Trust Your History

Have you ever stopped to consider how many times you've faced seemingly insurmountable challenges—and conquered them anyway? This profound reality check forms the backbone of this week's discussion as I explore a life-changing quote from Vex King that landed in my inbox courtesy of my wife.

The quote strikes at something we all experience: that peculiar amnesia about our own strength when facing new obstacles. "So you're telling me every time you thought you couldn't get through something difficult, you did, and now you're back here thinking you won't succeed. Trust your track record, my friend." These words serve as a powerful reminder that while fear makes us forget, our personal history tells the truth about what we're capable of handling.

What hard thing are you facing today? Before you surrender to doubt, pause and reflect on your track record. Your brain may have forgotten how powerful you are, but your history hasn't. Remember, fear is just a story your mind tells you—not your destiny. r, and trusting the strength you've already proven you possess.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome and Introduction
• 0:43 Vex King's Powerful Quote
• 2:09 The Science of Resilience
• 4:22 Evidence vs. Emotion
• 6:04 Closing Thoughts and Farewell

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey everyone and welcome to this week's episode of the I'm Michael Noon Podcast. Thanks for joining me. Ah, great, here we are Another week. Another week going by, but it's great, you know, a lot of good things are going on. Anyway, I'm going to jump right into it.

Speaker 1: 0:10

Today I want to talk about this quote my wife sent to me by Vex King. It's a really powerful quote and I hope it new venture. I've talked about it. It's a big old coffee shop. You know my wife, lawyer, I'm a writer. I mean it's like you know we're so far removed from that world, but you know what we're in it and it seems to be going really good right now we're really excited.

Speaker 1: 0:34

But anyway, every once in a while still, that fear right, that fear kind of kind of creeps in. I talk about fear, a lot. Fear is what really holds us back. But here's this quote, and the quote is as follows. It says so you're telling me every time you thought you couldn't get through something difficult and you did, and now you're back here thinking you won't succeed. Trust your track record, my friend. I mean isn't that powerful? Isn't that so true? I mean, really think about that. Let that sink in for a minute. I mean, how many times in your life have you been convinced that you couldn't handle what was in front of you? Maybe it was a breakup, a job loss, a health scare, or a moment when everything felt like it was all just falling apart. I mean, it was in those moments doubt felt louder than hope, fear shouted over faith. And yet you're still here. You got through it. Maybe it didn't emerge unscathed, maybe you had to crawl through it, you know, piece yourself back together, and maybe it took longer than expected, but you made it, and that matters.

Speaker 1: 2:02

So why, when a new challenge appears, do we suddenly forget how strong we are? Well, the truth is we have short-term memory when it comes to our own strength. See, it's human nature to fear the unknown. Now, I've often spoke about this in the past. We are wired for the path of least resistance. Our brains are wired for survival, not for risk. So when we're standing at the edge of a new challenge, it really feels unfamiliar.

Speaker 1: 2:26

Our inner critic starts, you know, whispering or sometimes even yelling right, this is too big, you're not ready. You've never done this before. Stop, you know, don't pass, go, turn around, head back. But your past holds the truth. You have done hard things before. You've probably done it over and over again. Your track record proves that when things got tough, you didn't quit. You may have stumbled, cried, paused, doubted yourself, but you didn't give up. Think back. See, that's resilience. There's that word, again, I often talk about so much. See, that's power, that's you, and this is something that really science backs up.

Speaker 1: 3:09

See, research has showed and I've often spoke about this in the past that resilience is not just a trait you're born with. It's not. Some people are born with more resilience than others. It's a skill that you actually develop. There was a study by Dr Dennis Charney and Dr Stephen Southwick. I read this article a few years ago. I think it was the Time magazine. I read it and it's always kind of stayed with me because it really highlighted that resilience involves specific skills, such as emotional regulation, optimism and social support, which can be learned and strengthened over time. Again, resilience is something you're not. You know, it's not like being born with blue eyes. It's something that you develop and you can continually get better at. You know there was an additional. There was a study I think was published in the. It was a mental health journal that found that basically, individuals with higher levels of psychological resilience had 53% 53% lower risk of death over a 12-year period compared to those with lower resilience.

Speaker 1: 4:07

For me, it's obvious. It's because you've put yourself through the test, you've been able to overcome things, you're a fighter and that, to me, is why you want to. You know you, you, you sort of be able to extend your life. So the thing is, when you anchor yourself in evidence and not in emotion and this is what I'm talking about here right, don't look at the emotion, look at the evidence, look at the past. When you anchor yourself in evidence and not emotion, when that next big thing threatens to knock you off course, you know you have to take that time to remember, you have to pause, you have to reflect. You got to go back. What have I overcome in the past? That one time I thought I couldn't do? You know how did I make it through? What strengths did I uncover in myself during that time?

Speaker 1: 4:56

Again, your brain is kind of forgotten how strong you are, but you got to remind yourself and write them down, speak them out loud, remind yourself that fear is a story your mind is telling you. It's not prophecy. The thing is, you don't need blind faith in this. You need memory, you need evidence. You already have the evidence because you've done it before. It doesn't have to be something amazing. It doesn't have to be something amazing. It doesn't have to be something remarkable. It doesn't have to be this gigantic thing you overcome.

Speaker 1: 5:24

There are things in the past that have knocked you off. If you haven't been knocked off anywhere, then you're obviously not living a life anywhere you have. Something has happened and you got through it. So the next time you catch yourself thinking I can't do this, just replace with I've done hard things before. I'll get through this too. Remember, remind yourself your past self is actually cheering for you and your future self is waiting on the other side, stronger, wiser and deeply proud that you didn't let doubt win this time. Trust your track record, my friend. Trust your track record. All right, and that's all I got for you today. I hope you guys are having a great week, hope you're having a great weekend and, as always, I got another level of love for you. We'll see you next time.