Step Out And Thrive with Bethany B. Joy

This is it — the final episode of the Rooted series. Today we're talking about grieving, and not just the kind tied to losing someone. I'm sharing some of the things I've personally had to grieve over the last couple years — including a hard lesson about saying goodbye to volunteer commitments I loved, and what it actually looked like to grieve well.

🔑 5 Takeaways from this episode:

1. Grieving isn't just about losing a person — it's about anything we have to say goodbye to: a business, a role, a season, a way of living.
2. Grieving is a process, and it's actually how we love well — when we take the time to do it.
3. Saying goodbye to opportunities you love — even good ones — because they're not in the right season can be one of the hardest kinds of grief.
4. Endings can carry both joy and sadness at the same time, and being able to hold both is real emotional maturity.
5. This week's (and series') question: are you ready to grieve well?

📚 Grab my book, Step Out & Thrive: Finding God in the Everyday When Nothing Makes Sense → https://a.co/d/0bEoBuU1

🌱 Join the free Step Out & Thrive community → https://community.stepoutandthrive.com

Dare to do more than just survive. Step Out & Thrive.

"Mom, are you listening?" Today's episode starts with a question my youngest asked me — one I couldn't answer, because I genuinely had no idea what he'd just said. I'm talking about presence, and who in our lives actually gets the best of us.

🔑 5 Takeaways from this episode:

1. We can be physically present and still completely miss the people right in front of us — clients, schedules, and to-do lists can quietly take priority.
2. Different people need different kinds of presence — what works for one of my boys doesn't work the same for another.
3. The real question isn't just "am I listening" — it's "who is getting the best of me?" Clients? Strangers at Walmart? Or the people I do life with every day?
4. Clients and circumstances come and go — but the people closest to you are constants, and they deserve to know they have your availability.
5. This week's challenge: tell someone you do life with how important they are, and ask them honestly — "do you feel like I listen well?" Then just receive their answer.

📚 Grab my book, Step Out & Thrive: Finding God in the Everyday When Nothing Makes Sense → https://a.co/d/0bEoBuU1

🌱 Join the free Step Out & Thrive community → https://community.stepoutandthrive.com

Dare to do more than just survive. Step Out & Thrive.

"Did you see what she posted on Facebook?" Today we're talking about comparison — and I'm sharing a recent moment where I caught myself spiraling over a friend's posts, almost to the point of hiding her content... until a phone call with her completely shifted my perspective.

🔑 5 Takeaways from this episode:

1. Comparison keeps us from living the actual story God has given us — and a lot of the time, the story we're seeing (and the one we're telling about ourselves) isn't even true.
2. Comparison shows up everywhere — social media, emails other people get, family photos, houses, even goals we feel like we "should" have.
3. The story I was telling myself — "my value isn't important because I don't show up like so-and-so" — wasn't true. I was never meant to show up as someone else.
4. The more I show up as myself, the more I can actually see what God is doing — and the more people get to know the real me.
5. This week's challenge: when comparison shows up, sit with it. Ask — what is this really saying about me? Would reaching that goal actually change my value?

📚 Grab my book, Step Out & Thrive: Finding God in the Everyday When Nothing Makes Sense → https://a.co/d/0bEoBuU1

🌱 Join the free Step Out & Thrive community → https://community.stepoutandthrive.com

Dare to do more than just survive. Step Out & Thrive.

Is it really possible to have hard conversations without everything falling apart? Today I'm digging into that — including a story about a group member who was ready to walk away completely, and what happened when she agreed to come back for one last thing first: a goodbye liturgy.

I also start this one with a funny (and slightly painful) story about a giant bruise I didn't even know I had — until my guide dog accidentally found it.

🔑 5 Takeaways from this episode:

1. Sometimes we don't know how big something is until it gets pressed right in that spot — and that's often what community is for.
2. Avoiding hard conversations doesn't make things easier — it adds stress to your mind, body, and relationships.
3. Hard conversations done well aren't about winning or being right — they're about both people feeling seen and understood.
4. A "goodbye liturgy" — leaving well instead of just disappearing — can completely change the outcome of a hard moment.
5. This week's challenge: is there a hard conversation you've been avoiding? What's it costing you to keep avoiding it?

📚 Grab my book, Step Out & Thrive: Finding God in the Everyday When Nothing Makes Sense → https://a.co/d/0bEoBuU1

🌱 Join the free Step Out & Thrive community → https://community.stepoutandthrive.com

Dare to do more than just survive. Step Out & Thrive.

Have you ever wondered what the world would be like with no speed limits? Today we're talking about limits — why they're not the enemy, and how one I set for myself just last fall completely changed how I show up for my boys and my clients.

I'm sharing the story of finally taking Saturdays off after years of "working while someone else has the kids," what happened when I didn't know what to do with myself, and a recent book signing that taught me (the hard way) about my own limits with noise and migraines.

🔑 5 Takeaways from this episode:

1. The most fruitful lives are often the most focused ones — limits aren't restrictions, they're protection from overextending.
2. Working every "free" moment may look productive, but it can quietly cost you presence with the people who need you most.
3. Learning to rest isn't always natural — sometimes it takes time just to figure out what rest even looks like for you.
4. Limits aren't selfish — they come back to a simple question: if I truly believe I'm loved for who I am, do I need to do more to prove it?
5. This week's challenge: what limits do you have — or need — in your life? What story is your relationship with limits telling about you?

📚 Grab my book, Step Out & Thrive: Finding God in the Everyday When Nothing Makes Sense → https://a.co/d/0bEoBuU1

🌱 Join the free Step Out & Thrive community → https://community.stepoutandthrive.com

Dare to do more than just survive. Step Out & Thrive.

