389: How to Handle the Holidays

I am sharing my 2025 Word of the Year in this Season 7 finale episode and talking about what it has been like to become an influencer over the course of my life.

This episode is a bot of a peak behind the curtain of my personal growth as an entrepreneur that I don’t often share.

I hope my share inspires your own introspection about what parts of you that you hide or resist and that you find a way to integrate it.

This season has been such a fun one to get to share the unleashed hearts I know and I hope that you have felt inspired to unleash more of yours as well.

What a fun ride 2024 has been and I am honored to have shared some of it with you!

From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU for listening to the Hearts Unleashed Podcast, where we are turning dreamers into doers.

I love you.

For episode reference, here is my 2025 word of the year blog piece:

Confession, I used to gag a little at the idea of being an influencer.

I was ashamed and embarrassed if people thought that’s what I was doing online.

I would listen to the way others would talk and joke about influencers and feel terrified about what people would say about me when I wasn’t around. (Especially based on what some people have said straight to my face.)

I have felt deeply insecure when filming in public.

I have been afraid that people judge me as vain, arrogant, self-centered, conceited, etc.

I have overly concerned myself that people think I am vapid and superficial, because I share my life online.

I have internalized the jokes, spoofs, parodies, comments, and more - and to carry that around has been heavy and harmful to my well-being and potential.

I have wrestled with this battle for years as my influence and audience has grown.

I have developed a protective layer of righteousness because I want to be taken seriously for my craft and my gifts.

I am a coach, no doubt.

I am a teacher through and through.

But when it comes to showing up online, I have done everything I could not to be perceived as an influencer.

I am a content creator.

I am an author.

I am a podcaster.

I am a YouTuber.

I am a community builder.

I am a course creator.

I am a CEO.

I am an inspiration.

Call me a million things...

but not an influencer.

I have given way too much of my personal and professional power away being so averse to that simple word, concept, and identity.

So much so that I unconsciously suffocated that part of me quite a bit compared to my earlier years of sharing content.

So let’s all have a little laugh together...

Raise your hand if you have ever been influenced by me.

L.O.L.

Hi, I am Abigail Gazda and I am an influencer.

I influence people to dream.

I influence people to see the greatness in themselves.

I influence people to heal and forgive.

I influence people to accept and love themselves.

I influence people to take aligned action towards their purpose and passions.

I influence people to share their gifts.

I influence people to have important and honest conversations.

I influence people to love.

I influence people to practice patience, grace, and compassion.

I influence people to share their authentic selves.

I influence people to live in their heart-centered leadership.

I influence people to develop emotional intelligence.

I influence people to integrate their shadow.

I influence people to write books, build businesses, and launch podcasts.

I influence people to have boundaries and raise their standards.

Influence people to take leaps of faith.

I influence people to practice self-care and prioritize well-being.

I influence people to meditate.

I influence people to invest in themselves.

I influence people to travel and adventure and explore and discover.

I influence people to share their passion and joy.

I influence people to go inward and find their truth and power within.

I influence people to find, build, and nurture community and connection.

I influence people to believe they can do anything they commit to.

I influence people to try new things.

I influence people to take a chance on themselves.

I influence people to live with their heart unleashed.

I influence people.

I am an influencer.

...and a proud one.

One who has become much more willing and ready to step into that identity with love, compassion, joy, fun, and play.

Funny enough, this may seem trivial to those of you who already see me as such, AND yet our success cannot supersede our self image.

The internal friction I have navigated with this development has created a glass ceiling that has limited my reach, influence, and po...