From Chaos to Clarity: Radical Belief, Identity, and the Power of Audacity w/ Eternity Sledge, Transformation Strategist

In this episode of The Audacious Black Girl Podcast, I’m joined by Eternity Sledge — speaker, writer, transformation strategist, and the creative force behind the GLAD Framework: Gratitude, Logistics, Audacity, and Delusion. We talk about what it really means to move from chaos to clarity, especially for ambitious Black women who are constantly balancing vision, purpose, and self-definition.

Eternity breaks down how “being delulu” isn’t about denial — it’s about radical belief in the life you’re creating, paired with the plans and faith to make it real. Together, we explore how clarity begins with identity — remembering who you are, what you value, and why you’re here.

This conversation is a beautiful reminder that slow motion is better than no motion, that imposter syndrome isn’t your truth, and that transformation begins the moment you decide to believe audaciously in what’s possible.

Follow Eternity here:

https://www.instagram.com/eternitysledge/

https://www.instagram.com/essenceofeternity_/

Have a topic or question you want me to explore? Please email me at amanda@audaciousblackgirl.com!

Follow me on Instagram @audaciousblackgirl

Transcript

Host: Amanda: 0:00

Hey everyone, welcome to the Audacious Black Girl Podcast. I'm Amanda, your host. Today, our guest is Eternity Sledge. She is a speaker, a writer, a transformation strategist. I love that title, by the way. She's a community builder on a mission to help ambitious. We know who that is, us here listening. She's here to help ambitious, multifaceted women move from chaos to clarity. Oh my gosh, we definitely need that. I know I do. Through her work as an author, creative, and founder, she provides the tools and soul online strategies that help women build lives rooted in family, freedom, and faith. So whether you are in a season of transition or navigating just the complexities of having ambition or having a vision and having purpose, Eternity reminds us that you are the blueprint. Thank you so much, Eternity, for being on the podcast and for bringing your energy today. Tell the people maybe a bit more about who you are and what called you to this work.

Guest: Eternity: 1:04

Yes, thank you so much, Amanda. I'm so excited to be here and talking to you today. I am, as she said, Eternity Slidge. I am a catalyst of transformation, embodying creativity, resilience, and purpose. I do operate as the multifaceted black guide or MBG, and I do that in two ways. The first is through, as she said, partnering with people and getting that from chaos to clarity, but I also founded a nonprofit organization for youth to equip them with life skills development, mental health advocacy, and pathway discovery. So everything I do is about transformation, whether it's the little babies or it's somebody who's very um seasoned and already stuck in their ways and trying to get them to craft a life that they really deserve. And that's I ended up in this position because I was hired to be a Thrive strategist by my one of my clients, Erica Casey. And as a Thrive Strategist, what you do is you hold space for people. You just hold space, you help them through like different things that they're going through, and you guide them through that journey. For me, it was through a business program. And so I was working directly with entrepreneurs who look like me, who are going through so many different things and trials and tribulations, and then they're trying to still be in this program and take care of themselves, start this business, work their jobs, and they're um in their orientation, like, oh, this is so much I'm stressed and I don't know what to do. And this just happened to me just today. And I was sitting there and I was walking them through it, and I was like, whoa, this is where I belong. This is something that I'm really good at is working with these women and helping them get through these situations, helping them get to clarity. They didn't really know how to set up their mission statements, they didn't really understand what they were doing, but they knew they were doing the work. So synthesizing it, clarifying it, and it felt really, really good to me. And then I started really understanding myself and how I was rooted in gratitude. And that's the my GLAT framework. I was rooted in glat gratitude, but I always had some logistics. I was always gonna set me up a plan. And then that A was the audace, audacity, audaciousness, which is what brought me here. And then that D was delusion. I was I was teaching them and pouring into them so that they can create a reality that didn't currently exist for them. They were were saying things like, I want to make a million dollars, I want my business to get these uh clients, and I want to get this contract. And I'm like, no, you have it, it's coming, and helping them reframe that mindset because you you were doing great where you are now, and you're gonna do even better as long as you are a little delulu about the future.

