January 21, 2025 • 14 mins
Ever felt the weight of the world on your shoulders, even when everything seems to be going well? That's exactly where I found myself this year, navigating the intertwined exhilaration and daunting moments of 2024. Join me on this emotional journey as I unveil the strategies I've developed to transform negative thoughts into positive ones, using tools like gratitude and praise journals to realign my perspective. I promise you'll uncover tools to help you sift through chaos and unearth beauty and strength even in the most challenging seasons.
Through honest reflections and personal stories, I contemplate the stark difference between fleeting happiness and enduring joy, offering insights into how faith, especially my relationship with Jesus, plays a crucial role in preserving joy and peace. As we approach a busy holiday season, explore how mindful self-care and positive thought management can nurture these essential qualities. My hope is to inspire you to cultivate your own joy and peace, ensuring that no matter the challenges, your spirit remains enriched and resilient.
Join us for our free webinar:
www.childcarebusinessprofessionals.com/grow2025
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello and welcome.
Let's see I am trying to get onhere.
Hello and welcome to the ChildCare Business Coach Podcast.
My name is Evelyn Knight.
I am just trying to get myInstagram feed working here.
Thank you so much for takingthe time to join me.
(00:26):
You know I'm in a season rightnow.
I am in a season and I don'tknow I'm such a Christmas person
normally, but this season I amreally struggling right now.
It's been quite the year, Ihave to say.
(00:48):
2024 has been crazy year andit's good things, bad things, a
little bit of everything right,and sometimes that makes it even
harder.
It's not just the hard thingsthat put us in a season that
helps, creates a struggle, butsometimes the good things can be
(01:08):
super stressful as well.
So if you're like me and you'rejust in one of those seasons
and it's just stressful andheavy right now, I want to talk
to you a little bit about how Iovercome it.
This morning, when I woke up, Ijust felt the heaviness, and
normally I'm the type of personI'm super positive usually.
(01:30):
So I'm usually the type ofperson who wakes up excited for
my day, excited to just take onlife and to do the things that I
do, but lately it's been astruggle and I've been having a
really hard time just pullingmyself out of bed, and that
isn't me.
There's a lot of things I'venoticed lately that just aren't
(01:52):
me.
I'm just not my happy self.
So what do I do in thesesituations where I'm just not
myself and I feel the spirit ofdepression come over me and even
just kind of anger?
I was talking to my fiance thismorning and he was asking me
(02:15):
just some questions and he justsaid Evelyn, what is going on
with you?
It feels like you're allowingsome bitterness to take over and
this isn't you, and for thoseof you who know me, it isn't.
I'm a really joyful person, butthings get hard.
I see Sam you're here, hello,and Sam is a great example.
(02:38):
She is fighting out there forus in the insurance industry and
trying to make sure that we, aschild care providers, have
insurance right, and that is oneof the many struggles that
we're facing right now asleaders in the child care
industry, and for those of uswho've been doing this for years
, it's getting hard, it'sgetting heavy.
(02:59):
I see Lolita there You've beenaround for a long time and
Yolandra and even though a lotof us like Yolandra, and we
might be doing really wellbusiness wise, it just feels
like there's one obstacle afteranother just coming at us,
doesn't it?
How many of you tell me in thecomments do you feel like
(03:21):
there's just so much happening?
So much happening that, even ifyou're striving and you're
doing well in your business,there's other things like
employees quitting it's hard tohire insurance dropping us,
every little thing, parents notwanting to take accountability
for their children, staff notwanting to take accountability
(03:43):
for being staff members.
Feeling like there's just notenough time in the day to juggle
it all.
Yeah, but I don't want to be adowner.
This isn't me.
It's not me.
Focusing on all this negativityisn't me.
So how do I snap out of it andhow do I get myself out of this
(04:05):
really hard season?
What is it that I do?
So there's a couple of things Ido.
First thing I do is I reallystart analyzing my thoughts.
I really stop and I look atmyself like, wait a second, what
is going on here?
Why am I going through thisseason?
