Choose Joyy Podcast
Based on the mood and habit tracking Joyyful Planner, the Choose Joyy podcast is focused on self alignment for those who struggle with anxiety. Through these unpredictable times, we’ve all experienced moments of self-doubt and uncertainty. By making a conscious effort to choose joy daily, we allow ourselves to heal and grow into the path destined for us. Join me weekly to unpack, affirm, and choose joy.
Choose Joyy Podcast
Shark Week
What if facing your biggest fears head-on could lead to the most profound growth in your life? Avoiding problems only offers temporary relief. Instead, we emphasize the necessity of confronting issues directly to foster resilience, adaptability, and personal growth. By the end of this segment, you’ll understand why pivoting from original plans can lead to unexpected and significant development.
Instead of fleeing, we encourage a proactive approach to conquer life's 'sharks,' fostering continuous improvement and joy. Join us as we provide motivational insights and actionable advice to help you face your challenges with unwavering strength and courage.
Don't forget to text us to be featured on the next episode of Chels Chats!
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You've made it to the Choose Joy podcast. Here we make a conscious effort to choose joy. Daily, we allow ourselves to heal and grow into the path designed for us. Join me to unpack, affirm and choose joy. Hello, and welcome back to the Choose Joy podcast episode 14.
Speaker 1:So, before we dive in, I hope everyone listened to the Chelsea chat segment. That was our very first one and this is where I will go over your texts and responses from whatever the topic was that week and this includes your questions, comments, concerns and the third, et cetera and I prefer you to go text the link that is in our bio. It is also connected to every episode that's posted, whether that's Apple, spotify or wherever you listen to your podcast. It will be linked in that description as well. This is just so it keeps it anonymous and fun. You know what I'm saying? Like Twitter fingers, we don't know who's behind that phone. So this keeps it just light and, like I said, anonymous. But you can always connect and contact us through our website as well as our email. But yeah, that last episode was really, really fun. I enjoyed you guys' comments. Thank you to everyone who sent their love and support. I didn't read all of those on the last episode, but I did read them personally. So thank you again for coming on and listening to me rattle and just supporting this community. And also it was pretty eye-opening in a way, because sometimes you really think that you're the only one, or sometimes you think that people are just not going through the same life experiences as you. Yeah, just listening to other people's problems and other people's opinions really just opens up our topic so much more. Yeah, it just makes it feel like one big family. So thank you guys too, who participated, and yeah, there's going to be another one after this episode. So click the link to text. Okay, even if it's a yeah, girl, this episode wasn't it, or any suggestions that you have. Remember, I'm a team of one, so any help is always appreciated and yeah, but it was fun and I'm ready to do it again. So, anyway, this week's topic I'm calling this Shark Attack, and it's going to make more sense as I keep going, but the name of this episode is Shark Attack.
Speaker 1:So the other day I was scrolling on TikTok and I came across this video of a lady who works for a shark diving company and she was just talking about how many shark attacks there are per year and how it has been such an interesting field. I guess or I don't know event that there is a whole show about it. Y'all like Shark Week. She was pretty much talking about what most people do and what your best case is when a shark is literally coming for you. So she was saying that the worst thing that you can do is to swim away and your best case scenario is to look at the shark face, the shark redirect if you have to, and that shark attacks usually happen most of the time because of misidentification. So if you don't know, fun fact about sharks are they don't have very good eyesight. So most of the time when they see a human flailing around in the water, their immediate thought is this is probably a hurt seal. You know what I'm saying? An injured fish or something. It's food, it's something to eat.
Speaker 1:And actually saying that just made me laugh a bit, because I always find it interesting about people that work with like animals and like how y'all know what they thinking Like. Are y'all, dr Doolittle? How y'all know what they thinking Like? They can very well see your human body in the water and know exactly who you are and just want to attack you, but I digress. I'm shifting gears, but if anybody works with animals, please contact me. I would love a chit chat with you. Hey, maybe get you on the pod, but let's continue.
Speaker 1:So when I saw the video, I immediately thought of life. Like I, I applied it to life. I know I'm not the only one, but life is really life-ing. That's what the kids are saying. It is coming. I feel like it's coming at me full speed right now, like real talk is coming to me full speed. Mentally, I have not been in a good place and it's crazy when, like you can identify what's going on in your life but it feels like you can't break through and sometimes the best thing that we think to do is just to avoid it all together. Okay, while that might feel good in the moment, what is that doing? Holistically, like it doesn't.
