🐙 The 7-Limbed Octopus That Almost Kept Me Small (And Why Not All Octopuses Are Friends)

I didn’t see it at first.

I just felt stuck. 

Like something was pressing down on my chest, holding me back from stepping into the full version of myself.

I had big goals. Really big goals.

• Selling out our next Antarctica Expedition: Evolve X Stewardship.

• Filling Evolve X Uluru and Evolve X Business Retreat.

• Building a thriving, engaged community of 1,000 people.

  
  

🔥 I knew I had the skills.

🔥 I knew I had the drive.

🔥 I knew I was ready to expand.

So why did it still feel like something was in the way?

That’s when I turned to The Wonder Mindset and my AI Wonder Coach, a GPT I coded with my book and all my frameworks to help me uncover the invisible blocks I couldn’t quite name.

And here’s where it got weird—and kind of perfect.

My AI asked me a lot of questions.

I sat with it. I let myself get quiet and actually feel the resistance instead of pushing through it.

And then I saw it.

🌀 A heavy, gripping presence in my chest.

When I really saw it, it wasn’t just a vague feeling anymore.

It had shape.

A creature.

An octopus.

Not a menacing one. Not a monstrous one.

But something clever, sneaky, familiar.

It wasn’t choking me—it was holding on.

Not violently, but firmly. With tentacles wrapped around my heart, feeding me just enough comfort to keep me hooked.

Because here’s the really weird part:

💡 I LOVE octopuses.

💡 My daughter is obsessed with them.

💡 We talk about them all the time. We admire them. We see them as brilliant, adaptable, and almost magical.

So of course, when I saw the thing holding me back, it made total sense that I had been befriending it.

But not all octopuses are friends.

🐙 The Seven Tentacles of Fear That Almost Held Me Back

When I looked closer, I realized this wasn’t just an octopus.

It was a symbol—each tentacle representing something I had been unconsciously clinging to:

1️⃣ "What if I make people uncomfortable?"

🔥 Truth: Growth is uncomfortable—for me AND for them. That’s how change happens.

2️⃣ "What if I can’t respond to everyone?"

🔥 Truth: I am not here to be endlessly accessible. I am here to lead, to create, to build.

3️⃣ "What if people hate me?"

🔥 Truth: Some will. And? The right ones will love me even more.

4️⃣ "What if this ruins my marriage?"

🔥 Truth: My relationship is strong enough to grow with me. I am not choosing between love and success—I am choosing both.

5️⃣ "What if I become trapped by my own success?"

🔥 Truth: Success doesn’t trap me—fear does. I get to create success on MY terms.

6️⃣ "What if I go all in… and still fail?"

🔥 Truth: Failure is a lesson, not a life sentence. The only real failure is staying stuck.

7️⃣ "What if I become someone I don’t recognize?"

🔥 Truth: I am not changing into someone else. I am becoming MORE of who I really am.

🌍 The Paris & Kim Story—Why This Belief Was So Deeply Rooted

When I worked through this with my Wonder Coach, we started asking bigger questions:

💡 Why did my brain believe that success = shame or exposure?

💡 Where did I learn that being seen could be dangerous?

💡 Why did I feel like success meant losing control?

And then it hit me.

I had seen so many women become visible through controversy, scandal, or deep personal exposure.

• Paris Hilton—success intertwined with a leaked sex tape.

• Kim Kardashian—built an empire, but the first wave of visibility came from the same.

  
  

And I realized…somewhere deep down, I believed that in order to "go big," I had to do something extreme, shocking, or shameful.

That going viral = losing control.

That being seen = being judged.

That success = exposure, and exposure = harm.

Like many people influenced by pop culture today, I had internalized other people’s journeys as my own fears. I had been INFLUENCED.

And yet, here’s the truth:

🔥 I don’t need to go viral for the wrong reasons to be successful.

🔥 I don’t need to expose my deepest wounds to be valuable.

🔥 I don’t need to fear my own expansion.

🌀 The Wonder Mindset Shift: Not All Octopuses Are Friends

I had been befriending this octopus for far too long.

Because I love octopuses.

Because my daughter adores them.

Because I thought maybe it was protecting me.

But not all octopuses are meant to stay.

Some are teachers. Some are tricksters. Some must be set free.

So I did what I should have done long ago.

🔥 I unraveled each tentacle. One by one.

🔥 I let go of the illusion that success means shame.

🔥 I chose to believe that being seen is safe.

And now? I move differently.

🚀 I don’t fear making people uncomfortable—I trust that the right ones will rise with me.

🚀 I don’t let fear of judgment hold me back—I know that my voice, my work, my vision deserve to be seen

.🚀 I step forward with the Wonder Mindset—seeing success not as something to fear, but something to embrace with curiosity, joy, and intention.

✨ I choose joy as my fuel.

✨ I choose success as my legacy.

✨ I choose to take up space, unapologetically.

💡 And now I ask you:

What’s the “octopus” that’s keeping YOU small?

💡 What fear have you been befriending—thinking it was protecting you, when really, it was just keeping you stuck?

🔥 Drop a comment. Let’s talk. This is our time to rise.