100% Awesome Podcast

The holiday season is in full swing and today I want to give you some help as you navigate the stresses, obligations and feelings of the season.

Because no matter how long your to-do list is or how much extra work you might have to do, it’s always our thoughts that are making us feel bad and our brains that end up making things even harder on ourselves.

So today’s podcast is a little holiday peptalk to help you handle the holidays and feel good during one of the most stressful parts of the year.  We’ll talk about what to say no to, what to say yes to, how to use your agency to take care of yourself so you can have more of the experiences and feelings you want and less of the ones you don’t. 

Just in time, here’s the holiday halftime speech you’ve been needing!

Even though the election is over, there are still a lot of thoughts and feelings about it to process. No matter what your political viewpoint is, it’s hard to wake up and realize that half the country doesn’t think and feel the way you do (p.s. the right way). That realization can make us feel scared and uncertain about our future.

In today’s episode of the podcast, I’m talking about how to process your feelings about the outcome of the election and how to process your feelings about the people who voted differently than you and who might feel like the enemy right now. And what if they are the people across the street, across the pew, or across the dinner table?  

If you’ve felt heavy or anxious in the aftermath of the election, I hope this episode will help you compassionately take care of yourself as well as give you a reason to love other people and embrace our common humanity.

I recently cheered my brother on in a 100-mile race called the Javelina Jundred.

Watching him grind out all those long, hot miles awed me, terrified me, and taught me about the way we create transformation in our lives. It’s messy, it’s slow, and it’s inevitable if you keep going—but many of us stop because we’re waiting for a magical moment of transformation rather than the unremarkable and boring work of taking the next step. 

In today’s episode, I’m sharing all the things I learned by watching my brother do something impossible, unthinkable, unbearable, and insurmountable by simply (but never easily) putting one foot in front of another. 

Making mistakes is a big part of our human experience but none of us enjoy it very much.

And while making mistakes isn’t fun and we never want to hurt ourselves and others, our brains as especially intolerant of our mistakes and can sometimes use them against us for years after we make them, haunting us with feelings of regret and shame and recrimination. 

Every time we make a mistake, there is an opportunity for learning and growth, but our brains usually just use them as an opportunity to belittle and bully us. So, what do we do when we know we got it wrong, and our brains won’t let it go?

In this special Halloween episode of the podcast, I’m sharing some thoughts to allow you to exorcise the ghosts of your past mistakes and access more grace and compassion, so you can move you forward rather than be terrorized by your past.  

It is a brave thing to be a human.

Mostly because, as long as we are alive, we are each under the constant scrutiny and criticism of our own brains. And no matter what we do, it seems like we’re never good enough to quiet its relentless disparagement.

Recently I have had a few experiences that reminded me how vulnerable and scary it is to stand up to you brain and its criticism, and how many incredible experiences are available to us if we do.

In today’s podcast episode, I’m sharing a few thoughts about how all of our brains want to make us scared and insecure and just how much bravery it takes to feel that and create the things you want anyway. I hope these thoughts will give you comfort and motivation, help you be a little braver, and allow you to be a little more compassionate with yourself and others as you do the brave work of being human.

It can be easy for our natural desires to change and grow to become a never-ending quest for continued self-improvement and optimization. 

This can lead us down a road where we’re always chasing what comes next because we believe that next version of ourselves will be better than who we are now. And without meaning to, we can end up making our present selves inferior to some superior future self, and always feel a low level of discontent with ourselves and our lives.

On today’s episode of the podcast, I’m inviting you to the idea of choosing present over perfect. And I’m giving you thoughts and strategies to be more present in your life and to value you who you are and where you are, without worrying that your contentment will make you complacent.

If you’re someone who finds it difficult to rest or if you find yourself always trying to prove or earn your worthiness, I hope this episode will allow you to embrace your inherent goodness and trade your quest for perfection for joy in the present.

It’s election season here in the U.S. and many of us have lots of thoughts and feelings about it. There can be a lot of tension and stress when it comes to politics because our brains believe that our happiness and safety are at stake, and it feels like we have so little control over the outcome.

It’s also stressful because we have relationships and interactions with people who think and vote differently than us and their thoughts and opinions are very loud right now. 

In today’s episode, I’m not going to tell you how to think or who to vote for, but I am going to share some thoughts that will allow you to feel peace at a time when there is a lot of fearmongering everywhere you turn. We’ll also discuss how to allow other people to be who they are and think what they think without resenting or villainizing them, and how to engage and participate in the political process (if you want to), when your brain is making you feel hopeless or unseen or powerless. 

No matter where you live or what political season you are in, I hope this episode will allow you to feel less scared and angry and more empowered to contribute and make a difference in the world.

Whenever we watch the people in our life suffer or face challenges, our natural instinct is to try to fix or change things in order to ease their suffering.

But not only is changing or removing their pain often impossible, it’s also not the kind of help our loved ones really need.

As I faced the challenges of a recent endurance event, I watched how perfectly my husband, David, was able to offer me incredible support without changing the challenge, questioning my decisions or my abilities, and without losing his patience or compassion. And on today’s episode, I’ve asked him to share his experience and insights. 

We all have incredible opportunities to support and care the people we love, and I hope this episode will help you as you witness, cheer, and comfort the people you love most in the world as they face the “mountains” of their lives. 

I recently completed an ultra-endurance challenge called 29029, where I climbed the vertical equivalent of Mount Everest, 29029 feet, in 36 hours.

Reaching the summit took everything I had and plenty that I didn’t think I had. And I learned so much. There are things we can only learn by going way outside our comfort zone, by finding the edge of our abilities, and stretching ourselves beyond what our brains believes we are capable of. I surprised myself, I met myself, and I discovered myself.

In this follow-up episode, I’m sharing the final lessons I learned in those uncomfortable, sometimes painful, hours I spent climbing and ultimately conquering to Mont Tremblant. I hope they will help you, encourage you, and inspire you as you face the Everests in your life.

**Looking for tickets to HOPE DAY? I’m part of an all-day coaching event in Utah on October 12th and if you’d like to get a ticket you can use this link: 

www.eventbrite.com/e/930171486957/?discount=April

I'm part of a full-day coaching retreat happening Oct. 12th in northern Utah called HOPE DAY. This is a special bonus episode to invite you to that event, give you all the details, and remind you that the last day to get your ticket is Tuesday, Oct. 1st.

If you have been thinking about coming to HOPE DAY consider this episode your personal invitation to join me there.

In this bonus episode, I also share a powerful thought about how to be both happy IN your life and WITH your life and how coaching can help you do both!!

You can sign up for HOPE DAY using my discount code using this link: www.eventbrite.com/e/930171486957/?discount=April