Episode 42: When Did We Stop Trusting Ourselves?

Sep 24

When did we start believing that someone else knows what is right for us better than we do? In this episode, Alyson steps back to examine a thread that has quietly emerged throughout Season 3: the ways we outsource our authority and place other people, institutions, experts, mentors, celebrities, influencers, and spiritual leaders above ourselves.

Drawing from her own experiences with leadership, mentorship, social media, wellness culture, spirituality, business, and consumption, Alyson explores how easily guidance can become dependence and admiration can become a pedestal.

The answer isn't to stop learning from people, trusting expertise, or admiring others. It's to recognize the moment someone else's voice becomes louder than our own. Because underneath the conversation about authority is a much more personal question: when did we stop trusting ourselves?

In This Episode

Why Alyson started questioning who and what she's placed above herself
Growing up in a family that taught her to question authority
Losing her own voice under militaristic management early in her sales career
What abusive leadership in tech taught her about power and control
The institutions we've trusted for generations, and why so many feel like they're cracking
Realizing the mentors who once guided her couldn't chart the path for who she'd become
How social media created an endless supply of experts, gurus, and people claiming to know best
The pedestal of consumption, from influencer culture to a decade of dark wood furniture going in and out of style
Watching spiritual leaders fall from the pedestals we built for them
Learning to dismantle the pedestal without dismantling the person
"I'm taking apart the pedestal, not the people."
"My own intuition and my own inner compass are the only mentor I need in my life."
"Who are you putting above yourself and why?"