Episode 309: Listening to the Whispers: Redefining Success, Security, and Midlife Transitions with Regina Sih-Meynier

What happens when you do everything “right” and still feel unfulfilled?

Melissa Joy, CFP®, sits down with Regina Sih-Meynier, PharmD, a former clinical and pharmaceutical industry leader who followed a quiet inner nudge toward a completely different kind of success. Regina shares how growing up in an immigrant family shaped her drive for security and achievement, why the traditional “success checklist” did not deliver the fulfillment she expected, and what ultimately helped her pivot into entrepreneurship, intuitive work, and a more flexible life.

They talk about the midlife moments that can throw everything off course, from career disruption to caregiving responsibilities, and why financial planning can be a stabilizing force during big transitions. Regina also explains what she means by “whispers” from within, how intuition can show up through the body, and why having a practical runway and support system can make all the difference when you are building your next chapter.

What you’ll learn

• Why hitting major milestones can still leave you feeling disconnected
• How Gen X and older millennial women were conditioned to overachieve and overdeliver
• What it looks like to pivot without burning down your entire life overnight
• How intuition can show up as body intelligence and internal guidance
• Why financial stability can create the space needed to hear what you actually want
• The mindset shift from “income only comes from a paycheck” to multiple streams and possibilities
• How to approach midlife change with flexibility, resilience, and intentional tradeoffs

Author of "A Thousand Whispers from Within"

Coming Feb 2026, Manuscripts Press - available Feb 16th on Amazon.

📧 regina@reginasihmeynier.com

🌐 www.reginasihmeynier.com

📸 IG: @reginasihmeynier

💼 LinkedIn: Regina Sih-Meynier, PharmD

The previous presentation by PEARL PLANNING was intended for general information purposes only. No portion of the presentation serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from PEARL PLANNING or any other investment professional of your choosing. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy, or any non-investment related or planning services, discussion or content, will be profitable, be suitable for your portfolio or individual situation, or prove successful. Neither PEARL PLANNING’s investment adviser registration status, nor any amount of prior experience or success, should be construed that a certain level of results or satisfaction will be achieved if PEARL PLANNING is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. PEARL PLANNING is neither a law firm nor accounting firm, and no portion of its services should be construed as legal or accounting advice. No portion of the video content should be construed by a client or prospective client as a guarantee that he/she will experience a certain level of results if PEARL PLANNING is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. A copy of PEARL PLANNING’s current written disclosure Brochure discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request or at https:...

Chapters

• 1:31 Roots, Ambition, And Expectations
• 4:19 Climbing The Ladder And Feeling Empty
• 6:51 Loss, Intuition, And A Doorway Opens
• 10:25 Layoff As Catalyst And Metaphysics
• 13:20 Tuning Into Guidance And The Clares
• 16:42 Choosing A Sabbatical Over Safety
• 19:36 Money Runway And Calming Fear
• 23:08 Downsizing, Flexibility, And Freedom
• 26:55 Building An Intuitive Business
• 30:26 Retreats, Rituals, And Practices
• 31:12 Disclosures And Listener Guidance

