching myself to any of this, but being okay with not knowing where this is leading, and being okay with not knowing. I think that's the hardest part, but also so required. And, you know, everybody talks about surrender.

[00:53:54] Maegan: Yeah, we'll have to have a follow up conversation where we just dive deeper into surrender and what it means as a business owner. And actually say that I want to just name this because I know people are thinking it right now. We don't have time to get into it in this conversation. But there are real world constraints for a lot of people, right, around surrendering, you know, and, and I think about my own journey, you know, and I'm the only person in my family who generates money.

[00:54:43] But the core essence remains the same, right? That you feel, you can feel the quiet whisper of your soul saying, Hey, let this go. Hey, try this instead. Hey, just relax. You're safe. You're okay. And how do we gently, and with so much grace and empathy, start to trust that we know what's best for us, and that we can follow our own intuitive guidance. That's at the core, what so much of this process is about of being in the void, of letting go what, what was working because we know that there's something greater we're meant for. We know we're being called to show up in some different capacity. Okay. I want to talk about the work that you're doing now.

[00:55:52] And then we try that, and it's like, nope, that wasn't it. Let me go back in the void. You know, there are all these false starts. And then often, and in a really unexpected moment, something comes forward that is ready to be born. And for you, that something approached you in a bar. Tell us what happened.

[00:56:29] And of course I still had bills to pay. So it's not that I had the luxury to sit on my meditation cushion all day long and just, you know, Like, you know, be in the void. We're talking about an energy, right? We're talking about being there energetically than physically. And of course, you know, as women, we have to go and do the things that we have to do to support our family and ourselves.

[00:57:12] And I was, so another fun fact was that I was in the midst of writing a memoir. And, In fact, I'd written almost 80 to 90 percent of it at that point. And I had to go back and start editing it. And I went back to this really core origin story of when my self worth issues started, and I was so dysregulated in my nervous system that I could not go back into it.

[00:58:04] And, you know, one of the things that came up was that I really needed to be with people. I really needed community. I was like, you know, how you said that when you go into it along with someone, with someone supporting you, it's much easier. Right. And that was the whisper at that time that I was getting is I need to get out.

[00:58:46] m. on a Friday night or something like that. Two people showed up, and we started having a conversation about the writing process, and we were all going through the same thing. We were not able to write because we were so dysregulated in our nervous system. And the conversation went from, you know, starting a writer group to how can we become embodied writers?

[00:59:33] And I was like, no, I haven't. And that led me down to a rabbit hole. And I discovered polyvagal work. And. I was fascinated and now I had words to describe what I was feeling, and I had words to describe why it was taking so long for me to come out of the void. And I started making the connections, and I ended up actually getting certified, as a trauma therapist, nervous system practitioner.

[01:00:24] I can't do it. I don't have it in me. The self doubt. I couldn't finish it. I had a lot of excuses. I became a mom. My husband used to travel, so I was a stay at home, full time mom. But the fact is that I couldn't finish it because I didn't think that I had it in me to write a book.

[01:00:48] That was a starting point in my life to point me toward where I am, but that led me to create what I am creating right now. It's called the Muse Master, which is a community for writers. To become nervous system masters in our work, to be able to regulate ourselves so that we feel safe enough in our body that we can write and be in that state of creative flow because as writers, we put our nervous system on the page all the time. Whether we are writing from a vulnerable moment a memory or a trauma, or we are writing fiction. And we have that fear of being published and, you know, reading. I was at a residency last week and we were doing a reading, and one of the girls was like, I can't do this, I can't do this. This is so fearful.

[01:01:55] I can be in a freeze response, but I can do the things that I know now to pull myself out of it so that I can look at my manuscript again, that has been life changing. All this to say, and you know, I'm going to sound a little philosophical here, but I totally believe that there's a plan, right? There is a reason why we go into the void when we go, especially for us, people who are looking for a purpose.

[01:02:38] Maegan: I love this story so much. And what I wanna make explicit is how you didn't get the answer until you started living as the question. Living as a question has been a big part of the work that I've been doing, for many years, right? This idea of like, how do I stop looking for the answer?

[01:03:19] Why are we stuck? I'm stuck. Other people are stuck. Why do we get stuck? You know what? I'm just going to go to a bar. I'm going to throw out an invitation. Let's see who shows up. Right? You didn't create this landing page that said, Come to this event. If you were going to talk about... we're going to brainstorm why we get stuck as writers.

