In today's episode, Taylor talks with her coach, Megan Colleen Johnson. Megan discusses the difference between coaching and therapy, encourages individuals to find the support that works best for them and addresses the relationship between freedom and burnout.
Mentioned In The Episode:
Meet Today's Guest:
Megan Colleen Johnson is an explorer of inner worlds, a freethinker, and a pursuer of knowledge. As an award-nominated Life & Leadership Coach, Megan helps clients make unconscious narratives conscious with the goal of creating a ripple effect of freedom for our selves, our communities, and our planet. Her message, “Live Your Freedom Now,” is a shift in perspective to reclaim inner capacity and cultivate new solutions in business and life. Megan currently resides in Ventura, CA with her partner, Alex, and her pup, Patrick, and you can usually find her studying, hiking, and taking good care.
Connect with Megan Colleen Johnson:
You're listening to Inner Warmup where your inner work begins. I'm Taylor Elyse Morrison, creator of Inner Workout and author of the Inner Workout book. And you as always are our expert guest. Thanks for being here. We've got another episode in our season exploring burnout, because I'm keeping it real with you all. The process of bringing this book into the world burned me the heck out. Shameless plug, if you haven't pre-ordered that book yet, what are you doing? You got the information in the show notes. You can also head to innerworkout.co/inner-workout-book to preorder the book, and also get a free thank you gift as well.
Today on this show, we have my coach Megan Colleen Johnson. I'm so excited for you to meet her and to hear her message of living your freedom now. It's a shift in perspective to reclaim inner capacity and cultivate new solutions in business and in life. Megan currently resides in Ventura, California with her partner Alex and her pup Patrick, and you can usually find her studying. We nerd out in this episode, y'all, hiking and taking good care.
Hi, Megan.
Megan Colleen Johnson
Hello, hello, hello.
Taylor Morrison
I am super excited for this conversation. There are a lot of things that we have been exploring. There are things that I want to explore a little bit more publicly on the podcast today. But before we do that, people need a chance to get to know you. So can you tell us more about what you do in the world and how you came to this work?
Megan Colleen Johnson
Of course, yeah, so I am a life and leadership coach currently. I'm also in grad school for counseling psychology, which is an adventure and a wonderful experience that I'm having. But essentially, in my life coaching work, in my leadership coaching work, I help folks make unconscious patterns, which I call those dominant dogma and which essentially, it's like the rules of life that we follow. I help people make those conscious so that you can consciously decide how you want to show up in life, and live more freely. So with that, I kind of say that I'm an explorer of inner worlds. I'm a free thinker. I'm a pursuer of knowledge. But I get to help people on this journey as well. So I typically coach free thinkers, like me, multi-passionate creators, like yourself, writers, therapists. I love working with neurodivergent, folks as well. And yeah, that's just like a little bit about what I do.
Taylor Morrison
Thank you for that introduction to you and how you approach the work that you do. You are on today, wearing primarily your coach hat. We're both coaches who have coaches, you happen to be my coach, and as coaches, and you can tell me where I'm wrong. I think it's easier for us because we've had the training of coaching to understand, yeah, this is something that could be useful for me to explore with a coach. But if someone doesn't have that experience, it can be a little bit harder to figure out. Do I need a coach? What can I work with a coach on? And I'd just love to hear from you. What advice would you give someone who is trying to figure out if they should work with a coach or when is, I don't even want to say when is it appropriate to have a coach, but when would it be useful to to work with a coach? Or what types of support can a coach best offer?
