The Courage To Be

Have you ever turned something you love into another thing you feel you have to accomplish? What happens when creativity starts feeling like an obligation?

I never imagined I'd be creating music, especially since I don't sing or play an instrument. But experimenting with AI opened up a completely unexpected way for me to express myself.

I even created my own singer, Mila Lua.

What began as curiosity and play eventually brought up some familiar questions about perfectionism, productivity, and why I sometimes feel the need to turn everything I enjoy into something more.

This is a personal reflection on creativity, self-expression, and the complicated relationship we can have with doing things simply because we love them.

I'm curious if you've ever experienced something similar.

📌 Related Episodes:

• AI Isn’t the Problem. What Is It Amplifying in You? - https://youtu.be/ZFrBWvBSYyY

• Don’t Belittle Yourself, Start Anyway - https://youtu.be/JsbqM_VIz7U

If this episode helped you, a quick rating and review means a lot — it helps more women find the show.

🎥 Prefer to watch? Full video episodes are on YouTube: @thecouragetobe

📖 Free resource: https://www.thecouragetobehappy.com/free-gifts

✍️ More from Tania: https://substack.com/@thecouragetobe

What if you already know enough to help someone, but you keep waiting because someone else knows more?

I’ve been confronting that question while teaching AI, and it brought up something much bigger about expertise, imposter syndrome, and why so many capable women keep waiting to feel qualified.

In this episode, I explore the difference between knowing the most and being able to make what you know genuinely useful to someone else, and the question I’m starting to ask myself instead of, “Am I enough of an expert?”

📌 Related Episodes:

• The Confidence Gap No One Prepared Women For - https://youtu.be/R9VdhRL828g

• Why Your Voice Deserves to Be Heard with Gail Larsen - https://youtu.be/Th4MnVyBA7U

If this episode helped you, a quick rating and review means a lot — it helps more women find the show.

🎥 Prefer to watch? Full video episodes are on YouTube: @thecouragetobe

📖 Free resource: https://www.thecouragetobehappy.com/free-gifts

✍️ More from Tania:  https://substack.com/@thecouragetobe

I thought I was going to meet a Balinese healer out of curiosity. Then a woman I'd never met started sobbing and said she could feel something in me that I couldn't.

What happened next wasn't even the part of the day that stayed with me most.

I went into this experience feeling good. I wasn't looking to be fixed, healed, or given an answer.

But an unexpected afternoon in a Balinese village made me question what we carry without realizing it, and later, what we actually need to feel deeply fulfilled.

Whether you believe in energy healing or not, this experience reminded me of something I think many of us forget when we're busy chasing the next goal, experience, purchase, or version of our lives.

Sometimes what fills us most is much simpler than we imagined.

📌 Related Episodes:

• Why Gratitude Feels Different in Bali - https://youtu.be/OD8Aq_6yzAc

• What Are You Actually Paying Attention To? - https://youtu.be/-qFT6e_devs

If this episode helped you, a quick rating and review means a lot — it helps more women find the show.

🎥 Prefer to watch? Full video episodes are on YouTube: @thecouragetobe

📖 Free resource: https://www.thecouragetobehappy.com/free-gifts

✍️ More from Tania:  https://substack.com/@thecouragetobe

You can be successful, capable, and still quietly wonder if you’re enough. In this conversation with transformational life strategist Teri Karjala, we explore imposter syndrome, limiting beliefs, self-sabotage, and the old stories that can keep women from fully owning their power.

This episode offers a gentler way to notice what may be happening beneath the surface and reconnect with courage, self-trust, and possibility.

What might change if you stopped believing every story your mind tells you?

📌 Related Episodes:

• Perfectionism Is Keeping You Stuck - https://youtu.be/YvFNfSsvtco

• Why Smart Women Still Feel Like Imposters - https://youtu.be/hFzW3F29xwM

If this episode helped you, a quick rating and review means a lot — it helps more women find the show.

🎥 Prefer to watch? Full video episodes are on YouTube: @thecouragetobe

📖 Free resource: https://www.thecouragetobehappy.com/free-gifts

✍️ More from Tania:  https://substack.com/@thecouragetobe

Why can slowing down sometimes feel harder than staying busy?

In this conversation with Theresa Lear Levine, we explore ADHD in women, high-functioning anxiety, nervous system regulation, EFT tapping, hypnotherapy, and what can happen when success is fueled by pressure instead of peace. I loved how this conversation opened up a gentler way to look at our patterns, our parenting, and the ongoing process of becoming more of ourselves.

Where in your life might you be ready for a little less pressure and a little more self-trust?

📌 Related Episodes:

• Why Slowing Down Feels So Uncomfortable - https://youtu.be/2tFA4XTlYUM

• Perfectionism Is Keeping You Stuck - https://youtu.be/YvFNfSsvtco

If this episode helped you, a quick rating and review means a lot — it helps more women find the show.