What is going on here?
(04:25):
Why am I going through thisseason?
No matter what is happening inmy life, no matter how upset I
am.
Whatever, there's always somuch good right.
There's always more goodhappening, no matter what.
Now my brain may want to hyperfocus on the negative, but if I
stop and force myself to reallythink and look around, I will
(04:48):
find so much more beauty thanI'm going to find the negative,
right.
So how do I really find thatand identify?
Well, I start a praise journal,or gratitude.
If you're a God girl like me,it's all about the praise, right
?
Thank you, lord for?
(05:08):
And I'll start listing thethings I'm thankful for.
If you're not just somethingyou're grateful for, like for me
right now, just even standinghere in my home office, I'm
thankful that I even get to workin a home office, right, I'm
thankful I am a child carecenter owner.
I'm thankful that I have thisbeautiful view outside my office
(05:28):
windows.
There is countless.
There's heat running in my home.
There is countless, countlessthings that I can be grateful
for.
So that's the first thing I do.
I try to stop focusing on thedeficit, right?
Because I found that one of theworst things we can do is wake
up in a deficit.
(05:49):
What does that mean?
Well, that means that when youwake up in the morning, your
brain goes to all the thingsthat aren't.
Your brain goes to what wedon't have, all the struggles
we're facing, the things we haveto deal with.
We start our day in a deficit,for example, waking up to a
bunch of dishes in the sinkright when you don't do the
dishes the night before and youwalk into the kitchen and you
(06:11):
see a pile of dishes, a pile ofstuff that you left undone.
You're waking up into a deficit.
So I started watching thingslike that and, by the way, I did
that this morning.
I didn't want to do my disheslast night, so I walk up to a
sink full of dishes.
I'm already kind of depressedthis morning when I woke up
because I knew there were somethings I have to deal with, and
then I added to it because Ididn't feel like doing the
(06:33):
dishes last night.
And, as menial as that sounds,it is important.
How you start your day is goingto set up your entire day right
.
That mindset I'm in.
To set up your entire day right.
That mindset I'm in.
And I also remind myself that,yes, I woke up to being in a
(06:54):
deficit.
I woke up with negativethoughts in my mind.
I woke up to a sink full ofdishes.
However, I am not going toallow the first hour of my day
to determine the next 14 hoursthat I'm going to be awake.
I have been in situations whereI've woken up to pipes bursted
right.
But I get to choose.
Am I going to allow this toaffect the next 14 hours of my
(07:15):
day?
How many of you wake up in themorning and think to myself oh,
it's going to be an awful day.
Oh, my gosh, because firstthing in the morning I look at
my phone and somebody's callingin, right.
Well, you just set yourself upfor an awful day.
Yeah, it's going to be awful,because that's what you're
telling yourself.
So instead I look at no, Imight've had a not so great hour
(07:39):
, which, by the way, I created.
I'm going to take fullaccountability for that as well.
I created my not so great hourand I'm still going to have a
wonderful day, no matter whatI'm facing, because even if I'm
facing something hard, I'm stillfacing 20 other wonderful
things.
I get to see my kids, I get todo wonderful, happy things,
(08:02):
right.
So I get to choose where am Igoing to focus my energy and
where am I going to let my brainstay focused.
I really like to look at mybrain almost like think about a
toddler.
Right, am I going to just letmy brain run wild or am I going
to take control of it and choosewhat thoughts I allow in my
(08:25):
head?
So when I find that worrystarting to consume me, one of
the first things I'm going to dois grab a piece, a pad of paper
.
I keep this pad actually by mybedside and I kind of walk
around with it.
I wrote my notes for this thismorning or last night actually,
when I couldn't sleep because Iwas worried and consumed.
But I get it out of my head.
Normally before I go to bedI'll just write a bunch of stuff
(08:47):
out.
That way I can just brain dumpall the things that are stuck in
my head.
Get it out, get it on paper.
That way I can have a peacefulsleep.
When I can't sleep in themiddle of the night, I will
start just writing just get itout, get it out, get it out.