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 1:31

Hi, Melissa. Thank you so much for having me. I am thrilled to be here, and it's truly an honor, and I just can't wait to jump into conversation with you. Oh, thank you so much. Um, I just can't wait to share the story, which is also coming out in my book, A Thousand Whispers from Within, manifesting a life of purpose and prosperity. So I think that really just ties into this conversation. Um, maybe I can just start with yeah, okay. Yes, okay. Well, um, let me just start with I am Chinese Indonesian, so I grew up in an Asian culture, born in Indonesia, moved to the U.S. when I was three with my parents and my older sister. And we we grew up very much in that mindset of coming to the US with the American dream to have a better life. And my parents um really focused on making sure that their two daughters could be independent in their life and that they wouldn't have to depend on anybody else. And so they really um focused and valued a lot on education and having these traditional roles that would lead to success and um success, which meant you are financially secure, so hence you're safe. And so it was either the doctor, the lawyer, or engineer. And so I very much grew up with I'm going to work super hard so that I can earn and buy all the nice pretty things that my white classmates had in their wealthy homes when I was growing up. I could see the difference. And I just really became that a student. And it was all about perfectionism and doing really well. And so I pursued um my doctorate in pharmacy after getting my bachelor's in biology and then went on and did a residency training. So I was nine years in training. Um, I really wanted to focus on helping patients and um folks who were managing a lot of different diseases. So I ran a clinical pharmacy um at a medical center, and then after 10 years, I went on into the pharmaceutical industry. I did the conventional success checklist, which is get married before I graduated pharmacy school, um, you know, get the nice pretty house, get the nice sports car, make the really, you know, over six figures, and get the, you know, be married and do all the things. So I got married in my by 25. I was married to someone who was becoming a doctor. Uh, we built the nice pretty house, um, went on luxury vacations, did all the things, and I woke up one day and I was like, why am I so miserable? Um, and so I basically technically the success checklist in the pot of gold, but then it didn't equate to happiness or fulfillment. Um, and that marriage ended, and I rebuilt my life life back in San Francisco. And um maybe it was like 18 months, two years later, I met the love of my life, a French man. We met on ranch.com. Um, I got remarried, and then um we bought a house in San Francisco, everything was lovely. My sister lived a mile and a half away, and uh my my parents were in Southern California, and then I was in the pharmaceutical industry and I just kept hearing this whisper, you're supposed to do something else. And that whisper started probably around in 2013, and I didn't know what to do with it for many, many years. It just kept saying you're supposed to do something else, you're supposed to do something else. And I would be like, What the heck do you want me to do? I trained for nine years, I built this career, I'm supposed to retire in it, and I, my husband is an entrepreneur, he's a cinematographer, and I'm, you know, I'm the one with the steady income and the healthcare benefits. And so I can't leave the golden handcuffs. But um then my mom died. And uh so in 2018, she passed away, and she had forbade me when she was alive uh to practice the intuitive psychic abilities um that runs in our family because she said I would have a poor life if I did. Uh but when she passed, it was um the the doorway to my freedom to explore it because I really wanted to connect with her after she passed away. And that really opened up the doors. Uh, and then the second big thing that happened was um I got I got laid off in the pandemic, and I had been working with a spiritual life coach, and um she reminded me that I had journaled this ask and I had asked for more time, space, and resources to explore this thing that was calling me. And sure enough, the universe delivered, and um I got laid off and I got a small package, um, but it was enough to make the transition. Yeah, um, gosh, we can relate on so many levels, right? That transition. I completely agree. When someone is um right when they get laid off, it's it's it's sensitive. Um, but I think when you ask for the thing that you desire, I really wanted more time, space, and and freedom. Uh, I didn't want to be tied down to these work meetings. Um, and so what ended up happening was as I was working with my spiritual life coach, I started to develop uh these skills around the metaphysical world. And what it yeah, it's I mean, there is more and more research around um the metaphysical world, the energy that we embody, the frequency in which our energy vibrates and what we put out into the world. There's more and more um research and data around this. I love the work that Laura Lynn Jackson does because she partners with um the Research Institute. Um, and she they look at all of this to pinpoint that this is real. Uh, it's not fake, it's not made up in our mind. We actually have uh the ability to tune into things that we can't see, but that we can sense. And there's things like the Clares, right? Having clarity around Clear Audience, which is what I have, is a skill to be able to hear a voice that's not your own. It sounds like my voice, but it's not coming from me. It vibrates at a different energy and frequency, and it provides guidance. And everybody has access to this. So um, so where I ended up landing in transitioning um after I got laid off is I had I I reached out um to an old to my previous manager from the pharmaceutical industry because I was a little bit freaked out, even though I got what I wished for, and I told her I got laid off. And she said, give me your resume and I'll get you back in. I'll help you get back into the pharmaceutical world to get another position. And I'm like, Okay, great, because you know, that panic, the fear kicks in, even though it's something you had asked I had asked for. Um, and from there.

SPEAKER_03: 11:34

Yes. Paychecks. Right.

