From Victim Mindset To Personal Power

Why do so many people feel stuck repeating the same patterns in their lives?

In this episode of the Life’s Deceit Podcast, Jen sits down with Larisa Makuch, transformational coach, speaker, and founder of Abundance Academy, to unpack the deeper beliefs that quietly shape how we think about identity, money, success, and self-worth.

Many of the patterns we live by were inherited long before we were aware of them. Family beliefs, cultural conditioning, and early experiences can create invisible limits that follow us into adulthood. When those beliefs go unexamined, they quietly shape our decisions, relationships, and even how much success we believe we deserve.

Larisa shares powerful insights about truth, healing, and personal responsibility, along with the inner work required to break generational patterns and begin designing a life that aligns with who you truly are.

This conversation explores:

* Why inherited beliefs often keep people stuck in repeating life cycles
* How money mindset and self-worth are deeply connected
* The importance of truth and personal responsibility in transformation
* Why real change begins with a conscious decision
* How healing allows you to step into the life you were meant to build

Season 4 of Life’s Deceit, Legacy by Choice, focuses on breaking cycles and intentionally designing a new legacy.

Because legacy is not inherited.
It is chosen.

Connect with Larisa Makuch

Instagram: @myabundanceacademy
Website: https://myabundanceacademy.com

Free Book: https://stopprocrastinatingbook.com

Connect with Jenelle

📧 Email: podcast@jenellesimpson.com

🌐 Website: https://jenellesimpson.com

📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifesdeceitpodcast

👍 Facebook: https://facebook.com/lifesdeceitpodcast

🎵 TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@lifesdeceitpodcast

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, welcome back to Life's to Seat. I'm your host, Jen Simpson. This is season four, Legacy by Choice, Chosen, Not Inherited. Please, before we continue this video, kindly hit the subscribe button, turn on your notification bells, leave your girl a comment, a like, and let's engage with each other. Today's episode is a continuation of last week's episode with Larissa Makuoch. We'll be continuing the conversation of dismantling toxic generational cycles and beliefs that were passed down to us that we continued to live and pass on to our children. Money beliefs. We inherit so many beliefs from family, culture, and even faith. And communities. Which ones did you find sitting quietly at the root of your story?

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Um I think there's definitely the the one at the I think about the dinner table. You better eat that because there's starving children in Africa. Money doesn't grow on trees. So I think there was definitely a lot of money paradigms that came up, especially around food. Like we got groceries, and what did we do? Parents got paid every two weeks, so that's the day we went grocery shopping. You eat all the good food, so you get it before everyone else does, and you run out.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

Food beliefs, lifestyle, the way we treat ourselves, the way we pour into ourselves. How many of us were taught that struggle equals worth? That if we are not exhausted, if we're not overworking, if we're not sacrificing everything, then somehow we haven't earned and we don't deserve success. But what happens when we start questioning those beliefs? What happens when we realize that the life we were taught to accept was never the life we were meant to live? If you remember in part one, Larissa shared how she began dismantling the beliefs she inherited about money, identity, and worth, self-worth. And what she discovered is something many of us are still learning and still on our journey to discovering.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

You have to work hard for money. That was one thing. Like my grandmother was an immigrant and she cleaned floors and like they did manual labor. My grandma went to school for two weeks in her life. She didn't have the privilege of going to school. So like she wanted to make sure we all got an education. I did a lot more phone calls back then. And so one of those calls, I was weeding the garden. Like I was weeding outside and having like this beautiful conversation with a person, totally present, but I was like in nature. And they wanted to, I didn't think, I didn't think they were the kind of person that would be interested or even appropriate. And they were like, I think I want to do this. I want to work with you. And I'm like, all right, let me run to my computer. Great. But I was like outside in nature, and they just wanted to work with me. I had I had three calls in a single day. All of them just like so easy. One I was sitting on a sofa, like they were all easy, they were all natural, they were all so perfectly aligned. And I'm like, that day I earned over$20,000, and that was my first$20,000 day. And making money was easy. And I was like, I'm not even working hard. It was fun, it was natural, it wasn't like hustle. Yes, I did the work, I did other things to help people and and plant those seeds. But that was the day I realized I'm like, when I work hard, I don't get paid well. When I let things happen, and when I when I'm really aligned, things just work really easily.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