Do you know that you use such asignificantly more neurons in
your brain when you take pen topaper than anything else?
(09:07):
I can't even remember.
It's something ridiculous.
Like 10,000 times the amount ofbrain activity is happening if
you take a piece of paper andpen than if you're texting,
typing or anything else.
So I do it the old-fashionedway, because I really want my
brain thinking what is reallydeep, deep down inside there
that's getting to me, that'sstopping me from sleep, making
(09:36):
me wake up in a deficit insteadof in the positive.
So the next thing I look at iswhat is my perspective?
Am I really looking at worstcase scenarios here or am I
focusing on the positive?
So I really start looking atwhere is my mind going and how
am I creating this for myself,because I think it's important
for us to remember, andespecially for me, that a lot of
(09:57):
this I'm creating, I amcreating the negative energy.
So I'm looking at a change inperspective and I challenge
myself.
I tend to go to worst casescenario, so I'm going to
challenge myself to rethink.
How am I thinking, what is goingthrough my head, how can I fix
my thought patterns and how canI reframe what I'm thinking in a
(10:18):
more positive life?
So, for example, if I havestaff members leaving me, my
mind is going to go to the oh mygosh.
What are we going to do?
What are we going to do.
Worst case scenario, right.
So what if I reframe?
I think okay, well, this isgoing to be a great opportunity
to bring someone better in andnow I can actually improve,
(10:39):
because a year from now I'mgoing to be so thankful this
happened because I'm going toget a much higher quality staff
member or something like that.
Right, but reframe how and whatyou're thinking, so important.
Um, just remember, your lifemoves in the directions of your
thoughts.
(10:59):
So if you're thinking negative,like what I was saying, I woke
up in a deficit, right, my lifeis going to move in a deficit.
So I have to really be carefulbecause naturally, my amygdala,
which is my caveman brain, likesto take over and think of worst
case scenarios.
Instead, I need to make sureI'm looking at life from a best
(11:21):
case scenario, because my lifeis going to move in the
direction of my thoughts.
Subconsciously, I'm going tomake it happen.
The next thing I really do is Ifind someone that I know, I
trust and who cares about me,who's going to be real with me,
honest and also has a verypositive mindset.
I'm not going to find someonewho's going to jump on my poor
(11:44):
me bandwagon.
That doesn't help me at allRight, I can do that beautifully
myself, making myself feelsorry for myself.
Instead, I'm going to go to atrusted friend or someone that I
know is going to challenge meand who's going to call me out.
And my friend, christina, didthis to me a couple of weeks ago
, where she just like, hey, yourwords are really negative,
(12:07):
which means your mind is goingin a not so great direction
right now, and she called me outon my negative thinking
patterns.
So I will have that person inmy life who knows me well enough
to call me out, and I have tobe okay with that, when she
calls me out and tells me hey,evelyn, this isn't you.
What's going on here?
(12:27):
Why are you going down thisnegative pattern?
I can check myself, right, andthe last thing I do which is
something I will be doing today,right, and the last thing I do,
which is something I will bedoing today, is I run.
I run, I do something physicalwith my body just to get that
energy out.
There's a wonderful book calledthe body keeps the score, and
(12:47):
it talks about how all of thisanxiety and everything you've
been through in your life, it isinside your body.
So when I feel the weight ofthe world on my shoulders, like
I do this morning when I woke up.
I am going to physically pushmy body.
I need to physically get it out.
I've got to get it out,otherwise it just overcomes me.
(13:09):
So I'm hoping that those tipshelp you to overcome your
anxiety and really find joy,because you can always have joy
in your life.
Joy and happiness are not thesame things.
There are going to be seasonsof our life where we're not
happy.
It's just normal, natural forus as humans, and we can still
(13:32):
be joyful no matter what.
I'm a God girl and I know thatJesus has given me the joy of my
life and I, no matter what I'mfacing, no matter what is coming
at me, no matter what my lifelooks like.
