Praxis Podcast with Rhett Smith

This was a fun and deep and meaningful conversation with my good friend Jennifer McDaniel. Jennifer is a nutritionist and author, and is the founder and director of McDaniel Nutrition Therapy. I first met Jennifer in early 2022 when I was preparing to run the 106 mile UTMB trail race and she was my assigned nutritionist.

In this conversation we explore a trend that we have been noticing in our culture for many people to move away from social media as well as figuring out other avenues to quiet all the technological noise. We have noticed this move in our work with clients, as well as experiencing a personal shift within us.

Ultimately, the conversation gets down to the concept of self-worth and how much of it is often built upon notions of one's producitivty and ability to perform tasks. And how it can be difficult to move out of arenas (such as social media, email, hustle culture/work, etc.) when one's self-worth is often maintained by engagement and productivity in those areas.

Below is a list of authors and books and resources mentioned in the podcast.

Jennifer McDaniel Substack

Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May

4000 Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport

Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport

Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout by Cal Newport

Just a Thought: A No-Willpower Approach to Overcome Self-Doubt and Make Peace with Your Mind by Amy Johnson

In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership by Henri Nouwen

Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life by Richard Rohr

About a week and a half ago I spoke at Preston Trail's Marriage Conference on Mental Health and Marriage.

As I thought about this topic I kept coming back to a few essential things that I feel are at the core of this topic.

1. we are wired relationally
2. we are wired relationally around love and trust
3. optimum mental health in a marriage is incumbent about the promotion of love and trust

So in this episode I reflect on this topic, and I hope you find it helpful.

In this episode I talk with my good friend, Will Perry, who is the Lead Student Pastor at Hope Fellowship Church in Frisco, TX, which is a multi-site campus.

I have known Will for almost 10 years and have loved watching him serve in youth ministry. He is one of the best youth pastors I have known, and I admire the way he engages not only youth, but his leadership and volunteers.

In this episode we cover a lot of topics from being a student of your kid, to navigating social media, the challenges around sex in this culture, and how to create an ongoing, emotionally safe environment to engage your kids.

I hope that you enjoy this episode and find it's content helpful.

Check out more of my work at my website www.rhettsmith.com

In this episode I talk with my good friend and colleague, Michael Cox, who is a Licensed Professional Counselor, and contributor and instructor in the Restoration Therapy community that I am a part of.

I appreciate Michael so much as a friend and colleague, and I admire the work he does with so many people, especially couples.

In this episode we dig deep into marital work, and what typically brings couples into therapy, what helps them thrive, and where do they often get stuck.

I hope that you enjoy this episode and find it's content helpful.

Check out more of my work at my website www.rhettsmith.com

In this episode I talk with my good friend Nicole Zasowski, who is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and the author of several books: What if it's Wonderful, From Lost to Found, and Families and Forgiveness which she co-authored with Terry Hargrave.

I so much respect the professional and personal work that Nicole does in her life, and she is a lifelong learner which I love.

In this episode we dig deep into anxiety and looking at it through the framework of the Restoration Therapy model.

I hope that you enjoy this episode and find it's content helpful.

To check out more about Nicole and her work, head over to her website https://www.nicolezasowski.com/

In this episode I talk with my good friend Broc Jahnke, who is the Lead Care and Support Pastor at Hope Fellowship Church in Frisco, TX.

I wanted to have Broc in to talk about one of the ministries he specifically oversees -- ReGeneration -- which is a 12 step recovery ministry.

I finished going through ReGeneration near the end of 2023 after 48 weeks, and it's something I wanted to unpack more with him. Whether you know anything, or nothing about ReGeneration, or are just even curious about a recovery ministry, I encourage you to tune in.

I have been referring clients to ReGen for 10-12 years, and I finally figured it was time I went through it myself after needing to work through some painful issues in my own life, but in the context of community.

Check out more of my work at my website www.rhettsmith.com

It has been a little over 8.5 years since I first launched my podcast, but I've taken long breaks, and have not recorded a new episode in over a year and a half.

It's been a season of working on my own personal and relational life with others, and diving deep into some new things.

In this episode I talk about my vision for this new relaunch of my podcast and the importance of the word praxis.

It is my desire to bridge theory and learning to practice, but praxis is more than that. Praxis is about the importance of our theory and practice, but with the end goal in mind.

How we are doing something, and who we are becoming in the process, is of utmost importance.

I hope you will join me in this new season of my podcast, and I hope you will find not only valuable insight for your life, but new practices that are transformative.

I am looking forward to this journey as well and from learning from new guests along the way, as well as from listeners like yourself.

Earlier this year I was really impacted by Michael Easter's book The Comfort Crisis. And I think what stood out to me the most was really the idea that in order to grow, one must work on becoming more comfortable with the uncomfortable -- and I liked how he connected it with the idea of progressive overload that we often find in the exercise/strength literature.

When I came across that it really resonated with my work on anxiety. Mainly -- that for people to really transform their anxiety it is a process of taking their insight and putting it into practice -- but that transition is really uncomfortable and anxiety inducing. But it is in many ways a progressive overload of anxiety that one intentionally puts upon themselves to grow and heal.

Lots of people have insight about their anxiety, but often they are missing some deeper truths about it that can bring healing, or they become paralyzed with insight. Too much info that keeps them from moving into practice.

And sometimes people will try all kinds of new things to attack their anxiety, or will spend a life managing it, but don't have the insight to get at the healing they need.

Navigating our anxiety requires that we gain deep insight about it, and then we put that insight into intentional consistent practice. That is what transforms it. But the process can create anxiety, and so learning to get comfortable with the uncomfortable is the journey we must all be on.

In this episode I share with you some lessons I've recently learned in hiring an endurance running coach to help me train and complete the UTMB trail race this year in the Alps.

I talk about the importance of hiring a coach (therapist, executive coach, etc) to help with:

• coming up with a flexible plan to create change and accomplish your goals.
• the importance of accountability that comes with hiring a coach and how it increases discipline, provides correction and creates an environment for practice.
• the benefit of receiving encouragement in a coaching relationship/therapeutic relationship.
• connecting to the resources and tools and networks that will help you to continue to grow.

Check out the episode.

This podcast episode is a further exploration of the blog post, Anxious Progression One Day at a Time.

In this episode I explore the concept of progressive overload in physical fitness, and how that same concept can be applied to working through anxiety -- mainly, progressively adding anxiety to our lives that we have to sit with, face, overcome, etc. It's through the progressive overload of anxiety that we are ultimately transformed.

In this episode I share my own journey of doing this, as well as share some ideas and stories how others have used this concept -- all set against the backdrop of my 100 mile run (which was a progressive overload for me physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually -- over the course of many years).