What reprogramming my subconscious is teaching me about ease, worth, and building my dream life
Lessons from six months of unlearning hustle, people-pleasing, and borrowed beliefs
Mariah Mueller
Jan 06, 2026
I’ve been reprogramming my subconscious mind for the last 6 months and here’s what I’ve learned:
But first…I am a part of the Elevated You Collective lead by Kelsey Lettko (@elevatedyou on Substack) and I cannot say enough wonderful things about Kelsey!! The way she uses her intuition and holds space for all of the nuance involved in reprogramming is unmatched. Highly recommend joining her community space and/or booking a 1:1 session with her directly!
(wait that’s the first time I’ve ever shared an affiliate link HAHA WOO HOO!)
Here’s what I’m learning and unlearning:
Overwhelm, fear and “this is so hard” are a choice. Once I realized that I don’t want to feel overwhelmed every day, I was able to see all of the times I find ways to be overwhelmed and cut it out.
I’ve been capping my income at what I subconsciously believe I deserve to make per hour based on what I’ve been told instead of believing I’m worthy of ease and stability, period.
I’ve been saying “I’m grateful” my whole life for every bread crumb I’ve ever gotten and while in theory that feels good and gratitude is important, it’s also kept me in the victim mentality of “I don’t need much, I’ll be grateful for anything I can get”. Now my focus is “I’m worthy of [insert anything I desire]”.
I detached from the idea that having desires = an endless loop of suffering because desires = attachments and attachments are impermanent. I now believe that in order to bring in wealth, make a bigger impact with my generosity and be able to help people meet basic needs that the system has failed people on…having desires is imperative.
The way I talk about my life, myself and other people is what keeps that story alive whether I love it or not.
There is no past, present or future. Only what I’m experiencing right now. All of the opportunities exist at once so when I find myself getting bogged down by past stories or future worries I ground back into: who do I want to be right now?
My ability to be uncomfortable directly relates to how willing I am to change/let the expansion unfold. It gets to be easy AND breaking old patterns comes with shedding, grief and dismantling parts of my identity that I have been very attached to.
When I put my work out into the world at the prices that I desire to be paid for the work I do, it’s no longer my job to fit the price that other people are able to pay me at. When I feel called to meet them there, I do. When I know it’s not aligned, it has nothing to do with me. If I feel pulled to meet every price point that other people can pay every time, I likely don’t feel worthy of work feeling easy & aligned and that’s where my work is.
Newsflash: “MY WORK” GETS TO BE FUN!!!!
Work = creative outlet. Work = connecting with incredible humans. Work = designing and writing an email that will make at least one person feel deeply seen in the messiest parts of their life.
Literally every day I am tending to my own two children (a 5 month old and 3 year old), my marriage, paying off debt and saving for a dream property and cohabitating with my mom and grandma (back in my hometown after 6 years of being gone)… it’s a LOT! I can see all of the dimensions of humanity under one roof and I can see where we literally just keep putting other people’s shit in our backpack until we notice it. It’s been the most liberating experience to see it and decide that my backpack is FULL. I’m intentionally figuring out what’s mine to keep and what was handed down to me because the clearer I get, the more obsessed I become with my life. And the more MY LIFE feels like my creation and the most aligned expression of who I am here to be.
If you’re on a similar path, I want to challenge you to put ChatGPT down for a week and return to your wisdom.
Another lesson I’ve taken from spending time reprogramming my subconscious is that my dependency on ChatGPT to “help me decide” or “help me with a structure” or “give me ideas” is just me giving myself permission to not trust myself. Because when I reach for ChatGPT to “help” I shut my creativity off, outsource my ability to connect to my wisdom, and am told exactly what I wanted to hear. And then I witness this cycle of frustration where I feel creatively clogged and detached from my own centers of expression.
And don’t get me wrong - I LOVE a good “show me what I’m not seeing/argue why my idea isn’t good” dynamic, but it’s just another way to say: I don’t trust myself to get this wrong and be ok.
So how the f* do we exist in the liminal space before we “have confirmation” that our dream life is unfolding?
