How to Make Your Dreams Come True
Do you ever feel like your dreams are just out of reach? That no matter how hard you try, every door seems to close before you even have a chance.
Our guest today knows exactly how that feels. She had a dream, and it seemed like everyone she talked to told her it was impossible. But she didn’t give up. In fact, she did just the opposite. She packed her bags, moved to a different country, and never stopped fighting for her dreams.
I’m excited to welcome our guest today from Portugal, Brytta Morira, founder of the Yoga Hostel, to the show. She’s here to share her inspiring story and teach us how to make our wildest dreams come true. So if you’re feeling stuck, if you’re feeling like giving up, this episode is for you. Tune in to hear how one person overcame every obstacle in her path to make her dreams a reality.
Let’s get started.
Chapters
6:11. Moving her business to Portugal
8:00. The truth about living abroad
11:09. How to overcome the tough times
11:37. How to get up after getting knocked down so many times
13:02. How to handle hearing “no”
19:53. Advice to ambitious women who are pursuing a dream
You can find Brytta:
https://www.instagram.com/bryttamoreira
https://theyogahostel.com
Follow Deanna and Kenna at:
https://www.instagram.com/goldenskyfilmsandphoto
https://www.instagram.com/carbonsilk.digital
https://www.instagram.com/deannahinsz
https://www.facebook.com/deannahinsz/
Would you like to be a guest?
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Transcript
[00:00:02.380] – Deanna
Hey Brytta. I am so stoked. How are you?
[00:00:06.190] – Brytta
I’m doing so well. I’m so excited to be here. Thank you for having me. How are you doing?
[00:00:11.960] – Deanna
I’m doing good. I’m doing good. There’s a little bit of a time difference between us right now because you are in Portugal.
[00:00:19.470] – Brytta
I am.
[00:00:19.910] – Deanna
And we’re going to talk about that a little bit more about how you got to Portugal and what’s going on over there. But first, let’s talk about the Yoga Hostel. So you are going through a total rebrand and changing your business to the Yoga Hosel. So what is the yoga hospital?
[00:00:43.100] – Brytta
Thank you for asking. So the yoga hospital has been my dream for at least 10 years. Basically, since I started traveling the world and teaching yoga, I was in my early 20s and couldn’t afford hotel stay, so I would stay at hostels. And I always carry a giant backpack on my back and I have rods in my spine. And the one thing that really helped carrying all that weight on my back hurting was yoga. And I’m like, Oh, my God, travelers need yoga. And I’m a yoga teacher. I’ve been teaching for eight years, and I want to open a yoga hostel. And when people think of yoga, they think of the postures, the meditation. But I’m someone who really believes in taking my yoga off the mat. So of course, we’re going to move on the mat, we’re going to breathe. But I really want to serve community. I want to serve women. I also really want to serve people who are either refugees, people who are going through the visa process because I have been through a very similar process. And I understand, I guess, the mental health care that really needs to be taken into consideration when you’re going through intense bureaucratic processes.
[00:01:54.870] – Brytta
I also have worked in refugee camps, and I have a huge passion for just helping people who have come from these war torn countries and they’re trying to rebuild a life. I really would love to hire a refugee family at my hostels and teach them the skill sets needed so when they move on to the next country, they can get hired somewhere. So it’s going to be a mix of yoga on the mat with a mix of yoga off the mat and really teaching people that yoga is the future. If we choose to step into that vibration of it, if we choose to not make it about our yoga outfits or how our bodies need to look, but really honoring the history and the roots of yoga in present day time while also just catering to travelers because travelers stay at hostels. And it’s going to be here in Portugal. I’m actually starting next week, I’m going to be looking at properties, which is terrifying plus super exciting. And I’m just so grateful that after 10 years of just traveling and teaching and experience that I have the opportunity and privilege to make my biggest dream come true.
[00:02:59.730] – Brytta
I i’m so… It’s really hitting me this year because I’m like, Oh, my God. Property next week. This is happening. It’s happening. It’s happening. It’s going to be a big community of people who are here to serve.
[00:03:12.450] – Deanna
Oh, my gosh. That is so exciting. And of course, today we’re talking about how to make your dreams come true. And you are doing it. But what I’m hearing is that making your dreams come true doesn’t happen overnight. It’s taken you 10 years to get to this point. First off, let’s talk about Portugal. And why are you in Portugal? Because when I met you, you lived in the US. Were you born in the US?
