673. The First Piece of Finding Yourself Is Unpacking

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When was the last time you made a decision that fit for you? Performance coach and creative business strategist Shari Teigman joins Lesley Logan to pull back the curtain on the chaotic beauty of perimenopause. Shari specializes in helping high-achieving people stop following outdated templates to finally start listening to their own internal rhythm. This episode is a permission slip to stop holding everyone else’s baggage, how to move from fear to curiosity, and start making decisions that actually serve the woman you are becoming today.

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In this episode you will learn about:

  • Navigating the "not this" phase to rediscover your true identity.
  • Why perimenopause is the best time for deep internal decluttering.
  • The "red shoe" analogy for carrying other people’s emotional baggage.
  • How to transition from paralyzing fear to productive, playful curiosity.
  • Using internal contradictions to stop lying to your own nervous system.


Episode References/Links:


Guest Bio:

Shari Teigman serves as a catalyst for high achievers who are ready to dismantle the status quo and reclaim their individuality. As a performance mentor and strategist, she guides leaders through the process of unlearning rigid structures to make room for radical, creative breakthroughs. Shari is best known for her ability to cut through the noise with a blend of sharp strategic insight and a "Maverick" spirit, encouraging her clients to stop adjusting to external pressures and start building lives that resonate with their core values.


Beyond her strategic work, Shari is a dedicated advocate for personal sovereignty, helping global professionals navigate the complex intersection of high-level performance and emotional well-being. By challenging the traditional "resiliency" narrative, she provides the tools necessary to move from a state of constant survival into one of intentional, authentic growth. Whether she is addressing the mental shifts of perimenopause or the hurdles of international business, Shari’s mission is to ensure that success never comes at the cost of self-recognition.

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Episode Transcript:

Shari Teigman 0:00  

In our lives, we walk around carrying everyone else's red shoes and polka dotted bags and pile of crap, and you walk around wheeling it with you, because you call it identity, you call it belonging. You call it your culture, your religion, your family, your blah, blah, blah. And you open up this bag and it's filled with shit you don't know, so you have no room for new stuff.


Lesley Logan 0:18  

Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. 


Lesley Logan 0:57  

All right, Be It babe, get ready. Get your notes out if you're driving, Get your ears on. This is an interview I was stoked to have, and I'm even more excited for it to be in your ears right now than I could have imagined. Shari Teigman is our guest today. She is the coach for Mavericks. But really, truly, you high flying women that listen to this podcast who are going through perimenopause, maybe already there may be on the other side, but when I talk about being it until you see it, sometimes you're like, well, who am I? Now? We are going to dive into so many different amazing tools, tats. There's going to be nuggets that are going to just go that hit right where I needed it to. You will relisten to this episode. I know it's great. We did record during Mercury in Retrograde. So there are a couple of times where I think there might be a blip in the audio. I promise you you didn't miss anything. So please bear with the three of those that happen if my team didn't get rid of them and and just know that like the magic is here, and it's very much worth listening to, and relistening to and sharing with a girlfriend of yours who needs to hear it. So here is Shari Teigman. 


Lesley Logan 2:06  

All right, Be It babe. So here's the deal. I have been kind of stalking this woman for a bit through the socials, and when I saw her and what she raves about, I was like, oh, we have to have her on the be it pod. She is exactly what you guys need to hear today and probably repeat this episode. We haven't had it yet, but I have a feeling there's gonna be some nuggets you're gonna want to relisten to. So Shari Teigman, tell everyone who you are and what you rock at. 


Shari Teigman 2:30  

I would say I feel pressure, but I don't. I'm just excited. So thank you for having me. I'm very excited to be here and stalking right back. So I always love finding a friend on the interwebs that sounds and moves like me. Well, you move better than I do, Pilates and all, but the energy, the excitement and the passion for life and a lot of realness as well. So I am a performance coach and a creative business strategist, and I help people unleash the Maverick within them. So it's stopping following everyone else's bullshit templates and moving into a space where you're listening to your own gut, you're following your own rules, and it doesn't mean you're rebelling against anything, and it doesn't mean you have to be angry at everyone. You know the stage of life can come with a little perimenopausal rage, which is always welcome in my world. But I work with both men and women to find a beat of their own drums so that they don't have to be checking in everyone's yards to see what they're doing and measuring themselves non stop. We're not in high school. I didn't do it in high school. I'm certainly not doing it now. So that is the fire that I like to bring to the world.


Lesley Logan 3:27  

Oh, I love that, and I love how clear you are in what you do. And I'm sure many people's ears perked up on the menopausal race, all that stuff, because I think, like one of the things that so I started doing this podcast years ago, and I'm like, I know who I am and people are trying to figure out why I'm so confident, and really, it's just because I do things scared. But then, like, you know, you start to get past 40, and you're like, why am I freaking out? Well, who? Why am I (inaudible). 


Shari Teigman 3:52  

Fearless me? 


Lesley Logan 3:54  

Yeah, why, why am I hesitating? Like, what? What is happening and and like, in being until I see it, it's like, wow, this is, like, a lifelong thing. Thank goodness I like doing this. But also, but also, like, it is interesting to get to know yourself again when you especially for the women who love the show and who we attract, who thought they did, and now they're like, kind of feeling like my girlfriend said today that she feels like she has, like, sea legs.


Shari Teigman 4:20  

Yeah, it's so nice of you to call it interesting, to get us to know ourselves, because I have some other choice words for the state of life while I accept it and rage, it's fascinating. And may not get all metaphysical here, and you're going to have to drag me into a crone phase of my life. I don't plan on going lightly or gracefully, but there is the no shits given point where we do get to course correct and say, okay, for those of us who did know ourselves for the past 15, 20, 30 years to check in that that's still what we want, or the identifications are still valid and accurate and have not expired just because everyone else like someone they work for everyone else. So it's a real face to the fire moment of I say I'm all these things. I better check in that I still am because I'm too tired and can't remember anything to pretend I'm something that I'm not. So I think it's a real truth telling phase. And like I said, I'm not planning on getting old and wise, but I will be loud and old and happy, fun. I just got to get through this can't remember my name thing, and then, you know, carry on to the next chapter. 