Are you living your best life? Today I'm asking the question I think a lot of us avoid — and sharing the story of the day I went skydiving with literally no notice, hours after a conversation about "one day."

If you've ever caught yourself saying "one day when..." — when the kids are older, when the finances work out, when life calms down — this episode is for you.

🔑 5 Takeaways from this episode:

1. "One day when..." can quietly become a permanent excuse — survival mode keeps that day from ever arriving.
2. Survival mode is your brain trying to just stay alive. Thriving is something different — it's looking for God in the everyday.
3. Slowing down enough to be present in this season reveals gifts you'll only get right now — not in the "one day" you're waiting for.
4. What if today was already worth living — and just waiting for you to show up and live it?
5. This week's challenge: are you in survival mode? What story are you telling yourself, and what gifts is God giving you right now?

📚 Grab my book, Step Out & Thrive: Finding God in the Everyday When Nothing Makes Sense → https://a.co/d/0bEoBuU1

🌱 Join the free Step Out & Thrive community → https://community.stepoutandthrive.com

Dare to do more than just survive. Step Out & Thrive.

Today I'm talking about my superpower — and it's probably not what you think. In fact, for most of my life, I thought it was one of my biggest weaknesses.

I'm sharing the story of how I found my way into a community called Luke 10, what happened the first time I checked in honestly in a group of strangers, and the question someone asked me that changed everything — "How can we best be with you today?"

🔑 5 Takeaways from this episode:

1. The thing you've spent your whole life trying to hide might actually be the thing that connects you to people the most.
2. Checking in honestly — naming what's really going on in your body and your emotions — is harder than it sounds, especially the first time.
3. "How can we best be with you today?" is a question that can change everything, because it makes space without trying to fix.
4. Vulnerability becomes a superpower in places where people are okay being uncomfortable, okay not fixing, and willing to trust God with the outcome.
5. This week's question: where do you feel broken? What's the story you've been telling yourself about that — and who could you let in?

📚 Grab my book, Step Out & Thrive: Finding God in the Everyday When Nothing Makes Sense → https://a.co/d/0bEoBuU1

🌱 Join the free Step Out & Thrive community → https://community.stepoutandthrive.com

Dare to do more than just survive. Step Out & Thrive.

What if I told you the biggest secret to getting more done isn't more effort — it's Sabbath?

In this episode, I'm sharing one of the harder lessons I've had to learn the hard way — including a story about a pacemaker scare years ago that landed me in the hospital, and what happened (or didn't happen) when I got home. Plus, a simple moment washing my hands at McDonald's that taught me what Sabbath actually is.

🔑 5 Takeaways from this episode:

1. Power doesn't come from doing more — it comes from rhythms of rest.
2. Sometimes we're so disconnected from our bodies that we don't realize how much rest we actually need — until something forces the issue.
3. Sabbath isn't just physical rest. It's turning your attention to what God is doing instead of staying focused on yourself and everyone else.
4. Sabbath looks different for everyone — a nap, a bike ride, a quiet moment, even washing your hands at McDonald's.
5. This week's challenge: ask yourself honestly — what does Sabbath actually look like for me? And would I be willing to try something different this week?

📚 Grab my book, Step Out & Thrive: Finding God in the Everyday When Nothing Makes Sense → https://a.co/d/0bEoBuU1

🌱 Join the free Step Out & Thrive community → https://community.stepoutandthrive.com

Dare to do more than just survive. Step Out & Thrive.

Today we're tackling one of the biggest things quietly running people's lives right now — and no, it's not politics. It's anxiety.

I'm breaking down the real difference between fear and anxiety, why so many of us have learned to push our emotions down just to function, and sharing a story from early in my vision loss journey — standing in a doorway in the dark, not knowing how to get to my ride, and the moment someone simply asked, "Would you like help?"

🔑 5 Takeaways from this episode:

1. Fear responds to something real and present. Anxiety responds to something that hasn't happened yet — the "what if."
2. So many of us have gotten so good at pushing emotions down that we don't even know what anxiety feels like in our bodies anymore.
3. Anxiety isn't something to fight — it's information. It's trying to tell you something.
4. Sometimes what anxiety is protecting you from is asking for help, or accepting a new limit, or stepping into something better.
5. This week's challenge: pay attention to what anxiety (or fear) is trying to tell you. Give it a voice instead of pushing it down.

📚 Grab my book, Step Out & Thrive: Finding God in the Everyday When Nothing Makes Sense → https://a.co/d/0bEoBuU1

🌱 Join the free Step Out & Thrive community → https://community.stepoutandthrive.com

Dare to do more than just survive. Step Out & Thrive.

What do you do when the past doesn't always stay in the past? In this episode, I'm getting honest about the cycles we fall back into — the ones that surprise even us — and where they actually come from.

I'm sharing my own story about speaking — from passing out giving a speech in high school, to being told "leave the preaching to the men," to losing my vision and hearing and thinking that ship had sailed for good. And how a counselor finally helped me see what was really driving all of it.

🔑 5 Takeaways from this episode:

1. The patterns that surprise us — the ones that feel out of nowhere — usually aren't out of nowhere at all.
2. You can accomplish a lot and still feel like it's never enough if you're chasing something from your past.
3. Stuffing the past doesn't make it go away — it just waits for the wrong moment to surface.
4. When something makes you feel "off," get curious instead of dismissive. Ask: when have I felt this way before?
5. This week's challenge: get curious about what's surfacing from your past — write it down, draw it, or share it.

📚 Grab my book, Step Out & Thrive: Finding God in the Everyday When Nothing Makes Sense → https://a.co/d/0bEoBuU1

🌱 Join the free Step Out & Thrive community → https://community.stepoutandthrive.com

Dare to do more than just survive. Step Out & Thrive.