🎥 Prefer to watch? Full video episodes are on YouTube: @thecouragetobe

📖 Free resource: https://www.thecouragetobehappy.com/free-gifts

✍️ More from Tania:  https://substack.com/@thecouragetobe

What if something as simple as play could help you feel less stressed and more like yourself again?

In this conversation with artist Mackenzie Bakewell, we explore creative burnout, adult coloring, stress relief, mindfulness, and what happens when we make room for curiosity again. We also look at why creativity can start disappearing under pressure, and how small moments of play can help us reconnect without needing to do anything perfectly.

Where in your life could you make a little more room for play?

📌 Related Episodes:

• When Did You Stop Playing? - https://youtu.be/6ery1lJwunQ

• Why Slowing Down Feels So Uncomfortable - https://youtu.be/2tFA4XTlYUM

If this episode helped you, a quick rating and review means a lot — it helps more women find the show.

🎥 Prefer to watch? Full video episodes are on YouTube: @thecouragetobe

📖 Free resource: https://www.thecouragetobehappy.com/free-gifts

✍️ More from Tania:  https://substack.com/@thecouragetobe

Can AI actually help you make money, or are we asking the wrong question?

One $75,000 commission made me look at this very differently.

In this episode of The Courage To Be, I explore how AI can support business growth, opportunity spotting, decision making, and faster execution without pretending that AI is the thing creating the value.

If you’ve been sitting on an idea, noticing the same problem repeatedly, or wondering how to use AI more practically in your work, this episode may give you a different place to start.

📌 Related Episodes:

• Before You Ask AI, Do This - https://youtu.be/VncTYVz8m1E

• Is AI Making You Better or Weaker? - https://youtu.be/2F-02SyaCuc

If this episode helped you, a quick rating and review means a lot — it helps more women find the show.

🎥 Prefer to watch? Full video episodes are on YouTube: @thecouragetobe

📖 Free resource: https://www.thecouragetobehappy.com/free-gifts

✍️ More from Tania:  https://substack.com/@thecouragetobe

What if a bill contains something you would never think to question?

A few recent experiences with ChatGPT made me realize how expensive “I guess that’s right” can sometimes become.

In this episode, I share how I’ve started using AI when I’m reviewing bills, accounting ledgers, quotes, insurance documents, and other paperwork I don’t completely understand.

Not because I want AI making my financial decisions for me, but because sometimes I’m busy, the subject isn’t my expertise, or I simply don’t know what I should be looking for.

And what happened recently made me rethink what a $20 AI subscription may actually be worth.

📌 Related Episodes:

• AI Sounds Confident. That’s the Problem - https://youtu.be/BEP1XFaXJZA

• Before You Ask AI, Do This - https://youtu.be/VncTYVz8m1E

If this episode helped you, a quick rating and review means a lot — it helps more women find the show.

🎥 Prefer to watch? Full video episodes are on YouTube: @thecouragetobe

📖 Free resource: https://www.thecouragetobehappy.com/free-gifts

✍️ More from Tania:  https://substack.com/@thecouragetobe

What if the most important question about AI isn’t whether it’s good or bad, but what it’s amplifying in us?

A conversation with a friend stayed with me this week and made me think about the things I’m happy to hand over to AI, and the things I want to keep doing myself.

I’m exploring AI, critical thinking, curiosity, judgment, and an idea I’ve started calling Amplifying Human Intelligence. Because I’m becoming less interested in simply getting better at AI, and much more interested in who we become while we’re using it.

📌 Related Episodes:

• The Skill That Will Matter Most in the Future - https://youtu.be/GxSblm0JJRA

• The Human Skills AI Can't Replace - https://youtu.be/Vxkrr0GqqBQ

If this episode helped you, a quick rating and review means a lot — it helps more women find the show.

🎥 Prefer to watch? Full video episodes are on YouTube: @thecouragetobe

📖 Free resource: https://www.thecouragetobehappy.com/free-gifts

✍️ More from Tania:  https://substack.com/@thecouragetobe

AI sounds remarkably certain, even when the answer isn’t.

A recent experience with my daughter reminded me why I don’t want any of us to stop thinking after the first response we receive.

In this episode, I share what I’m learning about using AI with curiosity rather than blind trust or immediate skepticism, and why asking another question may matter more than finding an answer faster.

📌 Related Episodes:

• The Human Skills AI Can't Replace - https://youtu.be/Vxkrr0GqqBQ

• Raising Humans for an Uncertain World - https://youtu.be/kKyKRKX6GpQ

If this episode helped you, a quick rating and review means a lot — it helps more women find the show.

🎥 Prefer to watch? Full video episodes are on YouTube: @thecouragetobe

📖 Free resource: https://www.thecouragetobehappy.com/free-gifts

✍️ More from Tania:  https://substack.com/@thecouragetobe