Sometimes the hardest work we will ever do is unlearning the stories we were raised to believe. Let's continue this conversation with Larissa Makuch in part two. So without further ado, welcome Larissa back with me. You and I both are struggling with that, but we are going to get through it every day. We are getting better. I'm definitely getting better at that too. But you mentioned something in the beginning and not having to work so hard for money. And I really believe that's a generational thing that our parents, our grandparents, our great-grandparents passed down, and we continue to pass it down generations to generations. And we gotta stop. We have to stop because we really do believe that overworking ourselves, staying in the office 12 hours, overworking, leaving the office, coming back home and working and juggling a thousand things to prove that yes, I can handle it. I'm making money, I'm I'm I'm striving, I'm doing this big macho thing. When really, though, it doesn't have to be hard. It doesn't have to be emotionally draining, it doesn't have to be physically overwhelming. You can make money and feel good about it too and about yourself. And I struggled with that. And I I believe that comes with boundaries as well because I remember, oh my gosh, how many years has it been? Let's just say 12 years ago when I first started a new job because I work for developers in real estate. And I knew nothing about boundaries, okay? Like when I say nothing, nothing. The last part, people pleasing, we call that people pleasing. We have this obligation to say yes. We don't want to hurt feelings, we just have to do it because they asked. We're gonna show up, even if we don't want to, we're not physically, physically or emotionally available to do it, we still do it. And for me, boundaries was non-existent. So if I was asked to stay late, knowing that I had to go home to my children, knowing that okay, my son had a concert, Christmas concert that I needed to be at, okay, I'll stay an extra few hours, but there's a snowstorm outside. There's no way I'm gonna make it. Why didn't I just say no? Because you worked hard, you show up. And that's one of the things that I struggled with at work was I was staying till 1 a.m., 2 a.m. in the morning, closing files, getting it done for what? To please who? To get overtime pay, to be acknowledged for what? Because I wasn't honoring myself or my family. And I find that a lot of people do that today as well. They're overworking themselves to make a dollar, but they still feel empty. They have nothing left for themselves. So that is something that I think a lot of us struggle with. It's a generational route that we have to drive out. We hear other people making money and they're doing it maybe an easier way than nothing. We're like, they probably got some support from their family. They're probably born into money. No, they just learned a smarter and an easier way that's still honoring who they are, doing something that they love, and they still have themselves for themselves. So I I wholeheartedly agree with that. And I have a lot of friends that are still struggling with that. Where, you know, they're trying to cook dinner, work online, drop off kids to sports. Why? Put the computer down. Boundaries. And I think that's one of the first steps that we have to implement is setting boundaries. Are you gonna say something?

SPEAKER_01 8:07

And they they they say it takes 10 years to create overnight success. And I think so often, like I one of the big things, like a lot of times people may think like you it it is you can earn a lot of money working easily. Yes, there is work that goes into that, and it's not the kind of work people necessarily see. Sometimes it is blood, sweat, and tears. Sometimes it is putting in the long hours for years before it pays off. Other times the the things people don't see is like, what are you feeding your mind with? What are you reading? What are you consuming? What are you doing for your physical body? Are you taking the time to meditate, to journal, to reflect and think about how you showed up yesterday and how you want to show up today? Are you speaking to God or to intuition, asking for guidance and the right path forward? And people don't realize that that's part of the work too. They they might be like, oh, it just feels so good. It's like self-care. Yes, but that work is the work. And when you start looking at work that you're doing in a holistic way, and and you become more effective, more efficient, more strategic with what you're doing, you learn systems and build infrastructure to support yourself, all of a sudden, so much more can get done with so much less effort, and everybody wins. When you get the right people in the right places to help you and move forward in your mission, everybody wins.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

I agree. And I just want to pause right here for a second. And I want to ask our listeners what is one inherited belief that you are still holding on to that no longer serves you? And I want you to take a deep breath and understand that that does not define you. You have the power and you have the permission to release it. I challenge you to take the time wherever you are in the world, whatever time it is, could be Monday, could be Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday for you. But take the time out to write it down. Even if you write it on a piece of paper, you can choose to burn it, you can choose to put it in a box and lock it away until you decide to open that box, rip it up, and throw it away. Because sometimes it takes us a moment to really release some things that was passed on to us through generations. Our parents, mother, father, adopted parents, godparents, grandmas, grandfathers that taught us something that we truly believe because we love them. We believe that that is the way of life. But you have the permission to release it and create your own narrative. You don't have to live by what other people say or how you should live or what you should carry with you. You choose the things that you want to live by. Larissa, private healing matters. It matters a whole lot, and so does public healing. When we witness each other and shame loses oxygen, what has healing out loud looked like for you?