SPEAKER_01: 12:02

Absolutely. And if you're feeling a little bit disconnected or dissatisfied, then that is a signal to explore another path. And so um my manager was ready to take my resume and I said, let me update it. And I just had the chest tightness and the stomach turn. So the body intelligence came through, which is how your intuition can speak to you. And it was that is not the right way to go. So I had to tell her that I was going to take a summer sabbatical, and that's what I did. And I looped back with my financial planner, um, who we've been working with for many, many years. We have quarterly meetings. So um I encourage folks listening in to have a financial planner advisor to be able to be really financially strategic so that your finances can support your dreams and that you can take the next right step feeling more confident. And so I knew that I really needed to figure out that transitional runway to create financial security because I needed to feel relaxed enough to tune into my inner wisdom. If I'm worried about finances and how I'm gonna keep the lights on, then I won't be able to tune in because I'm constantly gonna be worried. And you can only hear one internal voice at a time. So it's either your inner critic, your ego narrative, the fear voice speaking to you. And if you feed it, it will only grow and get louder. Or you address that, and this is what I teach is how do you address that so that you can maintain a higher energetic state to be in the right mindset to focus on hearing that inner wisdom that provides the guidance. And so I didn't go back to corporate. My husband's business was completely shut down in the pandemic. We had no income coming in, but we had over the years savings because I kept hearing my logical mind was like pay down your mortgage in San Francisco, so make extra payments. But I could feel it in my body not to do that. And so what ended up happening is that we just built this nest egg and accumulated cash, and we were able to live off that cash and work with our financial advisor during the pandemic so that I could feel relaxed enough. But then I took further steps. Um, there was sacrifice. So it was like we had two cars in a Vespa. Do we need two cars now that I'm not going back to corporate? So we we got rid of one leased car and we owned the other one outright. And so we kept one car in a Vespa. And then the other whisper I kept hearing was lower your overhead even more. And so I'm like, who could I get to rent my San Francisco home while my father offered to allow us to live with him in Southern California for rent free while we figured out our next steps? And so it it there was sacrifice, but it's so worth it when you're trying to figure out what is the next thing so that you could feel relaxed enough to hear the whispers. And so that's yeah, yeah, I think that's a I think words have so much meaning and it's so important. And I love how you adjusted, you know, it's a pivot, right? It's so perhaps it's not a sacrifice. In some people's minds it might be, but it truly is a pivot and this ability to just say, now that I've tasted my freedom, I can't go back, Melissa. I I will do anything to live this life of freedom where I'm an entrepreneur, I can work from anywhere in the world, I can be with my 83-year-old father. It's his birthday today. I could be with my 83-year-old father in Southern California, work from there, I can work from France and continue to build community there, and I can work for my home base in San Francisco, where my where my sister and her family lives a mile away. So I it at some point, when you realize what you really love, that fills your heart and lights you up, you I think folks will find that you will do anything possible to maintain that life and to feel fulfilled.