Lesley Logan 5:28  

The other day, I saw this thing, and the guy was on Instagram, and the guy was like, hey, you meet someone who was born in 1995 and it's, they're 30 years old. And you're like, that's interesting. I'm 30 years old. And then I'm like, weird. And then I was like, wait, oh, I'm not I. I just keep thinking that I am.


Shari Teigman 5:45  

Yes, my eldest son turned 26 and I am not okay because I'm 22 and I'm not good at math, but that is not math. That is off, all off. 


Lesley Logan 5:50  

So you said we have to, like, check in with ourselves. And I think that that is, like, a brilliant thing that no one has told us to do, right? Like, as you grow up, everyone's like, what do you want to be when you grow up? And then you go to school to be that thing, and you're like, check the box. And I think all the high flyers are good box checkers. Like, check this box and check that box and and so we've checked all the boxes, and then we get to a place, it's like, but how do you check in? Like, you add more boxes. What? What did you do, Shari? Like, how do you check in to see if these are the things you still want?


Shari Teigman 6:22  

So it's a long answer, Lesley. 


Lesley Logan 6:24  

I'll take it. 


Shari Teigman 6:27  

For me, I have, I have decluttered the boxes many times, because for the first 33 years of my life, I fit very well into the boxes I was supposed to that I was given. And I did a great job, and I was funny about it and zesty about it, and Miss bubbly and head cheerleader and exactly what you think I was like at 18. I still am like at 51 and I went through a really rough divorce in my early 30s as a mom of two kids, and after a couple of years of survival and just knowing what I didn't want, which is a very painful but beautiful process I can say now later, that not knowing what I want, Liz Gilbert had a great I saw her in an interview, and I love her. In my head, she's my best friend, but she just doesn't know it yet. So we'll let her know it's fine. But my bestie, Liz said on this podcast, she went through an era which was called not this. So everything became not this, not this, not this. Most of us think we have to know what we want, and you said it, we're asked when we're younger, what do you want to be? I have no idea what the hell I want to be. I have no idea what the things are my options. So I can pick something off the cereal shelf and not know what's inside. And then, because I said it, I then went to school for it, and then I wore the t-shirt for it, and I told everyone about it, and I posted on social media about it. I can't not do it now. So we wear these costumes for a while, and then they start getting tight and uncomfortable, and not because of the perimenopausal weight. I mean, internally. And then you say, wait, am I allowed to put it down? Is the question I asked myself. So in this, not this phase, at the end of my divorce with these two amazing kids that I love, I then free myself from a situation and I saw black because I had no idea who I was and I had no idea what I wanted. I hadn't gotten up to asking myself that question, probably for the first time in my life at 34. Terrifying, highly don't recommend, but we got here. And so I think at that point, I stripped away everything that I knew and said, well, if none of this was true, what if I could be anything? So hence, the Maverick was born after, I mean, I make it sound really nice, there were a lot of crying on the floor and break down in the therapist's office. And I had had psychiatrists call me scrappy. He's like, you don't need meds, you're scrappy, you'll be fine. I blew up at him, and I don't react to anyone. I was like, I get a reward for being able to constantly be in survival mode. Americans, brace yourself. He refunded me my $250 which does not happen in our country. He was so apologetic that he pissed me off so much he probably got all the rage that everyone in my life until then had not gotten. It was amazing. So the long answer is, I checked in, and all of a sudden nothing felt like me. And while that was scary, it was so liberating, because I didn't have to fit new stuff into an old package. I was like, wee let's just turn the whole thing upside down, and I rebuilt what I wanted and put the right things back in in the drawer, instead of whose is this sock? Like example I always use is, I think the first piece of finding yourself is unpacking. So let's say you go on a girl's weekend with a bunch of friends, and the last night's a little blurry. No one remembers how they got to the airport. You get home, you open your polka dotted suitcase, and there's a red shoe. You don't have a red shoe. You go into the WhatsApp group, you're like, hi, guys, has everyone thrown up yet? Anyone's red shoe? Does this belong to anyone? Of course, you know it's not yours. But in our lives, we walk around carrying everyone else's red shoes and polka dotted bags and pile of crap, and you walk around wheeling it with you, because you call it identity, you call it belonging, you call it your culture, your religion, your family, your blah, blah, blah. And you open up this bag and it's filled with shit you don't know so you have no room for new stuff. So you and I's come into the world with all this passion and all this excitement, and everyone's hands are filled wondering, where do I put one more thing? You have to unpack, and you have to understand why you keep repacking the same thing in order to then get a chance to make any choices.


Lesley Logan 10:33  

That is an I love that long answer so much because it's like the simple like, the part that we all wanted to hear was like the short answer, oh, just do these three things. 


Shari Teigman 10:44  

I can't do it because I don't believe it. And I used to listen to it and cry and think I was broken because I don't have that availability. So now what do I do? 


Lesley Logan 10:51  

Yeah, and I also like, thank goodness, like, that guy gave that money back. I can't believe there was a guy and he gave his money back. I can't believe it was a man who told you you don't need drugs. But I can't believe apologize (inaudible) because one of the things that like, I it like, is nailed on a chalkboard when someone goes, oh, you're just so resilient. I'm like, I don't want to be resilient anymore.


Shari Teigman 11:14  

And I hang that one up because I know, and I know you all appreciate it, but it's killing me from the inside, so (inaudible) anymore? Thank you for appreciating it. 


