As a healing mentor, I’ve found that some of the most profound conversations happen when two people share their healing journeys openly. My recent conversation with Amy Sutter, also known as Sutter Girl, exemplified this beautiful exchange of wisdom. Amy’s story of transformation from overcoming adversity, to finding her zone of genius and reclaiming her mojo – her ‘authentic self’ – resonated deeply with me, as I believe it will with you.
In our candid discussion on the Let’s Heal show, Amy shared how she discovered her zone of genius – that unique combination of natural talents and strengths that guides us toward our true purpose. Her journey offers valuable insights about handling adversity, embracing your authentic self, and finding power through life’s challenges.
How Adversity Shapes Our Path to Authenticity
Amy’s healing journey began with a painful catalyst – divorce. For her, that year of separation was “a living hell,” as she described it, with her body existing in a constant state of trauma response. Yet this adversity became the doorway to her greatest growth.
“What I discovered on this healing journey is that I’d abandoned myself,” Amy shared. “And when we look at inner child healing and trauma, there’s no shame in it, but we abandon ourselves normally for love, belonging, acceptance, safety – all these basic human needs.”
This resonated deeply with me. Many of us develop maladaptive coping strategies when facing adversity to gain acceptance or avoid rejection. For Amy, these manifested as toxic perfectionism, codependency, food disorders, and body dysmorphia. I saw parallels with my own journey, where adversity had pushed me to abandon important relationships and lose touch with my authentic self.
Reclaiming Your Mojo After Hardship
One of the most powerful concepts Amy introduced was the idea of “mojo” – our innate talents and strengths that point us toward our purpose.
“Mojo to me is our natural born talents and strengths,” Amy explained. “Where I differ from what you hear typically in sports commentary is that you can never lose your mojo. What you need to do with your mojo is just keep honing it and taking it to that next level.”
This perspective transforms how we view adversity. Rather than seeing difficulties as something that diminishes our power, we can recognize them as opportunities to refine our zone of genius. When we reconnect with our mojo after challenging times, we often find it’s stronger and more clearly defined than before.
Finding Your Zone of Genius Through Life’s Challenges
Amy’s experience with bodybuilding illustrates how overcoming adversity can redirect us toward our true zone of genius. After being denied entry into the New York City Marathon, she pivoted to bodybuilding – something she’d never considered before. This unexpected path eventually led her to become a state champion and professional bodybuilder.
What’s remarkable is that this wasn’t just about physical transformation. Through bodybuilding, Amy discovered deeper aspects of herself – her creativity, her connection to her feminine energy, and her capacity to inspire others. This became her true zone of genius.
Similarly, I’ve found that overcoming adversity in my life eventually guided me to my purpose as a healing mentor. What initially seemed like obstacles became stepping stones toward discovering where I could make my greatest contribution.
Three Ways Overcoming Adversity Reveals Your Zone of Genius
- Stripping away false identities: Difficult times often force us to let go of roles and identities that no longer serve us, revealing our authentic core.
- Testing and strengthening our resilience: Overcoming challenges builds confidence in our abilities and clarifies what matters most to us.
- Redirecting our path: Sometimes a closed door leads us to discover talents and passions we wouldn’t have explored otherwise.
The Shared Strength Approach to Motivational Speaking
Amy doesn’t call herself an inspirational or motivational speaker – instead, she identifies as a “shared strength speaker.” This subtle distinction reveals a powerful approach to overcoming adversity.
“I am calling myself a shared strength speaker because I believe that’s what we’re supposed to do through sharing our story,” Amy explained. “Our strength gains.”
This perspective moves beyond traditional motivational speaking that focuses on pushing through challenges. Instead, it emphasizes the power of vulnerability and authentic connection when facing adversity. By sharing our stories, we not only process our own experiences but create spaces for others to recognize and reclaim their own strength.
Embodied Healing: Overcoming Adversity
As a Reiki practitioner and trauma-informed somatic educator, Amy understands that overcoming adversity requires more than mental strategies – it demands reconnecting with our bodies’ wisdom through movement and play.
For her, dance became a powerful healing modality. Through dance, she reconnected with her feminine energy and processed difficult emotions. Similarly, I’ve found that movement in nature provides me with a unique pathway to work through adversity.
What struck me most was Amy’s emphasis on play as a response to adversity. After experiencing hardship, we often forget that joy and playfulness are essential components of healing, discovering our zone of genius, and reclaiming your mojo.
Finding Your Mojo Through Inner Child Work
Amy’s approach to handling adversity involves acknowledging abandoned parts of yourself, allowing space for grief and rage, showing love and compassion for these parts, and finally celebrating your wholeness.
During our conversation, she shared a profound moment when her inner child appeared to her in a yellow dress and asked, “Why did we stop dancing?” This powerful moment helped her recognize that she’d always been a creative spirit who found joy through movement – this was part of her mojo that had been abandoned.
I’ve experienced similar revelations through my inner child work. The parts of ourselves we’ve abandoned often hold keys to our greatest joy and purpose. By reconnecting with these aspects, we come home to our authentic selves and our true zone of genius.
Embracing Rest in a Culture of Hustle
Another insight from our conversation about handling adversity was the importance of rest. Amy mentioned how an injury forced her to slow down, and in that space, she received important messages about her needs.
“I am tired,” she acknowledged. “The collective feminine is tired. We were not wired for the hustle, grind, perform, do. Our essence is being.”
This reminder to honor rest as part of handling adversity is something I believe many need to hear. We can’t access our zone of genius through constant doing – we need spaces of being where our systems can recalibrate and our inner wisdom can emerge.
Your Invitation to Reclaim Your Mojo
If Amy’s journey resonates with you, I encourage you to explore how you might reconnect with your own mojo and zone of genius, especially if you’re facing adversity. What natural talents have you abandoned? What forms of self-expression brought you joy before life’s challenges interrupted them?
Remember that handling adversity isn’t about pushing through without feeling – it’s about creating enough safety to process difficult emotions while reconnecting with your authentic gifts. As Amy beautifully demonstrated, it’s about finding what works for you and approaching it with loving self-awareness rather than judgment.
If you’re ready to explore your own journey through adversity toward your zone of genius, I invite you to visit my resources page where you’ll find support you as you reclaim your mojo and transform your challenges into opportunities for growth.
Let’s heal, together.