WHEN YOU ARE DONE WITH THINGS AS THEY ARE, THINGS AS THEY COULD BE BEGIN TO APPEAR.

The last six months have been full of learning, but here are five moments, when everything changed. And, if you're frustrated with your life right now, things can shift just as quickly for you. These are five days that will change your life, when you experience them:

#1: The day you get sick of thinking negative thoughts.

#2: The day you get sick of taking things personally.

#3: The day you get sick of putting your goals on hold whenever you feel down.

#4: The day you realize you'll never be happy until you give the ideas in your head a solid, planned attempt. 

#5: The day you decide that life is too short for self-curation.

Remember: You have a powerful mind, an iron will and the heart of a lion. Life is an experiment. You're the scientist.

Are you trying to decide whether to BOTHER starting a new project?

Are you afraid of failing at something--sharing your art, making music, starting a blog, trying a podcast?

I'VE BEEN THERE. And here's what I've learned.  As long as you are learning something, it IS valuable!! I've learned so much from just trying things, from just jumping in and going for it. In this episode, I talk a little bit about what I've learned from pet projects that people might quantify as failures, but that have proven to be hugely helpful in my daily life!

My mom says you have to listen to this entire episode or read the entire accompanying blog, TO THE END, for me not to seem bitter or too-firebrand-y. I'm fine with that! I've been wrestling with this for a week or so, whether it's right or wrong to use proving others wrong as motivation. Honestly, I don't think I come to a moral conclusion in this, but I do have an answer: No, it's not necessarily wrong, but there's a caveat.

If you want an extended study about the topic, feel free to check out my blog and leave a comment there, with your opinion! I'm learning, same as you, and I don't have all the answers. You might just clarify something for me

-Ash

As Orrin Woodward said, "Learn to use the criticism as fuel and you'll never run out of energy."

Are you frustrated by negative comments? Are you afraid to put yourself out there, because you're worried it won't be received well? Here are my pointers for thriving through negativity, that will hopefully give you a strategy for those moments. Shortened list below. Full post up on my blog!

1) Don't come out swinging.

2) Always like the comment.

3) There is no bad press.

4) Not every negative comment is a hater.

5) See it as a chance to thicken your skin.

6) Ask if there's any truth in what they're saying.

7) If you're not offending someone, you have no personality.

8) Somewhere, someone is complaining about something.

9) Check the nasty thoughts.

10) Shorten the brood time.

11) Their opinion about you is irrelevant.

12) Words can only hurt the originator.

13) Anyone can make a blog, vlog, TikTok, Instagram, Youtube, etc.

14) Remember what you're not here for.

15) Unhappy people are the loudest.

Often times, the thing that has gotten in the way of my success, is the execution--or, rather, how I think the execution should be! But what if it's less about forcing things, and more about realizing that success is built-in, in the day to day practice and found in simply staying in the game? In this episode, I talk about three mindset shifts that have helped me actually move towards the life I want, while eliminating most of the stress associated with it!

If you found me on TikTok, there’s a good chance that you saw my three part series, detailing the mantra I repeated 10 – 20 times a day (or more, who’s counting), as part of my process for defeating a bleak depressive episode in December 2019. The response has been so positive and people seem so encouraged, I wrote a blog post on it and, now, it's a podcast!

As I mention towards the end of this episode, I do recommend sitting down for a few hours, and figuring out what statements would be specific and helpful for you. These are specific to me and my long-held fears. But feel free to use this as a template or outline!

I hope it helps or encourages you!

If you found me on TikTok (@hayess8ch), you may have seen my 1 minute video detailing these 5 steps. As I say in the episode, this is something I've always struggled with and was really excited to share what's helped me. It ended up becoming one of my more popular TikTok posts, and was really fun to do, so I decided to make it my first podcast! I also turned it into a blog, if you are interested in that (www.anintrovertatlarge.com). Enjoy!

-Ashley Nicole