Megan Colleen Johnson
Yeah, so I feel like I need to actually cycle back to your first question a little bit too, because I realized I didn't answer what brought me to coaching and this answer will kind of answer that question as well. But I actually came to coaching after working with a life coach for the first time. So during a season in my life, I had been running a business with a business partner, and found myself in a position where I was really like kind of at the end of my rope. I didn't know where to turn for help. The business relationship that I was in at the time had become very manipulative and codependent, just had a lot of dynamics in it that were very unsupportive. And in the past, I had worked with a therapist, a couple different therapists. And while I found them helpful in certain ways, they just didn't feel like they would be the right fit for what I needed at that time. And so the term life coach kind of entered into my sphere. I had no idea what a life coach was. And at that time, like Instagram hashtags, I think they're coming back a little bit with reels, but Instagram hashtags were pretty prominent, and that was the only way I could think of looking for a life coach. So I searched Instagram hashtags for hashtag life coach, until I found someone who resonated with me. I had a wonderful first experience, I actually still work with that same coach on and off today. And for me, that was a perfect model of recognizing when a life coach is really supportive, but it's kind of evolved over time too because now I constantly ensure that I have some type of support system. So really, I tried to evaluate this in three kind of different tips for someone who's trying to figure out if a life coach would be a good fit. So the first one is you always deserve to be supported. So for me, it kind of took getting to the end of my rope, to realize that I needed support. But ultimately, like we all deserve to be supported, whether that's with a life coach with a therapist, our community, our partners. And so for me, as I'm like, speaking some advice, I suppose to folks who are considering working with a coach, notice what type of support you need, do you need community? Do you need an individual who's going to mirror things back to you, so that you can, you know, shift patterns in your life that are not working currently? That's kind of more of the life coach role. Do you need a business coach who's going to provide more of that consulting and advice? But ultimately, like, take a look at what type of support you most need, and how you can fill that. The second thing is the difference between coaching versus therapy. So I'm gonna take a deep breath. So coaching versus therapy is such an interesting space. So for me as a neurodivergent, individual, I have actually found, coaching tends to help me get to where I want to be more successfully than therapy. However, when I'm working on really deep kind of healing, and looking back at traumatic experiences, and what are called complexes, then I find therapy is most supportive. And so I really have come to, again, look at what type of support do I need here? Do I need a coach? Do I need the coach that I've been working with for a while that I can kind of show up super messy and gross and she's just going to kind of handle it because we've been working together for five years? Or do I need my newer therapist who's going to help me evaluate my dreams, and work through the unconscious patterns that are like showing up in that way? And so kind of evaluating that. And I guess I want to pause, see if you have any questions so far.
Taylor Morrison
No, I'm loving all of this. And I think it's interesting to hear some of your pattern, and we'll talk about this more and more in a moment. But I'm working with you as my coach. I also am working with a therapist too. And it's been interesting for me to, to navigate what I want to bring into each space. And I'm just reflecting on my own. For me often I've been trying to have this, is this a therapy question? Is this a coaching question? But what I just heard you say is, it's not just about the skill set, it's also about the relationship that's been built there, which isn't a lens that I've been using in my own evaluation. So less of a question more of just like, a huh, I can start thinking about that, too, when I'm deciding if I want to talk about it with you. Or if I want to go through it with my therapist, I don't know if that sparks anything for you. But that's just what came up for me as I was listening.
Megan Colleen Johnson
Yeah, no, I love that 100%. Because even as I'm studying in school, the relationship, at least within therapy, that's considered to be one of the most important things is when you're working with a client, you develop that relationship. But the fact is, like, every human that we're engaging with, we're going to have a slightly different relationship. You can't always, you know, go to a therapist, and they're going to try and build rapport and it's gonna work, right, you're gonna resonate with different people. And so for me, I'm very attuned to the energetics in different relationships. And so yeah, with my coach, there's a lot of different things that I would bring to her that are probably more therapeutic in nature. But because of our relationship, because of what I've seen her go through, and what I have gone through, it just makes sense. And I know, there have been a number of situations too where I might bring it to my therapist, and they may not understand it in the same way that my coach would. But then vice versa. My therapist has different education and different way that she sees me. It's interesting too, because as I'm thinking about it, my therapist is neurotypical and my coach is neurodivergent. And so I think that impacts things too. So it's very much relational though. Like what is my relationship with this person? What is the history with this person? And what does that person also bring to the table in regards to their wisdom and their experience? And I kind of evaluate it from that place. But I try not to get caught up in the labels. As much as I respect, like the fact that therapy is regulated. And coaching is not regulated, so you can have a lot of bad coaches as well. For me, some of my most potent healing experiences have happened thus far in a coaching container versus a therapeutic container. But I still find value in both. I think I'm getting a little off track. But yeah.
Taylor Morrison
Well, you're off track of what's on the paper, but you're on track on things that are interesting to me. I'm serious. So as someone who have these transformational experiences with coaching, and has also, it sounds like and tell me where I'm wrong, but it sounds like you have lots of experience in therapy, and then you decided to go to therapy school. Knowing that you have this nuanced relationship with therapy, could you tell us a little bit more about why it felt important for you to build upon your coaching skill set by getting training in therapy?