I may not be happy, but I canalways have peace and I can
always have joy, and thesethings that I do are the things
(13:52):
I do to preserve my peace andjoy, because those two things
are very important for all of us.
And it does take an activestance and a proactive place to
make sure that you preserve yourjoy and your peace.
I hope that helps everybodythis holiday season.
It is the most wonderful timeof the year and there is no
(14:16):
reason for us to not have joyand peace when we really check
our thoughts and do what we needto do to take care of ourselves
.
Have a wonderful day everybody.
Hello and welcome.
Let's see I am trying to get onhere.
Hello and welcome to the ChildCare Business Coach Podcast.
My name is Evelyn Knight.
I am just trying to get myInstagram feed working here.
Thank you so much for takingthe time to join me.
(00:26):
You know I'm in a season rightnow.
I am in a season and I don'tknow I'm such a Christmas person
normally, but this season I amreally struggling right now.
It's been quite the year, Ihave to say.
(00:48):
2024 has been crazy year andit's good things, bad things, a
little bit of everything right,and sometimes that makes it even
harder.
It's not just the hard thingsthat put us in a season that
helps, creates a struggle, butsometimes the good things can be
(01:08):
super stressful as well.
So if you're like me and you'rejust in one of those seasons
and it's just stressful andheavy right now, I want to talk
to you a little bit about how Iovercome it.
This morning, when I woke up, Ijust felt the heaviness, and
normally I'm the type of personI'm super positive usually.
(01:30):
So I'm usually the type ofperson who wakes up excited for
my day, excited to just take onlife and to do the things that I
do, but lately it's been astruggle and I've been having a
really hard time just pullingmyself out of bed, and that
isn't me.
There's a lot of things I'venoticed lately that just aren't
(01:52):
me.
I'm just not my happy self.
So what do I do in thesesituations where I'm just not
myself and I feel the spirit ofdepression come over me and even
just kind of anger?
I was talking to my fiance thismorning and he was asking me
(02:15):
just some questions and he justsaid Evelyn, what is going on
with you?
It feels like you're allowingsome bitterness to take over and
this isn't you, and for thoseof you who know me, it isn't.
I'm a really joyful person, butthings get hard.
I see Sam you're here, hello,and Sam is a great example.
(02:38):
She is fighting out there forus in the insurance industry and
trying to make sure that we, aschild care providers, have
insurance right, and that is oneof the many struggles that
we're facing right now asleaders in the child care
industry, and for those of uswho've been doing this for years
, it's getting hard, it'sgetting heavy.
(02:59):
I see Lolita there You've beenaround for a long time and
Yolandra and even though a lotof us like Yolandra, and we
might be doing really wellbusiness wise, it just feels
like there's one obstacle afteranother just coming at us,
doesn't it?
How many of you tell me in thecomments do you feel like
(03:21):
there's just so much happening?
So much happening that, even ifyou're striving and you're
doing well in your business,there's other things like
employees quitting it's hard tohire insurance dropping us,
every little thing, parents notwanting to take accountability
for their children, staff notwanting to take accountability
(03:43):
for being staff members.
Feeling like there's just notenough time in the day to juggle
it all.
Yeah, but I don't want to be adowner.
This isn't me.
It's not me.
Focusing on all this negativityisn't me.
So how do I snap out of it andhow do I get myself out of this
(04:05):
really hard season?
What is it that I do?
So there's a couple of things Ido.
First thing I do is I reallystart analyzing my thoughts.
I really stop and I look atmyself like, wait a second, what
is going on here?
Why am I going through thisseason?
What is going on here?
(04:25):
Why am I going through thisseason?
No matter what is happening inmy life, no matter how upset I
am.
Whatever, there's always somuch good right.
There's always more goodhappening, no matter what.
Now my brain may want to hyperfocus on the negative, but if I
stop and force myself to reallythink and look around, I will
(04:48):
find so much more beauty thanI'm going to find the negative,
right.
So how do I really find thatand identify?
Well, I start a praise journal,or gratitude.
