What's going on, Pursuers? Welcome to The Pursuit
of Calling, the podcast that provides you with
the strategies and tools needed to successfully
discover and pursue your calling. Whether it's
through inspiring stories, thought -provoking
interviews, or quick, insightful episodes on
personal growth and development, we've got you
covered. I'm your host, Thomas Carney. Enjoy
the episode. All right, Hazel, welcome to the
Pursuit of Calling podcast. Thank you, Thomas.
For sure. And before I give a quick intro for
Hazel, I do have some quick shameless plugs.
If you didn't know, I do a free discovery coaching
call for everyone that wants to try out my coaching.
So go ahead. You can click the link in the show
notes or in the subscription of the YouTube video
and check that out. And I also got on the merch
store this 20 % off right now on your first order.
I just upped that right before this recording.
So go ahead and get that using code PURSUE20.
And go ahead and get your merch now. So, Hazel.
Thank you for joining me again on the Pursuit
of Common Podcast. And Hazel is a Navy veteran
with nearly... two decades of leadership experience,
and a deep passion for helping others. After
spending 20 years mentoring and training service
members, Hazel stepped into her God -given calling
as a life and leadership coach. She's the founder
of Always Equipped and helps young adults and
emerging leaders discover their purpose, find
their lane, and lead with confidence, both in
the marketplace and in ministry. So Hazel, again,
thank you. Wow. My God. Thank you, Thomas. Thank
you for having me on your podcast. I intend to
bless the podcast today. So thank you. It's an
honor to be alongside of you today, brother.
For sure. For sure. And I appreciate your yes.
So for those who don't know you, Hazel, who is
Hazel Stevens? That was a brilliant introduction.
You had me smiling the whole time. First and
foremost, I am a God -fearing woman. God -fearing
woman. As you said, I wear many hats, but my
passion right now is helping people awaken to
who they've been called to be. So I am still
active duty right now. I intend to retire here
in less than eight months. So the veteran status
is coming very, very soon. I'm just a humble
servant, a disciple just like everybody else
who's activated in their calling. The purpose,
I'm excited about that. I'm 100 % committed to
that. And that is the primary mission right now
is to stay anchored into that. Awesome. So you
describe yourself as a God -fearing woman, right?
and a coach helping others discover their purpose.
When did you first sense God's calling on your
life to do this kind of work? I would say, so
what I've learned, Thomas, is purpose is not
discovered in motion. It's revealed in stillness.
So if you remember the popular saying that goes,
If you want to make God laugh, tell him your
plan. Yep. That was me. That was me. So right
before COVID, I thought I had it all figured
out. The plan was to stay in LA. I was living
in LA at the time. I had just bought my first
home. My future was going to be that life, to
live the Hollywood LA life. I was going to retire
out there. And do some other things that really
didn't align with the purpose. It was what I
wanted to do. And I couldn't understand why nothing
was aligning the way I needed to align. It was
just way too many anomalies that was thrown into
it. Long story short, I went through a season.
I wouldn't say it was a Job season. But I went
through a season of... transformation. I was
like in the stages of becoming a butterfly, right?
So I'm still like in a cocoon phase and I didn't
understand what was happening. So I've been in
and out of church, you know, all of my life.
And I don't think I was a hundred percent dedicated
to that until I hit that season. So that definitely
set me down and I was forced to consecrate. And
I went through a huge stillness period. And I
came out refreshed, renewed. I rededicated my
life. I got baptized at the beginning of 2025.
This stillness, this consecration period took
about a year, may I add. But I came out with
so much clarity, so much purpose. And that is
the goal. I am no longer in California. That
dream of mine has been put to bed. And I am over
here in Florida now, the Sunshine State. It's
making a full turn. I remember the days when
I first joined the Navy. I would always say to
myself, I'm going to retire in Florida. Didn't
know why. Didn't have any memories of being here
before. It was almost as if I was pulling into
a consciousness that I hadn't hit yet. So that
season birthed the new version of who I am today,
who is focused on what God has me focused on.
It wasn't my plan. It was God's plan for me.
And it's just been brilliant. Like you said,
it's been 20 years that I've been in the Navy.
