October 27, 2025 • 35 mins
If stress has become your default setting, this conversation offers a new map. We unpack why “just push through” turns into an identity that drains energy, strains relationships, and numbs purpose—and how to build a grounded rhythm that protects your peace without dulling your edge.
We start by redefining stress as a signal, not a verdict. You’ll learn to spot early tells in your body, mood, and habits—tight backs, shallow breathing, eye twitching, sarcasm, procrastination—so you can intervene before the spiral. From there, we reframe balance as energy directed toward what actually matters: relationships, health, growth, play, and purpose. Instead of chasing hyper-efficiency, we walk through practical ways to say no, reclaim time, and invest in the few things that refuel you.
Then we go tactical. We break down five tools that work in real life: naming triggers, taking one breath before reacting, moving your body to reset, breaking big tasks into clear next steps, and scheduling daily white space. Along the way, you’ll hear candid stories about wearing stress as a badge of honor, the cost of pouring from a leaky cup, and the moment rest shifted from guilt to strategy. The throughline is simple: start small, stay consistent, and let identity shift through kept promises, not grand gestures.
If you’re ready to turn pressure into progress, protect your peace, and lead from a place of strength and alignment, this one’s for you. Listen, take one step today—not ten—and tell us what you’re setting down. If this helped, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find the show.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:04):
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(00:50):
And that's stress and how tofind balance when life feels
anything but balanced.
So most of us have been taughtthroughout our lives to just
push through, to grind, to carrythe weight, but not many of us
were taught to how to actuallyslow down, how to regulate, how
(01:12):
to rest when things start tofeel overwhelming.
So in this episode, we're goingto explore what stress actually
is and how to recognize whenit's building.
We're going to explore howbalance doesn't mean doing
everything, it means knowingwhat matters.
And practical tools that you canuse today to manage pressure,
(01:37):
fight calm, and show up morepowerfully in your life.
So let's get into it.
So stress gets a bad rap, right?
But not all stress is bad.
In fact, some stress, what wecall eustress, can be helpful,
right?
Because it keeps us sharp, itkeeps us focused, and it keeps
us motivated.
(01:58):
I think at times a lot of peopleput this stigma that, right,
I've I've got to get rid of thisstress, that I've got to do
something with it.
I've got to do these things.
And so it's not, it's not alwaysthe case, right?
That where it becomes a problemis when that stress builds into
(02:20):
something.
So and and that stress canaffect a lot of different, can
affect us in a lot of differentways.
It can affect us physically,right?
And fatigue and headaches andpoor sleep and and medical
(02:42):
ailments and you know, backproblems, like any number of
different things.
The the the physical part isreally interesting on how stress
can affect, you know, differentthings that, you know, as kind
of an example, right?
That like you find that whenyou're stressed, you really
(03:03):
tense up in your back.
And then you walk around, you'relike, man, I I walk around all
the time with with backproblems, right?
And so you start, you startdiagnosing and trying to figure
out the you know, going to seethe doctor because you think
that you've got back problems,when in fact it might be a
stress problem.
It also affects us emotionally,right?
Irritably, anxiety, lowmotivation, behaviorally,
(03:26):
obviously, right?
Procrastination, withdrawal,like unhealthy habits.
And so one of the biggestchallenges is that stress
becomes normal, right?
It starts to become a way oflife and we stop noticing it.
We we adjust, we adapt, and wejust keep pushing through,
right?
Because this is something thatthis is something that we know.
(03:50):
And and it it becomes almostlike this identity of who we
are, that when we actually wethat to an extent we don't know
who we are, if we were to tostop and ground ourselves and
not have that level, you know,it gets to a point where not
(04:10):
having that level of stressbegins to make us anxious or
nervous.
Right.
But the reality is thatunderneath all of this sort of
stuff, right, as as we're we'renormalizing it and making it a
part of our everyday life, we'rereally super depleted underneath
(04:31):
all of that.
That our our resources aredraining our physically, our
physically, mentally,emotionally, like all of these
sort of things, we're runningourselves dry.
So the the first step inhandling stress isn't some fancy
technique.
It's really just the awarenessand and checking in and asking
(04:51):
yourself, right, where is thisstrong stress showing up in my
body?
Is it in my, is it in my habits?
Is it in my mood, right?
Am I do I find that when thishappens, that I always run to
these other sort of escapes,right?
Is it as I talked about earlier,in, you know, in my for me, in
(05:11):
my back at times, like it reallyshows up though.
I I'll almost I notice it indifferent areas.
One of them is in my back, oneof them is in my face, right?
I find that that this sort of,you know, and I'm pointing to
like my left eye sort of area,is it'll get really almost like
twitchy, and it'll get tired andkind of exhausted.
(05:34):
And so what I find is that it'sfrom things, it's like holding
my breath.
And that's another example,right?
But holding my breath in thosemoments that I tense up and I
tense up in my back, I tense upin my face, right?
And all of those sort of things,you know, and it doesn't always
(05:55):
there may be a trigger in thebeginning of it that led to me
tensing up, that led to pressurein my back, that leads to my
mood changing or my demeanor orhow I respond or I react to
everything.
So as we talk about that, youknow, it's not just about, you
know, these five tools to likelower stress in your life.
It's it's really about theawareness of it and how it shows
(06:18):
up for you.
Right.
Because the the how it shows upin your body and your habits and
you know, and your mood comesgenerally well before the the
physical manifestations, right?
Or or the some of the downstreamsort of things is that our body
(06:40):
interprets it and expresses itin a way much sooner than some
of the other things.
So the idea of catching it earlyon is is one of the the best
ways to do it, right?
Because once you you see it,once you acknowledge it and
what's happening, that you canactually start working with it
(07:02):
and and reversing those effects.
So let's talk a little bit aboutbalance with this, right?
Because balance doesn't meandoing everything in perfect
proportion.
I I think that there can be thistendency when we think about
stress and how do we get rid ofit.
(07:22):
And people will say, like, well,you know, you gotta manage your
time better, like you gotta letthings go, you gotta do these
sort of things.
And it it can be this pendulumswing between I'm either like
doing everything or I'm doingnothing.
Right.
So balance doesn't mean doingeverything in perfect
proportions, right?
It's not about becoming somehyper-efficient productivity
(07:47):
machine, right?
That's got lists everywhere thatthat does everything.
You know, you've figured outevery minute detail of how to
avoid the stress.
And and that's kind of, youknow, that's something that I
want to highlight here is thatthis isn't about avoiding
stress, right?
Or getting rid of stress.
(08:08):
It's about acknowledging it andtaking away from it what's
necessary.