Notice how it’s already happening right now. Hiiiii, this is me wearing my 5 month old whom I just nursed to sleep (also shoutout to the goose egg on my forehead from my toddler throwing a car st my head :)) while I balance laundry, editing and sending in my papa’s obituary, dinner prep, decluttering my 3 year olds toys from the upstairs space that we share with my grandma and mom, and responding to text messages from the people I love. See how I didn’t mention ANY business or client related work??? That’s because the dream life that I am building is requiring me to have really clear boundaries about what I do when and that means right now!!! That doesn’t mean “when I have clients I’ll have a better balance”. It means:
If I can’t do it right now in the time I have, it doesn’t fit into my life. And that gets to be perfect!!
Because part of building my dream life is that I refuse to exist as though I am an “always on, responsive at all hours, manages everything so well, does it all” kind of person behind the scenes. NOPE. If it’s costing me my sanity and time with my family, it’s not for me.
AND Spoiler Alert: aligned clients WANT you to exist in your dream life
Back to the part about reprogramming my subconscious - I have had to release the story that my clients need me to be ON 24/7, know the answer to every question live, have experience with every platform they ask me about, etc. when in reality…they actually just crave a deeply human space to spill their fears and express their needs with someone who has walked through the fire and isn’t intimidated by the asks. DONE and DONE!
Am I the lady who knows most all of the email platforms, storefronts, CRM’s, Zapier automation hacks, meeting transcription software pro’s and cons - yes!! And…there is NO one size fits all. There is no “Ideal Tech Stack” because guess what - a system and structure that feels safe for someone else, might feel like an overwhelming spiral of maintenance that you don’t have the capacity for right now, and that’s ok!!
Ultimately, what I return to every day are these practices:
Tapping + restorying when I find that I’m existing in a belief that’s old/not mine
Presence with day to day musings like unloading the dishwasher, laundry, wiping the counters, cleaning the floor, playing with my kids, etc. Actually turning my phone off and being there with it all.
Actively choosing to exist in alignment with my dream life in every way possible (finding the ways I am supported, letting it be easy, speaking directly to who I want to work with, choosing to know my worth etc.)
Witnessing how my body responds to my dream life (letting myself relax + accept something that comes easy, letting go of expectations that disrupt my peace, being really specific about my dream clients and my dream job, etc.)
Being very clear about what I am working towards and how easy it is for people to find me and pay me.
So how can you work with me in 2026?
Here’s my website + follow me on IG @sacredopsstudio
Need help with a one-time project/launch, setting up a new course/program, building a community space, setting up automations + workflows, cleaning out your inbox, organizing SOP’s to start delegating + hiring, setting up task + project management systems…The Sacred Sprint is for you. (2 spots for February)
Craving a long-term operational partnership (6-12 months 1:1 with me) that’s centered in nervous system awareness, co-regulating business decisions and refining the foundation of your backend operations to be SIMPLE, spacious and regulating for you day to day…The Sacred Reset is for you (3 spots for 2026)
Not sure where to start? Book an Alignment Call with me to talk it through.
Thus far I have been doing service trade work to diversify the types of businesses I’ve been in (Designers, Strategists, Coaches, Holistic Practitioners) and while service trade work NOURISHES my soul…I’m ready to step into the most aligned containers with my dream clients.
So - here we are in the liminal space where we hold the boundaries, return to the question “is this in alignment with my dream life” and let business be SIMPLE, EASY and FUN because we don’t have to perform for anyone or anything. You do not have to have it all figured out. You get to outsource the parts of your business that you dread doing every day. You get to have a community of business owners walking a similar path that don’t gatekeep and are ready to share what they’ve learned. And you get to make it as fun as it can possibly be for you and your people.
I am here to experience my life as intuitively lead as possible and then tell you everything I’ve learned. I’m also collecting data about how easy creating my dream life gets to be and I can’t wait to share more with you!!
Craving anti-hustle operations tips, nervous system practices for parents + business owners, and honest conversations from behind the scenes of successful businesses that are running on grounded energy + sacred boundaries…👇 Subscribe to my paid tier.