If you're a God girl like me,it's all about the praise, right
?
Thank you, lord for?
(05:08):
And I'll start listing thethings I'm thankful for.
If you're not just somethingyou're grateful for, like for me
right now, just even standinghere in my home office, I'm
thankful that I even get to workin a home office, right, I'm
thankful I am a child carecenter owner.
I'm thankful that I have thisbeautiful view outside my office
(05:28):
windows.
There is countless.
There's heat running in my home.
There is countless, countlessthings that I can be grateful
for.
So that's the first thing I do.
I try to stop focusing on thedeficit, right?
Because I found that one of theworst things we can do is wake
up in a deficit.
(05:49):
What does that mean?
Well, that means that when youwake up in the morning, your
brain goes to all the thingsthat aren't.
Your brain goes to what wedon't have, all the struggles
we're facing, the things we haveto deal with.
We start our day in a deficit,for example, waking up to a
bunch of dishes in the sinkright when you don't do the
dishes the night before and youwalk into the kitchen and you
(06:11):
see a pile of dishes, a pile ofstuff that you left undone.
You're waking up into a deficit.
So I started watching thingslike that and, by the way, I did
that this morning.
I didn't want to do my disheslast night, so I walk up to a
sink full of dishes.
I'm already kind of depressedthis morning when I woke up
because I knew there were somethings I have to deal with, and
then I added to it because Ididn't feel like doing the
(06:33):
dishes last night.
And, as menial as that sounds,it is important.
How you start your day is goingto set up your entire day right
.
That mindset I'm in.
To set up your entire day right.
That mindset I'm in.
And I also remind myself that,yes, I woke up to being in a
(06:54):
deficit.
I woke up with negativethoughts in my mind.
I woke up to a sink full ofdishes.
However, I am not going toallow the first hour of my day
to determine the next 14 hoursthat I'm going to be awake.
I have been in situations whereI've woken up to pipes bursted
right.
But I get to choose.
Am I going to allow this toaffect the next 14 hours of my
(07:15):
day?
How many of you wake up in themorning and think to myself oh,
it's going to be an awful day.
Oh, my gosh, because firstthing in the morning I look at
my phone and somebody's callingin, right.
Well, you just set yourself upfor an awful day.
Yeah, it's going to be awful,because that's what you're
telling yourself.
So instead I look at no, Imight've had a not so great hour
(07:39):
, which, by the way, I created.
I'm going to take fullaccountability for that as well.
I created my not so great hourand I'm still going to have a
wonderful day, no matter whatI'm facing, because even if I'm
facing something hard, I'm stillfacing 20 other wonderful
things.
I get to see my kids, I get todo wonderful, happy things,
(08:02):
right.
So I get to choose where am Igoing to focus my energy and
where am I going to let my brainstay focused.
I really like to look at mybrain almost like think about a
toddler.
Right, am I going to just letmy brain run wild or am I going
to take control of it and choosewhat thoughts I allow in my
(08:25):
head?
So when I find that worrystarting to consume me, one of
the first things I'm going to dois grab a piece, a pad of paper
.
I keep this pad actually by mybedside and I kind of walk
around with it.
I wrote my notes for this thismorning or last night actually,
when I couldn't sleep because Iwas worried and consumed.
But I get it out of my head.
Normally before I go to bedI'll just write a bunch of stuff
(08:47):
out.
That way I can just brain dumpall the things that are stuck in
my head.
Get it out, get it on paper.
That way I can have a peacefulsleep.
When I can't sleep in themiddle of the night, I will
start just writing just get itout, get it out, get it out.
Do you know that you use such asignificantly more neurons in
your brain when you take pen topaper than anything else?
(09:07):
I can't even remember.
It's something ridiculous.
Like 10,000 times the amount ofbrain activity is happening if
you take a piece of paper andpen than if you're texting,
typing or anything else.
So I do it the old-fashionedway, because I really want my
brain thinking what is reallydeep, deep down inside there
that's getting to me, that'sstopping me from sleep, making
(09:36):
me wake up in a deficit insteadof in the positive.