Lesley Logan 11:25  

Right because also, like, of course, as a business owner, as someone who's still, like making the money we need to make till we're retired and living our best life. Resiliency is great in my day to day, like operating my business, but like being resilient in my friendships and my family-ships and all that stuff, it's like, no, because then you don't ever check on me. No one checks on me. 


Shari Teigman 11:43  

And also, we don't know how to ask for help yet then, because it's already uncomfortable and there's no room for it, so you're like, but can I? No, can't, no. 


Lesley Logan 11:51  

Why can't I ask you because I'm holding your red shoe. I can't ask you because I'm holding your red shoe. 


Shari Teigman 11:56  

And I never learned how, so I guess I'm the red shoe holder now.


Lesley Logan 12:01  

Okay, so, but then, like, so we have to, I love the not this, and I love the unpacking. I think that that is so key. It's, I mean, like, you know, there's something I want to, I want to do in our business, and it requires letting go of some other things. Like, you can't, can't just keep adding to the, you know, it's so then it's unraveling. Like, well, what am I letting go of? And what? What does that look like? And for everyone listening who is freaking out, I'm not letting go of the things that you're paying for, don't worry. It's like, doesn't affect you. It's not affecting you. There's no change affecting you. Okay? It's affecting the people who work (inaudible) I know I'm like, it's affecting, it's affecting the people who work for me. It's not affecting you. You have to stipulate, because people start to freak out, like, so, but thankfully, I understand that right, like the old, the old me would have been like, okay, let's just, let's just, let's just add these, undo that expander zipper and, like, shove, we'll just shove this in. So I love that. I know that about myself now, and I think that that is the real key. But I think, you know, you Shari, got to figure that out kind of in your 30s and so, and like, I find that a lot of people are figuring out in perimenopause, as they're freaking out and don't know themselves, and now they have to unpack. And that's a I find, I still, I feel nervous for that, because is it a hard time to, like, relearn who you are, or is it the best time to relearn how you are?


Shari Teigman 13:21  

Both. It's hard and the best time. Because as crazy as this sounds, because from a neuroplasticity place, we can't hold on to as much of the story as we did because of the brain fog and the hormones changing, there's a release valve comes. But what's terrifying about it is we never had it before. So the feeling of loss of control is one that makes us want to grip to the old story, my old identity, the things that I achieved in my job before the younger people came in and take it, or technology's changing, or my kids no longer think I'm cool, or I've been with my husband 40 years. I can't even hear him chew anymore. You know, like all the things that we hear from this rage that they don't realize is coming from a lack of tolerance, the tipping point in themselves of what they've made okay for themselves for all these years. So it comes out in a burst, because it's not going to come out any other way. There's not going to be everyone at 2pm everyone open up their computers, scream, and then close it, and we'll all feel better. I mean, I feel like we should start this. The world would be a much better place. But since we don't have it, we wait until everything is chaotic and we hate everything, and then we have to start looking at it. So the kind of stuff I teach, when I teach with FemGevity and with a lot of my private clients, is just starting to ask yourself better questions. Instead of assuming it's only this one category of life, it gives you more permission to be creative. I think if we move from fear to curiosity, we ask better questions, we get better answers. It doesn't mean I'm asking anyone to change anything yet, but when was the last time you made a decision that fit for you? I know it hurts, because even as I teach it, I'm like, brace yourself, girls, because we're going in and I'm going in there with you, oh, my god, I haven't made a decision for myself or I didn't think of my partner, or I didn't think of my team, or I didn't think of my kids, or I didn't think what my family is going to think. I don't know. I don't know the last time I asked myself that. So then I have someone just start with an easy thing. What do you want for dinner? And it's heartbreaking to ask a woman in their 40s and 50s, what she wants for dinner, and she looks at you with a blank look because she doesn't know. She (inaudible) went to what do I have leftovers for the kids, for tomorrow, for school? What can my husband take? What did I get from the supermarket that's about to spoil? I asked what you want for dinner, and then the tears go. What kind of TV do you want to watch? What sheets do you want on the bed? And we're talking professional, high achieving women who just look completely blankly at no one ever taught me to I wouldn't, wasn't allowed to ask a question. There was no space in my high achieving masculine run life and then emotional vulnerability that I have to hide. Who has space for it? So I think if we allow ourselves in this perimenopausal phase to say the exploration can be curious and creative and playful and find community to do it in. You're not crazy or we're all crazy together, and we're just going to figure this out, and there's no right or wrong answer, and no one is taking anything away from you. So it's in sovereignty we get to unpack one whole red shoe for another three years? Go right ahead, girl, no one's pulling the shoe away from you, but if we can slowly untangle the things that hurt us the most limit us the most, a lot of the other stuff sorts itself. It just feels like an emergency because we've never asked ourselves the question. 


Lesley Logan 16:38  

Yeah, it feels like an emergency because I also think like we are so, our brains don't really know how to prioritize different things, so we the red shoe and the leftovers and that big merger you're working on, or whatever it is, they all take up the same priority level in the brain. So that's why they feel like that, right? But I want to highlight something, you said, untangle. And I think that's where a lot of people don't understand that that's such a key word I got to study with BJ Fogg and his and his habits training, and he talks about how to break a habit, which is, you have to, there's no such thing. It's not a stick. You have to unravel it. Because a habit is something that you no longer like, that you do, like a habit.


Shari Teigman 17:21  

I don't know how to make habits. I'm like, oh, sure, you do. Where's your chocolate habit? Where is your phone scrolling habit? Like you're an epic master at your habits. Everyone needs to be different. Who is it? We're wired.


