You can use intimidating, triggering, confronting, slightly (or massively) outside-your-comfort-zone experiences to grow and expand. To shift your identity and see yourself and your life in a whole new way.
I call this a “portal to transformation,” and I had such an experience back in January.
My BF and I went on an 8-day luxury vacation to Vegas (I shared the full story inside The Manifest Method course).
And one of the things we did while we were there was went shopping at The Shops at Crystals. If you’re not familiar with Vegas, Crystals is a super high-end shopping mall where they only have designer and luxury brand stores, like LV, Cartier, Dolce and Gabbana, and more.
This is normally the kind of place I steer clear of. I’ve never been that interested in luxury items or spending a lot of money on something that I can buy a cheaper version of somewhere else.
But truthfully, the main reason that’s been the case was because I:
- Never felt worthy of luxury experiences or designer items
- Never believed I would get to have them or be able to afford them (or that anyone else would give them to me)
- Didn’t think I could afford it even if I did want it
But on this vacation, my goal was to really challenge myself.
I wanted to force myself to face into uncomfortable situations and things that made me feel not good enough… just to see what would happen.
So when my BF asked if I wanted to go walk around Crystals and check out some stores, I said “yes,” and in we went. As we walked around, I was in awe.
Gorgeous designer bags and shoes and clothes and jewelry everywhere I looked. People walking around carrying shopping bags that said Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton.
You could feel the energy of money and luxury and it was intimidating.
I didn’t grow up having a lot of money. My family was middle class and I never went without, but luxury and designer items were not even a consideration let alone an option.
So walking around that mall, I felt like a fraud. I felt like I didn’t belong. I knew I didn’t have the money to buy even a tiny fraction of the things that were sold in these stores.
Why even bother going in?
But like I said, I wanted to challenge myself to get super uncomfortable and work through my “not good enough for this” inner BS.
The first store I went in was Alice + Olivia. I had seen this brand on IG and other places and knew their prices weren’t too crazy. It felt like an easy first step.
I went in and started looking around. So much of what I was seeing was my style and things I would love to wear. As I flipped the price tag on the leather jacket I loved, my stomach only dropped a little.
It was $500, which really isn’t too bad for a designer leather jacket. I continued on, looking at the items I liked, flipping the price tags, and seeing how the number felt in my body.
It was uncomfortable, but it didn’t seem insanely far out of reach. There were some tags where the price was $90 or $150 or $200 and that didn’t scare me as much.
I even got ballsy enough to try on a tank top that I really liked. I had never even considered trying on anything at a store like this.
In the dressing room, I fell in love with the shirt. But it was $150. Was I really gonna spend that much money on a tank top??!
But I just wanted it. I liked it. It looked so cute on me and I knew I could find a million things to wear it with.
And then I remembered I had stashed away $100 in cash from Christmas gifts, and I could put the rest on my credit card. I bought the tank top.
The sales associate wrapped it up all lovely in tissue paper and put it in a reusable shopping bag. As I walked out of the store, I felt like I had just cleansed away years of limiting beliefs around myself and money and what I got to have.
I wanted more.
Next up, we went into Tiffany. I didn’t intend to buy anything, but there’s a necklace I’ve been eyeing online that I wanted to see in person.
I found it in the store, and then the sales associate asked me the dreaded question: do you want to try it on?
My usual response would be ”no.” After all, if I’m not buying it, I don’t need to try it on or even touch it. I just wanted to look.
So of course when she asked me, I replied “yes,” and she took the necklace out of the case and handed it to me.
I put it around my neck, hooked the clasp, and gazed at myself. The necklace was beautiful and much lighter-weight than the photos online made it look.
After a few minutes, I took it off and handed it back to her. She put it away and told me if I wanted to see or try anything else to let her know.
I continued to walk around the store looking at things. And all the while reminding myself and holding in my energy that I belonged there.
My BF and I eventually left the store. We didn’t buy anything but I’d felt yet another shift in my inner world.
I’m good enough to be here.
I belong here.
I deserve to be here.
I get to be here.
This gets to be my life.
And I’m good with it…
We went into a few more stores, all of the ones I always dreamed I could go into but previously never would’ve allowed myself to.
And as I walked around, I just continued to remind myself that I belonged. The discomfort, the feeling of not being worthy or good enough subsided a little more with each store we went into.
Our final stop was Gucci.
We wanted to look around. I wanted to see the Gucci belts.
I’m not a huge belt person, especially belts with large buckles, but I’d been seeing so many people with the Gucci belt with the big GG on it and I really liked the way it looked.
So we walked around looking at all the things until I found the belts on a wall across the store. I made a beeline for them.
And the first one that caught my eye was a black skinny belt with a small matte black GG on it. I was in love.
I’d never seen a more gorgeous belt in my life.
I tried it on over my blazer, to cinch the waist. It looked so good.
And I had a thought… this is for me!
For my whole life, I never cared about or thought designer things were for me. That I didn’t even want them.
But standing there with that belt wrapped around me, I could see and feel a new me emerging. A new way of seeing myself and who I got to be and what I got to have and buy and afford.
I decided to get the belt. And not only that.
I decided to buy it with the intention that it would be a symbol of who I was now choosing to be and the level of money and life I was now calling in and claiming for myself.
I wore that belt multiple times during our trip and every time I did, I did so claiming who I was now becoming… someone who luxury and designer items are normal for. Someone who has so much belonging and self-worth that it’s not at all intimidating to go into a designer store (or another affluent place), even if I choose not to buy anything.
So it’s also not surprising to me that during our luxury trip to Vegas, I had my biggest book royalty month ever (at that time—this month I’ve already blown past that amount and by quite a lot!).
I started to see myself in a different way. I started aligning myself with new things. I dealt with and released a lot of inner shit I was still holding onto that was limiting so many things for me.
You can always shift your mindset, identity and way of seeing yourself at any time just by deciding to.
But portals of transformation are a really fun way to up-level yourself and your life and I highly recommend them.
P.S. I show you how to create portals of transformation for yourself in The Manifest Method, my signature manifestation course that helps you to manifest whatever you want without worrying about the how!! You get lifetime access + all future updates—so anytime I add a new module, Bonus, whatever, you get it!
I will be continually be adding new stuff as I further grow and expand my understanding of intentionally co-creating life with the Universe.