It's like, it's like a movementof energy, right?
If energy was to come into you,how do you acknowledge it, see
that it's coming, and redirectit into something that's useful?
So, but back to balance, right?
(08:29):
Balance is about knowing whatmatters and giving those things
your energy.
It's it's about paying attentionto the areas of life that
actually fuel you, right?
Your relationships, uh, health,your growth, you know, play,
your purpose in life, yourfamily, your kids, whatever
(08:49):
those are, like identifying whatthose things are and
reallocating things to focus onthose, right?
Because when those things getneglected is when the stress
really starts to creep in,right?
But when you stay connected towhat it is that fills you up,
you become more resilient,right?
(09:12):
Even even in the middle of thatpressure.
All right.
So I want you to take a momenthere and really ask yourself,
right, what what are the areasof your life that feel neglected
right now?
Right.
What sort of what are those sortof things that, man, you just
know every day that you wake upthat, man, I I just need a few
(09:34):
more minutes to like close theloop on this?
Or I've really been meaning tomake that phone call or spend
some time with that person.
All right, that there's there'smore than likely there's those
sort of things that that arealways on the to-do list that
are never, never getting done.
What is it that you'reovercommitting to?
Right.
What sort of places are are yousaying yes to things that you
(09:57):
really want to say no?
That you know that, hey, there'snot the time in the day in order
to do this, but you're stillsaying yes because maybe it's
just you know part of thatidentity at this point of like
who I am.
I say yes to everything,regardless of whether or not I
have the time.
(10:17):
I'll figure it out.
And and what would more balancelook like for you?
Right?
What if you were to set some ofthese things down, if you were
to say no to things, if you wereto spend more time with the
things that that matter, whatwould that look like for you?
Right?
Would it be, you know, would itbe you spending more time with
(10:41):
your family?
Would it be you getting up at 5a.m.
to get a workout in, right?
Or, you know, taking time in theafternoon to go for a walk.
And the idea with all of this,like like everything that I talk
about, is that it's not aboutfixing everything today, right?
So it's not about making a listand checking that stuff off one
(11:02):
by one.
It's about the the awareness,right?
And acknowledging it of wherethese things are showing up and
then starting to make small andsubtle changes consistently over
time.
And that's where the the shiftreally begins.
So for most of my life,personally for me, I've been
(11:25):
really good at functioning understress.
And and as I talk about, it'sbeen something that has a has
been almost a part of myidentity that for a long time I
didn't, you know, I had no idea.
It was almost scary to thinkabout saying no to some of these
things, right?
I could, because I could handlea lot, right?
(11:47):
I could, I could carry thingsthat most people would buckle
under.
And those are the sort of thingsthat at times I was proud of.
I I wore like a badge of honor,right?
Just how much that I couldshoulder and I could carry and
and keep this persona, this maskthat it wasn't affecting me.
And and I think at times there'sthere's a part of this that we
(12:10):
don't know what we don't know,right?
And so as I as I look back overdifferent periods of my life
that I've had different, like,you know, physical things that
were going uh going on with me,or you know, the just the energy
throughout my house and my kidsand my relationships, that yeah,
it all really like I I sure Ican handle it.
(12:31):
Yeah, I can do it, but I'm alsoit's it's kind of like pouring
from you know a cup that has ahole in the bottom of it, right?
Like it's that it's gonnacontinue to leak.
I'm I'm never I'm alwaysnegative, I'm always behind if
I'm not more thoughtful aboutincorporating more balance into
(12:53):
my life.
So, but with that, right, thatalong the way, what I didn't
realize was that I was I wasnormalizing this dysfunctional
pattern.
I was surviving, but I sure Iwas surviving, but I I wasn't
thriving, right?
It when I talk about that cup,it was really just that, that I
(13:15):
was I was more focused aboutputting things into the cup,
right?
Or making to an extent, I guess,like that making sure that more
things ended up in the cup andnot necessarily worried about
plugging those other those otherholes, right?
So, how am I gonna get to apoint, if I think about that in
a sense of like a water bottle,how am I ever gonna get to fill
(13:35):
that sort of thing up if I don'tstop?
How am I gonna get to a place ofof that next level, right?
That like that thrivingrelationship, like the the
intimacy and the passion andpurpose in my life.
Like, how am I actually going toget there?
How am I gonna be it's it's likeit's like driving in a car
(13:58):
that's that's jacked up, right?
The the car is on blocks and yougot the pedal to the metal, but
you're not actually goinganywhere.
And you're just managing, like,hey, we're just making sure that
we keep fuel in the tank and oilin the engine and we keep the
floor to the, you know, thepedal to the floor, right?
Because I for me, I I wasn'tcreating the space to actually
(14:21):
feel to to to acknowledge thosedifferent, you know, whether it
was mentally, physically,emotionally, those ailments that
were happening to me to actuallytake time to stop and to breathe
and to recharge.
(14:42):
And for me, eventually,everything caught up with me,
right?
Physically, emotionally,mentally, I felt, I felt
scattered and reactive anddrained.
Right.
And for me, excuse me, whatreally changed for me wasn't
this this massive overhaul,right?
(15:03):
As as I said earlier, like itwas these small intentional
shifts.
And and I think it's it's likeanything.
And I always attribute this backto like trying to turn a ship on
a dime, right?
We're not gonna take somethingthat's been full steam ahead for
so long and expect to turn itaround and flip it on its head
(15:25):
overnight.
I mean, you try to do some stufflike that, like there's gonna be
cargo containers going off theside of the ship, like all kinds
of, you know, the kitchen on theship and everything, like
everybody's gonna freak outbecause it's just not meant to
turn that quickly.
And so it's not sustainable.
And so the idea is is havingthese, making these small
(15:45):
intentional shifts that you canbe consistent about over time.
So for me, I really startedasking myself, what what does
what does rest look like for me?
You know, I I started atdifferent times in my life.
I've fitness and has been areally important part of my
(16:08):
life.
And and and I had to likecontinue dialing this back to
really put a focus on what thatit wasn't so much, and I think
this is maybe a good analogy,that it's not so much about the
the workout, the strain, thatyour body actually develops the
muscle, right, or repairsitself, that the actual growth
(16:29):
happens during rest, right?
So while you're sleeping atnight is when the muscles
rebuild and develop.
And so really readdressing orinspecting my relationship with
what rest looked like and andrewriting that it wasn't such a
(16:49):
bad thing, right?
That that's when all of theamazing things that I was doing,
that that's when I would startto embody them.
So another thing I did is I Ireally started inspecting and
investing, you know, likedigging deep into where I was
spending energy on things thatthat didn't matter, right?