That's a career. That's a huge career. So I thought
I was done. I'm about to be retired before I'm
40. But my pastor always says, and he says it
brilliant, nothing is lost in the kingdom. What
you call the career was actually a classroom.
So the things that I learned, the patience that
I learned, the leadership experience that I had,
all the discipline that I've learned, the independence.
the mentoring, the developing people throughout
the military, all of those things, those traits,
those skill sets that I learned, nothing is lost
in the kingdom. God is like, that was just a
classroom. I'm taking that and applying it to
the next season of your life, which is going
to feed your purpose. So here I am. Yeah. I like
what you said there. The first thing that you
said that I have in my notes is purpose is found
in stillness. I'm interested to honestly hear
a little bit more about that. If you're okay
with diving into that a little bit deeper. Okay.
Yes, yes. So you have to silence the noise. I
don't believe that purpose is found. You don't
find it, you discover it. You don't discover
it, you don't find it, you uncover it. It's already
within you. All of us were destined for a purpose.
We were designed for purpose. We all have a purpose.
Our presence has a purpose. So it's already within
you. And that's what I get the honor to do when
I'm coaching and when I come alongside of individuals
is helping them uncover. What God has already
placed within them. So a lot of that, it doesn't
happen with too much busyness and too much motion.
Once you begin concentrating, once you get still
and have those conversations and silence everything
out, you hear God's voice and you can kind of
uncover what it is. Why am I here? Mark Twain
puts it this way. There's two times you're born.
There's two days you're born. The first day is
your birth date from your mom. And the second
is the day you find out why. The why is the purpose.
That's really good. It's actually kind of funny
that you... You just said the phrase, why are
you here? And for the OGs that have been listening
to this podcast for a while, it used to be called
Technically Short and it was with a roommate.
And that name was just a play on our names. It
was just that we did it for fun. And we ended
up doing a series that we didn't have an end
date for that was called Why Are You Here? And
we talked to a bunch of different people. from
our from our church we uh a bunch of different
perspectives on purpose and calling and what
all that meant to like our mentors and to our
friends and it's it's what shape what ended up
shaping what this podcast is now and when my
roommate he went to the army and he was like
whenever you he goes you can take it you can
do what you want with it and so then i i took
it and apply i merged it with my coaching and
took that and then i've That's where the title
Pursuit of Calling came from because I was like,
I don't want to talk about anything else. And
I like what you said, like the purpose is already
within you. It's already like God has that divine
calling, that divine purpose for your life, for
you. When you discover what that purpose is and
you learn to see life through that lens, through
listening to what you said, through the stillness
and through listening and through like understanding
like. God's been using other people to point
me this way all this time. Like people will point
out the gold within you. Will say like, hey,
you're really good in this area. You might brush
it off. Be like, oh, that's just me. This is
how I am. That just comes to me naturally. And
I think that's a great, and that's like a great
indication as to what, like what you're calling
could be based on other things, based on a few
other things in your life. But there's like.
Because not everyone is called to be an entrepreneur.
Not everyone is called to be a coach. And not
everyone is called to go to college and pursue
a career that way. And whenever you realize that
you don't have to do just what society tells
you to do because that's what I did. I went to
college. I got a job. And I was like, man, I
did it. So I did it. I got my job. And then a
couple years in, I was like, man, this it? So
no, a long way to say, yes, everything you're
saying. And again, I'm really happy to have you
on the show. Everything you're saying, it resonates
with the people. I would say it resonates with
the listeners of this podcast really well. Beautiful.
Thank you for that. And I'm glad that you mentioned
that, Thomas, because I think a lot of people
conflate the two. They conflate what purpose
and calling is. So purpose is why you exist.
That's the reason God created us. Your calling
is how you carry that out in a particular season.
Oh, yeah. So that's going to be associated with
the rose. So your calling, because it could be
seasonal, your calling can shift, but your purpose
stays the same. So I like to put it like this.
Your calling is the invitation. It's a verb.
God is calling you into the certain road to fulfill
your purpose. So your calling is the invitation.
