My friend Vlada Bortnik — CEO of Marco Polo and host of the Heartful Wonders podcast — recently had me on her show, and she asked me a question I wasn't fully prepared for: What if the emotion you think is your heart is actually fear?It's a good one. Decisions rooted in shame or self-doubt can feel exactly like intuition. The difference, I've come to believe, is direction: whether you're moving toward something or away from discomfort.In this conversation, I get honest about what it actually looks like to follow your heart, including the parts that don't make the highlight reel. The self-doubt. The disappointment. The moments where you still don't believe you're enough, even after decades of building. We also get into Passionate Ambivalence: care deeply about what you're creating, run experiments, but don't tie your worth to whether they work out. Because disappointment is the most common thing that happens. And it doesn't mean you can't come out optimistic on the other side of crying your eyes out.This is a conversation about courage, honesty, and what it looks like to keep showing up after things don't go the way you hoped.Originally published on Vlada's podcast, Heartful Wonders.