(17:09):
I was either running around incircles, fixing problems that
weren't really problems, youknow, and I think even to an
extent at times, like I wasmaking problems that didn't need
to be problems, that I wassolving issues for things, or I
was plugging holes that therewasn't one.
And all of that takes cycles,right?
(17:30):
Because maybe I have anexpectation of the way that
things should be, that I wouldbe out there doing that sort of
work when the road didn't needto be patched.
So it's almost like, you know, apothole in the road.
It's like going out drivingaround looking for potholes and
roads.
And and I I'm purposely lookingfor ones that are the furthest
(17:54):
away from the city, that nobodyever drives down.
And I call the cavalry out tolike, hey, it's the most
important thing for us to plugthis, plug this pothole.
When in reality, like the shitdoesn't matter.
Nobody is ever out there.
And when they do, they drivearound it, like nobody cares.
And so really being cognizant ofwhere I spent my energy, you
(18:14):
know, and we go back to likewhat it is that matters to us in
our life, right?
My my my health and my fitnessand my family, right, and my
purpose and my mission.
And if it's not one of thosesort of things, like really
inspecting whether or not it'sthat important.
And and also what it in orderfor that to happen, what is it
(18:36):
that needs to come off of myplate?
Right.
Even even if if at times itlooks important at first glance.
Yeah, because I think a lot oftimes, you know, something will
come in and you'll think that,like, oh, hey, this has got to
be addressed right now, it'ssuper important.
When in reality, it's it's notgonna be the end of the world.
(19:00):
And so for me, that's when whenbalance really stopped being
this idea, and it startedbecoming a practice, right?
It becoming something that Iembodied and I included in
everyday life.
And really going back to thefitness analogy, that it was it
was in the rest that I was ableto be more productive, that I
(19:23):
would be able to grow more, thatI was able to support people,
you know, both myself and othersmore efficiently, effective, and
and so on.
So let's talk a little bit aboutsome of the tools in order to
manage stress.
So, for me, some of the mosteffective stress management
(19:47):
practices that I've seen, bothin my life and with the clients
that I work with, first of all,you know, as we talked about
earlier, is awareness and reallynaming your triggers is the
first one.
Because awareness is the powerof it.
You you can you can walk around,it's like that cup analogy that
I talked about, that you cankeep pouring into that cup, but
(20:10):
if you don't realize thatthere's a hole at the bottom of
it, that you you can never moveforward, right?
And so really starting to askyourself what what situations,
what people or thoughts areconsistently spiking your stress
level, right?
And so acknowledging what areyour triggers, what are the
(20:35):
things that spike your stressand get you to that point.
Number two is breathing beforereacting, taking one deep
breath.
And that's all it takes tointerrupt the stress spiral and
return back to your center.
So the idea is, is you know, andand it's it's almost increasing
(20:57):
that space in nanoseconds overtime, right?
First is really justacknowledging that, hey, this
happened.
And the more time that we cancreate in between that trigger
and the response, the more that,you know, because what what
usually happens after that?
(21:18):
If we think about whatever itmight be, let's say it's
something triggering from yourpartner or your kids or whatever
it is, you can either, you know,you can have the trigger and you
automatically respond, and thenyou just continue to feed into
it and it spirals and it justcontinues to go, or you can have
(21:40):
the trigger and you can takejust that split second to take a
breath before a response.
And then at that point yourealize that, hey, it's not
about me.
Maybe they had a bad day.
They're super, you know, there.
How can I be more supportive inthis moment?
(22:00):
Like, how can I how can I showup for them in a way that
they're not able to show up forthemselves?
And so our our I the idea thereis, and this this is not easy,
right?
This is it takes time and ittakes effort to be able to
increase that space in between,right?
But one of the ways that one ofmy therapists long ago described
(22:22):
it to me is that it's like goingto the filing cabinet, right?
You you have a trigger and it'slike walking, you know, taking a
moment and walking the in thefiling cabinet's got, you know,
tons, it's full of files of likehow to respond in this moment.
And so it's like, okay, thishappened.
Walking over to the filingcabinet and rifling through it.
(22:45):
Yep, yep, okay, looking for it,looking for it, pulling one out
and be like, no, I don't thinkthat's a good one.
Putting that one back, riflingthrough it, going through, and
then, yep, this is a good one.
And then coming back.
And and I get it, like thatdoesn't happen on day one,
right?
But realizing that there is thatmoment of space in between
(23:05):
there.
And the more that you canlengthen that, the more that
over time things will shift foryou.
So the third thing is movingyour body.
And I'm not talking about justfitness, right?
But movement releases tension,right?
And and shifts your mentalstate.
So maybe in those sort ofmovements, it's getting up and
(23:26):
walking around the room, goingfor a walk outside, it's it's
even just like shaking thingsout, moving your legs, right?
And and again, and kind of likegetting the the blood flowing.
Because in those times wherewe've had a trigger, right, and
we're holding our breath, thethat movement will trigger us to
(23:48):
take a breath, right?
That you you remember in thatmoment, like, okay, I'm moving,
take a breath, and you know,along with your paws and and and
whatnot.
So the fourth thing is to takethese sort of break big tasks
into smaller steps, right?
(24:09):
Famous saying, right, is how doyou eat an elephant?
And it's one bite at a time.
And what we're trying toaccomplish is that overwhelm,
right, thrives in vagueness, andbut clarity creates calm.
So how can we take these big,daunting, unsurmountable sort of
(24:32):
tasks that we feel like, dude,it's it, I don't know if I'm
ever, you know, it's this deathspiral.
I there's no way that I can everdo this.
Like it's gonna take so muchtime.
I'm gonna need so manyresources, I don't have any idea
what I'm doing.
Whoa.
Okay.
What's the first step that I canwhat what's the next right step
that I can take?
(24:53):
One step at a time, right?
And lining those out createscalmness.
So the fifth and last thing isis scheduling in white space
into your day.
And then even if it's 10 minutesto go for a walk, to journal, to
meditate, or just sit in silenceto reset your nervous system.
(25:16):
You know, from the time that weget up in the morning, I
personally like I'm up at 5 a.m.
most days, I'm in the coldplunge, off to a workout.
And from that time in themorning, you know, if I didn't
write, you know, time into myday, if I didn't create white
space in my calendar, I wouldjust drive to the end of it
(25:36):
where I basically collapsed intomy bed at night.
And so just like we have to beintentional about getting things
done throughout the day, weschedule our doctors, right?
We schedule differentappointments.
We have to be intentional aboutscheduling time for rest and
recovery.
Right.