Host: Amanda: 3:49

Yes, no, I love that. I love that you um have your framework, Glad G-L-A-D, and that element, of course, of audacity, because we know that matters, but also that delulu, and that is something I think we all have to embrace. And really, what it is to me when I think about the delulu or delusion, it's like radical belief. Radical belief, not only in yourself, but for me, in your co-creation with God, your co-creation with universe or whatever you believe. So, how would you define, I guess, that delulu part and how that takes them from chaos to clarity? Like, what does that pathway look like?

Guest: Eternity: 4:31

So, I define delusion as a reality that doesn't currently exist. So, if currently it's say you're a teacher, but you really want to be a principal, becoming a principal is your delusional reality. It doesn't mean it's not obtainable, it just means it's not currently what you are living with, it's not what's currently happening. Anytime somebody's like, I want to be a millionaire, that is you being delusional. But there's such a negative connotation put on being delusional because of the you know the the technical definition or just how we see it portrayed in media as people like who are crazy and they have these wild ideas, which I take it back to the the L, which is logistics. We can be delusional, but with that delusion, we also need a plan. And with that plan, we have to take the action because if you just create the idea and write down, write it down, you also have to act on it. And so there's two, I love that you brought up God because there's two things that I get from my relationship with God, which is um when they say write down the vision and make it plain.

Host: Amanda: 5:38

Right.

Guest: Eternity: 5:38

The other one is faith without work is dead. And if you put those two together, that's where that glad framework really lives because you are being grateful for what you have now. You're creating a plan for where you want to go, you're being audacious and actually going after that. And then you are setting the setting the standard, setting the bar a little bit higher than it was before. Because if you don't reach, you might not reach the highest goal, but if you get closer than you thought you could, that's an even better lifestyle than you had already imagined.

Host: Amanda: 6:09

I tell my clients all the time, you know, when we're navigating just life stressors and whatnot, that 1% better is is 1% better is better than nothing. Like there, the incremental growth, we have to honor that, right? Like we really have to kind of celebrate those moments because, like, yeah, the big one is coming too, but all these small steps matter. You know what I mean? So I appreciate that. That is such a grounded part of your framework and how you support people.

Guest: Eternity: 6:37

It's the journey, it's definitely the journey. One thing my grandfather has always said to me, and it sticks with me, is slow motion better than no motion. That part watching my grandparents get older and seeing them, you know, you you change as you get older. And so I'm there and I'm taking care of them. And their spirits are still so high because they understand if I am still moving, I'm making progress. If I wasn't moving at all, that means there's it's it's over. I'm giving up. But that slow motion is still better than no motion.

Host: Amanda: 7:07

Definitely something important to highlight because I think a lot of us get stuck in that chaos phase. Well, I would like you to describe, I guess, what that chaos looks like and what it can look like, but I think a lot of us get stuck in that because of the fact that we just want drastic big change, like so bad. I know I'm guilty of that so much. I'm just I'm just like, oh my God, what's going on? I'm doing too much, and everything's happening. So, how would you describe chaos? What does that look like for black women in particular that you've worked with?

Guest: Eternity: 7:41

For okay, chaos looks so many different ways for people, but it would be something like um you knowing you want a change, but not knowing what that change is, or um what people call imposter syndrome. I don't necessarily think imposter syndrome is real. I think it's more of we are in spaces where we don't belong or where it's built for us to be uncomfortable.

Host: Amanda: 8:03

Right. Oh my gosh, yes.

Guest: Eternity: 8:04

We can get in that space and we can dominate for sure because we have the skills, we have the brains, we have the power. We are black women, we set the tone. That's literally what my outfit says is black women set the tone. Because we do, but then we get in these spaces and we feel like we're imposters because that's how the space was created to make us feel that way. So that can be your chaos. Um, for me, it was doing things for other people. Like I was in college because my parents made it seem like that was what was next for me. I wasn't there because I wanted to be there, and I had to take a step back. I took a semester off of school just to sit with myself and be like, who are you, girl? What are you doing and why are you here? And that clarity that I got from sitting with myself and getting my values allowed me to go back to school, but with purpose that time. And I was able to stick it out, I was able to finish it and leverage that experience rather than waste it. So that chaos is really being in a space where you aren't living your best life. You are not feeling clarity, you are feeling bogged down, you might be feeling alone, you might be feeling um like just the weight of the world without a light at the end of the tunnel.

