Life is one big stunt. Let’s be real, we all just want to skip the caterpillar part of life and fly. Most of us even expect it. You know the saying, “You’ve earned your wings.” Life is a series of events that lead us to earning our wings, but we rarely understand that what is happening to us is actually happening for us — to help us earn those wings.
If you are reading this, consider this your sign from the Universe to take a closer look at your life. I invite you to take a step back and allow the process to unfold. Just like the butterfly, who starts by crawling low to the earth — and if she survives — she earns her wings. No longer bound to the surface, she rises above it all. But even then, she faces a new set of challenges, because that’s life. At least she gets to experience what it’s like to fly through challenges, rather than crawl through them with the chances of getting stepped on.
Life Is a Series of Patterns
Life, as I see it, is a series of patterns. The way we think, the way we act and react, and the tendencies that make us predictable — they shape our experiences. We often find ourselves stuck in the same cycles, over and over again. I don’t know about you, but I am at the point in my life that being stuck in the same ways and patterns, feel limiting. I want to keep becoming more. The more we become, the more exciting life gets. Wouldn’t you like to see life from the sky rather than crawling stuck to the ground?
I had a “aha” moment recently where the concept hit me like a ton of bricks. And it’s so, so simple. I am now understanding the hard part, though, is remembering what’s happening for us when it happens. When we’re presented with a difficult challenge, it’s THE opportunity to shift gears. No one is going to take an opportunity to shift and elevate life when things are going well, right? The way I see it, it is the only opportunity for change. It’s THE invitation to break free from the mold we’ve created, the one that keeps us right where we are, with the same outcomes and experiences. We all want some kind of shift in our lives, a shift that removes pain and chaos, but real change doesn’t happen without movement. And movement often comes in the form of chaos, pain, feeling lost and uncertainty. All we need to do is look at what is going on from the butterflies view to understand it’s meaning to navigate how it’s meant to be navigated. Detached. Tough right? Welcome to LIFE!
Lately, life has been just that. The Universe sent me some big signs. Because I was asking for things — specific, intentional things and subconsciously too — but I wasn’t paying attention to the nudges urging me to jump tracks. So, the Universe sent tornadoes. Literal tornadoes. It was the ultimate wake-up call.
The Universe sent a message to me loud and clear because I was ignoring the signs, “You asked for it! Time to wake up and see the opportunity I am giving you to make room for what you want!”
When Life Feels Like a Tornado
What I know for sure: when chaos hits and you’re overwhelmed by the weight of “WTF is going on” know this — it’s the Universe’s way of giving you an opportunity for change. An opportunity to pay attention, and quite possibly to manifest your desires. Whether you think so or not, that opportunity is there because you asked for it.
The way I see it, change is also needed to keep manifesting. We must elevate our mindset to get to where we want to go. It doesn’t come wrapped in roses and butterflies and rainbows. It comes when we’re forced to dig deep, find our strength, and push through limits we didn’t even know we had. We all know this. But do we really know this? No, because if you are like me, we forget and act in emotion and allow it to take us over. We need the constant reminders. I have been guilty of this but after these last 5 weeks, I see it differently now. If you are like me, consider this your reminder, too.
When Life Sends Real Torandos
Honestly, I’ve never experienced so much chaos at once. February 2025 nearly broke me. Actually it did. I understand now how people don’t make it out of situations like this — the stress, the overwhelm — it can swallow you whole. They say it all comes in threes, right? Well, in just three days, these are the three I faced:
Situation One:
After a year of back-and-forth with the dreaded IRS, I finally found out they “say I owe” hundreds of thousands of dollars. To top it off, nearly $7,000 in fees and penalties are added every two months. Not only did my CPA screw up my taxes back in 2020 (let’s hope he’s not reading this, ha!), but the IRS made mistakes, too. It felt like I was being punished for a crime I didn’t commit — like I’d been thrown in jail without any understanding of why. How in the world am I going to show them I am innocent? The stress and process was unbelievably painful. (Still in the middle of it but keep reading.)
