You blink your eyes and another year is gone! As excited as I was for 2021 to be different than 2020, it proved to be just as challenging. Is this what the future will be like? Perhaps, but regardless of what’s happening in the world, we cannot forget who we are and what matters most to us. So regardless of how 2021 went for you, lets start new, take out the trash, and get a plan to kick 2022 in the derriere!

It's Season 6 of the Dare to Fail Podcast, and we're starting off with a unique interview. Mental health has become center-stage with the massive changes we have faced since the 2020 pandemic. Have you ever heard of a mental health nutritionist? Meet Jason Pawloski, RDN, a registered dietitian and fitness trainer with 15 years of experience helping people achieve their goals for physical health and mental well-being. As the first and only dietitian working in one of the largest integrated, behavioral health-led organizations in Arizona, Jason brings a unique approach to exploring the links between food choices and mental well-being. Throughout his professional career, Jason has frequently witnessed the link between what you eat and how you feel. In Foods for Thought Jason helps readers understand the complicated relationship between diet, gut health and mood. He simplifies what it means to “eat healthy” and encourages readers to get started on the journey to a healthier mind, body and lifestyle.

It’s the 60th episode of the Dare to Fail podcast, and the saga of 2020 continues on. It’s been the hardest year of my life, and I’m sure it has for you as well. We’ve all been hurting and are tired of it all. But there’s hope, and in this season 5 finale episode I’ll share with you the story of Terry Fox and an excerpt from Matthew McConaughey’s new book Green Lights that I believe exemplify what we all must do—make the choice. Also, and as a special thank you for all the people who’ve supported this project, I’ve included a cover song that I believe is a bit apropos for the times. Thank you all so much and I look forward to Season 6 in January of 2021. Let’s put 2020 behind use and build something better for us all.

2020 has changed so many things, and we don’t know what the future holds! Now, more than ever, it’s a necessity to have faith that there’s a silver lining. Our future, our health, our lives depend it. This episode of the Dare to Fail Podcast aims to help you see that there’s always something good that comes from great struggle and challenge. Stay safe, stay positive and love your life.

For the past 10 years I’ve been hiding behind shame and fear over my self-image. Specifically, since I was 26 years old, I’ve attempted to hide the fact that I’ve been losing my hair, using every method possible to try and stop it. But today, I’m choosing to face my fears, and share with you my story in hopes that you can learn from my mistakes and make the better choice—unconditional self-love. Having a negative self-image is a terrible place to be in life and can lead you to doing expensive and downright dangerous things, as you will learn from this episode of the Dare to Fail Podcast. Time to get vulnerable.

Regardless of all the things that you may feel are missing in your life, it’s better than you think. Recalling one of the most frightening stories of my life, I’ll make the case that sometimes it’s the things that didn’t happen that shape us the most and can also be our biggest source of gratitude. You too, I believe, will have a realization that you’re incredibly lucky to be alive and that your life is much better than you think it is. It’s always a matter of perspective, not circumstance, that dictates our joy, happiness, and direction. You go the direction you face, so let’s face our North Star and help each other move forward.

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.” This quote from British author Vivian Greene should be the world’s mantra for 2020! It doesn’t seem to matter how hard with try to control our lives from uncertainty; life finds a way to throw us a constant stream of challenges. And instead of waiting for the “storms” to pass, we must find our own unique ways of making progress during the craziness—dancing in the rain. We cannot wait around for someone or something external to give us peace, happiness, or joy in this life. We must give it to ourselves. If not, we may never experience it. This episode of the Dare to Fail Podcast is dedicated to finding a way to your own inner-peace even while the storm rages on.

Until we have an empowering life story in our minds, all of our efforts towards improvement will be sabotaged. You simply cannot become more than what you think of yourself, and often times we develop self-worth issues from the stories we have formed through our childhood experiences or life traumas. No more! Those old, tired, broken, and false stories that have been holding you back can be eradicated today! Let’s dive into creating a new narrative that will change your life in ways you could only have once imagined.

Perfectionism, a dream-killer. Have you ever held yourself back from creating or doing something new because you believed you wouldn’t be good enough? Have you ever thought that you should always be great at something even before you’ve had any training or real experience? How many ideas have you had that never see the light of day because you don’t have the resources, the time, the intelligence, the equipment, or the style to make it great? If any of these questions ring true for you, I’d like to invite you to considered the fact that perfectionism is killing your personal growth and hindering the joy in your life. I speak from experience here, as for the better part of my life I was terrified to ever doing anything creative of my own because I didn’t believe it would ever be good enough. Hogwash! There’s no mistaking it—you must create! You must explore your ideas! You must let go of caring what other people with think of your beautiful weirdness and uniqueness and not hold yourself back anymore. This episode of the Dare to Fail Podcast is dedicated to letting the false notion go that anyone can ever be perfect. We can’t be perfect, but we can still be amazing. And better yet, authentic.

The things we know we must do in life to move forward are always very simple to understand, but not always easy to do. And during this pandemic, it’s so important to be focused on the things we can do to keep our minds and our bodies healthy. In this episode of the Dare to Fail Podcast, we get after the ideas and concepts that can help you do those simple things that can have massive positive impacts on your life and move us forward during this upside-down time in our history. They’re simple, but not easy.