Tracey returns to the podcast after a much-needed break to share updates about her DNA journey, weight loss progress, and the importance of self-care before burnout sets in. She celebrates her 49th birthday with reflections on finding two biological sisters through DNA testing and shares a powerful spiritual reminder about how life's challenges affect us less when we stay close to God.
• Found two biological sisters through an Ancestry DNA test taken on her birthday last year
• Has lost 62 pounds on her "Fit, Fine and Fabulous by 50" journey with a goal of losing 100 pounds
• Decided to take a break from the podcast and coaching when recognizing signs of burnout
• Celebrating her 49th birthday with a solo trip to Myrtle Beach for rejuvenation
• Shares a spiritual message about waves hitting softer when standing closer to the shore (God)
• Got platinum blonde hair in November as part of her personal transformation
• She and her sisters have connected well but are pausing their search for additional siblings
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Episode Transcript
What's good everybody .
Welcome to the Charging StationPodcast.
It's your girl, Tracy Massey,of Living my Empowered Life.
I know, I know, I know.
I know, I know sis, I knowchild.
I know it's been a while.
It has been a while I haven'tforgotten about you all, but
life has been lifing.
(00:46):
Twenty twenty four.
Twenty twenty four had someamazing things happen for me,
but they were also emotionallychallenging and I was being
stretched to no end.
But God is good, excuse me andI really have no complaints.
(01:09):
So I didn't start coughinguntil I came up on here.
Look at here.
Anyway, hey y'all, welcome tothe shenanigans.
I know video is just different.
I'm in a different location.
Actually, at the time that I amrecording this podcast, it is
my birthday, I am celebrating 49years around the sun, and so I
(01:31):
say you know what?
Let me go on and just update mypeeps with this new episode and
just tell you all theshenanigans that have been
happening and a little bit ofthe whatnots and all of that.
So if I look a little differentto you, if you've been
following me on social media,you already know this, you
already know this.
I am platinum blonde, baby Went,platinum blonde, in November of
(01:54):
2024.
I told y'all it was a lot ofchanges I have.
I'm still continuing my Fit,fine and Fabulous by 50 journey,
where my goal is to drop ahundred pounds by my 50th
birthday, which is next year.
This time next year I'll be 50.
So far, I have dropped 62pounds, y'all, first of all.
(02:16):
First of all, I'm not wearingany earrings.
Hold on I know some people willbe upset no, any earrings, hold
(02:39):
on.
All right, I had to put on someearrings because a lady wears
earrings when she's on camera,so let me put these earrings on
right quick.
Y'all bear with me.
Ain't nothing changed?
Ain't nothing changed?
I know I'm still y'all fam, allright.
So, um, my environment is alittle different because I
decided to be spontaneous andcome down to Myrtle Beach for a
few days.
I needed a break.
(02:59):
I haven't had a solo trip since2021, and so this was the
perfect time for me to get downhere.
And when I tell you, it hasbeen relaxing, refreshing,
rejuvenating, all of that goodstuff.
The weather has been beautiful.
I got beautiful sunlight comingthrough my room.
Right now I'm going to sit onthe balcony and watch the sunset
and just have a little snackand just continue to enjoy
(03:25):
myself, but I head home tomorrowand I'm glad I'm going home
because I miss my bed.
There's nothing like being inyour own bed at home.
So, anyway, that's not whyyou're here.
That's not why I'm here.
I am here because I need to beupdating y'all.
So you remember when I shared myDNA journey.
If you have not, you don't knowwhat I'm talking about.
(03:46):
And this is your first timejoining hey, I'm so rude.
Hey, y'all.
If this is your first timewatching and listening, welcome
to the Charging Station podcast.
I pray that you are having agreat day wherever you are and
that you come back and join theshenanigans.
Be a part of the power squad.
If you are returning, listen tohey Boo.
You Know, I from the South.
(04:08):
You got to greet people whenyou come in.
So if you are new to theCharging Station, go back and
listen to my series calledBranches, where I am talking
about my DNA journey.
So this time last year, on thisday, march 17th 2024, my
birthday I decided to do anancestry DNA test.
(04:31):
So I ordered the test on thisvery day and I started to put my
maternal side family treetogether and I got the test the
actual test about two weekslater, took the test, sent it in
, got the results, found asister that I didn't know
(04:53):
existed.
So that was a birthday gift tomyself.
On April 19th I ended uptalking to said sister for the
first time.
We met in June of 2024 onFather's Day weekend and we have
formed such a great bond, so golisten to those episodes.
(05:13):
Sister number one is actually onone of the episodes.
We did a podcast episodetogether when she came to visit
and since then we have foundsister number two.
Sister number two has comeright on into the group and we
(05:37):
also have a great bond.
So I have two older sisters.
I am still the baby out of thebrood, out of the crew, and I
could not have asked for bettersiblings.
We are still getting to knoweach other.
I have not met sister numbertwo in person just yet.
Hopefully we will all be in thesame room in April as we
(06:00):
celebrate sister number one'sbirthday, so I'm hoping that all
three of us can get together.
And sister number two is alittle more private, so I've
asked her to be on the podcast.
She was like I don't know, so Idon't know.
Y'all pray, y'all pray.
I think she would do fabulous.
If I can't get sister numbertwo, I'm gonna get my nephew on
(06:21):
here.
Like my nephew, I know he'll bedown, so just kind of look out
for that soon.
But it has been a wild ride.
We have collectively decided tokind of put a pause in the
search for other siblings, andwe do have information on who
our father was.
He is deceased, but we know whohe is.