Host: Amanda: 9:18

There's a friction there, there's a tension, there's just agitation. And it's important to sit with that and explore what that actually is. Like get curious about what the agitation is. And like you were saying, for you, it gave you pause. Like, okay, why am I in school? Am I do who am I doing this for? And I also appreciate you talking about imposter syndrome because it everything you're saying is absolutely spot on. Imposter syndrome. We used to think it was this, um, you know, this personal thing, right? Like you're feeling like, you know, like you said, I don't belong, I'm gonna get found out, I'm, you know, I'm a fraud, all these things. But the reality is it's a societal and environmental issue. It's not a you issue, it's a societal and vi and environmental issue. And I think once people have that understanding, and I'm for one, you know, bought in to the idea that something was wrong with me when I years ago I found out or thought I had imposter syndrome, or I labeled it as imposter syndrome when I was in grad school. And I remember my professor talking about it, and she was saying how she had imposter syndrome. And I remember going into the bathroom crying because I never had the words to label what it is. But then as I've just progressed in my career and recognize, as you're saying, I'm in these spaces and you're feeling this tension, you're feeling this resistance, and I'm labeling it as imposter syndrome. But then you take pause and go, Well, no, I know I belong here. So what is the actual issue? It's a societal and environmental issue because of the spaces we're in, because of the um the interlocking of systems and policies, and how when we are in these spaces, we're feeling othered. So it's not us. So that's for the listeners, too. As you're saying, it's not you. It really is the system, the environments that we're in, society that we're in that causes you to feel that tension and paying attention to it and doing something different and grounding yourself in who you are.

Guest: Eternity: 11:23

You took the words out of my mouth, and then that I was uh literally about to say it all starts with who are you? You have to go back to your identity and think about what do I value, what do I care about, what am I good at? Because you'll get in those spaces and these people will try to tear your identity away from you. The opposite of everything that you were telling yourself, which is why affirmations are so big to me. Journaling is so big because when I journal, I can see myself, I see my thoughts, I see how I was thinking without anybody else's opinions, without um feeling judged or uncomfortable because I was the only one there. I wrote this on paper and I sign it and I date it because I want to know how was I in 2022 versus how I am in 2025? Why did I make that change? Who influenced my changes? And did that still go with who I am as a person? Even when I introduce myself today, I don't start with what I do. I start with who I am. I am the catalyst of transformation and I embody creativity, resilience, and purpose. Because anybody who steps into my life, I'm I'm I'm gonna pump you up because what do you want to do and how are we gonna get you there? Right. However, I can support you, let's make it happen.

Host: Amanda: 12:38

I love that. So let me ask you then, because you know, we're talking about what chaos can look and feel like. What does clarity look and feel like?

Guest: Eternity: 12:50

Clarity feels like peace. Right. It feels like motivation. I think people get motivated and they think that it's just something that comes and goes, but really it's when you know where you're going, you're able to be motivated. You see the light at the tunnel. There's something you're working towards. I think of it like a marathon. You don't get into the marathon and feel great at mile seven. You know it's 26, it's 26 miles long. You got a long way to go. And mile seven, you're feeling a little down, you're not feeling the best, you're forgetting why you even signed up for this thing at all. But when you get to 25 and you can hear the people cheering, and you can hear the music and you see crowds of people and you're thinking about oh, the finish line and the picture that they're gonna take of me when I get to that line, you're excited and you're motivated and you're able to be more disciplined. But if you had that clarity the whole time that this is the goal without any other distractions of that quiet one mile where you were running and you didn't hear nothing but your own breath, right? That's the things that distract us. That's when we get into our chaos. But if you remember that goal, you remember your identity and you're able to get back to it, that's what that clarity feels like. It feels like peace, it feels like overflow where you're not loving, but you're you're able to give from your overflow, not just poor what little you have.

Host: Amanda: 14:13

Yeah, yeah. And it also that's so important. No, no, sorry, you go ahead.

Guest: Eternity: 14:19

I think that's important when we talk about chaos and clarity because it's a cycle just like healing. Yes, people think of healing, they some some people think it's linear, like once I'm healed, I'm good. No, no, something's gonna come back around and trigger you, and you're gonna be right back at square one, and you gotta figure out how to get out of that. And that's why I created that framework because no matter when you get back into that chaos, you can always get back into clarity if you celebrate where you are, make a plan for where you want to go, take the steps and be a little delusional about it.