Lesley Logan 17:33  

We're wired, you're, it literally is a brain wiring thing. And so untangling those things, and it's true, like when you can figure out, okay, I would like to untangle that I have I don't get to choose what I'm having for dinner. You know, then it becomes, you get to figure out, well, where did it start? Well, actually, maybe everyone you've been thinking about, everybody wants for dinner, and they actually thought you were thinking what you wanted for dinner.


Shari Teigman 17:57  

And also you're dead on. And it's a more gentle process. It's not like you walk into the family and say, you can all fuck off and make your own food. I want pasta, and they will look at you like, did you bang your head? And then that perimenopausal terror on everyone else's face, receiving the rage is like, oh, wait a second. Can everyone pick a night like they're gentle ways to do this. I actually want everyone else to make some decisions in this house, teenagers then feel empowered. A partner is then included. You get to pick, or guess what, you're allowed to eat something different than everyone else. It's most of these parameters we put on ourselves, and we blame everyone else because we didn't ask.


Lesley Logan 18:34  

Yeah, yes, no, I'm laughing so hard. Okay, so my husband, he's amazing at doing projects at night. Like, he like, he like, like, the sun goes down, I go to bed, and he is like, you know, he becomes the midnight gardener. Or, like, he puts together something, or, right before I turn this on, he's like, hey, did you see the thing I did in your office? Like, he put all the cords, you know, all the cords, in like, a little sleeve. So, like, it's nice. I know, we love him. Last night, he was doing the same thing he did the same thing he did the night before. The night before, I slept like the dead. I got like a 90% recovery, last night, 1:14 I'm hearing this like It's like drilling, and I am like, did I get up and go, hey, that's I just woke up to that. No. Instead, do you know I did? I sat there for 15 minutes going, when the fuck is it gonna be done? (inaudible) And then I marched down the hall, like, what the fuck are you doing? 


Shari Teigman 19:28  

Why is this a good idea? 


Lesley Logan 19:31  

Why are you doing this? And he's like, I did this last night. I didn't wake up last night. And I was like, well, clears in a different part of my rim cycle. I'm clearly in a different part of my cycle right now.


Shari Teigman 19:44  

Wind has blown. I am no longer who I was yesterday. You should have known that.


Lesley Logan 19:49  

Hello, but like, it's this funny thing, because we we do take on so much, and we wait until it's the paramount explosion to say what we're thinking instead of like, I thought, at at the moment I woke up, I thought, what is that noise? And if I had just been inquisitive it could have been, oh, hey, instead of, like, the and then, of course, did I sleep? No, I didn't sleep because I was angry.


Shari Teigman 20:10  

You weren't finished. You were still processing. You know, it comes like someone doesn't throw out a tissue and the whole house you're on fire just because you didn't say 14 other things because, oh, it's fine. It's fine. It's no longer fine, ladies, it, none is, nothing's fine. So we have to find our voices be kind, and realize we taught everyone else how to treat us so we don't get to be mad at them. We get to teach them what the next version of us needs, and most of us have no idea. So we get to sit down with our children, and we get to sit down with our partners and our friends and our family members, as terrifying as it is, and say there's a new sheriff in town, and I'm just getting to know her, and I need a little grace. And I like I know for my partner, I'm not speaking for him, but I could see the relief on his face when I'll actually say what I'm feeling, instead of him trying to guess which mood I'm in, or I say I have no idea what I need. And he's so relieved, because then he doesn't have to figure it out. Like the people who love us just want us better. Is it over yet? I wish it was over. I don't have cold. I'm just 51 it does. I don't know when it ends.


Lesley Logan 21:17  

I know that's the fun part. It's like, like, and also, and also, if you care about your heart health, ladies, you want to keep it going for a really long time, so then you better figure out how to talk about what you need and how to manage is the, not the word I want to because I don't like the way that it sounds, but like navigate or dance with all of this change, because once you are on the other side of this and your brain has changed and all the things, then you get to worry about your heart. So I'm just gonna say like you might want to lengthen this out and figure out who you want to be.


Shari Teigman 21:54  

Also, what an opportunity. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I like to take the funny side of life. If we already feel like shit. Why don't we start unpacking when we already feel like shit? I'm not gonna wait till I feel better to then figure it out. I'll be much more honest with myself if I have frustration. It's like, you know what? I don't want to do that anymore, even though I've done it every Tuesday for the past 20 years. I'm good. I don't want to apologize for it. No is a complete sentence. I don't have to be unkind. But I'm done. I'm done with that task at work. People then learn your new boundaries, and weirdly, they adjust faster than we do. No one else stays up at night worrying about this. Oh, she wants something different, cool. Oh, God, I should have said that 20 years ago. Why didn't I say that 20 years ago? 


Lesley Logan 22:35  

Yeah, yeah. Well, and that's, that is, I think, where a lot of people get stuck. It's like, why, why? And it's like, almost like it's that is worth exploring. And also, in the meantime, just start sticking up for yourself now.


Shari Teigman 22:46  

Process it later but we'll get to it. And I find a lot of my clients, both men and women, are so terrified to put down what they've been doing, because if they realize that it's much easier to get unstuck than it was to get stuck, they're mortified at how long they tortured themselves, in their mindset, in their performance, in their roles, in what they made true. I could just decide tomorrow not to be stressed about that. Obviously, there's more to it. But then, what do I do with the 20 years of torture that's I have to reconcile that I lost that time, or I gave that away, or I let someone else make decisions for me, it's painful, but we don't have to sit in it, acknowledge it, and say, I'm not going to lose any more days.


Lesley Logan 23:28  

Yeah, yeah. I guess, like, do they need to I mean, do they need to feel the pain? Do they need to grieve? How do they what is the best way to acknowledge it so that they can, you know, keep going with the new way and be satisfied in that?


