Creating Her Best Life

Creating Her Best Life

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Creating Her Best Life episodes

  • Ep. 333 | What Are You Afraid Their No Means?

    Have you ever wanted to do something, say something, or ask for something—and before you even took the first step, you were already imagining how someone might respond?

    Maybe they'll say no. Maybe they'll disagree. Maybe they won't choose you.

    And before anything has even happened, you've already decided what their response will mean about you.

    In this episode, we're talking about projection and the stories we create around other people's reactions. Because sometimes what keeps us stuck isn't actually rejection—it's what we're afraid rejection will confirm.

    "They said no" becomes "I'm not enough."

    "They disagree" becomes "I should've kept my mouth shut."

    "They didn't choose me" becomes "I'm not someone people love."

    That's a lot of weight to put on one person's answer.

    There's the pain of what happens, and then there's the story we tell ourselves afterward. And sometimes, we start telling that story before anything has even happened. We reject our own ideas. We stay quiet. We convince ourselves we're too old, too much, too inexperienced, or that it's safer not to try.

    But what if someone else's response didn't get to decide what you believe about yourself?

    We'll talk about the fear underneath so much of this—the tender question of, "If I show you the real me, will you still love me?"—and how that fear can slowly teach us to hide parts of ourselves in order to protect connection.

    You don't have to become fearless before you put yourself out there. You can feel afraid and still send the message. You can feel unsure and still ask the question. You can care what people think and still share something that matters to you.

    This week, I want you to notice one thing you've been holding back because you're afraid of the response—and give yourself the chance to find out what's actually possible.

    Because whatever the answer is, you can stay on your own side.

    You deserve the chance to be seen, to be known, and to find out what's possible.

    9 min
  • Ep. 332 | Before You Give Up

    What if quitting doesn't happen all at once?

    When we think about quitting, we usually think about the big moments: leaving the job, ending the relationship, giving up on the goal, walking away from the thing we said we wanted.

    But most quitting happens long before that.

    It happens quietly, in the tiny moments when you stop doing the things that were helping you. You stop keeping promises to yourself. You tell yourself you'll do it tomorrow or next week. You stop showing up the same way. You stop believing something is possible because you haven't seen the results yet.

    The big quit is often just the final decision after a hundred little quits.

    And just like becoming the woman you've always been capable of being happens through small decisions, quietly quitting on her does too.

    In this episode, we're talking about how to recognize those first little moments of checking out—and what it looks like to come back before you've completely walked away.

    Not by fixing everything. Not by starting over.

    Maybe it's one phone call. One conversation. One walk. One boundary. One application. One decision.

    One promise you keep to yourself today.

    Because small decisions create evidence. And repeated often enough, that evidence becomes the story you believe about who you are.

    So ask yourself: Where am I quietly quitting—and what would it look like to simply come back?

    9 min
  • Ep. 331 | I Don't Have to Be Fine Yet

    Something happened last week that made me angry. And not the kind of angry that disappears after a few minutes. It stuck with me for days.

    My instinct was to do what I think a lot of us do: get myself back to "fine" as quickly as possible.

    It's fine. I'm fine. It'll be okay. Everything happens for a reason. Just let it go.

    But what if you're not fine yet?

    What if you're mad? Disappointed? Hurt? Frustrated? What if you know everything will eventually be okay, but right now… it isn't?

    In this episode, I'm talking about how quickly we try to rush ourselves through uncomfortable emotions. We look for the lesson, change the thought, find the positive, give someone the benefit of the doubt, or remind ourselves how much we have to be grateful for.

    And those things can all be true. But they don't make what you're feeling any less real.

    Every emotion doesn't need to be fixed. Sometimes it just needs to be felt.

    There's a difference between feeling an emotion and acting from it. You can be angry and pause. You can be disappointed without making it mean something about you. You can be frustrated without burning everything down.

    And there's a big difference between "I have to be fine" and "I know I'll be okay."

    One rushes you out of what you're feeling. The other gives you permission to feel it while still trusting yourself through it.

    You don't have to find the silver lining five minutes after something hurts. You don't have to turn every uncomfortable emotion into a self-improvement project.

    You don't have to be fine yet.

    9 min
  • Ep. 330 | The Answer You Already Know

    Sometimes we really do need more information, time, or perspective. But other times, "I don't know" becomes a place to hide when the answer we already have feels uncomfortable.

    Because knowing what you want doesn't mean acting on it will be easy.

    It might mean having a conversation you've been avoiding. Setting a boundary someone won't like. Making a change without knowing exactly how it will turn out. Or finally admitting that something you've been tolerating isn't working anymore.

    And that's where it gets easy to confuse uncertainty with fear.

    In this episode, I'm talking about what happens when overthinking keeps us stuck, why we sometimes search for another answer when we already have one, and how to start trusting ourselves even when certainty isn't available.

    You don't have to know exactly how everything will turn out before you take your next step.

    Maybe you just have to get quiet enough to admit what you already know.

    11 min
  • Ep. 329 | Stop Waiting to Feel Ready

    What if you don't need more motivation, confidence, or courage before you begin?