And again, kind of going back tothat it's this this it's like a
(25:59):
battery.
And if I completely just depleteit all day long and I don't ever
take a break, it's gonna run outof juice.
And at some point, it's gonnarun past capacity where it's not
gonna be able to be chargedagain.
So being intentional to make ato create time in your day to
(26:20):
sit and be still and to uh resetyour nervous system.
And so as you can see, guys,that these aren't like fancy
hacks, right?
This isn't like turn around onyour head, you know, press the
green button three times, andthen all your stress will be
wiped away.
That these are really tools foremotional regulation and
(26:46):
self-respect.
And so sometimes the the beststressed tool isn't avoiding it.
It's it's actually reframing itin such a way because the same
thing that we look at from aperspective of like, oh man,
(27:06):
this is really overwhelming,it's insurmountable.
How am I gonna be able to do it?
If we actually like painted thatwith a different picture, then
it wouldn't be so overwhelming,right?
Stress often shows up in momentsthat we're stretching ourselves,
when we're learning, when we'regrowing, we're expanding.
(27:28):
And while, yeah, like I get it,while the discomfort isn't fun,
it's often a sign that thatwe're in the the arena, right?
We're we're doing the work.
And so, you know, kind of like Isaid earlier, not all stress is
is bad, that it's a signal thatwe're we're doing things, we're
making progress, we're workingout, right?
(27:48):
If you think of stress to anextent as well, of like the
result of working out, yeah, ourmuscles are sore.
Yeah, because we're growth,we're we're making progress,
we're doing things, we're in thefire, we're in the forge.
And as a result of that, there'sa level of stress that comes
along with it.
So in those moments, like takingan opportunity to ask ourselves,
(28:12):
like, okay, there's this moment,there's this level of stress
that I'm feeling.
What is the opportunity in thispressure right now?
Right?
Because as we go back to it,stress is really a signal of
something that's going on.
And so, what is the opportunityin this pressure right now?
(28:33):
What is this stress pointing metoward?
Right?
What is it showing me?
What is it telling me?
Right?
And and what support do I needso that I don't carry this
alone?
Right.
Uh a lot of times we all havethis expectation that we've got
to carry these sort of things onour shoulders alone.
(28:54):
But you know, feeling it andacknowledging it is is something
that we can say, like, hey, it'shere.
Could you take a part of thisfor me?
Right?
Could you help support me inthis?
That you don't have to be alonein it.
And you know, I just want to saythat reframing doesn't mean
(29:15):
minimizing, right?
Putting lipstick on a pig tomake it something that it's not.
Reframing means seeing stress assomething to move through, not
just as something to to get ridof.
Right.
And so if if if we're to getback to to balance, right, as a
(29:37):
part of that, balance isn'tsomething that you you find
once.
And and so kind of just likestress, right?
In the sense of not getting ridof it.
Balance isn't something that youjust find once, and you're like,
okay, I got balance, like, therewe are, we're done, right?
That you hold on to forever.
It's really this rhythm that youreturn to.
(30:00):
And at times I see it as like apendulum oscillating between two
different sides.
And in the beginning, right,it's it's going from one
extreme, you know, one side ofthe pendulum all the way to the
other side of the pendulum.
And there's a huge swing intoit.
But balance starts to get,right?
And when you when you start tonotice the oscillations, you
(30:21):
know that, okay, I've I've beenon this side of the swing, I've
been on that side of the swing.
And I know that next, the nextthing that's going to happen is
I'm going to swing back over tothe other side.
And eventually over time,there's not as much energy that
goes into the swings, and thoseoscillations start to become
smaller and smaller.
So that creating that rhythm,right, like any rhythm, it
(30:46):
starts with a check-in.
And it starts with regularlyasking yourself, like, what
feels aligned for me right now?
What feels out of sync?
You know, we were talking aboutearlier about what feels, you
know, what is fueling me, whatis draining me.
And being intentional aboutthese sort of things, you know,
(31:09):
whether it's journaling them,writing them down, but
acknowledging them, noticingthem, and and bringing light to
them.
Right.
And so with noticing what feelsaligned for you, with noticing
what feels out of sync, what isone small adjustment that you
can make?
Right?
(31:30):
Something that changes that everso slightly that time, right?
So as that pendulum isoscillating back and forth, what
can I do to take a little bit ofenergy out of that off
oscillation this time and keepdoing that on either side of it
so that eventually you find thatthat swing is minimal.
All right.
And so it might be like cuttingback on some of your
(31:53):
commitments.
It might be going to bed 30minutes earlier.
It might be choosing rest overproductivity just for just for
one day a month, right?
Scheduling in some time just foryourself.
Right.
And something that I like to sayoften is that these sort of
things, you know, and stress isno different, that we've spent
(32:14):
our entire lives creating orheading in a direction of
creating this.
And so it's not, these changesaren't going to happen
overnight.
You know, I say often for myselfin different things that I'm 41
now.
I've spent 41 years perfectinghow to be stressed.
(32:35):
Right.
And so it changes in that aren'tjust going to happen overnight,
but it is going to happen.
It is going to gain momentum.
And that momentum starts withmaking one small change.
Right.
And so the goal is to just startsmall, to be consistent, because
we're not going for perfectionhere.
(32:55):
We're you're building anawareness and a trust in
yourself that you can you canmake and you can implement and
you can keep these promises toyourself.
So here's the takeaway today,guys.
Stress isn't your enemy.
Stress is a signal.
It's your body and mind saying,like, hey man, you know, hey,
(33:20):
the, you know, we're, it's kindof like lights on a dash.
We're running low on a oil here.
That something's going on thatyou that needs your attention,
that you need to take a look at.
And and with that, balance isn'tabout controlling everything.
It's about honoring what youneed and giving yourself
permission to live in alignmentwith that.
(33:42):
You don't have to earn rest,right?
You don't have to work your faceto the, you know, your your work
yourself to the bone sort ofthing in order to be able to
rest, to feel that it's okay torest.
You don't have to justifyslowing down.
You're allowed to be a strongman and a grounded one, a
(34:08):
provider and someone whoprotects his peace.
All right, it's not one or theother.
It can be both.
All right, man.
Thanks for listening today.
And if this episode helped yourethink your relationship with
stress or remind you, you know,to remind you to check in with
(34:28):
yourself, do something about it.
Take one step today, not 10,just one.
And if you want support,navigating the pressure,
building sustainable habits, andliving from a place of strength
and balance, that's what I do.
So reach out.
Until next time, protect yourpeace, honor your limits, and
(34:53):
keep evolving.
Hey, before you go, this podcastis just the surface.