Megan Colleen Johnson
That's such a good question. Um, so for me, I think it's important to recognize that for me and the way that I work, and what I know about my personality is I am very much like a Knowledge Seeker. And like a depth seeker, like I'm always trying to take in new information, and I think that plays into it for sure. I also really, really value integrity. And so for me to be coaching someone, and to not have the skill set that I like, I technically have the skills to coach, someone, you know, through some really difficult things, right. But I want more. I don't know if that's, I just feel like that some of some of that's just my personality. I want to be extremely skilled at what I'm doing. And I want to be really aware of the dynamics at play for the people that are that are in front of me, so that I can serve them to the best of my ability. I don't take it lightly that when someone comes to me in a coaching capacity, or in the future, in a therapeutic capacity, like you're messing with their psyche, or you can be. And so with growing up for me, I had a lot of experience with narcissistic abuse, being in a high control religion, navigating relationships with folks who have borderline personality disorder. And so because of those experiences, and because of how difficult being in relationship with that, and how it does mess with your psyche, I not only recognize what that has done to me, but I recognize how, you know, when someone's telling you something from their life, or from their business, your response, it holds weight. And so for me, it feels very important to expand my education as much as I can, if I'm going to be holding space for people. Why pursue therapy school, specifically, I think, to some degree was actually because I have had so many poor experiences with therapy. So I kind of had this, like, I'm gonna go into the system, and I'm gonna, you know, I don't know, we'll see if I can actually impact change. I don't know if that's actually, you know, my job or my role to try and do that. But I think that's kind of the initial drive that got me to move in that direction. And in that process, I've also met some incredible therapists. And I think that that's where I have started to take the roles, the titles a little bit more loosely, where you can have really incredible therapists, and you can have really bad therapists, and you could have really incredible coaches, and you can have really bad coaches, both fields, you know, coaching is unregulated, therapy is regulated. And like, it doesn't matter what field you're in, like, there's going to be good and bad of both. Again, I think I got a little off track. But that's kind of a little window into that.
Taylor Morrison
I think you ended up exactly where you needed to be. Thank you for sharing that, because that's something that I've been curious about, especially as I'm intentionally building out my support system. And so it's just nice to hear someone who has their foot in both worlds, both from having a lot of experience as a coach practitioner, gaining experience through therapy school, and also being a client in both industries or in a both fields. So thank you for sharing that. My original question just to tie it back for the listener, I was asking about tips for people for when they're trying to figure out if they should work with a coach or when they should work with a coach. Were there any other tips that you wanted to add there? Or do you feel like you covered it?
Megan Colleen Johnson
Yeah, I do want to speak to the last tip I have. So the first one was you deserve to be supported. Second is kind of looking at coaching versus therapy. And then the third is finding a practitioner who sees you as human. So speaking kind of briefly to this, I do feel like this is one of the biggest things, whether you decide to hire a coach, or a therapist, or you know something else out there, because I'm sure there are other options, finding someone who really sees you as human. And what I mean by that is, in my experience, there are people who kind of, they might see you as an opportunity. Or they might see you as a diagnosis, or they might see you as you know, whatever that label is. And for me, the most impactful coaches, and therapists are also explorers, and they're people who see me as human first, not as a label or an expectation or a diagnosis. And as soon as someone places some type of expectation on me, like this is just kind of one example. But sometimes when sharing my story, you know, I can tell when a therapist starts kind of putting labels to things, instead of exploring with me and seeing things, you know, just like kind of holding things loosely. And that typically, for me, has been when the relationship starts to disintegrate, but it's the people that continue to hold, really open wide space, and who continue to really see my highest self within me, and see me as human experiencing so many different things. That's when the like the relationship lasts the longest, and where we have really incredible success. And that's what I really work to do is just having such a clean and clear energy. So that's my last tip.
Taylor Morrison
I love that tip. And it feels like you're putting words to something that I've experienced, but haven't expressed before. And I started working with a therapist, and for a lot of reasons ended up moving to a different therapist. And reflecting back on that initial experience, a lot of what was happening was like assumption, and I'm not a therapist, but from my perspective, it seemed like almost projection, like assuming that this is what was happening. And what I love about the therapist that I work with now, and also about working with you as a coach is that I can bring something. And yes, in therapies, there's the context of my various diagnosis. And with you, you've gotten to know me and see some of my patterns. But then there's so often that open ended follow up question, instead of like, closed, it must be this, let's go into this. There's an opening before we start to narrow in. And that's what makes those relationships so supportive.
