89. Face Your Fears: The Power of Embracing Challenges

This episode revolves around confronting the challenges life throws at us and transforming fear into empowerment. We delve into why tackling issues head-on is essential for personal growth and resilience. 

• Discusses the rationale behind avoiding challenges 
• Explains the importance of facing problems directly 
• Offers strategies for breaking down challenges into smaller steps 
• Encourages listeners to seek support and celebrate small victories 

Thank you for tuning in! If this episode resonated with you, please reach out. I would love to hear it. Take a moment to leave a rating and a review on the podcast. That’s how we reach more people. Always, you can feel free to send me a message, share on social media, all the things. I want to grow with you and be along on your journey. 

Thanks for listening!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Hey everyone, welcome to the Create your Day podcast.
I'm your host, jen Cody.
Thank you so much for beinghere this week.
So, if you're new here, theCreate your Day podcast is a
show where I speak all about howto create some mindset shifts,
implement strategies and sharesome stories to help you live in
a really intentional way.

(00:35):
I want you to be empowered.
I want you to create your dayright.
So today we're going to speakabout something that all of us
have in our lives and that ischallenges, and they're not fun,
but we all have them.
So sometimes we just hear theword challenge and it makes us
want to stop what we're doingand run the other way.

(00:56):
But I will ask you today tostick with me, because I want to
flip this script a little bit.
I want to talk about why facingchallenges head on is it's not
just brave because obviouslyit's brave to face things head
on, it's actually better and itis that choice that leads to

(01:17):
more growth, to increasedconfidence and to you being
really able to live a life thatfeels aligned with who you are.
So spend some time with metoday.
Grab a drink, grab some coffee,some tea, I don't know some
wine, whatever time of day it isfor you, and let's talk about
it.
I want to start with the obvious.
So I said, challenges make someof us want to turn around and

(01:40):
run the other way.
And why is that?
Because challenges areuncomfortable, they suck,
they're messy, they'reinconvenient.
That's why they're calledchallenges, and sometimes they
can feel really impossible.
Right?
Have you ever had somethinggoing on in your life where you
were like you couldn't even seethe way out?
So, because of that, that's whyit's so tempting for us to just

(02:03):
ignore them.
We avoid those toughconversations.
We don't want to deal withawkwardness.
Maybe we've procrastinated on aproject because of how
overwhelmed we felt, and forsome of us, we've even stayed in
a situation, right, is it a job, a relationship?
Staying in a certain mindset,just staying still in something

(02:24):
that we know is not serving us?
Because the thought of it, thethought of confronting it, feels
really hard and it feelsoverwhelming.
And when we do that, I'm tellingyou, we think of it like a
plant.
Right, when we have somethingthat we don't want to deal with,
we push it down and try and getit as far away from us as
possible.

(02:44):
But think of it like a plant,like that thing that you're
ignoring is the seed and you'repushing it down, pushing it down
inside of you.
It has to come out.
It's only going to grow and getbigger.
And even though we've all beenthere and ignoring these
challenges can feel like that'swhat's easier in the moment, but
when you ignore it, it does notgo away, it just sits there and

(03:08):
it grows, just like that plant.
So if you imagine the plant,imagine like the same thing
sweeping dirt under a rug.
Maybe you can't see it rightthis minute, but eventually
there's going to be a giant lumpin the rug, right, and you're
going to trip over it.
So when you trip over it, it'sgoing to hurt so much more than
if you had just cleaned it up inthe first place, unless you're

(03:29):
like me and you're in your 50sand you might pull your back out
picking up the dirt in thefirst place.
But that's another episode.
So let's talk about why facingthese challenges is actually
good for us and I don't meanit's good for us in the.
Obviously it helps us take careof the challenge way, because
that's obvious.
But what happens when we stopsweeping that dirt under the rug

(03:51):
?
What happens when we stoppushing those seeds of overwhelm
down further and further intoour body.
What happens when we choose toface our challenges head on?
Well, the first thing I want todo is talk about what it
actually means to face thechallenge, because sometimes we
feel like we can't face itbecause we don't have all the

(04:13):
answers or that we can't do itperfectly.
Facing the challenge simplymeans acknowledging it, just
knowing that it's there,acknowledging its presence,
deciding yes, you are going todeal with it, and taking one
small step forward.
And when you do that, eachsmall step starts to build

(04:37):
momentum.
You start to prove to yourselfthat you actually are capable.
You may even start to see thatthe challenge isn't as big or as
scary as you thought.
You guys have heard me say thisbefore.
Like when we don't want to facesomething, it feels like it's
this giant monster behind us,but when we turn around and look
at it, we see it for what itreally is, and a lot of times

(04:59):
it's not as big and scary as itis when it's in the background.
So every time you face achallenge, what you're doing is
strengthening your resilience.
You're showing yourself thatyou're capable.
You're.
Empowerment is not about neverfeeling fear or never doubting

(05:23):
ourselves.
It's actually knowing that,even when those feelings show up
, we have the tools, we have thecourage to move forward anyway.
So we all have times in ourlives where we've had challenges
that we've been wanting toignore and wanting to not face.

(05:43):
One of my personal ones was myfinances.
Right after my divorce, I wentthrough such a financial
devastation.
I mean devastation, devastation.
I won't even get into specifics, but I can tell you that at the
time it felt completelyinsurmountable.
I had no idea how I was goingto move forward.