Your purpose is the assignment. So this season,
I answered the call. To go very deep on life
and leadership coaching. Yeah. Last season, that
wasn't the case at all. I was knee deep into
being a personal trainer in LA. Okay. So the
purpose doesn't change. Right. The calling changes
and the calling is seasonal. So in order to fill
your purpose, essentially that's going to be
measured by how many roles you accept. that God
is calling you to. So that's why people can't
marry a certain role because it's seasonal. When
God calls you to lay that role down, who are
you? What do you have? So to fulfill your purpose
is going to be contingent on how many times you
say yes to the roles that God throw at us. Yeah.
And now that we're diving into this a little
bit, with this podcast being called The Pursuit
of Calling, what would you say your calling is
right now? If you say it would be the coaching
or how about we dive in? You can also talk about
the purpose as well. Okay. So my calling right
now, Thomas, is to equip and empower people.
to live and lead in purpose. So I do that by
aligning their mindset, their purpose and their
leadership impact so that they can too answer
the call and fulfill the purpose that God has
on their life and be the best version of themselves
while doing it. So essentially it's to help them
stop. Watch this. Living beneath who they were
created to be. Ooh, yeah, yeah. Man. Hmm. That's
what I'm passionate about. Yeah. Hmm. What's
a sign that you're living beneath who you're
created to be? Unfulfillment. Hmm. That's good.
People conflate the two. They conflate success
with fulfillment. Yeah. It's two different. Right?
Yeah. It's different. Yeah, it is. You're right.
Fulfillment is not tied to your finances. Right.
Fulfillment is tied to your purpose. So God did
us a favor so that we will always chase our purpose.
He wrapped our fulfillment into the purpose.
So meaning, and my coach and my pastor, he says
this brilliantly, you will never be fully fulfilled
until you're walking into your purpose. portion
of you will always feel like there's something
missing because it's not tied to your finances
that's good that's man okay now that's like you
could have like you could have said unfulfillment
and just let it and let that sit and i i i i
was like oh it's like that is so simple like
it's like uh And like, no, man, okay, cool. I
could have come through Holy Spirit because I
could have. Yeah, for sure. But I felt that prompt
and that knowledge. No, no, everything else you
said was good too. You just said unfulfillment
and I was like, oh, yeah, that makes a whole
lot of sense. I hope that freed somebody. Oh,
I hope so too. So you talk about helping. young
adults specifically, we talked about that in
our pre -interview, between 18 and 35, find their
purpose and grow as leaders. What do you see
as the biggest barriers holding this generation
back? Oh, that's a good question. That is a good
question. I do a lot of training around bridging
the communication gap. With multi -generational
teams and organizations. So that's a great question.
Off the top of my head, I would say I typically
see three barriers to that. So I would say confusion,
comparison and comfort. So most people are confused
about who they are. They're not clear. They haven't
uncovered their purpose. Yeah. Right. The comparison
part. What we're seeing, and oh my God, this
is so prominent today. A lot of people are comparing
themselves, their struggles in their life, their
day -to -day life to other people. Yeah. And
watch this. These people that they're comparing
themselves to aren't real. They're Instagram
reels. Yep, yep. And with AI emerging. It's hard
to identify what could be. Hard to identify what's
actually real. So we see a lot of people falling
into the spirit of comparison. And Dr. Daniels
puts it like this. He says, comparison turns
your calling into a competition. And then lastly,
comfort. People, from what I've seen, This is
just this is just Hazel are too comfortable where
they are to step into what God has called them
to be. Your purpose is going to cost you your
comfort. So those are the barriers that I see
off the top of my head. Those three. There's
there's a lot of others. But those three confusion,
comparison and comfort. A hundred percent. could
hold them back the comfort one's huge it's you
said being too comfortable where they you get
too comfortable so then you're kind of ignoring
the call okay like yes you're like i like i'm
good where i'm at god like i i'm happy here i'm
comfortable i don't have to worry like maybe
i don't gotta worry about money like oh my god
that's good thomas that's good But yet God's
like, hey, God's like, could be like, he asked
the young rich ruler. In scripture, he asked
the young rich ruler to, the only thing he had
to do, what do I need to do to like really follow
you? He goes, sell everything. Yes. Let's do
a character check really quick. What's that?
