What To Do When Life Feels Hard

[Intro] Hello, welcome to my podcast, Empowered to Thrive. I'm so glad you joined me today. I'm your host, Corinne Powell.

I'm an intuitive mentor, and I help people pleasers to find happiness, embrace courage, and experience peace of mind. But say you're not a people pleaser, and you're desperate for change and not sure how to make it happen? Then I'm here to help. 

In this space, you're going to find motivation to live a life full of joy and resilience. We'll talk all things inner wellness. And because I'm a mom, we'll throw in some knock-knock jokes. Just kidding. We'll talk mom hacks and parenting sometimes. 

Whether it's your first time here, or you listen week after week, I am wanting you to know, as I'm always wanting you to know, that your life is so significant. You are so valuable. And I, for one, am happy that you are alive. 

I hope that you enjoyed today's episode. And would you do me a favor? Would you go ahead and subscribe to my podcast, give me a good rating, and write a written review? Any of those three things would help me so very much, and I would appreciate it.

Enjoy the episode. 

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Hi, friend. How have you been doing? I know I've been in a rough stretch for, it seems like, too long. And I'm wondering how you are. It's also been a while since just you and I have connected. I've been so glad to have different guests on the podcast, but it has made me felt a bit disconnected from my conversations with you.

So I want to take some time today and just touch base. I also wanted to sit here and encourage you to know that no matter what spot you're in right now, if it has been a difficult, lonely stretch, maybe a stretch that's felt rather dark and bleak, it's not always going to be this way. And I say that to you as much as I say that to myself.

But I say it with confidence, knowing that really, truly, I feel that, I sense that. And for many of us, it's been a difficult year. And you know, life is that way.

We have ups and downs in life and moments that are extra challenging and not so challenging. And I think it's finding the beauty in the middle of it all that makes the difference. I don't say that to stress that you need to be a positive person, but more that life is beautiful. There is a lot of beauty. 

There is a lot of goodness, and it can be found. But sometimes it's about what we look for, our perspective, the perception that we see life through, the lens we see life through. So this is the things that I think to myself. These are the things that I say to myself when I am having a difficult day or I'm in the middle of difficult stretch. 

Where do I want my perspective to be? Do I want to look and see what good is around me? What beauty is available if I just search for it? You know, today I'm even feeling pulled since it has been a difficult stretch to just go outside.

It's nice enough that I can go outside. I can take a short walk. Yeah, it's a bit chilly, but it's not downpour.

And even if it was downpouring, I mean, you could still go out, right? I don't like to, but I could. So I'm gonna do that to help myself out. I'm also probably gonna take a nap because sometimes getting extra rest is exactly what my body needs.

So I'm not talking about dissociating or disconnecting from the difficulties by sleeping it away. I'm literally saying when your body needs something, it's important to give your body what it needs and that overall helps your mental well-being. Your mental well-being and your emotional well-being are so connected and your body is connected to all of that.

So if I give my body what it needs, if I nurture my body, then it helps me overall. So these are some practical things I'm gonna do today to help myself out. And what can you do for yourself wherever you find yourself if you are in the middle of a difficult stretch? What are some basic, simple things you can do to help yourself out? If there's anything I love to help people with, it's finding really practical, basic ways that we can implement change to bring ourselves to a different point.

The point isn't to always feel on top of the world. It's really to know that in the middle of even hardships, it's all gonna be okay. That in the middle of hardships, we have support to lean on. You know, sometimes that's my biggest struggle is not knowing what supports do I have. And then there's times I reflect, hmm, I do have supports, but am I reaching out to them? Or am I allowing myself to think they don't want to be burdened by my stuff? Or they don't have time for me. They don't really care.

Whatever the narratives I tell myself, it affects what I do. And I know in this moment, I really need to reach out to supports. People who care about me, friends who do love me.

Yeah, they can't make it all better. But knowing I'm not alone in the process does make it better. So I hope that as I just share here vulnerably with you what I'm going through, that you'll be able to pull things for yourself.

Because aren't we all in this together? Really, we face differences, but there's so much similarity between your life and my life and another's life. The human experience is something we can connect to. And that's why I'm even sitting here trying to normalize the fact that we all have moments that feel isolating, that feel bleak and dark.

But we're not supposed to have to go through those times alone. And we're not supposed to have to sit in those moments saying it's always going to be this way. It's never going to get better.

Perhaps your past experiences have caused you to believe that it will never get better. That life will always be hard, always be difficult. There will always be something else.

You'll get through one thing for another thing to come and hit you and take you out. But it's not supposed to always be that way. You are supposed to see the light of day.

If you feel like you've been in a dark hole, a cave, disconnected, isolated, it's time. It's time today. It's time to come on out, to catch the light of day, to be able to be embraced and loved and supported by people who genuinely care about you.

So my encouragement is to you, what can you do to take one actionable step to move yourself forward? Who can you contact to help yourself be supported in the process? And then don't just leave it at that. Do it. Take the action.

I understand if you've been depressed, it can feel like I'm asking so much of you. When I'm sitting here saying those are simple asks. So if it feels like it is really a big ask, would you still be willing to push yourself to do it? If you have not pushed yourself in a long time, then my encouragement is not because I want you to bypass what your body and your mind is telling you to do.

It's because I actually know that sometimes that's what we have to do to get over the hump, to get ourselves past what's been blocking us. So if I can be of help, please send me an email, corinne@changeradically.com. That's my email address. It's a way to contact me directly.

Of course, if you follow me on Instagram, you can always DM me there, but I sincerely care. And hey, if you're going through what I've been going through or anything similar, I know it's not easy. It's really rough actually.

And so I'd be glad to be a support to you during this time. And if you have been on top of the world, feeling good, living life, loving life, then I'm so happy for you. I'm not going to rain on your party. That's great. I love it when people are able to enjoy life, even when I'm in the middle of a difficult season. That makes me happy to know that.

So hey, maybe you've been doing great and you want to share that with me. I'd love to hear it. And I hope that today and the rest of this week, you feel encouraged that you feel peace within and without.

I hope that you will know how loved you are, how supported you are. You are not alone and it will not always be as hard as it may have been recently. It's going to get better.

[Ending] Here we are. We've made it to the end. What'd you think about what you heard today? Is there something you heard that you know you need to take action on? I'm one of those people who loves to not just sit and hear something, but to sit and hear and then go ahead and start implementing, taking action on what I hear, what was stirred up in me.

And I encourage you to do the same. If you enjoyed today's episode, or perhaps you heard an episode in the past that really stuck with you, would you go ahead and share that with some of your friends and your family? It would mean so much to me. And also, if you want to connect with me, remember, you can always find me throughout the week on Instagram.

I'm @corinne_changeradically⁠. Or you can email me anytime corinne@changeradically.com. I'd love to be in touch.

And if there's any way that I can help you, please seek me out. Until we speak again next week, I hope that you will remember in the moments that are loud and busy, and in the moments that are quiet and still, that who you are is super important. You are valuable.

And I am so glad that you're alive.