New Beginnings: Embracing Change

Hey loves, welcome back to The Music of Life! This week’s episode is a heart-to-heart from a whole new place—literally. I’m recording from my brand new space, and let me tell you, it already feels like home. After months of praying, manifesting, and prepping for change, I’ve landed exactly where I need to be. In this episode, I’m sharing the magic of fresh starts, the emotional rollercoaster of moving, and the beauty that comes with releasing the old and embracing the unknown.

I talk about the personal transformations I’ve experienced—internally and externally—from my wardrobe to my mindset. This isn’t just about a change in zip code, it’s about stepping fully into the next chapter of life with an open heart and wide-open arms. If you’re navigating your own season of change or searching for the courage to start fresh, this episode is for you.

Episode Highlights:

[0:02] - Settling into my new space and recording from the closet—finally peaceful and cozy!
[1:24] - Gratitude for my best friend and the vibe we share while unpacking and moving in.
[3:10] - First night alone, future plans, and embracing a new chapter with excitement.
[5:15] - Opportunities beginning to open up professionally—why I believe it's all divine timing.
[6:41] - Reflecting on identity through clothing and preparing for a personal style evolution.
[8:18] - Thoughts on wearing makeup again and how our outward look mirrors inner growth.
[9:45] - Letting go of emotional attachments to material things and keeping only what matters.
[11:40] - Creating space, simplifying life, and the joy of repurposing and rearranging.
[13:05] - A final reflection on feeling at peace, being in flow, and embracing the season of expansion.

Links & Resources:

Be sure to follow, share, and leave a comment if this show resonates with you! Send me a message at podpage.com/themusicoflife to share your experiences, or to leave a comment. I'd love to feature it in a future episode.

