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171 | Life Is the Occasion: The Beautiful, Brutal Art of Holding the Darkness, Creating the Magic, and Being Fully Alive

  • Emily Reuschel
  • Oct 30
  • 5 min read

Header for Wild and Waking episode 171 | Life Is the Occasion: The Beautiful, Brutal Art of Holding the Darkness, Creating the Magic, and Being Fully Alive

Listen to Life Is the Occasion: The Beautiful, Brutal Art of Holding the Darkness, Creating the Magic, and Being Fully Alive on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Your player of choice

Life is tender and messy and miraculous all at once. In this solo episode, Emily invites you into a reflection on the beautiful, brutal art of holding it all—the grief and the gratitude, the darkness and the light, the exhaustion and the quiet magic of simply being alive.


Fresh off a transformative retreat and deep in the waves of pregnancy, she opens up about what it means to sit in discomfort without needing to fix it, to honor both the shadows and the blessings, and to find holiness in the wholeness of being human. This is an episode about slowing down enough to feel it all—to remember that life itself is the occasion, not something to earn once everything feels perfect.


Emily explores the tension between what’s hard and what’s holy, sharing personal stories of grief, rage, beauty, and creativity. She reflects on the conditioning that teaches women to smile through pain, the ways we hide behind optimism, and the freedom that comes when we finally allow ourselves to be seen in every shade of our truth.


This conversation is an offering—a reminder that your presence, your essence, and your being are enough. You don’t have to rush through this season or mask the hard parts. You get to hold the darkness, create the magic, and call it all sacred.


Meet Emily Reuschel:

Emily Reuschel is a Soul Expansion Coach for Wild & Waking Women, guiding leaders, dreamers, and changemakers—particularly in rural communities—through the powerful journey of reclaiming their truest selves. Known for challenging the status quo, Emily empowers women to break free from inherited limitations, embody their truth, and create lasting impact in their lives and communities.


As the host of the Wild and Waking podcast and the facilitator of transformative retreats, workshops, and virtual communities, Emily curates sacred spaces for connection, healing, and expansion. She inspires women to shed societal expectations, reconnect with their inner wisdom, and transform from the inside out.


Emily’s work is anchored in her signature Wild & Waking Framework—a soul reclamation process that moves women from performative survival to embodied leadership. Her approach honors the unraveling of old narratives, the remembering of true essence, and the reclamation of personal power—all leading to a rise marked by unapologetic expression and aligned action.


Through her work, Emily guides women home to themselves, helping them live with alignment, purpose, and intention. Whether speaking on stage, leading mastermind groups, or facilitating retreats, her warmth and authenticity create a ripple effect that inspires lasting change. Emily’s mission is clear: to help guide women in reclaiming their truth, step into their power, and rise boldly as forces of lasting change.


In this episode, Life Is the Occasion: The Beautiful, Brutal Art of Holding the Darkness, Creating the Magic, and Being Fully Alive, Emily explores:

  • The beautiful and brutal truth of being fully alive; learning to hold both joy and grief, light and shadow, beauty and chaos as sacred parts of the human experience

  • The power of sitting in discomfort without bypassing it, fixing it, or rushing it, and how this practice deepens emotional intelligence, presence, and embodiment

  • How pregnancy, physical limitations, and seasons of surrender can become portals for personal growth, compassion, and feminine wisdom

  • The conditioning that teaches women to "be fine," to smile through pain, and to disconnect from their truth, and how to reclaim your wholeness by allowing yourself to feel it all

  • The sacred work of shadow integration and self-trust; how to hold rage, grief, and sadness without shame and see them as gateways to authenticity and power

  • The healing energy of sisterhood, nurturance, and creativity, and how gathering in safe intentional spaces reminds us that we were never meant to do life alone

  • What it means to live from wholeness instead of chasing it; remembering that your worth isn't earned through productivity, perfection, or performance

  • How to cultivate intentionality and ritual in everyday life by bringing presence, beauty, and creativity into the small ordinary moments

  • Why living an aligned, soul-led life is both mystical and mundane, and how to honor your humanity as deeply as your divinity

  • A gentle reminder that life itself is the occasion; an invitation to slow down, feel deeply, and celebrate the sacredness of being here now

If this episode found you at the perfect time, trust that it was meant to. Share it, reflect on it, and let it inspire you to live a little slower, love a little deeper, and create beauty right where you are.


Connect with Emily:

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About Wild & Waking: 

Wild & Waking is more than a podcast—it’s a sacred return to who you’ve always been.


This space is for the woman standing at the edge of everything she’s outgrown. The one who’s checked all the boxes, followed all the rules, and still feels the quiet ache for something more honest. More alive. More hers.


She’s begun the unraveling—of roles, expectations, identities that no longer fit. She’s remembering the voice beneath the noise, the rhythm beneath the hustle, the truth beneath the performance. She’s reclaiming her joy, her intuition, her fire. And she’s rising—not as a version of who she was told to be, but as the truest expression of who she already is.


Hosted by soul expansion coach Emily Reuschel, Wild & Waking is for the spiritual entrepreneurs, coaches, rural changemakers, and conscious leaders dismantling old paradigms and creating new ways of living, leading, and becoming. Through raw conversations, deep reflections, and embodied wisdom, we explore what it means to awaken a life of abundance, authenticity, and purpose.


This is for the woman who holds both sacred rage and radical joy. Who moves with reverence for the seasons of her life. Who isn’t afraid to break cycles, speak truth, and dismantle what no longer serves—not to destroy, but to create. To rebuild a world rooted in the celebration of difference, the beauty of nuance, and the power of sovereign, embodied leadership.


If you’re ready to come home to yourself—fully, fiercely, and without apology—welcome.


We’ve been waiting for you.


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