[00:03:41.250] – Brytta
I was born in the US, yes.
[00:03:43.670] – Deanna
Okay. So what led you to Portugal?
[00:03:46.920] – Brytta
Yes. So the first time I decided to start traveling the world and teaching yoga, I backtracked throughout the UK and the EU. And my family is Portuguese. My mom’s father, he’s from Mozambique, which is a Portuguese colony. And that’s how my grandmother met him when she was traveling throughout Africa teaching girls school. And I just think it’s so funny how much more we are.
[00:04:09.980] – Deanna
That is so crazy. So it’s in your blood. It is.
[00:04:12.860] – Brytta
In my blood.
[00:04:13.570] – Deanna
You couldn’t void it, even if you tried.
[00:04:16.430] – Brytta
Exactly. And I really think those things happen on purpose. And before coming to Portugal, I was in New York City, and I was friends with one of my aunts on Facebook who lives in Portugal. And I just Skyped with her because when Skyped, we were using that back in the day. And I said, I’m going to be in Portugal. Could I come and visit? And she was like, Come home. Please come stay with me. I’d love to have you. And I literally showed up at her door in Portugal not knowing her. And she introduced me to my entire family here. And I have 100 family members here. And I’m not talking about seventh, eighth, or ninth cousins. I’m talking my first and second cousins because my grandfather and his whole family are Portuguese. So I got to meet my family. I adore them. I love them. I see so much of myself. And then I actually figured out why I do some of the things I do when I’m around them. And not bad things, just things that I’m like, No one in America acts this way. Why am I like this? And then I’m like, Oh, I’m Portuguese.
[00:05:17.090] – Brytta
It makes sense. And every year I came back to Portugal, whether it was teaching at boom festival, which is a big yoga festival here, whether it was here for Christmas and New Year’s to see my family again. And I kept those relationships with them. I literally talked to them every single day through WhatsApp and Facebook and just kept in touch with them. I kept coming back. And I love Portugal. I am so in love with this country. The people are incredible. The beach is literally my front yard.
[00:05:47.750] – Deanna
Oh, wow. How could you not fall in love with that?
[00:05:50.710] – Brytta
Please come visit. When I open the hostel, everyone come. It’s got to be on the beach because
[00:05:55.260] – Deanna
Oh! I’m coming.
[00:05:56.170] – Brytta
The whole country is on the ocean. It’s just so nice here. And I’m so happy here. And I knew eight years ago when I showed up here that this… I knew it was going to be here. I didn’t know how. I didn’t know when, but I knew. And I tried so many ways to make this happen. And after a very long journey, I’m finally here.
[00:06:20.960] – Deanna
That’s exciting. But your journey is not over. It’s really just beginning. So you are trying to get your visa there, to permanently live there.
[00:06:34.230] – Brytta
Yes.
[00:06:34.480] – Deanna
And that’s been a challenge for you, hasn’t it?
[00:06:38.300] – Brytta
Yes. So when I visited here eight years ago, I tried getting citizenship through my grandfather because he’s Portuguese, but that was denied for bureaucratic reasons that I have to really do some yoga to let that not have grudges because it’s a very hard process. I tried that. I tried getting my D7 visa three times, which is basically the digital nomad visa. I work online, so I thought it would work. I was denied three times. Then I hired an agency. I have a whole group of people over here representing me. I’m like, Listen, I will fly to Portugal tomorrow if they keep denying me, so figure it out. T,hey were like, Okay, just get over to Portugal and you’re going to open a business here. I’m like, Great. That’s what I wanted to do from day one. I was like, Glad we’re doing it now. And basically I flew here in July. I had three days left on my passport. My passport was going to expire in January, but you can’t fly on it the last six months. I flew over here with three days left. I got an apartment and for two months, everyone’s on holiday from July and August.
[00:07:45.160] – Brytta
Really nothing happened over the summer. I’m like, I’m going to go to festivals. I’m going to enjoy this. I’m not going to let myself get stressed. It’s been a very stressful week to process. And then in September, I got approved for my business to be here. I’m technically in a waiting period, but I get to wait for 18 to 24 months in Portugal while I wait for the approval, and everyone gets approved through this process. No one has been denied. Fingers crossed. I’m not the one to do that. But I’m very happy. It was the name I wanted. It’s the yoga hospital. That had to get approved in itself. And now that I have the legal name of it, I can have online clients because if I came here right away wanting to get the building on day one, I would have been denied. They said, get over here, just get the name, get online clients, and then get the building. So now next month is when I’m going to start looking at buildings because that’s just how the.