Transcript

Caryn Portnoy: 0:02

Hi everyone, and welcome to the music of Life. I'm your host. Karen Portnoy, before I get into this episode, please comment, ask questions, share some of your experiences, and don't forget to subscribe. You Karen. Hi everyone. It's Karen again, and I'm coming to you live from my brand new master bedroom closet, where recording in here is going to be so much more comfortable than where I was before, but I'm so excited as my last week's message to you about my move. I was so exhausted last week. It was really crazy, but I'm so much more calm, more excited, more happy, more peaceful. I'm just thrilled to be in my new place and in a much better environment for me, tons of dogs where I am, tons of people where I am, people I've met so far have been so nice and kind and friendly and helpful, and it I'm just in the best place I can possibly be right now, and I'm just thrilled about it. So I'm still getting settled and situated, and I have a few more things left to unpack, but I'm pretty much all unpacked and everything where I want it to be. My best friend of 46 years came up from Florida to help me move, and I could never have done this without his help. So I'm eternally grateful to him, and I'm just thrilled that we're so in sync. We're so, you know, I don't know where to put something, he knows exactly where to put it, or he doesn't know, and I know, and we're just always, always have been so vibey with each other. So it's, it's just been great. And now that he has moved to another location for the time being, I'm on my own for the first day, and I'm just, I'm taking it all in. I'm just hanging with my dog in my new place. Have plans with a friend later on to go see some live music. And you know, just my new life has officially begun as of today, and I really just don't know what else to say about it, other than I'm exactly where I need to be. Things are falling into place for me, and there is no doubt in my mind that this has been 1,000% orchestrated by God. This has been a long time coming, and I think that all of my prayer, all of my manifestations, all of my positivity and dedication, and all the things that I'm doing to help propel myself forward in the best possible way, with the purest of intentions, the purest of heart and connection and love, and I'm just, I really don't know how else to explain that. Anyway, it's it's a beautiful day today in New York, and I'm going to get outside, and, like I said, we're going to see live music tonight, so it'll be outdoors, and I'll take my dog and like, what's better, you know, what's better than that? And also, already, I'm noticing that doors are starting to open a little for me, as far as my business and career, and you know what I'm trying to build for myself, doors are starting to open, and I knew it would. I didn't know that it would. It would take so little time once I changed environments that you know, I would start to see opportunities come my way. And I think that this is just the beginning. I have some other things lined up in the next couple of months that I'm super excited about, and I truly believe that by the end of this year, I might not recognize myself. So, you know, very excited about that. And you know, as much as I would love to talk about it right now, I'm not going to, because I don't want to jinx myself, first of all, and second of all, I've, I've sort of been guided to not say anything just yet. I just would, would rather the success that I have and the results that I get, I would rather that speak for itself. So whatever is coming in the next few months, I'll let you know more about it when it's time to talk about it. But for now, I'm just gonna keep it under wraps and put my nose to the grind to make sure that everything that I want to happen is. Is going to happen and and I'm happy to talk about it at a later date, and I promise I will. You know, it's funny when, when you know that you're changing locations and environments, and you're ready to take the next step to a new chapter of your life. And you know, I thought about this so much as I was packing and as I'm sitting in my closet right now looking around at all of my things. You know, I have a ton of space that I can't even imagine ever filling up, but at the same time, you know, I look at my clothing and my shoes and my bags and everything that I I took and, you know, it's all my old life. And I, you know, I look at some things and I'm like, I don't know that I want to wear this in in the new chapter. So I sort of imagine that I will change over my entire wardrobe in in time. A couple of things are new, and a couple of things I've I've enjoyed wearing, but, you know, it's like I couldn't just throw out or give away my entire wardrobe. So little by little, I'll start to replace things, and, you know, maybe change my style somewhat and see what I like, and I'm looking forward to that. I get a lot of flack for the fact that I wear a lot of black clothing. I feel like much of my marriage and much of my life in my divorce and beyond, there's a lot of black in my wardrobe. Yes, it's a New York thing. I'm, I'm very well aware of that, but it's, it's also a Karen thing, and I'm trying to change that, because I like colors, and I like colors on me in certain colors more than others. So you know, as my mood and my attitude and my mindset changes, I want my clothing to reflect that as well, and it's interesting to see that evolution. My friend who was helping me move, you know, we were going through some of my makeup, and he was like, Are you wearing any of this? And I was like, you know, I really don't wear a lot of makeup, and I haven't in a long time. So he's like, Well, maybe you should start again, and maybe I will. I just, I'm not feeling it right this second, but as more opportunities open and there's a need for me to be more made up or more put together than I already am. I, you know, I'm curious to see how that evolves also, but I'm, I would say, in the last five years or so, I really don't wear a lot, so I'm curious to see how that changes, and if I do wear more makeup in the future, it's just really interesting. The whole concept of transformation and growth and evolution and moving ahead and moving on, just the whole idea of it is just, I don't know. I think a lot of us get very complacent in our lives in terms of the clothes we wear, the shoes we wear, the makeup we wear, or don't wear, or whatever. I think it's it's like we kind of just get used to a certain way of being and presenting ourselves and and then it's like, when do we actually shed a certain skin and evolve as someone new and and I think this whole process of my divorce has really shown me how much I've transformed and how much I've grown and how much I've evolved. It's it's a very exciting I mean, it's very painful in the moment, but it's very exciting when you come out on the other side of it and and you're very open to change and open to new adventures and and excitement and and just to see, I'm very much open right now. I'm curious and interested, and I'm just, you know, I'm just in my flow at this very moment, very much in in the flow of, okay, what's coming next, and that's where I'm going to be. I'm not saying no to things. I'm I'm wide open. So I love that definitely in my era still of not saying no to things, I mean, I, you know, carefully not saying, No, I'm not just going to be reckless and careless about things, but as things approach me, and opportunities or whatever, I just feel very much, you know, I'm not looking to play it safe right now. I'm still looking to play it smart, just I'm open to new opportunities. I. It's also very interesting to me that you know this change, this move, this new part of my life is happening at the beginning of the summer. It's a time to be outside, to be active, to be adventurous, and and all of those things. And, you know, had it been the winter time, first of all, my move would have been so much harder. But, you know, winter is the time to kind of hibernate and just kind of hang inside and, you know, kind of be by yourself. Sometimes I think I'm sort of done with my solitude era. I think it's been like a solid 13 months of just prioritizing solitude and rest and recovery and doing so much healing work and all of that and and I definitely feel like I'm coming out of that like immediately. So I'm happy that this is all happening in the summertime, and we'll see how it all unfolds. I'm excited for it, whatever it is, and I'm not going too much into the future. I really just want to think about today and tomorrow and make whatever appointments I need to make, and do whatever I need to do and take care of myself, but at the same time, I'm very much in my flow in the moment. So it's funny last night, my friend was kind of dumping things out on my bed for me to go through and figure out what I wanted to keep and what I wanted to toss, and it was just such a barrage of memories that were just strewn out all over my bed. And, you know, it gets overwhelming sometimes, because you're just like, do I want this? Do I need it? What purpose does it serve for me now? What memories Am I trying to hold on to? And he's like, you know, you don't need to keep the thing, take a picture of it, you have the memory, and then toss it. And he's so good at doing that, because he's not emotionally attached to anything, and that's what I rely on him for, because I am emotionally attached to a lot of things from my past, and you know, they hold a lot of meaning for me. But he's right. You know, the material item of whatever it is like, doesn't mean anything. So keep the memory, take the picture. I could always look back at it and recall the memory and just get rid of it and simplify my life. So there's been a lot of that over these last couple of days, and it's been very liberating and freeing to be able to let go of some of the things that, you know, I I've held on to. So I'm enjoying that process also because, you know, can't take everything with you, right? It's been great buying new things. You know, as I let go of old things, buying new things and having them and, you know, I'm just really enjoying this whole process right now and just getting situated and figuring out, you know, how to repurpose old things into new things and just rearranging things and regrouping things. It's just, you know, I really love my space now, and I feel really good and happy and peaceful, and this is a great new time for me, and I'm, I'm thrilled to share it with you guys and and I'll keep you posted on this journey because it's it's very it's awesome. I'm very, very happy. So stay tuned. I will catch you in the next episode. Have a great week. See you. Then please join me every Thursday for a new episode. You can reach my website@podpage.com slash the music of life. Feel free to leave your email address. You can also leave a voicemail and share any kinds of stories or experiences or anything that you'd like to talk about. I promise I will keep you anonymous, but I assure you that whatever experiences or stories you leave for me, you are not alone, and I would love to share that with other people who are also going through similar things. Thanks again for listening. I'll see you in the next episode. You.