Host: Amanda: 14:52

Yes, and I um appreciate you mentioning the healing aspect of this, right? You know, healing, it's up and down, it's and it's you're never fully healed. You're never fully healed, you know, and anything, because a moment you think you're healed, something's gonna activate you. It's like that final test. You know what I mean? So you have to continue certain practices to keep you going, keep you healing, so that when that resistance or that tension or that friction arises, you already have the tools, the mindset, the delusional thinking, the clarity to keep you going. Right.

Guest: Eternity: 15:34

Absolutely. And even I feel like we have to talk about grief. When I talk about chaos authority, I always think of grief because with transformation, anytime you transform, you're grieving something. And grief isn't always negative, right? Like I use the example of when your baby has a baby, you become a grandma. You're grieving being just a mom. That used to be the only little one you were worried about. Now you have a new little one. Your little one has a little one, you're becoming a whole new person, you're taking on a whole new title. That's a transformation. You have to grieve that life. Starting a business, you have to grieve who you were before, the freedom that you had, the um ability to just go do what you were told to do. As an entrepreneur, you don't have that. Or if you you launch something, like if you would have launched a podcast and it didn't go well, you might have been like, okay, maybe this isn't for me. And now you have to grieve this podcast. You now you have to you have to grieve it, you have to go through that every time you get back into that chaos because who you were yesterday is not who you're gonna be tomorrow.

Host: Amanda: 16:38

So chaos is just essentially that a mindset. It's as you're I'm hearing you describe chaos, it's like it's a mindset. It's yes, a lack of clarity, it's all these factors that can convolute the way you go forward, that can make it that much more harder to take that next step on the journey, even as you were describing the marathon. What's gonna get you to mile one, mile two, mile three, so you can reach that end goal? But I do think there is a lot of um, you know, unlearning that has to happen in that process, right? And you mentioned grief, but what else is there that people have to unlearn so they can gain that clarity? Like what happens in that middle space?

Guest: Eternity: 17:30

One of the big things I feel like they have to unlearn is clarity doesn't come first, action does. And we hear people say that all the time. But well, I hear people say that all the time. I don't know if anybody else hears that.

Host: Amanda: 17:42

So I'm saying yeah, yeah, yeah.

Guest: Eternity: 17:44

Say it again and tell us what you mean by that comes before clarity. Action comes before clarity. In order for you to get clear on where you're going or what you want to do, you have to have made some strides.

Host: Amanda: 17:57

Okay.

Guest: Eternity: 17:57

Because you will never know who you are or exactly what's gonna work until you've you've tried it, you put some energy towards it. If you're like, um, I I want to go on a trip, but you've never been on a trip before. Your clarity on where what location you want to go to won't come from you just sitting there. You have to put some action in. You gotta do some research. You gotta look on. I personally would look on TikTok, like, where's the black best places for black women to solo travel? Right. You have to put some effort in, you have to put some action in in order for things to become more clear. People often sit and wait, and then you get into waiting and waiting and waiting. What are you gonna wait for? Nothing's gonna come.

Host: Amanda: 18:41

Yeah, I like that. You do have to take action. Like you, you know, I think I think sometimes we think clarity comes like as a form of enlightenment, like all of a sudden, I'm enlightened. And I'm not saying we don't get those sparks or bursts of of enlightenment that allow us to move, but that clarity part that you're talking about, you won't know where you're going or what you're going to do until you just start taking those steps to get there. Because then you'll start figuring out and learning what do I like, what do I not like? Now you have that end goal, now you have the intention, now you have the the the um idea of what it is that you're trying to do because you took steps and you learned more about yourself and that process. Like that's so important.

Guest: Eternity: 19:33

It's the power of exposure in education.

Host: Amanda: 19:36

Hmm. Say more about that.