    Sometimes the thing keeping you stuck isn't that you don't know what to do. It's that you're waiting to feel different before you do it.

    But you don't think your way into a different life. You move your way there.

    And movement doesn't have to mean some massive leap. Most participation in your life is ordinary. Ten minutes. One phone call. One walk. One conversation. One decision.

    Most of it won't look impressive. No one may even notice.

    And that's okay.

    Because some of the biggest changes in your life won't happen in the moments everyone else can see. They'll happen on a random Tuesday when you decide to do something different. When you keep the promise nobody else knows you made. When you choose yourself in one tiny, ordinary way.

    Your best years are not behind you. There is still so much life ahead of you, but you have to participate in it.

    In this episode, I'm talking about what happens when you stop waiting to feel ready and start moving with what you have, from exactly where you are.

    You don't need to see the entire road.

    You just need to take the next step.

    Where have you been standing still because you wanted to feel different first?

    11 min
  • Ep. 328 | Let Them Be Wrong About You

    What if you stopped trying to make everyone understand you?

    For the people-pleasers and over-explainers, being misunderstood can feel unbearable. We want to clarify, defend, explain our intentions, and make sure everyone knows why we made the decision we made.

    But there's a difference between communicating and trying to control someone's opinion of you.

    You can tell someone your truth. You cannot make them believe it. You can explain your decision. You cannot make them agree with it.

    In this episode, I'm talking about what happens when you stop handing other people the power to determine whether you feel okay about yourself.

    They may disagree. They may be disappointed. They may misunderstand you.

    And you can survive that.

    Because self-trust isn't everyone else believing you made the right decision. It's knowing who you are, why you made it, and being able to stand behind it even when someone else doesn't.

    So the next time you feel the urge to send the second text, defend yourself, or explain one more time, ask yourself:

    What if I just let them be wrong about me?

    12 min
  • Ep. 327 | The Stories Running Your Life

    What if some of the things you believe about yourself aren't actually facts?

    They're just stories you've repeated so many times that they started to feel like the truth.

    I've never been good with money. I always quit. I'm just not a confident person. I can't stick with anything. I'm too old to start over. I always choose the wrong people. I'm not good at relationships. I just don't have enough discipline. People always leave. This is just who I am.

    The problem is, your brain doesn't just tell the story. It starts looking for evidence to prove it.

    And before you know it, the story you believe begins shaping the decisions you make, the opportunities you take (or don't), the conversations you avoid, the relationships you choose, and ultimately, the life you create.

    Because the evidence you create today becomes fuel for the story you tell yourself tomorrow.

    In this episode, I'm talking about the stories quietly running your life, how your brain turns repeated thoughts into "proof," and why changing what you believe about yourself can change everything that comes after it.

    This is one of the reasons I love coaching so much. I've experienced every kind of coaching myself—from private coaching to group coaching—and I'm still amazed when my own coach uncovers a story I've been carrying that I didn't even realize was there. And I see the same thing happen with the women I coach.

    Once you can see the story, you can question it.

    Once you question it, you can stop automatically living from it.

    And once you begin creating different evidence, you give yourself something new to believe.

    Because while there is so much in this world you cannot control, you can begin changing what you think, how you respond, and what you choose to do next.

    And that work changes everything.

    Becoming Her Volume 2 begins THIS Saturday, August 29th, and enrollment closes THIS Friday, August 28th.

    Volume 2 brings new topics, deeper conversations, an enhanced workbook, and an entirely new framework that I'm teaching for the first time inside Becoming Her.

    This framework is designed to help you uncover the beliefs, stories, and patterns operating underneath the surface—the ones influencing your choices before you even realize they're there—and give you a practical way to begin creating evidence for something different.

    Not to manufacture some shiny "new version" of yourself.

    But to uncover the woman you've always been capable of becoming underneath the old beliefs, limiting thoughts, and stories that have been deciding what's possible for you.

    If you've been waiting to join us, this is it. Save your spot before enrollment closes Friday.

    And one more incredible update: Unstoppable November 2026 is officially SOLD OUT!

    This November, a group of women will join me for three days at our luxury VIP retreat, stepping away from the noise of everyday life to dive deeply into the work, experience intentionally curated surprises, have the conversations we don't always make space for, laugh—a lot—and come back home to themselves.

    I cannot wait.

    But first…

    Becoming Her Volume 2 starts Saturday.

    Let's uncover the stories you've been living from, and start writing some better ones.

    11 min
  • Ep. 326 | This is How You Become Her

    Transformation rarely happens in one big, life-changing moment.

    It happens on an ordinary Tuesday.

    It happens when you take the walk instead of choosing the couch. When you speak kindly to yourself after making a mistake. When you have the difficult conversation, go to bed on time, drink the water, set the boundary, or simply keep a promise you made to yourself.

    None of those moments feel extraordinary—but together, they build an extraordinary life.

    In this episode, I talk about what actually creates lasting transformation and why becoming the next version of yourself has far less to do with perfection and far more to do with learning how to return.

    Because the women who experience lasting change aren't the women who never get off track. They're the women who keep coming back.