Shari Teigman 23:41  

I love the question, because most people think I can't do that. You have no choice if you want to get there. I believe that equal to the level of joy and fulfillment and peace you want, you have to be willing to go as deep as you want to go high it's we don't get to close off one door and then think, you know the arrow is going to stretch without pulling it back. So I like to call it the glorious end. I can be pissed off and ready. I can be terrified and excited. I can be sad and elated about something. So if I don't allow the emotion, the emotion will sneak up on me when I don't want it, it will come out in the who put the empty cereal box back in the cabinet. It'll come out at work when it should have come out at home and vice versa. It'll come out in too small a new decision, because I don't have the bandwidth to make the real decision I want. Why would we waste more energy? So for me, I tell everyone, men and women, feel it. Punch a pillow. Cry in a pillow, write it out. Burn it out, whatever your ritual needs to be dance it out, bang it out. I'm actually coming out with a journal in a few months that is basically, it's called The Maverick Way: A Field Guide to Coming Undone on Purpose. And every exercise is more ridiculous than the next one. And it's like, the Fuck It Resume is one of them. Like, what are the things you're terrible at? Write it out like we have to tell the truth so we can't. Pretend to only have the highlight reel, and then feel like a human being I am awful at some things, which reminds me of why I'm so good at other things. Then I've got my own way. I don't know what I want. Of course, you don't know. You don't know who you are. You're not willing to say I'm not good at that. Knowing that bothers me. That makes me cry. Am I too much? Okay, am I too little for someone else? Okay. We have to take all of these rules away, feel what we need to feel, and say, I know that might not make may not make you sad, Lesley, but I've been thinking about this for 40 years, and I need to sit in this for a couple of hours and just grieve what I made okay, or mourn what I lost, the conversations I didn't have, the jobs I didn't get, the pain I allowed myself because I didn't want to hurt anyone else, like ow, that hurts, and we get tired of the feeling very quickly when we let it stick it out, when you avoid it, it will chase your ass everywhere and pop up when you don't want it. I am going to grieve, because it's part of my process of making space for something new. I'm unpacking. So I'm unpacking, and I'm understanding. In my unpack, I'm really angry at my third grade teacher because she told me that I couldn't do something, and I believed her for the next 30 years, and she wouldn't even remember who I was. So I already think it. I might as well let myself, let it come up, journal it out, write it on the wall, scream it, throw it, laugh at it. Whatever you need. You get a freedom. There's just a release. As soon as you have release, just like in our bodies, you know, Pilates, yoga, what do you do? Breathe deeper into it so it releases. Grip it. You're all in grip. You know, it's a Chinese finger, that's trapped, it's not getting out. So how do we get out of where we're trapped? We release. We go deeper in, and then we can come out. It sounds scary, but if we don't judge emotions for right or wrong, we'll just feel what I need to feel. I don't need it anymore.


Lesley Logan 26:45  

Oh, I love this so much. And also, are you gonna do a fuck it retreat? Because you could do a fucking retreat where we could have rooms with pillows and then the smash rooms, and then we could have those, like those phone booths you could just scream in. 


Shari Teigman 26:57  

And then a nap room for all of the exhausted rage.


Lesley Logan 27:01  

Yes, oh my god, this is like this all. It could just be a fucking space, and people could just be members.


Shari Teigman 27:07  

Yes, I love this. Every month there's a new way to let it go.


Lesley Logan 27:12  

I'm in. I interviewed this guy who, like, created these booths for hospitals where, like, nurses or doctors could go in. And I think he said it was just so they could have some peace and quiet, because hospitals are really loud, and all I could think is, like, you could scream in there.


Shari Teigman 27:26  

I would totally. Are you telling me it's soundproof so you won't know what I'm doing in there? (inaudible)


Lesley Logan 27:34  

I know. Like, isn't this? I think this, in Vegas, there's a place where you can go and, like, smash things. And I'm like, you can go, like a rage.


Shari Teigman 27:40  

(inaudible) to one in New York. I think it's the greatest thing I've ever done in my whole life. We did it five years ago. My kids and I are still talking about it. It was so powerful, and it was very meditative. And I never felt stronger in my life. We were running in the streets afterwards, kicking garbage cans, which maybe they should have a restroom afterwards, because we were so amped up.


Lesley Logan 28:01  

Like, like a waiting area, like a reentry.


Shari Teigman 28:05  

We're gonna integrate before we let you on the streets of Brooklyn, lady, thanks.


Lesley Logan 28:11  

Oh, my god, I love that so much. Okay, so obviously, like, you work with these amazing Mavericks, and you do have a lot of experience, and you talk about perimenopause, is there anything that you find in the perimenopause space with women? Because that's we have a lot of and we have, you know, we have a women who are on the other side and enjoy your space, ladies, I hope you're, hope you're having a great time. We'll get this. 


Shari Teigman 28:30  

We're coming as fast as we can.


Lesley Logan 28:33  

But is there, are there signs and symptoms that people are ignoring? Because I think, like everyone pays attention to the medical ones, the hot flashes or dryness, or my whatever, but like, what about like, the emotional? And that's one of the things I think I tried. There's these, these things that come out in our personalities.