Guest: Eternity: 19:40

Uh I if you're not exposed to it, you may not know, right? Right. When you're young, you don't know how to walk. Right. Yes, experience. Yeah, learning how to do things, learning what the options are, learning what is available, what can happen. For me, when I was younger, I didn't nobody around me knew what an authorized user was on a credit card. But I learned that when I was, I and I I talked to my dad at 18, like, hey, add me on your card as an authorized user so I can build my credit from this young age. And now as I'm growing up, there's people who are 40, they're 50, and they've never heard of this. And they're like, wow, I wish I would have known that. And somebody could have, you know, passed that nugget on to me without that exposure. I was exposed to it on social media. If I didn't have that, I wouldn't have known. But now it's education that I could pass on to somebody else. But I took the steps because I was like, I want good credit. I'm buying a house. I don't know when I'm gonna buy this house, but I'm gonna buy a house. And I was thinking that at 18. So I started doing the work to figure that out. I exposed myself. I opened myself up to receiving that information.

Host: Amanda: 20:47

That's I yeah, I think you're you're so spot on with that. Like, we we don't know what we don't know. We don't know what we don't know. We have to go out there and get some life. And we gotta fail. And we gotta just try and like see where things go, right? Like we really do. And and that's when it sounds like that audacity piece probably comes in, right? Like that audacity to try, which is why I created Audacious Black Girl, because I I, of course, I love black women, but I love how there are our resilience through situations, not resilience in terms of like we need to suffer, it's just the radical belief we have in ourselves to do anything and to rise and to overcome. We have this radical belief. And I think we as black women, especially, not only is it just, I feel like, innate to many of us, but we need it so we can move forward and reach our goals and live out our not even just our goals, our purpose, our mission, like whatever that is for us. Like, I love that that is such a core element. You need that. That's like your gasoline in the in the in the in the trunk or your nourishment to get you to where you need to be.

Guest: Eternity: 21:59

Absolutely. From when I um I was looking for some financial support in my business, and I came across an opportunity to get, I want to say it was like $18,000 worth of free legal assistance.

Host: Amanda: 22:12

Wow.

Guest: Eternity: 22:12

That doesn't come easily. And so I was like, oh, this is a great opportunity. All I have to do is get through an interview. And at the end of the interview, I asked him, I said, was there anything that would make you apprehensive or anything I can do better moving forward so that I can get opportunities like this? And he told me, he said, I love that you asked that question. I'm gonna be frank. You didn't sound confident enough when you are a startup business, you have to you have to trust and believe in your business so much that it makes me believe in it. And I walked away from that meeting. I was like, Oh, he just said I'm not audacious, I gotta go be more audacious. And that's when that was born in me.

unknown: 22:53

Wow.

Guest: Eternity: 22:54

Because I was like, oh, I didn't have the confidence to believe in myself, and this person believes in me, and he doesn't even know me. I didn't get that legal assistance, but I feel like I walked away with something much bigger.

Host: Amanda: 23:04

So much more. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. And then you're speaking to the blessings that come in like exposing ourselves into situations, different situations, because I can imagine how challenging that was to interview for such a large grant, but like that education exposure, you learned something major about yourself that allowed you to just move forward and walk differently. So you got to get out there and get some life and not be scared, be audacious. Oh my gosh. So in like the path that we're on, women are on sorry, moving from like that chaos to clarity, we get derailed, we'll we'll get, you know, things pop up for us, things come up. How else do you help someone stay on track? Because I know as a mom, as all these roles that I have and all the visions and purpose and mission that I have, there are things that will distract me. And you know, I have to like reel myself back into like this is your purpose, this is what you're doing. So, what else do you think helps someone kind of you know continue on when they're getting derailed or distracted?

Guest: Eternity: 24:21

Community, community, community, community. So I started the multifaceted collective, which is the community aspect of my business. And what we do, my favorite part is that every Wednesday at 6 p.m., we have bestie hour. It's just the women in the collective coming together, talking about what we did last week, what we're gonna do this week, and how we can support each other. So if last week you didn't do anything and you come to bestie hour and you tell us that, we're gonna be like, okay, well, what can we do for you so you can do something next week? And it's not just what did you do for your business? It's what did you do for you? How did you care for yourself? Because I believe that it's a holistic, yes, it's holistic. If you're not doing good in life, your business is not going to do good, especially for people who aren't are entrepreneurs and they don't have a team. If you don't have a team, how does your business thrive if you're not thriving? And that's where that community comes in. And it's it's accountability, yes, but it's also holding space. I told you I started as a Thrive Strategist, and so this is now a whole group of people holding space for you. It's not just me because sometimes I'm not gonna have the answers. Sometimes I might not say the right thing, but if you have five other women who are meeting with you every week and they tell you something different, you got different perspectives you can talk to, and we're all multifaceted, which adds a new layer to it because it's diversity of thought, diversity in experience, diversity in age. I'm young, and the women in my group are older than me, and there's a there's a range of us.