Situation Two:
Two days after learning about the IRS mess, a tornado ripped through my property in Georgia, just two days before it was set to go on the market. Thank God it didn’t damage the house, but the thousands of dollars in tree damage? Insurance refused to cover it. Hello more stress, good to have more of it. Sike.
Situation Three:
I was in the middle of buying land in a foreign country and selling my home while in a foreign county. Coordinating the sale of everything inside, organizing people to clear it out, and listing it — all while being thousands of miles away. Every minute of my day was consumed by logistics on top of emotional stress.
As a single mom with a son and six rescue dogs, my plate was already overflowing. But why did it all have to happen at once? I wanted to die. For two weeks, I barely got out of bed. I cried. I kept my son and the dogs fed, but that was about it. The weight of it all crushed me. I didn’t know what to handle first or how, it was all so overwhelming, the chaos was coming at me from all directions. I couldn’t understand how it was possible for so many things to implode at once.
The Stunt Double Mindset
Then, during one of my lowest moments, I ugly-cried to my spiritual therapist on Zoom. Through my sobs, she said:
“Shauna, there is nothing I can say right now to make you feel better. Nothing. But where is your stunt double right now? She needs to be here. She takes the hits, gets back up, and takes another — without getting hurt.”
Dayum. That hit hard.
Where WAS my stunt double? I realized I’d been handling this like an actress — emotional, raw, fully in the scene. And while there’s nothing wrong with that, the actress wasn’t going to get me through this. My stunt double was.
(Doubling Sandrine Holt of MacGyver Season 1)
From that moment on, my perspective shifted. My inner strength surfaced. The unbearable emotions lifted. Suddenly, I wasn’t overwhelmed. I was empowered.
Holy crap, I’ve got this.
The Metamorphosis Moment
It felt like an instant metamorphosis. A complete shift. One minute I was drowning in chaos, and the next, I was in control.
Chaos arrived to push me through. It was needed to fully close a chapter of my life to make space for what I wanted to create. Ultimate change is meant to be uncomfortable. It’s meant to challenge us. It’s meant to confuse us. But when we shift perspectives — when we step into our stunt double mindset — we earn our wings.
And February? I earned mine. The Universe sent me both figurative and literal tornadoes, and instead of staying grounded, because I wasn’t listening. Now that I am, a whole new world opened up to me I only dreamt of. And now it’s all possible.
Your Turn to Fly
Now that I’ve gained more tools to face some life’s extreme challenges, I’m stronger than ever. I don’t know about you, but I want to be capable AF. I want to achieve every dream I have. I want to channel that $10 million Shauna energy, answering life’s hardest questions like my stunt double would handle a gnarly car hit or a stair fall — with grace, ease, and unshakable confidence.
So, if you’re facing something right now that feels impossible — stop seeing it as a burden. See it as an opportunity. A chance to become the next version of yourself, big or small.
Because ultimately? We aren’t given what we didn’t ask for.
Everything comes in a sign. Those tornadoes weren’t there randomly. Seven massive trees were uprooted from the ground barely missing my house like it was a warning. The Universe was telling me to let go of the home I have been clingy to for dear life to preserve memories but it was drowning me in so many other ways. It was time to uproot to allow the next part of my life to unfold the way I have been asking for it. The Universe doesn’t make mistakes. By the way, my house was the ONLY house in our entire neighbor to have tornado damage. Coincidence? I think not!
(Doubling Tricia Helfer on the TV show Lucifer at Santa Monica Pier)
It’s time to let your Stunt Double take control and take the leap with wings. Because if we don’t, we will never see change in our life and if we miss the warning signs, life so go sideways real quick. The tornadoes of life are inevitable, but they aren’t sent to break you, they’re sent to wake you up. Like they did me. We aren’t meant to crawl through life. Earn those wings now, let that Stunt Double come out to play and take control of your life instead of life taking control of you. We all got this.