So the next thing I look at iswhat is my perspective?
Am I really looking at worstcase scenarios here or am I
focusing on the positive?
So I really start looking atwhere is my mind going and how
am I creating this for myself,because I think it's important
for us to remember, andespecially for me, that a lot of
(09:57):
this I'm creating, I amcreating the negative energy.
So I'm looking at a change inperspective and I challenge
myself.
I tend to go to worst casescenario, so I'm going to
challenge myself to rethink.
How am I thinking, what is goingthrough my head, how can I fix
my thought patterns and how canI reframe what I'm thinking in a
(10:18):
more positive life?
So, for example, if I havestaff members leaving me, my
mind is going to go to the oh mygosh.
What are we going to do?
What are we going to do.
Worst case scenario, right.
So what if I reframe?
I think okay, well, this isgoing to be a great opportunity
to bring someone better in andnow I can actually improve,
(10:39):
because a year from now I'mgoing to be so thankful this
happened because I'm going toget a much higher quality staff
member or something like that.
Right, but reframe how and whatyou're thinking, so important.
Um, just remember, your lifemoves in the directions of your
thoughts.
(10:59):
So if you're thinking negative,like what I was saying, I woke
up in a deficit, right, my lifeis going to move in a deficit.
So I have to really be carefulbecause naturally, my amygdala,
which is my caveman brain, likesto take over and think of worst
case scenarios.
Instead, I need to make sureI'm looking at life from a best
(11:21):
case scenario, because my lifeis going to move in the
direction of my thoughts.
Subconsciously, I'm going tomake it happen.
The next thing I really do is Ifind someone that I know, I
trust and who cares about me,who's going to be real with me,
honest and also has a verypositive mindset.
I'm not going to find someonewho's going to jump on my poor
(11:44):
me bandwagon.
That doesn't help me at allRight, I can do that beautifully
myself, making myself feelsorry for myself.
Instead, I'm going to go to atrusted friend or someone that I
know is going to challenge meand who's going to call me out.
And my friend, christina, didthis to me a couple of weeks ago
, where she just like, hey, yourwords are really negative,
(12:07):
which means your mind is goingin a not so great direction
right now, and she called me outon my negative thinking
patterns.
So I will have that person inmy life who knows me well enough
to call me out, and I have tobe okay with that, when she
calls me out and tells me hey,evelyn, this isn't you.
What's going on here?
(12:27):
Why are you going down thisnegative pattern?
I can check myself, right, andthe last thing I do which is
something I will be doing today,right, and the last thing I do,
which is something I will bedoing today, is I run.
I run, I do something physicalwith my body just to get that
energy out.
There's a wonderful book calledthe body keeps the score, and
(12:47):
it talks about how all of thisanxiety and everything you've
been through in your life, it isinside your body.
So when I feel the weight ofthe world on my shoulders, like
I do this morning when I woke up.
I am going to physically pushmy body.
I need to physically get it out.
I've got to get it out,otherwise it just overcomes me.
(13:09):
So I'm hoping that those tipshelp you to overcome your
anxiety and really find joy,because you can always have joy
in your life.
Joy and happiness are not thesame things.
There are going to be seasonsof our life where we're not
happy.
It's just normal, natural forus as humans, and we can still
(13:32):
be joyful no matter what.
I'm a God girl and I know thatJesus has given me the joy of my
life and I, no matter what I'mfacing, no matter what is coming
at me, no matter what my lifelooks like.
I may not be happy, but I canalways have peace and I can
always have joy, and thesethings that I do are the things
(13:52):
I do to preserve my peace andjoy, because those two things
are very important for all of us.
And it does take an activestance and a proactive place to
make sure that you preserve yourjoy and your peace.
I hope that helps everybodythis holiday season.
It is the most wonderful timeof the year and there is no
(14:16):
reason for us to not have joyand peace when we really check
our thoughts and do what we needto do to take care of ourselves
.
Have a wonderful day everybody.
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Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.