SPEAKER_02: 18:03

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 18:14

Thank you. Thank you for asking. So, as an intuitive career and business strategist, I am guiding accomplished professionals, men and women, uh, to find their next chapter without feeling worried about or fearful about losing everything that they have built. Um, and it's really understanding and figuring out how to tune into that inner wisdom because it will lead you to your next right step to find um your next chapter and also address some of these fear things or the the reality of living in the real world. You still have to pay your bills, you still have to be accountable and responsible. So being able to identify the skills and tools on how to do that. So I when I first launched the business in 2021, I did a bunch of online courses and group workshops. Uh, and then I launched a retreat in France, the go slow to go faster retreat. And it was really taking all of the skills that I was teaching to individual professionals as well as to corporate leaders in the pharmaceutical industry, how to lead from authenticity. And what that means really is how do you tune into that inner whisper, hear it, and then take aligned action to what it says. That is truly what is living authentically. When we listen to what our parents told us to do, what our peers, colleagues, culture tells us to do, and it's going against what you feel is internally authentic to you, then that is not living authentically if you decide to continue to live in that way. And so I'm really teaching folks how to go slower. French countryside, so that they can tune into that inner wisdom in a relaxed environment where they can be present to tune in and then how to address all of the fear-based thoughts through the different practice, practices, um, mindsets, breath work, physical movement. And I'm partnering um with a person who does a bunch of rituals, uh, Lori, Diane. Um, she does a lot of rituals, she does tarot, she does a lot of great energy work, and then I'm partnering with another person, Arizu, who um basically does um she's a she is a master at kundalini yoga and breath work and brain brain memory work. Um, and so these folks are joining me in the French countryside May 24th, so that we can um help accomplished professionals get the right tools that they can take home so that they can hear the guidance and how to address the blockers so that they can follow the breadcrumbs to their next chapter. So um, and then the other piece is that the last two years I've been full-time focusing on writing this book that's coming out in February. Um, and it's a thousand whispers from within. It's really a memoir about my journey of what's possible from leaving a corporate wall and being really the goal, letting go of the golden handcuffs and identifying my true identity and some of the barriers that was holding me back and how I addressed them, uh, especially how to know where to head next, how to address the financial security piece and that transitional bridge. Um, and then really focusing on the stories about like how we got the house in France during the pandemic when we were both basically not working, how we acquired that home. Um, and the piece about how um the universe and my spirit team helped me hit my goal. This is all in the book. Um, helped me hit my financial goal. My goal in 2021 was to hit a million dollars. And my team whispered to me um in 24 while I was impressed. Revenue and any income that was just coming in because one of the mindsets I had to shift when I left corporate is that um income or financial revenue, whatever you want to call it, can come in in many ways. My old thinking was it was only through W9 or 1099 through consulting. And I did I did consult back into the pharmaceutical industry during the transition. And what I discovered on this journey is that it can come in many forms and in magical ways as well. Um this isn't in in the book, but um, and I won't get into the details, but for example, like there was Texas land that I had owned from a previous from my previous marriage that was underwater. And um eventually over many years, it somebody came to me and said they wanted to buy it, and we were able to make back some money from that, which was a miracle. And then a check that was, you know, given to me to the bank. You have unclaimed property. I had no idea where this check came from. It was almost$20,000. So all these magical things that came through traditionally through my business, but through consulting, but through these other magical ways, I think it's important for folks to realize that it's possible and that tuning in to the right inner wisdom and connecting um to source can get you to where you want to head. And so that's what I've been working on in this business so far, and really looking forward to connecting with more folks who are interested in some sort of transition and finding their next chapter.

SPEAKER_03: 27:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 27:49

Yes, I Melissa, I think you really call out some great points. That, yes, I mean, I did a lot of the hard work at the beginning and had the traditional role that provided the income to provide then the opportunities later that allowed me to do the things. I think um it's important to um, I feel like what um the message that keeps coming through is like um allowing that inner voice, whatever people call it, everyone has it, um, to lead the way of where you want to head. And I love how you called out that in my younger years, it was fear of security that drove my decisions. And that really now it's about leading with that inner voice and then allowing the finances and a financial advisor to support that strategy. And so all the logical strategic stuff doesn't get thrown out the window. It all works together. It's just a matter of what leads and what supports.

SPEAKER_02: 29:52

Yeah, absolutely, totally hundred percent.

SPEAKER_01: 30:02

Oh, thank you for asking. Um, I'm uh well, my website is just my full name, Regina CMinye.com. Uh, and so you can find a lot of updates there uh and and how folks can work with me. Um, and then I also am on Instagram, and it's again my full name at Regina C. Minier. And then I'm also on LinkedIn at the same name. Uh, and those are the places where I generally hang out to provide some tips and updates as well. Thank you, Melissa, for having me.

SPEAKER_00: 31:09

Thank you for listening to the Women's Money Wisdom podcast. If you found value in this episode, the best way that you can support the podcast is to forward an episode to a friend or leave a review. Go to ProPlan.com and the podcast link to get all the resources and links mentioned. This presentation by Pearl Planning is intended for general information purposes only. No portion of this presentation serves as the receipt of or substitute for personal investment advice from Pro Planning or any other investment professional of your choosing. Copies of Pro Planning's current rent and disclosure brochure and from CRS discussing our advisory services and fees are available upon request or on our website platform at PerlPlan.com. The information that we share is meant to educate and inspire, not serve as personalized financial advice. Everyone's situation is unique, so be sure to consult with your own financial professional for guidance that fits your life. And just so you know, the opinions shared in this podcast are Melissa's own and those of our guests. They don't necessarily represent any organizations with which Melissa is affiliated. For more important disclosures, please go to our webpage at proplan.com.