Speaker 1:The shark is not going to go away. The problems in our life are not going to go away, and sometimes it's just best to face things head on, redirect yourself. If you have to Look at the shark, face the problem, figure out how to tackle it. In most cases, that's to pivot. Okay, we've talked about this before, but life is full of twists and turns. It's not a straight line, it's not linear, growth is not linear and everybody's journey looks different. But something that's the same for all of us is at least once in your life you're going to have to pivot from what you thought was your plans. You're going to have to make some adjustments to obtain what you're striving for, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1:So, again, I took this shark attack idea and tried to make it applicable to real life. Obviously, the whole avoiding your issues or avoiding your problems or conflict comes from something called avoidance, coping, and this is where your brain seeks to avoid what is painful, to protect you. It's not going to make those things seem alluring and while a lot of the framework of our actual brain and emotions and all the scientific things where this stems from, is to protect us, it can sometimes hurt us and avoidance definitely is one of those things some of the time. Obviously, this is not a one size fits all type of ordeal, so take the meat, leave the bones, type of deal. But avoidance can sometimes prevent us from growing past our actual issues and actually confronting our anxieties and our fears, and the consequences of this is that it limits our opportunity to grow. You know, the brain is so hypervigilant and sometimes it can be so hyper focused and fixated on this one obstacle in our way that we miss the bigger picture and we miss the present and the opportunities that are around us daily. So, and then also along with that, like I said, this is not a one size fits all. There's temporary distance, and temporary distance and avoidance are two completely different things.
Speaker 1:It's okay to step away, right To have a moment, but that's all it is. It's a moment, and it's important to realize that. Life is full of moments good, bad and ugly but it's just a moment. This, too, shall pass. Okay, just like when you was last time you was really excited. That was last time that you was really excited. You'll be excited again, I don't know when, I don't know how, whatever floats your boat, but like you'll have those emotions again. The last time you were angry, okay, it was in the past. You're going to be angry again. Okay, it's bad now, but it will be good again. Like, this is just a moment. It doesn't define your life and it doesn't define who you are, but you can't avoid everything. You know. Obviously there are conflicts that you should walk away from. It's not worth it. Okay, I'm not asking y'all to be on reality TV going back and forth tick for tack. It's not about that and that's not the discussion here.
Speaker 1:It's really those problems in life that we can't control or we can't control. A lot of times it's us, a lot of the times we have problems. Why am I going through this? We have to sit with ourselves and break down what led us to where we're at and the problem that we're currently having. But sometimes it isn't your fault and life is just life. It's just what happens. You can't be on the mountain peak all the time, you know, and sometimes being in the valley helps you to appreciate what you had. It gives you gratitude, thanking God for what you currently have, not what you're seeking and not what you've lost, but what you've gained. Have not what you're seeking and not what you've lost, but what you've gained. And losses also make you realize the blessings that you had when you had them, so that when you have them again, you're even more gracious and it helps you move forward in life. So how can we face the shark? How can we face our problems instead of avoiding them?
Speaker 1:First is to identify the thought, identify the fear, identify the problem, whatever. Then identify why. Why do you feel this way about this particular issue? Why is it an issue in the first place? What makes this a problem in your life, et cetera, et cetera and then engage in some type of grounding, whether that be journaling, whether that be touching some grass, getting outside, changing your scenery. That also looks like breath work right, taking a deep breath, taking the time to calm yourself and ground yourself in the midst of chaos literal titans, okay, and understand that everything happens for a reason, even the problems in our life. What can you learn from this? And understand that the things that we go through in life good and bad, they are developing your character and shaping you and molding you into the best version that you can be, and it can also turn into the worst version. So be very mindful of that and look at how you can grow from situations in your life.
Speaker 1:How can I, one, get through this, two, grow from this and three, come out on the other side better than when I started? I honestly owe it all to God. He tells us to cast our fears and anxieties on Him Whenever I'm feeling kind of how I've been feeling just low and like there's so many situations in my life that I can't get a grasp on. It shows me that I can't do this alone. I honestly can't. It shows my need for God. It reminds me that I need to turn to him.
Speaker 1:Psalms 46, 1-3 says God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam, let the mountains tremble as the waters surge. So let the shark come. Okay, it's shark attack, it's shark week for a lot of us Shark month, shark year, shark quarter. But don't run, don't, don't shy away from the things that could potentially grow and develop you and get over it, because when you run away and come back, it's still there. Okay, you see a huge rock in your path, you run away from it, you come back to that same spot. It's's still there. So you'll have to find another way to tackle conflict that will inevitably ensue in your life in one point in time.
Speaker 1:As always, I want your feedback. So, chels Chats, what are you guys' initial reaction when you realize that you're facing a problem? How do you prioritize and manage your immediate response? Does anybody have an opportunity or an example of how they conquered a problem this month or are currently finding a solution to a problem. Talk to us. We want to hear your thoughts, your comments, your concerns. If this episode helped you, great, please text us. If it didn't, I'm sorry. Please text us. We want to continue to grow and get better. Y'all, we're going to face the shark this week, okay. So, whatever little shark that looks like in your life, face it. We're going to face it and we're going to conquer it. And we're going to continue to grow, get better and, as always, choose joy. I took the half and she took the whole thing. Slow down.