Shari Teigman 28:50  

I think it's that. It's those days you feel like Jekyll and Hyde, and then you're counting your cycle, and you're wondering, it's not physical, it's the emotional, shorter fuse. Care about less things, because sometimes we're more emotional and other times we're equal amounts of completely numb. So when you feel yourself numbing out, notice when you feel yourself raging about something you didn't care about before. Or I know for me, the lack of control when a brain fog comes in, I'm obviously creative and very cerebral and very verbal, and when I can't remember my name or remember how to say the word pink, I get terrified. I thought I had dementia. I didn't know this was a thing. I was I something's wrong with me, so noticing when you just don't feel like yourself, like I remember when I was pregnant with my first son, I was 24, what the hell was I doing? But okay, I was 24 shouldn't have been allowed to cross the street by myself, and I didn't lose him. He's great. We were figuring things out as we go. But we have these books What to Expect When You're Expecting. Never read them. If you don't have the symptoms that week you think something's wrong, and the last time I checked a woman's body, you and I could be next to each other. We won't have anything that's the same. Why the hell would I follow someone else's blueprint for life, pregnancy, for business, for relationships? I don't want blueprints. I want tear away sheets where I can make it up and then throw it out when I'm done. So if you feel something that isn't you and you're not sure how you feel about it, because some of us like that, all of a sudden I care less or that I can't remember every detail about some gossip someone told me that I don't not interested in. I kind of like that it blows out. So when I started noticing the difference, because I was scared, I only paid attention to the bad things. But when I found out I wasn't dying, I blessedly, didn't have dementia, I'm just lucky enough to graduate to the next video game of mother of womanhood, yay. And the new monsters are coming. I tried to look at, what are the good things? And I do that with all the FemGevity women is, what do you like in the midst of it that I can't juggle as much as I used to? So, I used to be queen multitasker, and I can't do it anymore, and it's okay, and it's actually really nice for my nervous system not to be the master of all at all times, like, I don't have that valve anymore, I can enjoy that, that when I want to be present, I can actually feel more present, because I can't be on as much as I used to be. I care less about a lot of things, so I will speak out for myself, not as much as I'd like to, but much more than I used to, because I can't keep it in anymore. It just comes out of my mouth, like, who, who said that? I would never used to say that. So look at the pros and cons of this. If we're on this roller coaster, instead of just gripping the bar, maybe we could put our hands up once in a while. Maybe we can enjoy the view from at the top of it before we drop. So what are the things that if you could let go of that you've never been able to your whole life? What if this is the opportunity to loosen some of the glue, move some of those joints and let it out anyway, in the wash, because it's going so we don't have to hold everything and new hobbies, things that I haven't made the time for, that my brain can use as new instead of I used to be good at this, and I'm not anymore. What else do I want to try? So I travel a lot for work, so I'm in London for a month, New York for a month, alternating. So I try to let my brain be a different version of me, wherever I am, because I'm jet lagged and exhausted, even if I didn't go anywhere. So it's like, okay, which version is going to be me? So like, I'm in London now, when I go home, I saw a three hour DJ class. I'm not a musician. I know nothing about it, but my brain wants something new to chew on, instead of all the mistakes that I've made and all the things that I can't remember and where did I put my keys? I'm going to go use it for something fun. If there's space in there, because I can't remember anything, I might as well put something good in there. So I think it's the permission to let it flow out of you, good and bad at the same time, and just say you're moving anyway. So you know, when you move house, like, while it's emotional and sad, you find shit you didn't even know was there. So the piles for donation and the clearing out of the 14 mugs you got at someone's Bar Mitzvah that you don't need. Like, it's a great time to let stuff go. We don't have to pack it all and bring it to the next place. So I think if you look at it as a time of decluttering and re-deciding those mental symptoms can be less scary. It's not, oh, I'm gone. No, that version of me doesn't want to be here anymore, because if it did, I'd find a way to keep her.


Lesley Logan 33:22  

Yeah, yeah. Oh, okay. I'm obsessed with you and all this. And there is the woman who's listening going, okay, well, easy, easy for you to say, you know what? I mean, like, what do you what do you say to the person who's like, kind of, and I'm sure you've met them, they kind of fight to to hold, I mean, we already talked about this, fighting to hold on to the shoes.


Shari Teigman 33:42  

(inaudible) I am her, so I was the biggest train wreck in this of anybody. I've got two kids in their 20s. My mom, who was my best friend, passed away a year and a half ago. I work internationally, so I never know what time zone I'm in, and then perimenopause hits, and I'm 4'11" and gained about 45 pounds overnight, so I looked like a little blueberry. I didn't like I don't know what. Everything changed at once. And I'm a fighter. The psychiatrist told me I'm scrappy. I still have that personality trait. I don't go down easily. I don't surrender easily, which is why I'm really good at what I do, because I know the resistance. If 17 years ago, me met me now, I would cross the street. I would never go anywhere near me, because I didn't want the help. I didn't think anything was wrong. I couldn't handle the silence of my own mind. I was in survival mode. So like I get it, I want everyone to know they're looking and listening at a version of two women. I don't know your backstory, but I know you do the work. Who do the work? Which means there was a reason we started the work. You're seeing an evolved version of us. I mean, if you want the old me, I'm good, I'll tell you. And you people say to me, why do you tell everyone everything like so they don't put me on some imaginary pedestal. I'm crazier than you. I'm ragier here than you. I have more mood swings than you. I. Work with people, and I don't like them so much most of the time. I love souls. I don't like all the people-y stuffs like, I'm friendly, and then I'm not. I'm an introvert, and then I'm an extrovert. I'm on stage dancing, then I don't want to talk to anyone like I am the whole kaleidoscope. So for all the women thinking, oh, but you've got it figured out, I made it up as I go along, and I make it up every day, and people pay me a lot of money to help them make it up also. So if we make it playful and we make it funny, it's easier to untangle, it's easier to get out of our shackles, because everyone's making it up. 


Lesley Logan 35:33  

Yeah? Well, that's the thing, right? Like, that's the thing you like, discover along your entrepreneurial journey. I'm like, I'm in a room with all these people who are making all this time, like, oh, you just bought ads and (inaudible).


Shari Teigman 35:46  

And you're crying in the bathroom too, while I wanted to take a selfie with you because I thought you were a guru, I'd rather hug you in the bathroom crying. This is even better. 