Megan Colleen Johnson
100% Yeah, I agree with everything you just said.
Taylor Morrison
Well, speaking of us working together, I intentionally started building out my support system. You used the word integrity before and I knew I was in this place where I was having a book coming out on self care, in addition to all the other things I do in my professional life, and I knew that if I was going to navigate this system, I needed to get support. In some ways before I needed it, knowing that the launch was going to be busy. But also, I mean, this season is about how I was burned out. And when we started working together, one of the things I told you in my initial intake document was that I was feeling really disengaged with Inner Workout. And this isn't something that until now, I haven't talked about it publicly. But I was feeling so disengaged that I was like, I would maybe just shut down this business if I didn't have a book coming out that was called Inner Workout. And as I look back, I see that a lot of what was happening in that disconnection between myself and my work at large, but especially my work around Inner Workout, was a reflection of my burnout. And I'm curious to hear from you. I talk about it a little bit in the book, because disconnection does come up a lot in relationship to burnout for me, but in your experience, either personally or what you've seen in clients, what role can disconnection play in either being burned out, or working up to the point of burnout?
Megan Colleen Johnson
Yeah, so correct me if I'm like, if I take this in a direction that doesn't feel supportive, let me know. But what I see when, hmm, let me gather my words here.
Taylor Morrison
As you're doing that, I just want to say this is one of my favorite things that you model really beautifully. And you do it in coaching sessions. You do it when we're in our signal chat, but you'll take that pause and be like, Okay, what am I actually trying to say and there's never a rush to like get something out and say it perfectly. So you just gave me an opportunity to celebrate that thing that you do that gives me permission to do the same.
Megan Colleen Johnson
Well, I'm so glad I appreciate that feedback as well. Yeah, I find that really important, it helps me gather my thoughts and then not rush into something that is misaligned as we're speaking about disconnection. So I feel like what's coming up for me, so I actually had an experience with this today, ironically. So I feel like that's just what's asking to be shared in regards to disconnection. So for me, and my podcast this year, I jumped into it with a number of new things that I wanted to add to the podcast, I want to start doing YouTube channel, I wanted to, you know, do multiple different types of podcast episodes, and like I was very gung ho, everything felt aligned initially. However, for me, what I recognized in the past couple of days is that in my alignment with these choices, I had forgotten to also look at my energy and my capacity, especially considering I recently moved and a number of other things. And so as I was working on these different aspects of my podcast, I was feeling disconnected. I was feeling burnt out. Because that integrity and congruence. So integrity, and congruence is the, I think it's the fourth phase of my five practices of freedom. And it's where, in my clients, and in myself, I recognize as we're, you know, recognizing different patterns in our lives. Eventually, there comes a point when we have to align our integrity, which is what we value, and then our congruence, which is what is true for us. So for me with this podcast, while I was aligned with the values and that felt like everything was really aligned with the podcast in that sense. The congruence of like, what is true for me? Well, I'm pretty busy at the moment, I have a full load of classes, I moved recently. So we're still moving in. I have clients and work tasks that I'm woking on, family, working on building new relationships in our new town, like there's a lot going on. And so, for me, what I realized was, I myself had not followed my own pathway of integrity and congruence. And that's typically how I see disconnection and burnout being so deeply connected, is somewhere in our system, there's like a lack of alignment with either our integrity, or our congruence. So I'm gonna pause there and see how that's landing for you.
Taylor Morrison
Thank you for sharing that for being willing to be vulnerable in that way. And, yeah, it resonates a lot, there's something at Inner Workout, we talk about our inner compass, made up of our mission, our vision and our values, and our definition of success. And what I'm hearing for you is, a lot of times, we can be headed towards burnout, when there's something off about one of those elements, like you said, the integrity, or the congruence and also just the reality that we do have a finite amount of energy. And I know for a lot of people in the Inner Workout community, we like to just act as if we have infinite amounts of energy. Even if everything feels aligned, that doesn't always mean that we have the capacity to go after it full throttle, in this specific moment. And part of that alignment is also it being aligned to our energy, not just like, the feeling in our body, or we journal about it, we also have to take our capacity into account.