That's what he was saying, you know, modern day.
Yeah. He already knew the answer. He already
knew what he was going to do. He's God. Right.
And it's like... And then the only thing we get
to know about the young rich ruler after that
is that he walked away sad. We don't know what
he actually ended up doing. But, man, it's like...
Yeah, we get so wrapped up in success and our
own comfort that we forget that life is supposed
to be uncomfortable. The one thing I like to
say on this podcast a lot is that your calling
isn't for you. 100%. You're going to grow, right?
You're going to grow as you pursue your calling.
You're going to garner some benefits. But if
you're only seeing it through the lens, your
life through the lens, I just want to build myself
up, then you're at best not affecting the people
around you at all. And at worst, you're hurting
them. Oh my God. I'm glad that you said that.
Right. Um, because it's so true. True blood says
this intentional mediocrity is sin. Right. I
say, and it's one of my signature taglines, right?
Intentional mediocrity isn't harmless. It's a
betrayal to your purpose. So when we settle for
good enough, that's that comfort. When we settle
for good enough. We're rejecting the excellence
and the intention that God placed within us.
And like you said, it's not just a personal loss.
It's a loss to everyone that's assigned to your
purpose. So it's not just about you. Your gifts
aren't for you. A tree does not eat its own fruit.
That's good. That's good. So that's, that's the
comfort part. And yes, that, that, that could
become a barrier and we're seeing it. Yeah. Oh,
I'm going to start wrapping up with a few of
the two final questions. This has been a fantastic
conversation and I'm really happy that again,
thank you for being on the show. I know I got
two more questions. I say it again. But for the
listeners and for myself, what would be, based
on this conversation, based on what you would
typically recommend people, what would be the
top resource that you would usually recommend
to somebody to help them grow and, like you said,
help them maybe bridge that generational gap
or anything else that we talked about today?
Okay. One of the resources that I would recommend,
If we're talking personal development, as you
know, that's near and dear to my heart. I do
a lot of coaching around that. A timeless resource,
I would say, is the 15 Laws of Growth by John
Maxwell. That's huge. I do a mastermind all throughout
the year surrounding that where we're training
and exerting and extracting principles from that
to help people be more intentional about what
they're going to do. The next resource I would
say. Since we're talking about calling and purpose,
Dr. Darius Daniels, my coach, he has a great,
brilliant book titled Your Purpose is Calling.
That is what's on my nightstand. And this is
my second time reading it. So that's a huge reminder
that your purpose is calling. Answer. It's an
invitation. It's time to lock in. you know, answered.
No, I appreciate those. I'm going to link both
those in the show notes. And I think it's funny.
Most of the people I have on the podcast, well,
every, every guest I've had for the last couple
of months have been from the Mac from Maxwell.
And most people do recommend 15 laws of growth.
So I'd say you might want to go buy that book
guys. It's so practical. It's so good. And final
question for you. This is for me, and actually
it's for my listeners too if they want to go
check them out. But who do you know that I should
know? This is a great question I learned from
John just through his content, through getting
to know him. And this is a great question that
I like to ask to find more guests for the podcast,
network a little bit more, and grow. Oh, 100%.
I would say I recommend connecting Thomas with
other transformational coaches. You're already
activated. that and you're you know you're active
in that and other thought leaders you know who
are faith you know driven and purpose -centered
so and i have about a dozen of them that you
know i'm going to recommend to you uh and lay
before you here in a few hours um on you know
week one of the mastermind they don't know that
you're a surprise guest yet um so i would say
i would start there um And then anyone from Dr.
Daniels Premier Coaching Network. Right. So so
all of us were individuals who are committed
to equipping other people to lead from purpose,
not pressure. So I have a few people that I'm
going to connect you with on the mastermind.
Great for that. Yes. Awesome. I appreciate that.
Like I said, he's my coach, so he's he's a great
one to follow. uh dr darius daniels he's one
of the greatest communicators right now of our
time oh i really appreciate that and yeah i'm
excited for the masterminds just in a couple
hours so i'm ready for it um yes yes well guys
thank you for listening to this episode of the
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your calling and i'll see you next time bye