Lesley Logan 35:52  

Yeah, yeah. And it's, it's really, it's so true, right? Like, because, like, we're on social media, and people can be like, the the typewriter troll, who's like, oh, easy. It's like, and I have just come to the place where I'm like, I really do like, this phase I'm in. I'm like, no, I was homeless 10 years ago, and I've worked my ass off to do my dream job. (inaudible) Yeah, yeah. So I've worked my ass off. And so you might think I'm this, but I'm gonna tell you right now, I deserve everything that I have right now because I work for it. So don't take that from me and.


Shari Teigman 36:16  

Go (inaudible) your mother's basement and (inaudible) someone else.


Lesley Logan 36:26  

Exactly. So, but, like, it's so fun. Like, I'm like, wow, the 10 years ago version be like, oh my god. People think I'm this. 


Shari Teigman 36:34  

An imposter. Yeah, no, I am fully me. Sorry everyone. 


Lesley Logan 36:37  

Yeah, but I do. I'm with you. Like, I also think that a lot of people we do have, we have put on imaginary pedestals, have told us their traumas and their stories, and we only we are like, this is this? You are the Mecca that I need to be, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna do all the things. And so I think it's really easy for us to just forget that stuff. And I appreciate your honesty. And I also think thank you for sharing like for everyone listening, I hope you heard like, you just have to kind of get started and get to know every single day. You can't wait until you feel ready. You're not gonna feel ready. I'm sure, I'm sure Shari's never felt, I don't feel ready. 


Shari Teigman 37:12  

I don't feel ready even when I am ready because I wouldn't even ask myself that question, well, we're doing this then, aren't we?


Lesley Logan 37:18  

Yeah, yeah. It's true. Yeah. It's so true. Because, like, the one time I I said, okay, people, it was many years ago, but the first time I was teaching like 85 people, and all these people had come to this, the first time this event was happening. So, like, I was so, like, I felt blessed and honored and excited to be invited to this, the inaugural of this thing. And I'm looking at all these people who've, like, wanted to take class with me, and they know what they're doing. And then I'm looking at this front this front row of people who just wanted to support me, but they've never done anything. And I'm like, oh my God. I have people who don't know what they're doing. I have people who have this expectation of me that I don't even know what it is. And my husband was micing me, and I'm like, is the mic on? And he's like, no. And I'm like, I'm actually, like, really nervous, right? Like, I don't think I can do this. 


Shari Teigman 38:01  

I don't even ask if the mic's on. I'm like, I'm gonna ship myself, and it'll be 600 people waiting, and I don't want to go, who gave me this microphone? Who thinks I can do this? And then 20 seconds later, I'm on stage, arm flapping like nothing happened. Like, bring all of it with us. If you weren't scared, you wouldn't have missed the whole thing.


Lesley Logan 38:19  

Yeah, well, and also, and that's just exactly it. And he just like at me, and he just said, how is this different than what you already do? And I was just like, oh, that's right, thank you. Thank you for the reminder that, like it's, I'm fine, but I think, like it's, it's so important that you all hear like we're every person you put on a pedestal. You hear their story, you're like, oh my god, I'm so inspired. They wake up every day and have to figure out who they are that day, like they all do. 


Shari Teigman 38:44  

The panic in our stomach some days and the anxiety. And I'm not wishing anyone stuff they don't have, but I want you to know everyone has their version of this, and it's not, oh, you're so brave. I didn't have a choice, so I got brave. And some days I'm not brave and but unfortunately, I'm a naturally happy, sad person, so like, I navigate this who are we going to be today? I want to be happy, but I feel sad, but I am happy, but I'm also sad. I stopped trying to pick one or the other. I'm both. I love when I'm on a podcast and like BJ Fogg's sister Linda is a friend of mine. We were in a mastermind together years ago. 


Lesley Logan 39:20  

She lives, she lives in my town. 


Shari Teigman 39:21  

Linda, you're kidding me. I love she's amazing. How funny. What a small world. That's crazy, like I watched the Linda's and the BJs of the world, and it's brilliant, and it's all very organized, and it's strategic, and it makes sense. And then you've got me, who is complete creative chaos. It's the only way I know how to function. You either love it or I terrify you. I'm fine with both. I can't, not going to change. I've tried. This is who I am, and I'll be on a podcast big audience, and they're like so Shari, what are your rituals every morning? And I burst out laughing, because I'm not going to lie to anyone which day, which mood, which temperature. What's it like outside? What am I wearing? I don't know. I wake up every morning I decide what I want to feel. I'll start with a feeling I want connection today. So yes, my days are crazy and scheduled, and I'm blessed to have a very busy coaching practice, and I run a department for a company in a country, in another country like I don't have a lot of flexibility in my time, and I still have to lead with what I need. Otherwise, no one else will get anything from me, and it took me a long time to not go into my own performance mode to help everyone else with their performance. What? I stepped into the same step for wife game that I was in my marriage. Climbed out of that, and I'm like, oh, coach world, green juice, yoga pants, alignment, words, what am I wearing? It's all lovely. If it works for you, that's when the Maverick was born. It's either going to be my way or I can't do it. Stop trying to pick up everyone else's way of fitting into your own life. It won't fit you. So again, it's that curiosity, it's that playfulness, it's the bad mood and good mood mixed together. Then you're being honest.


Lesley Logan 40:54  

Yeah, it's true. I am. I have three hours every morning for a morning routine, and the very start of my morning routine is the same. I get into a cold plunge. I read three books that are like daily things that I'm hopeful that something sticks, and then I go for a walk. And then after the walk, it's like, okay, what do I want to do? Do I want to do Pilates? Do I want to do my shake plate? Do I want to do my red light? Do I want to have breakfast now or breakfast later? And it has to go with what I'm feeling, which is why I gave myself three hours to do that because I, like you, I, well, I just discovered I have ADHD, which is its own fun thing, to discover perimenopausal. And then you're just like, oh, I'm the one they need to I thought my husband had ADHD. No, I do. And then it's like, wait a minute. So I'm overwhelmed because of the ADHD and. 