Megan Colleen Johnson
100% Yeah, I think it's important to just like, this is where self awareness, I think is such a huge part of running a business. And because you do have those practical markers in your business, and then also being aware of yourself, being aware of your capacity, being aware of your personal integrity, and like you were saying, as far as with personal capacity. So like I am a manifesting generator, you and I've talked about this a couple of times, but I have all of my centers defined in human design, which means I have quite a bit of making capacity and my brain is like, let's do all the things all the time. But then my body's like, Hey, yo, like that's actually not accessible for you know, the body part, the brain is you know, that's fine. And so I have to be really mindful of even the different parts within myself, kind of like what you were talking about, I'm not remembering specifically but I think you said something about body and mind. But for me, I have to be very mindful of the different voices even within my own system that communicate, we can do all the things versus no, we need a nap today. So yeah, yeah. Integrity and congruence, that inner compass. And the other thing that I had noted for this kind of aspect of this topic is how this also shows up on a macro scale, like what we're talking about at the moment is kind of the, you know, the personal application when we're looking at disconnection in ourselves and feeling burnt out. But I think this is really visible at a much grander scale as well, when we look at Mother Earth. And the narratives that we're taught, especially in the Western world, as far as extraction and so on. And so I think when we recognize and we tap into that inner compass, we're actually playing a part as well, in that much grander picture of living with more freedom, living with more alignment, living with more self awareness. Yeah.
Taylor Morrison
That's beautiful. I love that you tie that out. That's actually one of the concepts. You don't know this. But it's one of the concepts of my book that I'm most excited to share about more, that I call the ecosystems of care. And it's inspired by Bronfenbrenner's work around social ecology. And it's also related. And I bet we'll talk about this, this more just knowing what other questions we have coming up, but capitalism and the powers that be want to disconnect us from the reality that we are a part of nature, and we do, the way that we interact with ourselves has an impact on the earth, for better or for worse.
Megan Colleen Johnson
Yeah, 100%. Yes, gosh, I'm excited to read your book.
Taylor Morrison
Now that I'm saying that I'm like, I can give you a digital copy, so you can read it early.
Megan Colleen Johnson
So exciting.
Taylor Morrison
Cool. That was a little bit about disconnection and burnout, but something that you talk a lot about, which was definitely something that attracted me to you, as a coach, you preach it and you embody it personally, is this idea of living your freedom now. And I am really excited to hear your take on this. What is the relationship between freedom or in reality for a lot of people, the lack of freedom and burnout?
Megan Colleen Johnson
Yeah, so the relationship between the lack of freedom and burnout. I feel like this really correlates to that integrity and congruence piece. And just the fact that when we feel trapped, we feel a lack of hope. When we feel that we don't have any options, we feel a lack of hope and a lack of freedom, which results in a lot of burnout and physical symptoms as well. And something that can be really interesting if for folks, if they want to dive into this deeper, is also just noticing how neurological development can be impacted. When we look at folks with PTSD, and so on, like neurological development is actually impacted when there is a lack of control. So when something outside of us happens, and we literally have no control, that typically results in some type of, you know, PTSD, C-PTSD type of symptom, and PTSD the way it appears, it often shows up in ways that look a lot like neurological and actually, it does impact our brain chemistry, but it looks a lot like you know, having difficulty with how we're putting together sentences, it can look like, you know, having chronic fatigue and all of these different things, right. So lack of freedom and burnout is a very real thing. So for me, when I speak of living your freedom now, it's been interesting because I've actually had to battle with using that language because in some ways it feels like it could be a really like kind of kitschy mantra, I suppose that could feel almost dismissive. But for me, those words came both from a modeling from one of my coaches and also from reading a number of different books from folks who have been through a lot of trauma. One specific quote that I wanted to pull out is by Dr. Edith Eger, I quote her a lot on my podcast and in other places, but the quote is "The only place where we can exercise our freedom of choice is in the present." And when I first heard this quote, it was on the Dissenters Podcast, and she was sharing the story from when, so she's a Holocaust survivor. And she was sharing the story how when she was a child, she was at a concentration camp. I believe it's been quite some time since I listened to this episode, but she didn't have any food, she had very little choice on her environment. But every day, she found one thing that she could choose, she could eat a blade of grass, she could, you know, pick a flower, or she could, you know, whatever it was. And for me that felt like such, you know, of course, it's incredibly traumatic experience still for her. But I think it's that empowering perspective that allowed her to come out of that, and still maintain hope. It allowed her to come out of that and heal, it allowed her brain to continue to fire in positive ways. And so, for me, this live your freedom now mantra and mentality is, okay yes, there are a lot of things out in the world that I don't have