Host: Amanda: 25:59

Yeah. Oh, I love that. Yeah, I love that you mentioned community because it really is we we can't do this alone. We really can't. Like something I'm learning in this season of my life is that I need to ask for help. And help can look so many ways of what I'm what I'm discovering. It isn't just like, can you help me with this or help me with that? It's it's taking help when it's offered to you. It's choosing ease instead of rushing and trying to get something out there. You know what I'm saying? Like it just that's something I'm learning in this season of life. And I'm also glad that you mentioned about like if you, you know, if your personal life, if your life in general is in shambles, it is, oh my gosh, it is difficult to run a business, be an entrepreneur, to work on those ideas, make the podcast, make the social media page, whatever it is you're trying to do. Because oh, you're we can only, I think, really create from our life, our our life, our lived experience, right? At least that's some of the root of it or the foundation of some of it. If your life is in shambles, emotionally, mentally, physically, it's hard to move forward. And you really do have to look at your life as you're saying, and like, okay, what here do I need to change? And this is what I talk about a lot, like pivot. Where do you need to pivot? Where do you need to make some changes so you can really align, not only personally, but professionally, entrepreneurially, or whatever it is that you're trying to pursue. But so many, those things are so important, so critical.

Guest: Eternity: 27:43

You asked me about what people need to unlearn when they're in chaos. And one thing I forgot to mention was fear. You have to unlearn fear over faith and get back to faith over fear. If you believe in yourself and you believe that you can do it, and you believe in whatever higher power you serve, I you know, I serve an amazing God. If I know I know that if I need something, God is going to take care of me and I'm going to speak in that manner. Because if I speak fear into my life, I'm calling it to me. Words are powerful. So powerful spelling, etymology, all of those things are so powerful, which is why I like to read books. My goal is to read 12 books this year because I want to continue to use my brain. I want to learn the power of words and be careful, more careful and specific with the words that I use.

Host: Amanda: 28:36

And not just like your business in a business framework of things, but personally, you know, cognitively, what we say to ourselves are a couple things. So, you know, we have cognitive flexibility. Like our neuropathways, they need more information. They need complex and diverse information. And they can get so stagnant if we're telling ourselves the same thing over and over and over again because you start believing it. And then what happens is energetically, you start looking for confirmation of those negative beliefs in your life. So you are basically attracting that to yourself, right? But the beautiful thing about our brains, and yes, this isn't my therapy, scientific woo-woo stuff, but like the beautiful thing about our brains is that we can create these new neural pathways by telling ourselves different affirmations, by speaking to ourselves positively, reading it, speaking it, writing it, living it. And your brain, those neuropaths go, Oh, we have some new input. Let's add this to the realm of things and let's see. And this this is what shifts your reality. There's that scientific component to it, but it is so, so very true. We have to do and say different things. And you know, a lot of my therapy clients when I talk to them about affirmations and saying and speaking lightly. To themselves, you know, it's hard for them to accept that it can be that simple of a thing that you do. I'm not saying that it's an overnight process, right? But you keep the same, you keep the habit going, things will shift for you. Your reality will actually shift, and it can be that simple as affirmations over and over again. But that's where the work comes in. The work comes in doing the work.

Guest: Eternity: 30:30

Right? Yeah. I love the elasticity of our brains and how we are so in control of it, and people don't even realize it. They just don't know. I sell my family that all the time. Like our thoughts become our beliefs and our beliefs become our actions. It's it's a cycle that's gonna continue. And I love that you hit on affirmations. I love affirmations. I am multifaceted though, so I can't do the same affirmations for like long, long periods of time. So what I do is every month I sit down and I think, what's going on with me right now, and how do I want it to change this month? And that's how I create my affirmations. And I put them in the mirror in my bathroom. And when I go brush my teeth, or when I go take a shower, that's what I'm doing in my mirror. I'm looking at myself and I'm telling myself, this is who I am. I am a change maker creating a life I want. I am this, I am that. You you see, it's like it even just comes out so easily.