[01:04:28] It came from your soul. It didn't come from your logical mind saying, well, one thing that you could try, but I It's to get certified in this or to get certified in that. No, it, it came from the bottom up. Your mind was the last to know that this was the path you were going to pursue. And now you're sitting with this beautiful idea, this beautiful business, the Muse Master, helping writers regulate their nervous system so they can tell their stories and do their work, which is so incredible.

[01:05:24] You don't get to know that. . And the harder you grip it, the more pressure you put on it, the faster that fizzy cup of water on the counter is going to go flat. So final question here for you today, like, how are you holding this balance, Dee, of both like honoring and celebrating the life and the energy behind the Muse Master right now without holding on too tightly to what you think it's going to become?

[01:06:10] This is what's going to make me the most money. And this is going to become viral or whatever. This to me is, Oh, it's, it's coursing through my veins right now. And like you said, I don't know. I don't know if I'm going to be doing the Muse Master one year from now, 10 years from now. I don't know. What I do know is that I'm going to be using these skills for myself.

[01:06:58] And there were some moments where I did feel dysregulated and I did a few exercises. And I came back and I told my writing group, which by the way, those two girls and me, we still meet every week, and

[01:07:10] Deepshikha: and it's become the most special group I have ever been in. We're just three people, but we are so close and it's, it's so special.

[01:07:44] And I said, I'm a writer and he paused and he's like how long did that take you to say that so confidently?

[01:07:53] Deepshikha: And I was like 40 years. It took me 40

[01:07:59] Deepshikha: It took me 40 years to say that, Oh yeah, this is who I want to be because it fulfills me. It fills me up, and understand that. That's not who I am.

[01:08:15] Deepshikha: Right? So it, it feels like a full circle from that, that woman who wanted to create a business, you know, because she wanted to create an identity for herself to now, because I'm not holding onto it. And I don't know where this will lead. All I know is that I am so interested in this and I would share this with anyone who would listen to me.

[01:09:01] If you're listening, this is what I want you to hear right now. That we're conditioned to think that if we have a really good idea we better jump on it fast. Right? That's late stage capitalism for you that just says like, Oh, you got a good idea. You better, you better jump on, and you better make as much money from it, exploit it in every way you possibly can before someone else steals your idea.

[01:09:38] And what, Deepshikha, the picture that you're painting for us, oh, I wish, I I feel so much more ease in my body, so much more peace, which is, you know what? I don't know where this is going to go, and I'm not holding onto it at all. In fact, the only thing I have right now is a sub stack where I'm going to talk about it, right?

[01:10:21] That feels like such incredible wisdom, Dee. Thank you for sharing that. So anything else you want to say about any of this before we wrap up?

[01:10:50] So everything that Maegan said, I'm going to just reflect the same back at everyone who's listening. And trust. Trust yourself. Trust those ideas. Trust your destiny. Trust. And, you know, I think. If, what if we can just lean into this, that everything is happening for me? And, at the same time, oh my goodness, it fucking sucks. Yeah,

[01:11:57] Then we're in the flow of ease, and there are challenging moments, and there are still ways that we have to put effort in to bring them forward, but it doesn't have to be so hard. That's what I'm here for. Like, I'm here for the ease. I'm here for, like, working, co creating with the universe, and feeling that my work gets to be playful, and gentle, and easeful.

[01:12:43] I can't wait for everybody to learn more about the work that you are doing right now at this moment in time. So could you please tell us where we can learn more about you and the Muse Master?

[01:13:11] So thank you for having me. Thank you for being such an incredible friend. As of now, the Muse Master is still, we're still in the process of, you know, creating it, and dreaming about it. So, like Maegan said, join us on Substack. That's where I'm going to be talking about it. In the future, we are going to have some workshops and retreats, some community work that you can totally be a part of.

[01:13:47] Maegan: Well, I don't want to tickle any part of me to be clear, but I do want to write to you. Okay, the biggest newsletter you can subscribe at themusemaster. Substack. com. I will put that in the show notes. Dee, such an honor to have you. I hope that you will be a recurring guest on the Deeply Rested podcast. We have so much to discuss, but we will close this chapter for now.