SPEAKER_01 11:21

Healing out loud, that's a great question. Um I think healing out loud is literally showing up and running the drills. It is it is showing up, it is admitting things, it is voicing things, it's acknowledging when things didn't go a certain way, but also acknowledging the learnings. And I think the more when you really look at it, you can't overcome a drama or a trauma without acknowledging the learnings. And when you start seeing the learning opportunities in your past, you can position yourself to move forward. And so a part of that is is definitely acknowledgement of that. And when you start sharing it with others, it just reinforces it for yourself.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

That's beautiful. You use NLP timeline therapy and hypnotherapy with clients for the person who's healing, for the person who's listening, for those people who need new tools, how do they gently help us to edit the old script?

SPEAKER_01 12:23

Within these modalities specifically, or yes. Yeah, I think one of the things I I use these tools in in conjunction and in combination in a specific process that I use with clients. And I think one of the things that's very different between what we do that makes it gentle and what a lot of other forms of healing do is you've told your story, your drama, your trauma to 5,000 people already, to your girlfriend, to your mama, to your aunts, to your cousins, and to all your best friends. They know the story. Some of them have heard it a hundred times, and you've said it over and over and over, repeating it. And what happens is women try to solve their problems by talking them through. And what you're doing is often complaining and reinforcing the problem. There are times where it is valuable to find solutions in that, but sometimes you're just talking about them because you need to let it out and you don't know what else to actually do about it. You're not really looking for a solution, you're just complaining or you're you're reliving it. And and and it's almost like, you know, those old credit card machines where you used to put the credit card on and you had the carbon copy paper and then they it's like if you have to like run it over a few times. Do you even know what I'm talking about? Okay, I'm dating myself. So you have to put it, it's got books on it. Right? And so you you run the thing on, so it imprints the card onto a receipt. And but when you do it once or twice, it might not be dark, but you sometimes you have to do it a few more times, and each time you run it through, it gets darker and darker. And that's what happens is these stories get stronger and stronger and more vibrant in our minds. And so what makes the work I do so different is I don't need to hear your whole story. While I respect you, I don't respect your story, I don't care about your story. I deeply care about you and your transformation. But what I do look for is the structure kind of like a house has an architectural blueprint and you've got like the framing. I look for the structure, the framework that your problem has and how it's showing up in your life. And when I look at the structure, I pick out different pieces of your story that you've probably never thought about. And then what we do is we break how the structure is running. We like change the map and we change the orientation of how your brain processes it so that you can't run the same story that same way anymore. We help you reroute the story so you can actually get some learnings from the process, which sounds simple and it's not complicated, but people try to do it consciously. And we we this work that we're doing is very unconscious. So 5% of your results come from your head, 95% come from your heart. We're looking at 95% work here, and your unconscious mind thinks faster than your conscious mind can process. It goes really, really fast. So I have to go to other people for my sneaky problems because if I try to diagnose them, I'm just like spinning on a treadmill in my head. So other people are like boom, boom, boom, this is it. I'm like, it totally is. Thank you for figuring that out. But this is what we do we look for different ways that the problem is running, and then we change how it's interpreted. We make it a really empowering process. And because you're not like just repeating the same story again and again, you change your relationship with the story, just like we've talked about changing your relationship with money, whether it's it's an unlimiting belief, whether it's how you see and perceive yourself, whether it's your relationship with money, whether it's your relationship in a business setting, maybe it's your relationship with a spouse or partner, maybe it's your relationship with food or exercise or health. Like we have relationships with all these things. And you literally start to change your relationship as long as you have a willingness to do the work and to show up and to go there. There will be work required because I I help you change this part, but you've got to go do the work so it sticks and it stays. And we the work that you do is really dependent on what we're working with. It's so personalized, but everyone has their own homework that they do, and so we make it an internal to external process, but we do the change work and then we make it real and we imprint a new story in our lives.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

Imprint a new story in our lives. So and one truth that I have to tell myself and transform my life is that my steady nine to five job is not where God wants me, and that I have to be ready and willing to do the work to transition into my calling. And we all have to do that.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

You're gonna talk at Glender. You're gonna talk at Glender.

