Hi, I’m Sarah Slava. (Episode 1)

This post is the written version of the first episode of my podcast. I’m sharing it here for anyone who prefers reading over listening, or who wants to sit with the words in a more sensory-friendly way. The audio version is more conversational and unscripted, but the heart of it is the same—this is me thinking out loud, telling the truth as I see it, and letting my voice be heard without over-editing or performing. You can read below, listen to the episode, or move between the two in whatever way feels right.

Listen to the audio version here → [Youtube] [Spotify]

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“Hi, I’m Sarah Slava, and you’re listening to Earth School Radio.”

That is what I thought I was going to be saying when I started my podcast—and yet, clearly, that is not the name of the podcast that you are listening to right now.

I have wanted to start a podcast for over five years now.

A year ago, I had the inspiration for a podcast where I could really anchor into this idea of Earth School. Which, if you’re not familiar, is the idea that we are basically here on planet Earth to learn lessons and elevate our soul’s karma.

And honestly, between all the crazy stuff I’ve experienced in my life, my relationships with the divine, the spiritual experiences I’ve had, and my background in psychology, I felt like it was time for me to share some of the wisdom I’ve acquired so far on this very human journey of mine. My goal was to highlight the spiritual truths behind the complexities of life while also keeping in mind the psychological aspects of the human mind.

And let me tell you—I loved this concept for a podcast. I still do. 

However, one thing I did not like was feeling like I had to position myself as an expert or a guide, when in reality, we’re all just here as human beings. We’re all just trying to figure it out.

Don’t get me wrong. We all have different strengths. We have different skills. We have different natural talents, and I’m not a stranger to those. I know I have my own unique strengths, talents, and gifts. That’s why I created Astral Sarah. That’s why I offer one-on-one sessions and do the work that I do. 

But I needed something that didn’t box me into that label—something that didn’t box me into being a guru, or a guide, or a coach, or a leader. I needed something more authentic, more real, and more true to me—the person I am, the person I’m becoming—and something that allowed for more expansion.

As I was trying to detangle all of this, I kept going back and forth for the last 12 months. Back and forth and back and forth about:

Is this podcast going to be associated with my business, or is this podcast going to be associated with a burner account?
Is my name going to be attached to this podcast?

And I ended up realizing something.

It wasn’t how do I do this?
It was: am I willing to do this?

Am I willing to share my authentic voice, my truth, my observations, and my opinions—which, by the way, are constantly changing?

Am I willing to show up in this imperfect nature and create something real and raw?

And the answer is yes.

For a really long time, I think I’ve been approaching my business and my brand from a perspective of control. I think I’ve been trying to compartmentalize my expression and control the way I show up in my business and my brand in the very same way that I was controlled growing up.

I grew up in a really strict household with immigrant parents. I was the firstborn, eldest daughter, and I had a lot of responsibility placed on me from a really young age. I didn’t even realize how these personal life experiences were spilling over into the way I was allowing myself to show up in my business and my brand.

And the truth is, if you grew up feeling repressed by your family, your friends, your loved ones, or your peers, you might then start to repress yourself without even realizing it.

Your body learns: you are safest when you don’t speak up. You are safest when you follow the rules. You are safest when you fit neatly into the boxes other people want to put you into. And so, as a trauma response, I started to do that. I started to create beautiful, neat little boxes for parts of my personality to live in.

On this account, I’m allowed to be this version of myself.
In this business, I’m allowed to be this version of myself.
With these friends, I can show these aspects of myself.

And while I think it’s perfectly normal and natural for different people in your life to bring out different versions of you, I don’t think it’s helpful, healthy, or natural to force yourself to restrict your expression—to create rules around who you’re allowed to be—to micromanage and compartmentalize your authentic self to the point where:

You don’t even make the art you want to make.
You don’t even speak the truth you want to speak.
You don’t even share your voice the way you want to share it.

When we repress ourselves—when we restrict our own authentic expression—we also prevent the people who are most aligned with us, who actually appreciate and need our authentic selves, from finding us.

We prevent those people from seeing us.
From interacting with us.
From ever getting to experience us.

And that creates a loss of community.

That creates isolation.

For me, that created a deep loneliness.

Earth School Radio, as beautiful of a concept as it was, was just going to put me back into that place. And now, I realize that.

I’m no longer willing to repress my own voice. I’m no longer willing to prevent myself from creating the art I want to make—even if it’s bad art.

And this podcast is an homage to that.

I’ve come to a place where I think I deserve the freedom to express myself authentically and share my observations, my thoughts, and my opinions.

And I also believe we don’t get what we deserve—we get what we are willing to take. We get what we are willing to give to ourselves.

So as much as I loved Earth School Radio, I don’t think that’s what I need right now.

And the really funny thing is, when I got to this place of “okay, I think I need to let this idea go,” I found a YouTube channel that had been started 2 weeks prior with almost the same podcast name, the exact same concept, and a similar logo.

And you would think I would feel angry or upset—but honestly, I felt so at peace.

Somebody else was given the idea and is actually acting on it, actually moving on it. I can only assume they feel passionate about it, because they were able to move past the idea phase of this project—and I wasn’t.

For a while, I felt like a failure. And now I realize, it wasn’t that I couldn’t move past the idea phase because I was failing. It just wasn’t right for me. It wasn’t the right project for me to move forward with.

It was a great idea. It still is. But that doesn’t mean it was mine.

And I think this is where scarcity versus abundance mindset comes in.

Not every idea you get is meant for you—even if it’s a great idea, even if you can see success on the other side of it. Over the last couple of years in my business, I’ve had to stop asking myself:
Is this a great idea?
Can this be successful?

And instead, start asking:
Do I like this idea?
Does my soul light up with this idea?
Do I want to create this even if it crashes and burns?
Even if not a single person sees it, will I still feel successful creating it?

And with this podcast, the answer is yes.

Going forward, the episode structure is going to be pretty random. It’ll be spontaneous. There will be a wide range of topics intersecting spirituality, astrology, philosophy, and psychology.

I want to dive into things like free will, manifestation, overcoming victim mindset, cult mentality, survival mode, self-empowerment, and so much more.

I hope this podcast opens you up to a fresh perspective, helps you get clearer on your own voice and intuition, and maybe even serves as a distraction from all the chaos and bullshit in the world right now.

Some weeks will look like me verbally processing. Some weeks will be an open stream of consciousness. Other weeks might be more philosophical or psychological explorations of whatever has been on my mind.

Either way, I hope you tune in. I hope you enjoy it. And if there’s ever a topic you want me to cover, feel free to email me or DM me.

All of my info and links are in the show notes below.
I hope you have a good week.

Bye.