[00:08:36.360] – Brytta
Process works.
[00:08:37.110] – Deanna
That’s how it works. So what was it like when you got that first denial?
[00:08:43.430] – Brytta
Well, when I got denied for my grandfather, I was really young at the time and I wasn’t as upset. I really thought it was ridiculous. I’m like, How dare you? Everyone else in my family lives here, but his brother is allowed to live here and their kids can, and I can’t. I see it as injustice. I’m such an activist in that way. I’m like, let me have justice. It’s unfair. And I was really upset. But I was still so young. I was like 20, 21. So I knew I had a lot to learn still. I didn’t take that as personally. I even came back two years later and tried getting it through my grandfather again. And they were just like, no. And then when I got denied my visa last year, that is when I was like, We are going to battle. And I was like, it was a very hard process. If you want to live abroad, I highly recommend it. But I want to make it very clear, it is not the travel photos on Instagram. It is real life. There is language barriers. It is really hard. You need to have a support system.
[00:09:47.070] – Brytta
You need to know that what you want is worth it because everyone will tell you their opinions of how it’s not worth it. And you have to believe in yourself. And I feel like I really fought hard for this. So I’m really grateful that I’m here. Pof art of me is like, I know I have a privilege being here, but the other part of me is like, No, I fought really hard for this. This was my work. Everyone could quit after being denied a visa. I literally told them I’m showing up and they’re going to give it to me. And that’s what I did.
[00:10:17.130] – Deanna
Oh, my God. Well, you know what you’re saying? It applies to so many people that have a dream, regardless what business that they’re in. But if you want something, you have to fight for it. If you want it bad enough, is it worth it?
[00:10:34.390] – Deanna
I love that you share that. It has to be worth that fight to keep pushing. And where do you find that? How do you keep fighting when you get knocked down so many times? Where do you find that inspiration?
[00:10:53.050] – Brytta
This is such a good question. This is actually going to be my new freebie for my social media. So many people have asked me this. I literally was told no by a government. And most people would just give up. And I don’t know. I really feel it’s something from my ancestors or something that is literally in my DNA. I don’t know. My grandma was a single parent. My mom was a single parent. I was raised by really strong women. And I’m so thankful for that. They have taught me, if you love something, you will show up and fight for it. And not in a violent way, but in a way that you believe in something that’s so much better than the world you’re currently in, that you’re going to put up a fight to create a better one. And I think that’s where it comes from. I also think resting is so important. And when we see ourselves wanting a dream and keep being told no over and over again, you need to rest. I took bubble baths every single day during my visa process. I practiced yoga. I went on walks because my mental health was not okay.
[00:11:58.760] – Brytta
When you’re told no after investing your entire savings account, I had to work five jobs to prove I could get this visa. I was just throwing everything on the table. My mental health was shaken and I had to every day just find tools that I could use to take care of myself. And even being here in Portugal, it’s paradise. But I still have government appointments once a week and I have to really, before and after, take care of myself because I know how hard it is. And I think that’s what it is. It’s just like finding out what it is that helps you feel nourished and practicing that every day.
[00:12:40.370] – Deanna
What I’m hearing you say is that there are no excuses. You could say, I don’t have the money. You could say, I don’t have the energy. You could say, Well, they already said no. But instead, you took on five jobs. You found ways to rest and you found ways to advocate for yourself and speak up for yourself. And you said this, nobody else is going to do it for you. So you have to be your biggest advocate. So when people are hearing no in their business, and you mentioned this a little bit before, that… And a lot of times people have an idea about starting a business, and everybody has an opinion. Now, yours was going to another country, right? But a lot of people who have this idea of starting something and people are like, That’s a terrible idea. It’s never going to work. It won’t work. How do you overcome that?
[00:13:43.320] – Brytta
Yeah. I had to learn this lesson in the past six months because I had people who I thought were my best friends who were on my side, who were not telling me, doubting me. And this is going to sound very harsh, but I have learned to silence, mute, and block people who are not for me. And I don’t mean that in a mean way. I’m not about burning bridges, but it can shake your spirit if you have people around you who are not your cheerleaders, who are not your biggest advocates. Because I firmly believe the reason why I made it to Portugal is because I have such a good support system. But I also learned who within that support system was actually not the supporters. And I had to have some hard conversations. I had to learn at the age of 28 how to set strict boundaries, which I feel like I’m learning how to do that every day. It’s so hard for me because I just love loving people. I love being nice to everyone. But then I don’t know, this journey has taught me keep your circle small and keep it close and really just the people who can’t be there for you have got to go.