Host: Amanda: 31:26

It's so natural, it's so natural, and that's it. But the practice, it's the practice of it. And the more you practice, the more the practice it, the more you really start to embody it, the more you actually start to believe it. And it's not false. I don't do them fake it till you make it type energy. Pract my dad used to say practice it until you master it. And you do that, and that's how you really embody that. Um, and I have an app um that I use for my affirmations that allows me to create different collections. So I like they're all titled different things, but I have maybe like, you know, seven or eight um affirmations in each of those. So I go through based on what I'm feeling and what I need for that day, and then I practice it and I just repeat it, listen to it, whatever the case might be. Um, but it is good to switch it up based on what you need for that day because the more you start believing it, the more you start embodying it, your affirmations have to change if they become so different, your goals become so different, your belief in yourself becomes so different, and it's beautiful. Expansion is beautiful, beautiful.

Guest: Eternity: 32:35

And it's a noticeable change. Like when I first write down my set of affirmations and I'm saying them, it's like choppy. You can tell I'm not comfortable with it yet. I'm still trying to figure out do I really believe that I'm gonna invest in myself? Is that really who I'm gonna be right now? And then a week later, it's a little bit better, it's a little bit more confident. I don't really have to look at the paper as much. And by the end of the month, it's it's basically memorized. Like I'm saying it in a car at this point while I'm driving because I said it so many times and I believed it and I looked at myself. I think that's the key part to like looking at yourself while you say those affirmations. Yes, you can see it. Oh my gosh, as you say it.

Host: Amanda: 33:16

That's so hard for people, even for me, like looking in the mirror and saying like affirmations. Oh my goodness, that's something I'm still working on, but I don't know why. It's just a bit awkward. And it's funny, I'm doing a podcast, I can see myself on the screen here. No problem. No problem. But the moment I'm in front of the mirror and I'm talking to myself, it's just something I have to personally like get used to. But I do think it's important that we are looking at ourselves. My dad, oh my goodness, I love my dad so much. He would do this thing because he was always in these meetings with, like, you know, really powerful people. He's a powerful, strong, smart man. So he would practice how he would eat, he would put a mirror in front of himself and eat in front of the mirror because he wanted to see what he looked like, you know, he wanted to practice how he wanted to present himself when he was in these meetings and how he was eating or drinking or using utensils. He was studying himself, you know. So it is so critical. And it's something that I did some years ago as well. I'm like, oh, I put a mirror just like practicing how I was eating, but that mirror magic, maybe, is um, I think something that can be so helpful in seeing how who you are, right? How you present yourself, how you're speaking life into yourself. Like, how are you how are you looking when you say those affirmations? You know what I mean? Does anything shift in you energetically? You know, this is me thinking now, I'm like, oh, I need to later on go in my mirror and like do these things. I'm curious now, like energetically, what shifts in me when I'm saying the affirmation.

Guest: Eternity: 34:58

And I so what I tape mine, I have this little stack of paper and I rip it off each month, and I use some scotch tape and I tape it to my mirror. So I don't have a choice, but you don't have a choice. Oh, that's smart. That's where it's at. That's where it's at. So you try to put it on the deck, put it somewhere. No, I know that if I'm gonna say this, I want to say it in the mirror, especially like if you're naked, like straight out the shower saying it, because it's forcing you to look at you as a whole. There's no distraction of this logo on my shirt or this um bodysuit is tucking me in here, and it helps it helps me with my self-confidence as well. Because now I'm I'm forced to look at myself. You don't have to look at yourself all day. If you have no mirrors in your house, you can go the whole day without ever seeing how you look. Wow. Oh my gosh. Looking in the mirror and be like, I am beautiful, I am investing in myself, I am a change maker, creating a life of flexibility, fulfillment, and abundance. You'll feel it.

Host: Amanda: 36:01

You'll feel it.

Guest: Eternity: 36:02

Your shoulders will go back, your chest will come up, your head, your chin will rise.

Host: Amanda: 36:07

Oh, I love that. I love that coming right out of the shower in your full truth and honesty and vulnerability, and really using that moment to solidify those messages to really embody it. Oh, that's so good. You unlock something. I think I need to try that too. A couple of things I need to try. So let me ask you then for the black women listening right now who are feeling lost, what is one truth you want them to remember about themselves?