control over but what is in my power so that I can choose some level of freedom, right here and right now. Ultimately, whether we are, you know, in a position where there feels like we don't have a lot of control, and you know, life is not going particularly well, you know, etc, or where, you know, billionaires on the top of the world, or whatever it may be, we can see that. So often, you know, folks who are in really privileged positions are not happy either. So for me, this mantra of live your freedom now, it really is an invitation to choose goodness, amidst whatever chaos is going on. I think there are a lot of nuanced conversations that can be had in that I tried to begin to discuss in places like my podcast, and so on, but ultimately, that's what live your freedom now is, for me, it's a place where we can choose hope, even when the external world doesn't agree with that. And in that process, you know, allow our brains to be familiar with the concept of freedom. Freedom in the flowers outside, freedom in the colors in the room surrounding me, freedom in feeling the earth beneath my feet, or the texture of a soft blanket in my hands. Finding those tiny elements of life that can bring me joy and goodness, because then, you know, that does expand my nervous system capacity to experience freedom, to experience joy, to experience, goodness, so that no matter what is going on around me, I have that inner stability. So I think that's really what that mantra is about for me. And I feel like in my experience, and what I've witnessed in my clients, and you know, what I've continued learning in various forms of education, is when we can cultivate that inner stability, when we do choose to live our freedom In the present moments, we can become a little bit more elastic, in how we handle situations, thus, getting less burnt out. Does that make sense?
Taylor Morrison
Yeah, no, that makes perfect sense. And what I appreciate about having conversations with you on the podcast, but also, in our coaching relationship is that these topics are nuanced, and they're, they're rich, they're deep. We experience them a little bit differently as individual humans like you said, that's why it's so important to find a practitioner who sees you as a human. So that made perfect sense to me. And if anyone's listening and they're like, oh, that's, that's not quite my story. Use it as a jumping off point. Like, what what felt weird about it? And how would you change it to make it feel truer and more authentic to your experience? Like, we're all just individuals sharing the expertise that we have around ourselves. And yeah
Megan Colleen Johnson
100%
Taylor Morrison
That was me getting on a soapbox, because self expertise is something that that's important to me personally, you know, I thought the way that you shared that really resonated for me.
Megan Colleen Johnson
Yeah, and I do want to share too, I feel like kind of speaking to what you said, as far as really that self responsibility and self ownership and self trust, like that's, you know, that comes back to the practitioner seeing you as human and seeing you as like a capable individual who can trust yourself. That's huge. But with this live your freedom now message as well, I feel like it's important to state that it is so incredibly nuanced. And I encourage you to take what serves you and leave the rest, especially as it's a marketing message. Like if we're going to get into business, this is a phrase that yes, is meaningful to me, but it's also a message that I've worked with a business coach on that will ideally land with people. And so it's very concise and tight and like, phrased in a certain way and all of these different things. And that's how, you know, business functions. And that's how, you know, living in a world that is incredibly nuanced, but also, in a world where we need to make money. There's like tension there sometimes. So yeah, take what serves you, leave the rest, and know that there's so much room for exploration, in any message that you hear out there.
Taylor Morrison
Thank you for that. That was so well said. I've got just a couple more questions for you. And one, to bring it back to my own experience working with you as a coach. I at this point, we're like, what, six sessions in and about three, three months, maybe a little over three months in? And it's been fun to see myself like speaking of connection, reconnect to my creativity, and to my curiosity and to my joy. And I know, I'm not alone in this, again, just because of conversations that I've had with other people in my orbit, but joy and play, those two things, especially can get drowned out of the conversation around personal development. What's your take on that? Why do you think those things get conveniently locked out of personal development? And what's the impact that it can have on us as individuals?
Megan Colleen Johnson
Oh, goodness, okay. Yes. It's so funny, when I try to engage in these conversations, sometimes the way my brain works is I tend to see everything as so interconnected. And so sometimes I have a difficult time, expressing in words, the map that I see in my head, but essentially, joy and play. So joy and play, even as we were just speaking, as I just mentioned, kind of marketing. If you experience joy, and play without the need of something outside of you, it kind of throws off the whole system that we exist in, as far as capitalism. And so in order for capitalism to function, in order for growth and production, and, you know, the Western world, as it currently exists, and as much of the world currently exists at the moment, is, it requires you to have symptoms to a degree so you can be sold solutions. And so I think that's where, again, the live your freedom, now, message comes in, and just like the choosing joy, and play in the present moment, is crucial to, you know, navigate systems that are not working, that are not functioning, you know, to the benefit of, you know, individuals and the globe, gosh, lost my train of thought there.
