I've noticed myself saying this — out loud — twice recently.

Both times I was listening to people I actually respect.

And both times something in me went:

"Oh, please stop fucking saying that."

Not because I thought they were bad people.

Not because everything else they'd said suddenly became worthless.

And not even because I could prove they were wrong.

But because they were saying something with such conviction that it sounded like a fact.

When actually, it was

And there is a difference.

A few days ago I was listening to a podcast episode.

There was so much in the conversation that I enjoyed. So much I could take from it.

But when the interviewee talked about the level of stress they experiences running their businesses and essentially described being stressed from the moment they wake up until she goes to bed.

My whole body went:

"No. Please don't say that like that's just the way it is."

Not because I'm questioning their experience.

If that's their reality, it's their reality.

What bothered me was the possibility of someone listening who dreams of building a successful business hearing:

"This is what success looks like."

Stress from morning until night.

And then making an unconscious decision:

I don't want that.

"Maybe I'm not cut out for business."

"Maybe success isn't for me."

"Maybe that's the price you have to pay."

No.

That's one person's experience of success.

It doesn't have to become the definition of success.

Then I was listening to someone else

I listen to this person quite a lot while I'm getting ready in the mornings. I get a LOT of gold from them.

But they are very certain in the way they communicate in a very strong masculine energy.

They'll tell you an idea is rubbish.

That something is bullshit.

That you need to stop believing one thing and believe something else instead.

And recently I heard them talking about the extraordinary opportunity we have to create wealth right now, in 2026.

The message I took from it was essentially that this is the greatest time we'll ever have to create wealth and opportunities like these won't come again.

And again, everything in me went:

Oh, fuck off.

😂

Not because 2026 isn't an extraordinary time.

It might be. I feel we are living in the most extraordinary time in history.

But who gets to declare that the opportunities available now will never be surpassed?

What if 2036 contains possibilities we can't even comprehend yet?

What if 78-year-old me is sitting somewhere fabulous, drinking coffee, looking back at 2026 and saying:

"You thought THAT was opportunity? Hold my coffee ☕️ sister !! let me tell you"

And that's when something clicked for me.

Years ago, I might have heard one thing I violently disagreed with and rejected everything else with it.

Now I can stay.

I can listen.

I can take the gold.

I can hear something useful and say:

That's coming with me.

And then hear the next thing and say:

Nope. That's yours. You can keep that one.

And carry on listening.

Maybe that's what discernment actually looks like.

We don't need to make somebody wrong to decide that their belief isn't ours.

And we certainly don't need to turn someone's experience into our instruction.

Because information isn't instruction.

Someone can be enormously successful, wealthy, educated, spiritual, experienced, famous or respected and still be speaking through the lens of their own experiences and beliefs.

The danger comes when we forget that.

When their certainty becomes our certainty.

When:

"This is what I believe"

quietly becomes:

"This is how life works."

I think we need to be particularly careful when we're listening to people we admire.

Take the wisdom.

Take the idea that makes something inside you expand.

Take the thing that makes you think differently.

Take the gold.

But keep hold of your own authority.

Because I don't want you to stop listening to Myron and believe me instead.

Good God, no.

I want you to question me too.

Question all of us.

Notice what happens inside you when somebody announces something as though it is an indisputable truth.

Does it expand you?

Does it contract you?

Do you actually believe it?

Is it true for you?

Do you WANT it to become true for you?

You are allowed to admire the teacher without adopting every teaching.

You are allowed to sit at the table without swallowing everything you're served.

You are allowed to say:

Thank you. I'll take that piece.

And five minutes later:

No. That one isn't mine.

Maybe that's not rebellion.

Maybe that's Higher Self-Leadership.

If you'd like to continue the conversation, I'd love you to subscribe to my newsletter, listen to The Fab Over Forty Show, or download one of my free resources below.

Aligned and Free Reset

Build a Business You Love

Because this is only the beginning.

Remember. Realign. Rise.

Alison x

Founder, The Freedom Empire Movement.