    We'll unpack the old stories that quietly keep you attached to previous versions of yourself, why constantly quitting on yourself destroys self-trust, and how small, intentional choices begin rebuilding confidence from the inside out.

    Imagine where you could be one year from today—not because you did everything perfectly, but because you simply refused to quit on yourself.

    This is exactly why I created the Becoming Her Series. Beginning August 29th, we're kicking off Volume 2 of my signature program, designed to give you the space, tools, support, and coaching to stop waiting for the perfect moment and start creating lasting change from the inside out.

    The woman you're becoming isn't created by one extraordinary moment. She's created by thousands of ordinary ones.

    Don't underestimate what you choose today.

    18 min
  • Ep. 325 | Thank the Woman Who Got You Here

    There's a strange part of growth we don't talk about enough.

    We talk a lot about becoming the next version of ourselves. About building confidence, changing habits, thinking differently, making better choices, and creating a life that feels more aligned with who we want to be.

    But becoming her doesn't only mean gaining something.

    Sometimes, it means letting something go.

    In this episode, I share a simple moment from Pilates that reminded her how easily an old story can become a rule we live by. I had almost convinced myself not to go because mat Pilates was "harder," my back might hurt, and getting down on the floor just wasn't for me anymore.

    Except none of that turned out to be true.

    I went. I enjoyed it. And I would have regretted allowing an old story to make the decision for me.

    That's how so many of our beliefs work. They may have made sense once. They may have protected us, helped us cope, or carried us through a difficult season. But eventually, we have to ask whether the woman who needed those stories is still the woman we want making our decisions today.

    Because the woman who got you through your hardest years may not be the woman who leads you into your happiest years.

    That doesn't mean rejecting who you were.

    It means honoring her.

    The younger version of you who was scared. The woman who didn't have confidence yet. The woman who stayed, left, started over, survived heartbreak, numbed herself, people-pleased, overworked, overate, shut down, or did whatever she knew how to do to make it through.

    She wasn't trying to ruin your life.

    She was trying to protect you with the tools she had.

    And maybe instead of looking back at her with shame, the next step is simply saying:

    Thank you. You got me here. But I can take it from here.

    Growth isn't always about adding more. Sometimes it's subtraction—releasing perfection, guilt, resentment, old expectations, the need for everyone to approve of you, and the belief that rest or love or happiness must somehow be earned.

    You can appreciate who you've been without asking her to lead the rest of your life.

    And that is so much of the work inside Becoming Her: Volume 2.

    Becoming Her isn't about turning yourself into someone completely different. It's about releasing the beliefs, patterns, expectations, and survival strategies that have kept you from fully living as the woman you already know you're capable of being.

    Enrollment for Becoming Her: Volume 2 is open now through August 28. If you're ready to stop allowing old versions of yourself to make decisions for the life you're creating now, this is your invitation.

    Because the woman you were deserves your compassion.

    The woman you are deserves your presence.

    And the woman you're becoming deserves your courage.

    One thought. One choice. One brave step at a time.

    15 min
  • Ep. 324 | The Woman Behind the Yes

    Have you ever caught yourself saying yes... when every part of you wanted to say no?

    People-pleasing isn't always obvious. It doesn't just look like overcommitting or constantly saying yes. Sometimes it looks like staying quiet when you have something to say because you're afraid of being judged. Sometimes it looks like avoiding conflict, apologizing for things that were never your fault, or making yourself smaller just to keep everyone else comfortable.

    Somewhere along the way, many of us learned that keeping everyone else happy kept us safe. Maybe it kept the peace in your home. Maybe it earned you love, approval, or praise. Maybe you believed it would keep people from leaving or keep you from disappointing someone. Over time, your nervous system learned that if everyone else was okay... then you were okay.

    But eventually, every yes to everyone else quietly becomes a no to yourself.

    You don't lose yourself overnight. It happens one small decision at a time. You stop making time for the hobbies that once brought you joy. You stop caring for your body because everyone else's needs come first. You stop dreaming because it feels selfish to want more.

    In this episode, I'm talking about the woman behind the yes—the version of you that's been trying so hard to be everything for everyone else that you've forgotten how to ask yourself what you actually want.

    Because real transformation doesn't happen through one giant life-changing moment. It happens through one small choice at a time. One honest conversation. One healthy boundary. One courageous no. One intentional yes.

    If you've been wondering how to stop repeating these patterns and finally become the woman who chooses herself without guilt, this is exactly the work we're doing inside Becoming Her.

    Enrollment for Becoming Her: Volume 2 is open through August 28. You can click here to save your spot. Because the life you've always dreamed of isn't built in one giant leap—it's built one intentional decision at a time. And every one of those decisions is a vote for the woman you're becoming.

    14 min

About Creating Her Best Life

From the publisher's feed

Welcome to Creating Her Best Life, the go-to podcast for women ready to step into their full potential and design a life they truly love. Hosted by certified Master Life Coach Shannan Christiansen, this inspiring show is tailored for women who seek clarity, empowerment, and actionable strategies to overcome life's challenges and achieve personal and professional success.

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