(06:04):
I had no idea how I was goingto support my children.
I had agreed to a financialarrangement in my divorce that
was against what was suggestedby the lawyers, because I felt
bad and I did not want to be thebad guy, and I put myself in a

(06:25):
situation that was notsustainable.
It was so hard to turn aroundand look at that in the face.
To turn around, put all of mynumbers on a spreadsheet, make a
phone call and speak to afinancial advisor to see like
what are my options here?

(06:47):
Am I going to be living on thestreet?
Can I really move forward in away that is going to be
beneficial for me and mychildren.
And what I found was at thatmoment, even though it didn't
change my reality, my financeswere still my finances.
But when I had thatconversation and looked at

(07:09):
everything in black and white,oh my goodness, I felt 10 times
taller than I did before.
I did that, and my biggestlearning from that experience
was that the hardest part wasdeciding to face it.
Once I took that step, the pathforward started to reveal itself
.
And was it easy?
Absolutely not.
Was it worth it?

(07:29):
Hell yeah, it was worth it,because now I know I'm going to
be okay.
I have control over what I'mdoing.
I have control of my finances.
Do they look the way I wantthem to look?
Yet Absolutely not, but that'sokay.
I look at them and I takecontrol of them, and that is

(07:51):
empowering for me, and I knowbecause of my history that even
when it's really difficult and Idon't have all the answers, I
have the ability to figure itout.
So that's just a littlepersonal story from me to let
you know that you actually cando this yourself.
How do you face challenges headon when everything inside of you
is telling you to run the otherway?

(08:12):
How do you do it Right, becausethat's so hard.
That was the hardest part forme, and what I found was that,
if I broke it down into smallersteps, that seems obvious, but
it's really not.
When we have somethingoverwhelming us, we can't always
see what those smaller stepsmight be.

(08:32):
It's not always easy to say, ohwell, obviously I can just turn
this into A, b and C.
No, we don't know that.
So taking the time to see howto break them into smaller,
manageable steps is going tohelp you focus on just the next
step, not the whole journey.

(08:53):
When I had to start climbing myway to a better financial
situation, I wasn't looking atthe end game like, okay, where
am I going to go when I retire?
It was how do I pay off thiscredit card?
You know, like it's just aboutfocusing on the next step, and
in order to make that easier,you really do have to shift your
mindset so that, instead ofseeing those challenges as

(09:15):
obstacles, they are allopportunities for learning.
What can I learn about myself?
And that takes some deep divingright when you look at
something, even when it'sfinances.
How did I get into thisposition?
What do I need to learn aboutmyself so that I can be stronger
next time Although I won't begetting another divorce, so
there won't be a next time.
But how do you make differentdecisions in the future?

(09:39):
You have to have, you have totake, rather, those
opportunities of embracing thosechallenges, and they're not
obstacles, they're opportunities.
What can you learn aboutyourself, about the situation,
about all the players involved?
And also know that you do nothave to do it alone.

(10:00):
Right, you can ask for help.
Who's a friend, a mentor, acoach in my case, a financial
advisor that I trusted who issomeone who can support you.
And supporting you does notmean holding your hand through
every single step, but it's justknowing that when you feel
alone, when you feel thedarkness coming down on you,

(10:22):
there's someone you can turn to.
That's priceless.
So, please, make sure thatyou're asking for help and then,
as you move forward, no matterhow small your steps are,
celebrate them.
Every progress, every win is awin, even the tiny ones.
So celebrate those wins, usethem as your fuel to keep going,
because facing challenges it'snot about being fearless, it's

(10:47):
about being brave enough to takeaction.
So every action fuels you forthe next one.
So, even when you're scared,tell yourself you know, if I can
just hold on and move forwardthrough this next five minutes,
this next credit card paid down,this next conversation with my

(11:09):
boss.
If I could just get throughthis one next thing, I'm going
to have the fuel that I need andthe empowerment that I need to
move even further.
Because the bottom line is, thechallenges that we face, they
are a part of everyday life.
They're a part of everyone'slife.

(11:29):
None of us can avoid them.
All we can do is choose how werespond to them and when we
choose to face them head on.
That is choosing growth.
That is choosing strength.
That is choosing to step intothe most empowered version of
yourself.
That's what I want for you.
The next time you have achallenge, I want you to stop

(11:51):
and ask yourself what is onesmall step I can take?
How can I face this today in asmall way and then take that
step?
You've got this.
If you need someone in yourcorner, I'm happy to be that
person in your corner.
We can do this together andsometimes that's the easiest way
, right, like knowing that wehave a community behind us.

(12:13):
So thank you so much for tuningin today.
Short episode on just how tolike reframe your day today and
create your day by empoweringyourself to face some challenges
head on.
If this episode resonated withyou, please reach out.
I would love to hear it.
Take a moment to leave a ratingand a review on the podcast.

(12:35):
That's how we reach more people.
Always, you can feel free tosend me a message, share on
social media all the things Iwant to grow with you and be
along on your journey.
I'm so, so grateful to all ofyou who have invited me to be a
part of your journeys.
So until next time, rememberyou are stronger than you think

(12:56):
right.
You're braver than you feel andyou are more capable than you
know.
I promise you that Keep showingup for yourself, keep facing
those challenge and keepstepping into that empowered
version of yourself that isgoing to make the difference.
Until the next time, I hope youuse this information to go out
there, create your day in thebest way possible.

(13:18):
I will see you next time.
Take care of yourself, takecare of way possible.
I will see you next time.
Take care of yourself, takecare of each other.
I'll see you next week.
Thanks so much, everyone.