The real work happens inside theEvolve Men Brotherhood.
This is our private community ofmen committed to leading
themselves boldly, buildingconfidence, and sharpening one
another in the fire.
Registration officially opensDecember 1st, and we kick off
(35:14):
our Brotherhood calls togetherbeginning in January 2026.
But you can get on the listtoday and be the first to claim
your spot.
If you're tired of going to lifealone and you're ready for true
accountability, support, andconnection with men who get it,
head to EvolvementProject.comslash Brotherhood.
Don't just listen, step into theBrotherhood.
(35:34):
I'll see you inside.
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(00:24):
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Join the wait list now atEvolvemen Project.com/slash
brotherhood and be a part of themovement.
(00:50):
And that's stress and how tofind balance when life feels
anything but balanced.
So most of us have been taughtthroughout our lives to just
push through, to grind, to carrythe weight, but not many of us
were taught to how to actuallyslow down, how to regulate, how
(01:12):
to rest when things start tofeel overwhelming.
So in this episode, we're goingto explore what stress actually
is and how to recognize whenit's building.
We're going to explore howbalance doesn't mean doing
everything, it means knowingwhat matters.
And practical tools that you canuse today to manage pressure,
(01:37):
fight calm, and show up morepowerfully in your life.
So let's get into it.
So stress gets a bad rap, right?
But not all stress is bad.
In fact, some stress, what wecall eustress, can be helpful,
right?
Because it keeps us sharp, itkeeps us focused, and it keeps
us motivated.
(01:58):
I think at times a lot of peopleput this stigma that, right,
I've I've got to get rid of thisstress, that I've got to do
something with it.
I've got to do these things.
And so it's not, it's not alwaysthe case, right?
That where it becomes a problemis when that stress builds into
(02:20):
something.
So and and that stress canaffect a lot of different, can
affect us in a lot of differentways.
It can affect us physically,right?
And fatigue and headaches andpoor sleep and and medical
(02:42):
ailments and you know, backproblems, like any number of
different things.
The the the physical part isreally interesting on how stress
can affect, you know, differentthings that, you know, as kind
of an example, right?
That like you find that whenyou're stressed, you really
(03:03):
tense up in your back.
And then you walk around, you'relike, man, I I walk around all
the time with with backproblems, right?
And so you start, you startdiagnosing and trying to figure
out the you know, going to seethe doctor because you think
that you've got back problems,when in fact it might be a
stress problem.
It also affects us emotionally,right?
Irritably, anxiety, lowmotivation, behaviorally,
(03:26):
obviously, right?
Procrastination, withdrawal,like unhealthy habits.
And so one of the biggestchallenges is that stress
becomes normal, right?
It starts to become a way oflife and we stop noticing it.
We we adjust, we adapt, and wejust keep pushing through,
right?
Because this is something thatthis is something that we know.
(03:50):
And and it it becomes almostlike this identity of who we
are, that when we actually wethat to an extent we don't know
who we are, if we were to tostop and ground ourselves and
not have that level, you know,it gets to a point where not
(04:10):
having that level of stressbegins to make us anxious or
nervous.
Right.
But the reality is thatunderneath all of this sort of
stuff, right, as as we're we'renormalizing it and making it a
part of our everyday life, we'rereally super depleted underneath
(04:31):
all of that.
That our our resources aredraining our physically, our
physically, mentally,emotionally, like all of these
sort of things, we're runningourselves dry.
So the the first step inhandling stress isn't some fancy
technique.
It's really just the awarenessand and checking in and asking
(04:51):
yourself, right, where is thisstrong stress showing up in my
body?
Is it in my, is it in my habits?
Is it in my mood, right?
Am I do I find that when thishappens, that I always run to
these other sort of escapes,right?
Is it as I talked about earlier,in, you know, in my for me, in
(05:11):
my back at times, like it reallyshows up though.
I I'll almost I notice it indifferent areas.
One of them is in my back, oneof them is in my face, right?
I find that that this sort of,you know, and I'm pointing to
like my left eye sort of area,is it'll get really almost like
twitchy, and it'll get tired andkind of exhausted.
(05:34):
And so what I find is that it'sfrom things, it's like holding
my breath.
And that's another example,right?
But holding my breath in thosemoments that I tense up and I
tense up in my back, I tense upin my face, right?
And all of those sort of things,you know, and it doesn't always
(05:55):
there may be a trigger in thebeginning of it that led to me
tensing up, that led to pressurein my back, that leads to my
mood changing or my demeanor orhow I respond or I react to
everything.
So as we talk about that, youknow, it's not just about, you
know, these five tools to likelower stress in your life.
It's it's really about theawareness of it and how it shows
(06:18):
up for you.
Right.
Because the the how it shows upin your body and your habits and
you know, and your mood comesgenerally well before the the
physical manifestations, right?
Or or the some of the downstreamsort of things is that our body
(06:40):
interprets it and expresses itin a way much sooner than some
of the other things.
So the idea of catching it earlyon is is one of the the best
ways to do it, right?
Because once you you see it,once you acknowledge it and
what's happening, that you canactually start working with it
(07:02):
and and reversing those effects.
So let's talk a little bit aboutbalance with this, right?
Because balance doesn't meandoing everything in perfect
proportion.
I I think that there can be thistendency when we think about
stress and how do we get rid ofit.
(07:22):
And people will say, like, well,you know, you gotta manage your
time better, like you gotta letthings go, you gotta do these
sort of things.
And it it can be this pendulumswing between I'm either like
doing everything or I'm doingnothing.
Right.
So balance doesn't mean doingeverything in perfect
proportions, right?
It's not about becoming somehyper-efficient productivity
(07:47):
machine, right?
That's got lists everywhere thatthat does everything.
You know, you've figured outevery minute detail of how to
avoid the stress.
And and that's kind of, youknow, that's something that I
want to highlight here is thatthis isn't about avoiding
stress, right?
Or getting rid of stress.
(08:08):
It's about acknowledging it andtaking away from it what's
necessary.
It's like, it's like a movementof energy, right?
If energy was to come into you,how do you acknowledge it, see
that it's coming, and redirectit into something that's useful?
So, but back to balance, right?
(08:29):
Balance is about knowing whatmatters and giving those things
your energy.
It's it's about paying attentionto the areas of life that
actually fuel you, right?
Your relationships, uh, health,your growth, you know, play,
your purpose in life, yourfamily, your kids, whatever
(08:49):
those are, like identifying whatthose things are and
reallocating things to focus onthose, right?
Because when those things getneglected is when the stress
really starts to creep in,right?