Choosing joy and play is is crucial. Like we when we choose joy, when we choose play, and I don't mean that in a bypass, difficult experiences way. I mean, a honor your current experiences, and also hold space for joy and play. When we do that, we are actively rebelling against the systems. I'll pause there for a second, how is this landing for you?
Taylor Morrison
This makes sense to me. And it's, it is all interconnected. I mean, it's almost, I'm getting distracted now. But yeah, it makes a lot of sense that we need to be disconnected from those things so that people outside of us can sell them back to us with a hefty price tag.
Megan Colleen Johnson
Yeah, like even I'm gonna just jump to my website really quick. The phrase that I have on my website, says, You've been sold a singular vision of happiness, belonging and success, but you were never meant to fit in the mold. So just that first phrase, you've been sold a singular vision of happiness, belonging and success, even what we see joy as being, even what we see play as being, often without realizing it this is where those unconscious patterns are, without realizing it, we've been sold from marketing companies from, you know, skincare companies from, you know, whoever else is out there, what it actually looks like to experience joy. You have to have clear skin in order to experience joy. You have to have, you know, XYZ, you know, tool or type of furniture or, you know, whatever it is, I'm not coming up with good examples. But you have to have this thing in order to experience happiness, belonging and success. And until you have that, you're kind of an outsider, right? And so that's where like living your freedom now, choosing to find moments of joy in this present moment, that's actually what cultivates true joy, true happiness, true belonging. You weren't meant to fit in these molds of what society and capitalism have cultivated to sell you something. You were actually meant to live free and wild as you are with all of the things.
Taylor Morrison
The final thing that I'd like to ask of you before I invite you to share where everyone can find you is, we talked about a lot, we talked about burnout, and how it relates to freedom, how it relates to disconnection, why we are disconnected from joy and play in the personal development conversation, we talked about my own journey with you as a coaching client. If you could offer up one reflection question something for someone who's listening to take with them, integrate some of this into their own life? What's the reflection question that you would offer up to them?
Megan Colleen Johnson
I feel like it just seems really simple. But what ultimately comes to mind is, you know, what is one way that you can live your freedom today? And if there were no rules, no shoulds, no have tos, no you know, whatever else there may be, like, what do you desire for your life right now? Sorry, this is more than one question. And then kind of going back to the burnout aspect of things. What are the agreements that you're currently in, agreements with yourself and with others, and which agreements feel really good? And which agreements don't? Because that's usually like, when you look at that, and what I mean by that is like, Oh, I've agreed to, you know, sit at my desk every day to write 10 words or to, you know, I have an agreement with my workplace, and I'm gonna go into work from this time to this time. Whatever the agreements are, they can look like anything, like which agreements feel really good, and which ones need to be reevaluated. Because usually in that that's where you'll find symptoms of burnout, symptoms of misalignment that can come forth in very different ways. So yeah.
Taylor Morrison
Thank you so much for those beautiful reflection questions. If people want to get to know more of you and your takes on freedom and your beautiful interconnected deep dives that you do, where can they stay in relationship with you? Or how can they stay in relationship with you?
Megan Colleen Johnson
Totally. So the very best place to connect with me is really on my email list. And you can access that at megscolleen.com. That's megscolleen.com. I am on Instagram, I'm not really posting much on Instagram these days, I've decided to kind of opt out of social media. But I do check in on there and do post stories and respond to DMs and such. So those are the two best places to find me.
Taylor Morrison
Well, lovely, thank you so much for this conversation, you gave me a lot to think about. And it's just fun to share a little bit of this. Working with you has been really transformational for me. And so it's fun to give folks a little peek into that.
Megan Colleen Johnson
Of course, yeah, thank you so much for having me. And, as always, it's a pleasure to spend time with you and to kind of explore things with you as well.
Taylor Morrison
Thanks so much for your time, and thanks as always for your expertise. If you haven't pre ordered the Inner Workout book yet, please do that. We've got all the information in the show notes so you can go to innerworkout.co/inner-workout-book to claim your free gift. If something in this podcast resonated with you, share it with a friend. I bet they would love to join in on the conversation as well. And if you haven't already subscribed, rated and reviewed the podcast please take a minute to do that. It makes a world of difference for the show. I'm so excited for you to hear what's next in this season exploring burnout. Take care.