(06:43):
Don't know much about himbecause we haven't been able to
locate anyone who had a closerelationship with him.
And we haven't been able tolocate any of the other siblings
.
We do have nieces and nephewsout there.
So we're planning on just kindof going in together and
(07:03):
touching base, trying to reachout to the nieces and nephews
that we have.
So y'all keep us in prayerbecause this journey I've
described it as an emotionaltornado and that's exactly what
it is, and so I'm glad that weall agreed that we just kind of
take a break because it has beena lot on top of life going on.
So other than that, things havebeen good.
(07:27):
I've had some changes in mynine to five which has been
stressful, but I'm just trustingGod in this entire process.
You know, sometimes you justhave to let go and allow God to
do what he does.
And one thing that I do knowand have come to be settled with
in my spirit and in my heart,is knowing that God is in
control and he's never left me,never forsaken me.
(07:49):
He's never left me out herestranded or un bad airs or
anything like that.
So we're just kind of goingwith the flow.
And while I'm here at the beach,it reminds me of a sermon that
I preached a long time ago.
Maybe I'm not even going to tryto figure out how long it's
been, but it was a long time agoand I was walking on the beach
(08:11):
in Hawaii a long time ago.
And I was walking on the beachin Hawaii.
This was after my daughterpassed away and I went to Hawaii
to escape everything.
And I was walking on the beachand God was telling me to look
at the waves.
So I just stood there and Iremember looking at the waves
and how beautiful they are.
So if I'm looking away now, ifyou're watching this, I'm
(08:33):
looking at the waves right nowand I just remembered this
message.
God had me look at the waves andhe showed me how all of the
waves are different, so they'recoming in at different times.
Some of them are larger thanothers.
They're crashing at the shoresat different times.
But one thing God showed me wasthe closer that you are on the
(08:55):
shore no-transcript, and he hadto remind me the closer that you
get to him those waves don'thit you as hard.
So thank you, lord, for thatreminder and I hope that
encouraged you just to know andremember the closer you get to
(09:17):
God, the waves of life will nothit you as hard.
Not saying they're not going tohit, not saying that you're not
going to feel them.
It's like no weapon formedshall prosper.
Never said the weapon're notgoing to hit.
Not saying that you're notgoing to feel them.
It's like no weapon formedshall prosper.
Never said the weapon wasn'tgoing to form.
Never said the waves weren'tgoing to crash.
But the closer you get to God,it won't affect you as much as
it would if you were juststanding out there all by
(09:38):
yourself.
Anyway, I don't know how longthis episode is going to be.
I really just want to come onand update you all because I owe
you this, and thank you all forall of you who follow me on the
socials.
You can find me on Instagram,facebook, tiktok threads and
YouTube under Living myEmpowered Life.
(10:00):
You guys are the truth.
You come into my DMs like, heygirl, what's going on with the
podcast?
What's going on with thepodcast?
What's going on with theepisode?
But you all know that I've beenout here living.
If you follow me on Instagramand if you're on my mailing list
, you kind of have updates andeverything too.
But I knew that I was on theverge of burnout.
(10:20):
I knew that I was on the vergeof burnout so I had to pause
some things.
I had to say okay, step awayfrom living my empire life and
coaching.
I had to step away from thepodcast because I had nothing to
give and you know how much Ifuss at y'all about trying to
(10:40):
serve from an empty cup.
Serve from your saucer.
Shout out to Maddie James forthat.
That has stuck with me.
Serve from your saucer, becauseif you're serving from your
saucer, that means that it'soverflow.
There's an overflow coming outof your cup.
I had no overflow y'all, so Ihad to sit my happy tail down
somewhere and I'm not ashamed tosay that, because I can come
(11:02):
back now full.
I can come back now full and Ican come back rejuvenated and
with more clarity and that way Ican serve my peeps and I'm
proud of myself for doing that.
You know, give yourself kudosfor doing the hard things,
because a lot of times peopletell you especially for us Black
(11:23):
women they say push through, bestrong, push through, no, no,
because if I'm pushing againstsomething, I have to have
strength to push that thing back.
I had no strength to do that,so I took a break before I broke
.
Anyway, y'all, I am not going tobe before you long.
I just wanted to send an update, let you know that we will be
(11:46):
getting back to the chargingstation back on schedule.
New episodes will drop onTuesday.
Okay, tuesday is our day.
New episodes will drop onTuesdays.
I think I'm going to keep doingthis video thing.
Y'all may get makeup, you maynot.
I felt good today because it'smy birthday.
I am the queen for the day.
It's Tracy's day, no matterwhat the calendar says.
(12:09):
The calendar says it's StPatrick's day.
No, it's Tracy's day, it's Treyday, t day.
So if you are following mysocial media, thank you for all
of the birthday wishes, thebirthday shout outs.
I feel so loved.
I feel loved anyway, but todayI feel extra loved and one of
(12:30):
the most amazing things abouttoday is being able to talk to
my sisters and have gettingbirthday cards from my sisters.
That's never happened before.
So grateful.
I'm gonna get off here before Istart crying.
I've been an emotional ball ofof flames today, but thank you
(12:50):
again for tuning in, thank youfor rocking with me, thank you
for sticking with me.
I appreciate you all so verymuch.
My phone is blowing up, so letme get off here and answer these
phones, this phone and thesetext messages, cause it's just
all the birthday wishes y'all.
I feel.
I feel I feel blessed and I gotto go work out.
Yeah, I'm working out today,but, as always, before we close
(13:15):
out, remember God loves you, Ilove you.
It ain't nothing you can doabout it.
I will see you on the nextepisode.
Bye.
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