“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

You made it! Welcome back to my Reflection Series, a walk through the past, present, and future of She Takes on the World as we are working behind-the-scenes here to rebirth our brand and the shetakesontheworld.com site.

In this series, I’m taking stock of what I’ve been up to the past couple of years (with some details you may have never heard before), and revealing what it’s been like to move to a new country, make some huge life changes, and recreate the She takes on the World brand in total alignment with who I am now, and where I’m going.

(If you didn’t check out Part 1, go read that right here so that this post will make sense to you. I talked a bit about what sparked my move to the U.S., and why I knew it was the right thing to do even though it brought up a lot of fear for me.)

At this point in our story, we’ve traveled back in time to 2015, when the call of my soul was to uproot my entire life, and move myself and my company to the U.S.

You already know what happened up to this point: I chose to step forward.

I chose to leap.

Which brings us to this next chapter: The beauty of following your intuition.

The most incredible thing about trusting your intuition — or your “gut”, your “messages from the universe” or your “North Star” — is the way that even one step forward towards that feeling, no matter how many people are advising you against it, reaps so many rewards, almost immediately.

There’s an incredible ripple effect that happens when you surrender to the call of your soul.

That’s why, when the universe won our coin-flip bet (“If I’m granted residency, I go. If I don’t, I stay”), and I became a U.S. resident in record time, I knew my journey had begun. And because I was following the pull of my intuition, there was an abiding certainty underneath all the chaos.

It wasn’t the smoothest financial or legal choice. Friends and family thought I was nuts. Advisors argued with me. Yet, I could feel the call deep within me that I had to go, or I’d stay stuck forever. I’d already been passed over for opportunities because of my location in Canada. My choice was to was say yes to the U.S., or stagnate. So I chose to say “Yes.”

In true Natalie fashion, I had to see every city I wanted to live in before I made a decision about where to put down roots.

I spent a few months in Brooklyn before heading off for a West Coast road trip to San Diego, up to Los Angeles, through the desert of Sedona, and onto Portland and Seattle.

Here’s the tricky thing about letting intuition be your guide: You know when you don’t feel it calling out to you.

After weeks of travel, I hadn’t stepped into a neighborhood or a city that gave me that “gut feeling” or sense of belonging I was searching for. It was like the inner compass I’d been following had just stopped working.

“Come on, Universe! I stepped up — now it’s your turn.”

I was starting to get frustrated — until on my last day in L.A. before I headed to Sedona for vacation, I decided to make one final stop.

There was a neighborhood I wanted to check out before I left that houses both the biggest WeWork co-working spaces in the world, and the gigantic West Coast YouTube studios. Great idea, right?

Except fate had other plans. I spent an hour looking for the WeWork space (which I never found), and driving in circles until I turned down a street I’d never seen before, called Runway Road.

Suddenly, I was overwhelmed with “that feeling,” that this could be home. It was bizarre, it was overwhelming, and yet I knew it was completely right.

A little shaken, I made a mental note, and we got back in the car and drove out to Sedona.

As the desert whizzed past my window, I kept thinking about the feeling that came over me.

Before long, I was second-guessing it. Part of me wanted to discount it completely.

“Maybe you’re wrong.” I said to myself. “Besides, your legal team is going to throw a fit if you move there. You should go be somewhere safer and less expensive. You can always fly into LA if you need to.”

(My legal team had two rules, by the way: 1) Don’t live in New York. and 2) Don’t live in LA. OOPS.)

Head still spinning, I met with a shaman in Sedona.

“Natalie, all I can hear is ‘California! California! California!’”

Uh-oh.

We spent time inviting further signs and a perfect home for me and my company to show up in the coming days. It took all of 11 minutes for the universe to deliver.

As I walked outside into the open air, I received an email from an independent housing site I’m subscribed to about a new block of condos on the same street I’d had “the feeling” on in LA. Bam.

I’ve learned over the years that when you ask for a sign and it shows up for you, you better show up for it. So I booked a flight back to LA with a fire in my soul.

I took a cab straight from the airport, and as I walked toward the building through the courtyard, the feeling came over me again. It was like walking home after a long day. Though everything around me was brand new, it felt so familiar and right.

The women at the front desk looked up confused as a sweaty, extremely excited woman (me) burst into the lobby with a suitcase.

“Hi!” I said. “I want to live here, and since your sign says ‘MOVE IN TODAY’ I want to move in today.”

She hesitated. “Ok, so tomorrow or the next day might be the earliest because it’s the end of the day… and we have a ton of units available but I only have time to show you 3 units max. Which do you want to see?”

I remembered the unit pictured on the advertisement email I’d read after leaving the shaman’s cave. It was the same number as my condo back in Canada.

“I think my home is this one,” I said, showing her the email I had. “Let’s go see that one and you pick two others to show me that you think are great units. We’ll see yours first.”

We looked at the first two units. They were lovely. Then we went to the one I wanted to see and as soon as I walked in the door, I knew that was home.

I barely glanced at the unit before I turned to her: “OK, where do I sign?.” After I moved in I was surprised to find things I had missed on my quick walk-through, like a wine fridge built into the kitchen!

Then, I called my attorneys. “Hey guys, change of plans…” And, by grace and grit, I managed to move in the next day.

I slept on my yoga mat the first couple of nights while waiting for my mattress to arrive. There was something beautiful about sleeping on the ground surrounded by big, open space. Space that dreams and intentions and love would fill.

But it wasn’t all bliss. I felt waves of heart-wrenching homesickness. I baptized my floor with tears. I spent hours staring at the ceiling feeling like none of it was real. What have I done? Do my attorneys think I’m nuts? How did this happen so fast? Why am I here?

And yet, the universe stepped in to take care of me. Over the next days, I discovered treasures in my new home that were all the amenities I’d ever hoped to have, like gifts waiting just for me. The staff were also incredibly kind – helping me set up my furniture, guiding me through the first days.

So, She Takes on the World Inc. now has a new HQ. We’re sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean and YouTube, Facebook, The Honest Company, and other entrepreneurs doing amazing work in the world.

I looked back in amazement at all that had unfolded.

Now, there I was. Opportunities and connections started popping up, and the feeling my company and I belonged there grew stronger and stronger. It was a calling so powerful it just could not be ignored.

It was NOT the logical choice. But that’s what it means to fully live in alignment with yourself, and your soul – to know when faith must eclipse logic.

I’ve asked so many questions. I’m terrified, and at the same time I’ve felt an incredible peace. I feel it in my bones that this is where we’re supposed to be. That is the tiny cloth of comfort I’m gripping as I navigate through the mud of transition.

The journey to alignment can feel like a series of amazing miracles — that all these doors and windows are opening for you, if you’d only listen within.

Which brings me to my question for you for today:

When was the last time you felt endless doors opening up for you? What calling are you ignoring that you could step forwards toward today to set off a chain reaction like that?

I’d love to hear from you about it in the comments – or I invite you to journal about it privately if you prefer. But whatever you do I want you to acknowledge, and feel into that intuitive hit you’ve been receiving — even if all conventional wisdom, and advice from trusted friends, goes against it.

I want to make sure you know this: At every step of the journey to alignment, should you choose to take it? You will be supported — if you’d only find the strength to be brave.

However, with all the bliss of trusting our intuition, the universe doesn’t just let us change for good without testing us.

With all this transformation there is a shadow side — and in this case, it was a great letting go, a shedding of old skin, relationships, and futures once imagined that must now be laid to rest.

However, that’s the next step of our journey next week. So for now, I’ll invite you to reflect on today’s question. I’ll be back next week, same time, same place — and I hope you’ll join me.