SPEAKER_00 17:17

Yeah, we do need to because I need to do some homework, and that goes back to you saying that we're not perfect, we are human, we're all trying to figure it out and unlearn and relearn things that honors us and reshapes our lives, not based on inheritance, generational trauma, or things that were passed on to us. I have homework to do, and I know our listeners have homework to do, and I'm going to give them a homework today. And Larissa and I are going to make sure that you guys actually do this homework because we're going to be checking our DMs daily. And we really want to see you guys transform your life. Change the narratives, do the homework. Once you do the work, you could live a beautiful life without the pressure. It won't feel like a brick that's just sitting on top of your head or your back. You're waking up in the morning, you're grumpy, you have a headache, you don't want to move, you don't want to go into the office. You can transform your life. And that homework is journal or voice voice note. Send us a voice note, a truth you've been afraid to say. You can share a single line with us on Instagram. You can send it to my Instagram at Life's Deceits Podcast or keep it just for you, or send it to Larissa to Larissa, and she's going to share her Instagram for you to share it with her in her DM.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

Yeah, it's MyAbundance Academy. At my abundance academy.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

Awesome. You guys can save it. You can comment it below if you are that bold and you want to share it because sometimes we have things that's floating around in us, and other people are going through the same thing. And if they see you commenting it, you're triggering to them that it's okay. You're not alone. So that is your homework. And I really hope that you guys are going to do it because I'm going to look out for it. And so is Larissa. Perfectionism.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

We check all our DMs.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

All of them. I check daily, including the junk and the request. I check there as well. Perfectionism. We talked about it before. We said we are not perfect. We sometimes we put on a mask and you can't tell what's really happening with us because we we wear it so well. The clothing, the makeup, the perfume. When we walk past you, you smell perfection. Overwhelm. I'm not enough. Those loops are too loud. How do we apologize for being here and start owning our lives? How do we change the narrative and apologize to ourselves for living a way that is not pleasing to ourselves? And where would our listeners begin?

SPEAKER_01 19:59

To change the narrative, you've got to take a breath, go within, and make a decision. Everything begins with a single decision. And before you can go through any process, before you can do any checklist, you've actually got to be willing to do the work and you have to commit to doing it. You have to say, I'm actually going to do this. And I think that's kind of a precursor. People are looking for steps, they're looking for the secret formula, they're looking for the secret recipe, but they haven't actually decided that they're really going to do it. And what we what we find is with clients, sometimes we're like, oh yeah, I totally committed. And then they don't do it. And then they don't do it. And then they don't do it. And how do I know this? We have we have calls. We have morning kickstart calls Monday to Friday. So we see our clients a lot and they're like, wow, it's been two weeks of me not doing it. And I'm like, did you really commit? You said you committed, and they're like, obviously not. But there's nothing wrong with that. You need to catch yourself in those little cheating moments and those little lies that you tell yourself, not maliciously, you have the best of intentions, but you really didn't connect this. And you might have thought you should be willing or you thought you committed, but you you didn't set yourself up. And those moments where you learn how to make true decisions, decisions are so powerful. But when you learn how to make true decisions and back them by action, that is the first step to any change.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

Make a true decision and back them by action. That is real and that is truth. Because a lot of times we make the decision but we have not activated. We have not even made a first step. We didn't raise our hand, we didn't start writing, we didn't start planning, we didn't even make a step. That is truth. And I agree with you, and I thank you for saying that. I have a little game for you. And it's called Rapid Fire. Unapologetic truth shots. And I'm just gonna shoot out the questions at you. No overthinking. Just what comes to your mind first. Are you ready for this?