But when you stay connected towhat it is that fills you up,
you become more resilient,right?
(09:12):
Even even in the middle of thatpressure.
All right.
So I want you to take a momenthere and really ask yourself,
right, what what are the areasof your life that feel neglected
right now?
Right.
What sort of what are those sortof things that, man, you just
know every day that you wake upthat, man, I I just need a few
(09:34):
more minutes to like close theloop on this?
Or I've really been meaning tomake that phone call or spend
some time with that person.
All right, that there's there'smore than likely there's those
sort of things that that arealways on the to-do list that
are never, never getting done.
What is it that you'reovercommitting to?
Right.
What sort of places are are yousaying yes to things that you
(09:57):
really want to say no?
That you know that, hey, there'snot the time in the day in order
to do this, but you're stillsaying yes because maybe it's
just you know part of thatidentity at this point of like
who I am.
I say yes to everything,regardless of whether or not I
have the time.
(10:17):
I'll figure it out.
And and what would more balancelook like for you?
Right?
What if you were to set some ofthese things down, if you were
to say no to things, if you wereto spend more time with the
things that that matter, whatwould that look like for you?
Right?
Would it be, you know, would itbe you spending more time with
(10:41):
your family?
Would it be you getting up at 5a.m.
to get a workout in, right?
Or, you know, taking time in theafternoon to go for a walk.
And the idea with all of this,like like everything that I talk
about, is that it's not aboutfixing everything today, right?
So it's not about making a listand checking that stuff off one
(11:02):
by one.
It's about the the awareness,right?
And acknowledging it of wherethese things are showing up and
then starting to make small andsubtle changes consistently over
time.
And that's where the the shiftreally begins.
So for most of my life,personally for me, I've been
(11:25):
really good at functioning understress.
And and as I talk about, it'sbeen something that has a has
been almost a part of myidentity that for a long time I
didn't, you know, I had no idea.
It was almost scary to thinkabout saying no to some of these
things, right?
I could, because I could handlea lot, right?
(11:47):
I could, I could carry thingsthat most people would buckle
under.
And those are the sort of thingsthat at times I was proud of.
I I wore like a badge of honor,right?
Just how much that I couldshoulder and I could carry and
and keep this persona, this maskthat it wasn't affecting me.
And and I think at times there'sthere's a part of this that we
(12:10):
don't know what we don't know,right?
And so as I as I look back overdifferent periods of my life
that I've had different, like,you know, physical things that
were going uh going on with me,or you know, the just the energy
throughout my house and my kidsand my relationships, that yeah,
it all really like I I sure Ican handle it.
(12:31):
Yeah, I can do it, but I'm alsoit's it's kind of like pouring
from you know a cup that has ahole in the bottom of it, right?
Like it's that it's gonnacontinue to leak.
I'm I'm never I'm alwaysnegative, I'm always behind if
I'm not more thoughtful aboutincorporating more balance into
(12:53):
my life.
So, but with that, right, thatalong the way, what I didn't
realize was that I was I wasnormalizing this dysfunctional
pattern.
I was surviving, but I sure Iwas surviving, but I I wasn't
thriving, right?
It when I talk about that cup,it was really just that, that I
(13:15):
was I was more focused aboutputting things into the cup,
right?
Or making to an extent, I guess,like that making sure that more
things ended up in the cup andnot necessarily worried about
plugging those other those otherholes, right?
So, how am I gonna get to apoint, if I think about that in
a sense of like a water bottle,how am I ever gonna get to fill
(13:35):
that sort of thing up if I don'tstop?
How am I gonna get to a place ofof that next level, right?
That like that thrivingrelationship, like the the
intimacy and the passion andpurpose in my life.
Like, how am I actually going toget there?
How am I gonna be it's it's likeit's like driving in a car
(13:58):
that's that's jacked up, right?
The the car is on blocks and yougot the pedal to the metal, but
you're not actually goinganywhere.
And you're just managing, like,hey, we're just making sure that
we keep fuel in the tank and oilin the engine and we keep the
floor to the, you know, thepedal to the floor, right?
Because I for me, I I wasn'tcreating the space to actually
(14:21):
feel to to to acknowledge thosedifferent, you know, whether it
was mentally, physically,emotionally, those ailments that
were happening to me to actuallytake time to stop and to breathe
and to recharge.
(14:42):
And for me, eventually,everything caught up with me,
right?
Physically, emotionally,mentally, I felt, I felt
scattered and reactive anddrained.
Right.
And for me, excuse me, whatreally changed for me wasn't
this this massive overhaul,right?
(15:03):
As as I said earlier, like itwas these small intentional
shifts.
And and I think it's it's likeanything.
And I always attribute this backto like trying to turn a ship on
a dime, right?
We're not gonna take somethingthat's been full steam ahead for
so long and expect to turn itaround and flip it on its head
(15:25):
overnight.
I mean, you try to do some stufflike that, like there's gonna be
cargo containers going off theside of the ship, like all kinds
of, you know, the kitchen on theship and everything, like
everybody's gonna freak outbecause it's just not meant to
turn that quickly.
And so it's not sustainable.
And so the idea is is havingthese, making these small
(15:45):
intentional shifts that you canbe consistent about over time.
So for me, I really startedasking myself, what what does
what does rest look like for me?
You know, I I started atdifferent times in my life.
I've fitness and has been areally important part of my
(16:08):
life.
And and and I had to likecontinue dialing this back to
really put a focus on what thatit wasn't so much, and I think
this is maybe a good analogy,that it's not so much about the
the workout, the strain, thatyour body actually develops the
muscle, right, or repairsitself, that the actual growth
(16:29):
happens during rest, right?
So while you're sleeping atnight is when the muscles
rebuild and develop.
And so really readdressing orinspecting my relationship with
what rest looked like and andrewriting that it wasn't such a
(16:49):
bad thing, right?
That that's when all of theamazing things that I was doing,
that that's when I would startto embody them.
So another thing I did is I Ireally started inspecting and
investing, you know, likedigging deep into where I was
spending energy on things thatthat didn't matter, right?
(17:09):
I was either running around incircles, fixing problems that
weren't really problems, youknow, and I think even to an
extent at times, like I wasmaking problems that didn't need
to be problems, that I wassolving issues for things, or I
was plugging holes that therewasn't one.
And all of that takes cycles,right?
(17:30):
Because maybe I have anexpectation of the way that
things should be, that I wouldbe out there doing that sort of
work when the road didn't needto be patched.
So it's almost like, you know, apothole in the road.
It's like going out drivingaround looking for potholes and
roads.