[00:14:57.630] – Brytta
And it doesn’t mean like burning a bridge. You can just love them from afar. I really believe in that. I still send love to people who were not my supporters because I hope I imagine them as the highest versions of themselves. But I also have to be really strict with my energy and who I allow around me because I need support right now. Living abroad on my own, I have my family here, thank God, but it’s still hard. And I just need to have strong, loving people around me. So if you have people, you have this great business idea, it’s a great business idea and you should act on it. And don’t listen to people who haven’t walked that journey. I don’t want the opinions of people who haven’t applied for a visa or haven’t tried moving abroad or don’t even have a passport. Their opinions don’t matter to me. I need people who get it and who are going to be here with me on my best days and my worst.
[00:15:56.380] – Deanna
That is such a good point. I read a book a long time ago and I talk about this a lot, but it’s the Saint the Surfer and the CEO. It’s a book by Robin Sharma. It’s a really easy read. But something that changed my life when I read the book was there was a paragraph in there and I’m going to paraphrase because it’s been years since I’ve read it, but I still practice it. And it said that if something no longer serves you in a positive way or in the way that it once did, eliminate it from your life, whether that is a magazine subscription, whether that is a bad habit or a person, whatever that is, eliminate it. Don’t create that extra stress. It’s okay to step away from it. And eliminating it sounds harsh when you’re talking about people. But I love what you’re saying is that you don’t have to do it in a cruel, mean, or make it like this huge event. You can just step away and still love them from a distance. But it is so important to keep your circle small and strong because it’s hard when you’re trying to create your dream.
[00:17:08.970] – Deanna
Because if it was easy, everybody would be doing it, right?
[00:17:13.120] – Brytta
I agree. It sounds so nice. I’m like, Please make it that way just for a week.
[00:17:19.150] – Deanna
Yeah, it sounds like it’s the easiest thing. I guess that’s the bad thing is your Instagram is beautiful and I’ll share the links, but it’s beautiful and it’s you. But you do get real at times and you do share some of the vulnerable times. But the reality is most of us are sharing the highlight reel and we don’t see everything that’s really going on behind the scenes of that. So to take a look at you and say, oh, well, she’s got an easy life. What? She teaches yoga and travels the world. That’s like luxury, right?
[00:17:58.620] – Brytta
It sounds so nice. It is. I don’t know if I wouldn’t do it if it was just all bad.
[00:18:07.220] – Deanna
Well, right. But it sounds easy. It sounds like you didn’t put much effort into it. You love yoga, you love traveling, you combine the two and easy peasy.
[00:18:22.980] – Deanna
But it’s not. It’s really nasty.
[00:18:24.670] – Brytta
Maybe I should be a little more real on Instagram.
[00:18:30.550] – Deanna
Now you teach ambitious women how to be bold and how to achieve their dreams. So if we have one of those ambitious women listening right now, what would you piece of advice would you give them?
[00:18:46.860] – Brytta
Oh, I love this question. I would tell them to listen to their intuition, listen to your gut, because that’s the only voice that really matters. And maybe it’s sitting in meditation and literally putting your hand on your belly and just allowing your body to speak to you. I would also say, as women, we live in this society where I don’t know, being in Portugal, I love it here, but I get ignored sometimes because I’m a woman here.
[00:19:20.740] – Deanna
Really?
[00:19:21.560] – Brytta
Oh, yeah. And my advice is, this is crazy advice, but women, put yourself in rooms and spaces where only men exist. Just watch what is happening in the room, show up in the room, let yourself take up space in this room, whether it’s a sports game, I don’t know, the office. I don’t know places where it’s stereotypical where only men should hang out and allow yourself to take up space in those places. Because I have really had to learn this past year how to channel my masculine energy to get men to respect me. Because in Portugal, a lot of the systems are run and created by men. They’re not evil. It’s just they’re set in their ways and everyone just follows it. I’m a woman, being told no over and over again, you need to listen to me. You need to be listened to. You need to use your voice and advocate for yourself. And who cares if you’re told no a hundred times? Maybe you need to be told no a hundred times so that you can figure out what it means to fail and fully feel that failure so that you can fully feel yourself when you rise and you just conquer your dreams. Because let me tell you, I was told no to a visa that I put my entire life in three times.