SPEAKER_01 22:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 22:18

One truth you used to hide that you now say loudly.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

Oh, one, oh gosh. Like one truth I used to hide that I now say loudly. This is not rapid. This is not rapid. I don't even know what truths I used to hide. Like when I eat the wrong food, I get really bad gas. Okay, that that's a good one. Yeah, when I was younger, I was like, whoo! They were the silent but deadly ones. So you did not want me eating the wrong things.

SPEAKER_00 22:53

The biggest lie you ever told yourself and the new line that you replaced it with.

SPEAKER_01 22:59

Um I don't know how.

unknown 23:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

And I haven't learned yet. I haven't learned it yet.

SPEAKER_00 23:09

One boundary you'll never apologize for again.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

Getting my steps in.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

If healing had one sound, what would it be?

SPEAKER_01 23:17

I have this really big singing bowl. I so we have a variety of singing bowls, but we have like a big one. And just whenever I go and knock it, it just makes everything in the world better. So I'm probably gonna do that right after this now that you've brought it up.

unknown 23:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

Finish this. Living unapologetically unapologetically means just showing up as your best self. I love that. I love that. And you did great with rapid fire.

SPEAKER_01 23:45

Yay!

SPEAKER_00 23:45

It was you were quick. You didn't you didn't add any fillers and you didn't overthink. You did amazing.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Great. I don't remember anything I said.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

So healing out loud is not about being perfect, it's about being real and showing up. Every story told becomes a mirror for someone else's healing. Your truth, no matter how raw, is powerful. Larissa, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for showing up as your authentic self in truth and honoring who you are. You are more than living in your legacy. You get to see your legacy being built daily, and you are doing a tremendous job at it. So that legacy that you're hoping to leave behind, it will be fulfilled because you're already planting the seeds and you're watering them daily. Thank you for being on the Lice to Seeds podcast. Thank you for blessing our listeners. Thank you for being you.

SPEAKER_01 24:49

Thank you for having me. It's been such a pleasure being here and sharing in this moment. I think we all have times where we might be lost in life or we might be thinking other people have it better, having these goals and dreams that we're not pursuing. But when we take the courage to take the first step, whether it's listening to this podcast, whether it's making a phone call, sending a text, showing up to something you're not in the mood for, when you take that next step, that's when things become possible. I I wrote a book a few years ago called Stop Procrastinating Your Life Away. Discover the secrets to more time, money, and freedom. Why? Because I found I was procrastinating my life away on so many different things. And it's not about procrastination, but it's about essentially procrastination is suicide of your dreams on the installment plan. Little by little, they just go away until they completely disappear. And it is my statement to encourage women, especially to just stand up, step out and shine, take courageous action on their dreams and never be held back by any limitations ever again. You might fall on your face a few times, you might cry a lot, you might feel highly uncomfortable. But what you will do is hold your head up high and keep moving forward no matter what. So if anyone does want to download that, they can go to stop procrastinatingbook.com and you can get the entire thing for free. So it's not just like a first chapter, but um, I think that would there's a chapter on limiting beliefs and a lot of things that we talked about in this call. So there's a lot of resources in there to support you. So stop procrastinatingbook.com.

SPEAKER_00 26:32

Stop procrastinating. And I know that there are listeners who really resonated with everything you had to say, your message. And for the ones who are ready to start, the ones that may not be necessarily ready, but they would like to connect with you, they would like to get some advice, or maybe just some encouraging words from you, how can they reach out to you?

SPEAKER_01 26:55

Uh grab a copy of my book and you'll find all my contact info there, or like you mentioned on Instagram, so stopprocrastinatingbook.com or at my abundanceacademy on Instagram is great.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

You guys, if this message resonated with you and you are ready, even if you're not ready, even if you're still one foot out, one foot in, you're a little bit lukewarm still, still reach out to Larissa. You never know where the journey will take you or what advice or encouraging words or resources that she can give to you to get you prepared or get you started. Please don't forget to like, share, and leave your comments down below and continue to help us grow this platform. Help Larissa grow her platform, go over to her page, visit her podcasts, purchase her books. It will be transformative, and I know that you will find some peace in the resources that she has on her website. Thank you guys for tuning in with us today. I hope you have an amazing morning, afternoon, or night wherever you are in the world. Until next time, this is Life's a Tease Podcast, Living Unapologetically and Healing. Bye. What you choose today becomes the legacy you pass on.