And and I I'm purposely lookingfor ones that are the furthest
(17:54):
away from the city, that nobodyever drives down.
And I call the cavalry out tolike, hey, it's the most
important thing for us to plugthis, plug this pothole.
When in reality, like the shitdoesn't matter.
Nobody is ever out there.
And when they do, they drivearound it, like nobody cares.
And so really being cognizant ofwhere I spent my energy, you
(18:14):
know, and we go back to likewhat it is that matters to us in
our life, right?
My my my health and my fitnessand my family, right, and my
purpose and my mission.
And if it's not one of thosesort of things, like really
inspecting whether or not it'sthat important.
And and also what it in orderfor that to happen, what is it
(18:36):
that needs to come off of myplate?
Right.
Even even if if at times itlooks important at first glance.
Yeah, because I think a lot oftimes, you know, something will
come in and you'll think that,like, oh, hey, this has got to
be addressed right now, it'ssuper important.
When in reality, it's it's notgonna be the end of the world.
(19:00):
And so for me, that's when whenbalance really stopped being
this idea, and it startedbecoming a practice, right?
It becoming something that Iembodied and I included in
everyday life.
And really going back to thefitness analogy, that it was it
was in the rest that I was ableto be more productive, that I
(19:23):
would be able to grow more, thatI was able to support people,
you know, both myself and othersmore efficiently, effective, and
and so on.
So let's talk a little bit aboutsome of the tools in order to
manage stress.
So, for me, some of the mosteffective stress management
(19:47):
practices that I've seen, bothin my life and with the clients
that I work with, first of all,you know, as we talked about
earlier, is awareness and reallynaming your triggers is the
first one.
Because awareness is the powerof it.
You you can you can walk around,it's like that cup analogy that
I talked about, that you cankeep pouring into that cup, but
(20:10):
if you don't realize thatthere's a hole at the bottom of
it, that you you can never moveforward, right?
And so really starting to askyourself what what situations,
what people or thoughts areconsistently spiking your stress
level, right?
And so acknowledging what areyour triggers, what are the
(20:35):
things that spike your stressand get you to that point.
Number two is breathing beforereacting, taking one deep
breath.
And that's all it takes tointerrupt the stress spiral and
return back to your center.
So the idea is, is you know, andand it's it's almost increasing
(20:57):
that space in nanoseconds overtime, right?
First is really justacknowledging that, hey, this
happened.
And the more time that we cancreate in between that trigger
and the response, the more that,you know, because what what
usually happens after that?
(21:18):
If we think about whatever itmight be, let's say it's
something triggering from yourpartner or your kids or whatever
it is, you can either, you know,you can have the trigger and you
automatically respond, and thenyou just continue to feed into
it and it spirals and it justcontinues to go, or you can have
(21:40):
the trigger and you can takejust that split second to take a
breath before a response.
And then at that point yourealize that, hey, it's not
about me.
Maybe they had a bad day.
They're super, you know, there.
How can I be more supportive inthis moment?
(22:00):
Like, how can I how can I showup for them in a way that
they're not able to show up forthemselves?
And so our our I the idea thereis, and this this is not easy,
right?
This is it takes time and ittakes effort to be able to
increase that space in between,right?
But one of the ways that one ofmy therapists long ago described
(22:22):
it to me is that it's like goingto the filing cabinet, right?
You you have a trigger and it'slike walking, you know, taking a
moment and walking the in thefiling cabinet's got, you know,
tons, it's full of files of likehow to respond in this moment.
And so it's like, okay, thishappened.
Walking over to the filingcabinet and rifling through it.
(22:45):
Yep, yep, okay, looking for it,looking for it, pulling one out
and be like, no, I don't thinkthat's a good one.
Putting that one back, riflingthrough it, going through, and
then, yep, this is a good one.
And then coming back.
And and I get it, like thatdoesn't happen on day one,
right?
But realizing that there is thatmoment of space in between
(23:05):
there.
And the more that you canlengthen that, the more that
over time things will shift foryou.
So the third thing is movingyour body.
And I'm not talking about justfitness, right?
But movement releases tension,right?
And and shifts your mentalstate.
So maybe in those sort ofmovements, it's getting up and
(23:26):
walking around the room, goingfor a walk outside, it's it's
even just like shaking thingsout, moving your legs, right?
And and again, and kind of likegetting the the blood flowing.
Because in those times wherewe've had a trigger, right, and
we're holding our breath, thethat movement will trigger us to
(23:48):
take a breath, right?
That you you remember in thatmoment, like, okay, I'm moving,
take a breath, and you know,along with your paws and and and
whatnot.
So the fourth thing is to takethese sort of break big tasks
into smaller steps, right?
(24:09):
Famous saying, right, is how doyou eat an elephant?
And it's one bite at a time.
And what we're trying toaccomplish is that overwhelm,
right, thrives in vagueness, andbut clarity creates calm.
So how can we take these big,daunting, unsurmountable sort of
(24:32):
tasks that we feel like, dude,it's it, I don't know if I'm
ever, you know, it's this deathspiral.
I there's no way that I can everdo this.
Like it's gonna take so muchtime.
I'm gonna need so manyresources, I don't have any idea
what I'm doing.
Whoa.
Okay.
What's the first step that I canwhat what's the next right step
that I can take?
(24:53):
One step at a time, right?
And lining those out createscalmness.
So the fifth and last thing isis scheduling in white space
into your day.
And then even if it's 10 minutesto go for a walk, to journal, to
meditate, or just sit in silenceto reset your nervous system.
(25:16):
You know, from the time that weget up in the morning, I
personally like I'm up at 5 a.m.
most days, I'm in the coldplunge, off to a workout.
And from that time in themorning, you know, if I didn't
write, you know, time into myday, if I didn't create white
space in my calendar, I wouldjust drive to the end of it
(25:36):
where I basically collapsed intomy bed at night.
And so just like we have to beintentional about getting things
done throughout the day, weschedule our doctors, right?
We schedule differentappointments.
We have to be intentional aboutscheduling time for rest and
recovery.
Right.
And again, kind of going back tothat it's this this it's like a
(25:59):
battery.
And if I completely just depleteit all day long and I don't ever
take a break, it's gonna run outof juice.
And at some point, it's gonnarun past capacity where it's not
gonna be able to be chargedagain.
So being intentional to make ato create time in your day to
(26:20):
sit and be still and to uh resetyour nervous system.
And so as you can see, guys,that these aren't like fancy
hacks, right?
This isn't like turn around onyour head, you know, press the
green button three times, andthen all your stress will be
wiped away.
That these are really tools foremotional regulation and
(26:46):
self-respect.