[00:20:47.700] – Brytta
I petitioned the government, which has never been done before in Portugal. I was like, I’m going to petition them. They’re like, You’re going to do what? I’m like, I’m going to petition them and they’re going to let me come here. Because you have to just come up with creative ways to turn every no into a yes. I absolutely refuse to be told no when it comes to my greater good and my dreams because it’s my life and I’m the boss of my life. I had to learn that. I’m the boss. No one, no government, no people, no anyone in business is going to tell me no when it comes to my business and my dream. I know that’s hard to step into that type of power, but you are so worthy of that power. You are so worthy of your dreams. You have to tell yourself that a million times a day sometimes, that you are worthy and you deserve to step into your power.
[00:21:35.000] – Deanna
I believe, and you probably said this, that if you had not heard no so many times, you may not have that tenacity that you have right now. Not that we’d like to hear no. It would have been a lot nicer if you got a yes right out of the bat, but you would not be who you are right now if it was an easy yes.
[00:21:58.340] – Brytta
Exactly. I think that’s still hard for me to accept. It’s so hard. But I actually know that now. If I was told yes that first time, second, or third, I’d have been like, Great. My bags were packed. I would have left Portugal, came to the United States, kept my bags packed because I was like, I’m going to be back in Portugal in a couple of months. It’s all going to be fine. And I wasn’t. It took me seven months last year to just get back to Portugal. And I feel everything in me got shaken. I learned so many internal lessons of just how I show up in the world. I think that’s a good lesson. For women, if you want to be bold, if you want to achieve your dreams, you have to do that internal work. You have to find everything inside of you that tells you you’re unworthy and change that story. And that’s not overnight work. That’s years of work, but it’s so worth it. Nothing is going to mess with me now. This is my path. But that wasn’t who I was a year ago. I was this nice girl who couldn’t defend herself.
[00:23:02.050] – Brytta
And now I’m like, Let’s go. This is our dream. We are making this happen. And even having those hard conversations with people. I hired an agency of attorneys, and they were like, Sorry, your visa is denied. The service is done. And I was like, We’re getting on a Zoom call. You’re going to put on your warrior gear. We’re going. Let’s do it. Let’s go. And they were like, No one’s ever done this. And I was like, Great, let me be the first one. Let’s set the bar.
[00:23:27.980] – Brytta
You have to just, I don’t even know, just know that you have that strength within you. And I think as women, even if you’re a woman who wants to have a baby, we know that that strength is inside of our bodies. And it doesn’t just have to be channeled to having a child. It can be channeled into your business, into your dreams, into moving abroad. There’s a reason it’s inside of you and just really tune into that.
[00:23:56.800] – Deanna
That’s such good advice. And I think we always need to hear it again and again. So this would be a great little clip to just replay and save on your phone and play it when you’re feeling a little bit beat up. Just here’s Brytta. Listen to Brytta’s advice and just go.
[00:24:17.290] – Deanna
Put on your.
[00:24:18.130] – Brytta
Warrior gear. I love it. I love it, though. But it’s true. We do need to hear that. Brytta, how can we find you?
[00:24:29.800] – Deanna
Yeah. So you can find me on Instagram @Britt MoreiraYogathe . And then at the end of February, I’m launching my new website, the yoga hospital. So that’s going to be live probably before the end of February, but I’m just giving myself some time. So we’ll say end of February. So Instagram and my website. You can also follow my Facebook page, the yoga hospital. And on Instagram, the yoga Hostel Portugal.
[00:24:53.770] – Deanna
Oh, I love it. I love it. I love it. Thank you so much for being on today, Brytta. Always so much fun to talk to you. I’m so excited for you. I love watching your journey as you go through this because you really are unstoppable and it’s exciting to see.
[00:25:11.640] – Brytta
Thank you for having me. I love… I worked with Deana before all of this. Diana really taught me how to grow my business and my website and social media. So thank you for having me and instilling those really good lessons of business. They are helpful every day of the way, so thank you. Thank you.
[00:25:29.580] – Deanna
That means so much. I didn’t even ask for that plug, but I’ll take it.
[00:25:33.340] – Brytta
Thank you. Yeah, I get it.
[00:25:35.020] – Deanna
Thank you. All right, Brytta. And thank you, everybody, for joining in. We’ll see you next time.