Guest: Eternity: 36:42

You are the blueprint. You said the tone. And whatever you think you want to do, you can do it and you will do it if you stay focused and be a little delusional with your audacity.

Host: Amanda: 36:58

The audacity and delusional. We gotta have that in the bag. Like, that's the only way. And I think, you know, those of us that are ambitious or have ambitions, as we've been talking about throughout this episode, like it takes it takes that level of audacity and and and delusion to really move forward because what you want to do is so radical, it's so different, it's so perhaps even bigger than anything you can ever imagine or ever dreamed of before, that it does take a certain level of magic, I think, that we have to have and belief that we have to have to really ground ourselves in that truth.

Guest: Eternity: 37:38

And it has to be innate, it can't just be extrinsic. It can't just be that part, oh, somebody told me I can't do it, so now I'm gonna do it. And that used to be what fueled me before. I'll be like, oh, you told me I can't start a business. Well, I'm gonna start a business. But when it gets hard, them telling you that ain't gonna mean nothing to you. You're gonna be like, you know what, they were right. You're gonna go crawl under your covers. But if it's in you and you're like, this is who I am, this is my identity, you're gonna take your few minutes to grieve however you were feeling, to rest, to get yourself care together, and then you're gonna come back and tackle it because it's not gonna defeat you if it's who you are.

Host: Amanda: 38:14

Yes, it's all a journey, it's all a journey, it's all practice. I always say life is a practice. We get better at what we do. So just keep practicing the audacity and coming home to yourself, is what I'm hearing from you. Keep going at it and let it be something that comes from you internally. You know, I think a lot of us get into that mode of like, um, oh, you said I can't do it, then I'm I'm I'm I'm gonna prove you wrong. And you you crash and burn every single time because it is not sustainable at all. It's you against you. That's really all it should be. You against you, you against you yesterday and the day before, you know? So thank you for all of that for sure. Yeah. All right. So we're wrapping up here. So I want to ask you, and I think we had talked to you about this before. What you I believe we all were placed here for a reason. What do you feel like is your reason for being placed here in this world at this time?

Guest: Eternity: 39:20

I was placed here to transform. I was um to transform women in children specifically, I feel like. Because when I come across youth, I love to teach them and to help them and to nurture them so that they don't end up stuck. I want them to know from a young age, like you can do whatever you want. My I was with my little cousin at the store and she saw a graffiti book, and she's like, Hey, I did graffiti before and I really want to do graffiti. Okay, get you the book. Let's let's try it. Because one day she might be one of the best graffiti artists in the world just because I bought her that $15 kit from Hobby Lobby that most people would have been like, Girl, no, you don't need that. We gotta nurture our talents. That so I think I was placed here to transform, transform minds and transform lives.

Host: Amanda: 40:10

That's so beautiful. And then nurture that talent, nurture your own talent, nurture the talent of those that you care about, you know, those in your space, those in your world. Um, okay. Last question. What makes you an audacious black girl?

Guest: Eternity: 40:27

Ooh. What makes me an audacious black girl is that I go after what I want when I want, and I make it happen. Say it again every single time.

Host: Amanda: 40:40

I love that. Oh, that's audacity right there. I love it, love it. Let us know where we can find you. What are your handles, your website, where people can find more information if they want to get in touch with you and maybe even enroll in your six-week transformation program. I know that you have.

Guest: Eternity: 40:59

Yes, you can find me on every platform just about at Eternity Sludge, and my website is eternysledge.com. If you visit there, you'll find all the bits. You'll find the multifaceted collective if you're looking for some community and you'll find Meerkat Impact. If you want to invest into the youth and equipping them with some life skills and teaching them about ACEs and different things, um, yeah, and the challenge is there as well. My guided journal is there. If you're like, hey, I'm not ready for all that other commitment. It's a digital journal. You get that, and you can start working on it and reach out to me, and I'll support you through that journey. So eternysledge.com.

Host: Amanda: 41:34

Thank you, Eternity. It was lovely having you. Thank you for this really nourishing conversation. I know the listeners got so much from it, and hopefully they are able to, you know, not only reach out to you, but learn to navigate that chaos so they can get to clarity. So thank you so very much. Um, but yes, thank you everyone for listening to the podcast episode with eternity, and we'll see you next time.