Cheryl Burke Prepares to Get 'Vulnerable' on New Dating Podcast amid Divorce From Matthew Lawrence

Cheryl Burke is (almost!) ready to get back in the dating game.

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, the Dancing with the Stars pro, 38, opens up about launching her newest podcast on iHeartRadio, Burke In The Game — a podcast that will encourage Burke to face her fears as she learns to love herself again and gear up for her next adventure.

"This is the first time I think anyone, including myself, is going to see or hear me be as vulnerable as I have to be," Burke says. "I'm always hiding behind the mirror ball."

"This is really opening up my life, which I feel like comes natural, but I also have to be okay to open up my heart," she adds. "This is a really trying time for me right now in my life, and I think naturally what I tend to do is I tend to build a wall. And I am not attainable in that sense, but I think this is part of my work, is to let that guard down regardless of feelings and being able to be okay with that."

The fan-interactive podcast, which will launch May 10 and air new episodes every Tuesday, will feature interviews with sex therapists, relationship experts, life coaches, family members, friends, and even a few of Burke's exes.

But who has the most influence when it comes to gearing Burke up for her next chapter? Her listeners.

"My fate is in [the listeners'] hands," says Burke. "They can choose whatever question we ask. It's all about building me up to get me ready to date, and doing the self-work and having them be involved. And, when do they think that I should start dating again? Is there a timeframe?"

"There's always room to grow," she continues. "I also get very narrow-minded sometimes, and I'm very controlling and micromanaging. It's great that I'm being able to, and hopefully step by step of course, but be vulnerable enough to not always be in control of my fate, because it clearly hasn't worked."

"I don't think I have been 100% ready, as far as like loving myself, to know what I deserve," she says. "To be ready for who I deserve. And what I'm trying to do is fall out of the pattern, the same pattern. Life is very short, and what I want to do, my goal, is to be able to invite whoever that is, that is the healthy version or the nice guy or whatever it is."

News of Burke's podcast comes nearly three months after she filed for divorce from actor Matthew Lawrence following close to three years of marriage. Though she filed in February, Burke listed their separation date as Jan. 7.

While Burke admits she's "not ready" to start dating quite yet, she is ready to do the work that will eventually lead to that next step.

"[Dating] is so foreign to me right now because I'm not ready at all, at this moment, but we are getting me ready," she explains. "This is the stuff that I need to do and be proactive about."

"I'm nervous that I am going to be so vulnerable and raw on this podcast, that I'm nervous to be hurt for some reason," she adds. "For me to have that wall up, there is that sense from when I was a little girl, that sense of maybe disloyalty or abandonment or whatever it may be, is triggering for me to be vulnerable because of that. And then I'm sober at the same time, so when I feel like I don't have my life in my own hands, it becomes really scary for me."

And though Burke has been open about her journey via social media over the past couple of months, she believes this podcast will really shed a light on what's really at stake.

"Sometimes I'm not open to hearing new things, but I will have to be when I do this podcast," she says. "And so when it comes to freezing my eggs, I am 38 years old, and I know that I definitely need to start thinking about that. Now, I have to weigh out my career versus my mental health. And I don't think I'll ever get rid of the body dysmorphia, I think it'll always be there a little bit, but I have to weigh out the priorities in my life now, especially now that I'm single."

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At the end of the day, Burke has one goal: to find happiness.

"My ultimate goal, is to be happy and have peace inside and to not constantly worry, worry, control, control, micromanage. It's freaking exhausting, my brain is tired," she says. "I'm hoping to find a partner at the end of the day. I do want to find that person, I do want to have those feelings again, I'm not numb to it."

"I know it's there, but maybe this time around I could be a little bit less controlling," she continues. "Maybe I could be a little more vulnerable. Maybe I can just learn more about, what is it that I need to do just to continue the path of evolving?"

"And hopefully finding love and being in a successful relationship without codependency, without any of it, just being okay with me first, not needing any outside sources to fill in my voids, and then be okay with that," she concludes. "I truly believe that once I'm there, it will happen. I just need to get there."