Shari Teigman 41:47  

All of it, yeah. 


Lesley Logan 41:49  

Just like, What do you mean? I can't, like, I'm also freaking out about the typing of the fingers because I, like, I just thought that I just had sensory integration disorder. So it's just you have to, excuse me, excuse me. I just wasn't diagnosed as a child and and here we are and now I get to know myself and perimenopause. But I think, like, I love that you share that, because I think that there's a world where you can be in the yoga pants with the green juice and the alignment words, and if it does, yes, and if it doesn't work for you. You can be like Shari and I and you can ask yourself how you want to feel, and give yourself the time to feel that. And I think that that's brilliant, yeah. 


Shari Teigman 42:27  

And then have your green juice, or take a nap or rage or sleep or meditate like it's all wonderful, but none of these things are going to save you from yourself till you know yourself.


Lesley Logan 42:34  

Yeah, oh my god.


Shari Teigman 42:34  

It doesn't work. I tried it.


Lesley Logan 42:34  

I'm obsessed with you. We're gonna take a brief break and find out how people can find you, follow you, work with you, and your Be It Action Items. 


Lesley Logan 42:44  

All right, Shari, where do you hang out? Where will this journal be when it's ready? Where can they stalk you?


Shari Teigman 42:55  

So I hang out on Instagram. I am there. I am loud. Sometimes I'm consistent. This is my consistency. I'm gone for a week, and then you'll see me 14 stories later. It just depends on the mood. When the mood strikes and the ideas come, the journal will be out, I'm hoping in February, which is extremely exciting. It's being designed now by a chaotic designer, which is perfect for me. And I love making new friends so they can come and come say hi to me on Instagram. It's Shari Teigman. You'll see me with my crazy glasses. As I'm known for a variety of glasses, it only happened because I'm on Zoom all day long, and I get very tired of looking at my face, so I needed to mix it up so that I wouldn't be bored. So I'm saying hi.


Lesley Logan 43:39  

I just needed some magic to look at. There were signs that I had ADHD. I'm like, let's put stars on your hands.


Shari Teigman 43:44  

I wouldn't have known it, right? I don't know where it came from. So I'm there. This is what I'm like all the time. I love when someone gets on a call with me, like a sales call, like, oh my god, you're exactly like you are online. Who else could I be? This is enough trouble to maintain you think I'm gonna have another personality for someone else? So I'm exactly like this. No one else answers my messages. I love meeting new people. I'd love to hear what you got from the podcast, what you're working on, what's your Maverick? What do you want to say out loud that you won't say to anyone else, like, I'm here to witness it. Come and play.


Lesley Logan 44:17  

Gosh. Okay, you have really given us so much already, but we do like our bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps at the end. What do you have for us?


Shari Teigman 44:25  

So I actually felt long and hard about this, which you should feel special, Lesley. 


Lesley Logan 44:29  

I do. I actually really do. 


Shari Teigman 44:30  

(inaudible) about anything, so I'll think about it and then I'll forget it. So it's not a want to, it's just in and out. So I think, based upon everything we talked about, an easy action step to live this is it's a hard one to say out loud, but it's going to punch everyone in the face, which is why I like it. Clean up the internal contradictions, and it's as simple as you're saying you want a bigger life, but you keep making micro choices. You're lying to your nervous system. You're answering an older version of yourself. You have to understand that the identity that you want for the life that you want is going to require aligned actions to that. So it's as simple as I say, I want to do Pilates every day, and yet I find myself laying on the couch. Pilates isn't happening. I did it today. I am tired from jet lag. I'm a yoga person. I love it, and I haven't done it so I could tell you, I love yoga, but I haven't done it in six weeks. I didn't realize till I said, when's the last time I took my mat out? Oh my god, I would have told you I did it a few days ago. Perimenopausal brain, I thought I did. So, telling ourselves the truth and cleaning up the internal contradictions makes us stop looking for answers from the outside of like, how come I just can't do it because you're not telling yourself the truth. So if I choose to lay on the couch, maybe I needed it that day. Maybe I didn't realize that that's what I wanted. Like, if I decide to stay on the couch, I do it intentionally. If I decide to do the yoga I don't check my phone in between, like, choose whatever it is intentionally and clean up those internal contradictions. The questions you ask will be much more clear and much more honest, and then you'll get to some answers.


Lesley Logan 46:07  

It is a good punch in the face, and I really like it. 


Shari Teigman 46:09  

I punch myself in the face with it too. I'm like, oh god, if I say it out loud, I then have to do it.


Lesley Logan 46:17  

I it's so true, and it's really it's really funny. We get smart like, then I'll just keep it to myself, but.


Shari Teigman 46:23  

Not gonna unleash that one. Are we? 


Lesley Logan 46:25  

No, I'm like, I won't tell anyone, and then they won't know. 


Shari Teigman 46:29  

Let me know how it goes. 


Lesley Logan 46:31  

Yeah. Oh, that one is so good. I'm so glad to have you. I mean, we're gonna have to have you back. I can't believe we haven't crossed paths, because I feel like you are just a dear friend in my life already. You guys, I agree with Shari. What touched you, what made you think like, what? Where did you go, oh, fuck it, Shari. Can't believe you called me out. She wants to know. I want to know. So tag her. Tag the Be It Pod. Share this with a girlfriend who needs to hear it like cheer for the scrappy front of the resilient friend, because I know that they need to feel so seen, and you know what to do. Until next time, Be It Till You See It. 


Lesley Logan 47:03  

That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.


Brad Crowell 47:46  

It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.


Lesley Logan 47:51  

It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.


Brad Crowell 47:55  

Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.


Lesley Logan 48:02  

Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.


Brad Crowell 48:05  

Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.



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