And so sometimes the the beststressed tool isn't avoiding it.
It's it's actually reframing itin such a way because the same
thing that we look at from aperspective of like, oh man,
(27:06):
this is really overwhelming,it's insurmountable.
How am I gonna be able to do it?
If we actually like painted thatwith a different picture, then
it wouldn't be so overwhelming,right?
Stress often shows up in momentsthat we're stretching ourselves,
when we're learning, when we'regrowing, we're expanding.
(27:28):
And while, yeah, like I get it,while the discomfort isn't fun,
it's often a sign that thatwe're in the the arena, right?
We're we're doing the work.
And so, you know, kind of like Isaid earlier, not all stress is
is bad, that it's a signal thatwe're we're doing things, we're
making progress, we're workingout, right?
(27:48):
If you think of stress to anextent as well, of like the
result of working out, yeah, ourmuscles are sore.
Yeah, because we're growth,we're we're making progress,
we're doing things, we're in thefire, we're in the forge.
And as a result of that, there'sa level of stress that comes
along with it.
So in those moments, like takingan opportunity to ask ourselves,
(28:12):
like, okay, there's this moment,there's this level of stress
that I'm feeling.
What is the opportunity in thispressure right now?
Right?
Because as we go back to it,stress is really a signal of
something that's going on.
And so, what is the opportunityin this pressure right now?
(28:33):
What is this stress pointing metoward?
Right?
What is it showing me?
What is it telling me?
Right?
And and what support do I needso that I don't carry this
alone?
Right.
Uh a lot of times we all havethis expectation that we've got
to carry these sort of things onour shoulders alone.
(28:54):
But you know, feeling it andacknowledging it is is something
that we can say, like, hey, it'shere.
Could you take a part of thisfor me?
Right?
Could you help support me inthis?
That you don't have to be alonein it.
And you know, I just want to saythat reframing doesn't mean
(29:15):
minimizing, right?
Putting lipstick on a pig tomake it something that it's not.
Reframing means seeing stress assomething to move through, not
just as something to to get ridof.
Right.
And so if if if we're to getback to to balance, right, as a
(29:37):
part of that, balance isn'tsomething that you you find
once.
And and so kind of just likestress, right?
In the sense of not getting ridof it.
Balance isn't something that youjust find once, and you're like,
okay, I got balance, like, therewe are, we're done, right?
That you hold on to forever.
It's really this rhythm that youreturn to.
(30:00):
And at times I see it as like apendulum oscillating between two
different sides.
And in the beginning, right,it's it's going from one
extreme, you know, one side ofthe pendulum all the way to the
other side of the pendulum.
And there's a huge swing intoit.
But balance starts to get,right?
And when you when you start tonotice the oscillations, you
(30:21):
know that, okay, I've I've beenon this side of the swing, I've
been on that side of the swing.
And I know that next, the nextthing that's going to happen is
I'm going to swing back over tothe other side.
And eventually over time,there's not as much energy that
goes into the swings, and thoseoscillations start to become
smaller and smaller.
So that creating that rhythm,right, like any rhythm, it
(30:46):
starts with a check-in.
And it starts with regularlyasking yourself, like, what
feels aligned for me right now?
What feels out of sync?
You know, we were talking aboutearlier about what feels, you
know, what is fueling me, whatis draining me.
And being intentional aboutthese sort of things, you know,
(31:09):
whether it's journaling them,writing them down, but
acknowledging them, noticingthem, and and bringing light to
them.
Right.
And so with noticing what feelsaligned for you, with noticing
what feels out of sync, what isone small adjustment that you
can make?
Right?
(31:30):
Something that changes that everso slightly that time, right?
So as that pendulum isoscillating back and forth, what
can I do to take a little bit ofenergy out of that off
oscillation this time and keepdoing that on either side of it
so that eventually you find thatthat swing is minimal.
All right.
And so it might be like cuttingback on some of your
(31:53):
commitments.
It might be going to bed 30minutes earlier.
It might be choosing rest overproductivity just for just for
one day a month, right?
Scheduling in some time just foryourself.
Right.
And something that I like to sayoften is that these sort of
things, you know, and stress isno different, that we've spent
(32:14):
our entire lives creating orheading in a direction of
creating this.
And so it's not, these changesaren't going to happen
overnight.
You know, I say often for myselfin different things that I'm 41
now.
I've spent 41 years perfectinghow to be stressed.
(32:35):
Right.
And so it changes in that aren'tjust going to happen overnight,
but it is going to happen.
It is going to gain momentum.
And that momentum starts withmaking one small change.
Right.
And so the goal is to just startsmall, to be consistent, because
we're not going for perfectionhere.
(32:55):
We're you're building anawareness and a trust in
yourself that you can you canmake and you can implement and
you can keep these promises toyourself.
So here's the takeaway today,guys.
Stress isn't your enemy.
Stress is a signal.
It's your body and mind saying,like, hey man, you know, hey,
(33:20):
the, you know, we're, it's kindof like lights on a dash.
We're running low on a oil here.
That something's going on thatyou that needs your attention,
that you need to take a look at.
And and with that, balance isn'tabout controlling everything.
It's about honoring what youneed and giving yourself
permission to live in alignmentwith that.
(33:42):
You don't have to earn rest,right?
You don't have to work your faceto the, you know, your your work
yourself to the bone sort ofthing in order to be able to
rest, to feel that it's okay torest.
You don't have to justifyslowing down.
You're allowed to be a strongman and a grounded one, a
(34:08):
provider and someone whoprotects his peace.
All right, it's not one or theother.
It can be both.
All right, man.
Thanks for listening today.
And if this episode helped yourethink your relationship with
stress or remind you, you know,to remind you to check in with
(34:28):
yourself, do something about it.
Take one step today, not 10,just one.
And if you want support,navigating the pressure,
building sustainable habits, andliving from a place of strength
and balance, that's what I do.
So reach out.
Until next time, protect yourpeace, honor your limits, and
(34:53):
keep evolving.
Hey, before you go, this podcastis just the surface.
The real work happens inside theEvolve Men Brotherhood.
This is our private community ofmen committed to leading
themselves boldly, buildingconfidence, and sharpening one
another in the fire.
Registration officially opensDecember 1st, and we kick off
(35:14):
our Brotherhood calls togetherbeginning in January 2026.
But you can get on the listtoday and be the first to claim
your spot.
If you're tired of going to lifealone and you're ready for true
accountability, support, andconnection with men who get it,
head to EvolvementProject.comslash Brotherhood.
Don't just listen, step into theBrotherhood.
(35:34):
I'll see you inside.
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