Discover the transformative power of aligning body and soul with the insightful guidance of Catholic Life Coach Jessica Castillo. Our latest episode takes you on a Lenten journey via the Missio Parata Lenten Challenge, designed by Jessica to weave physical discipline with prayer into a tapestry of readiness for God's call.
As a fellow participant, I share first-hand the invigorating impact of this unique program, where diet, fasting, daily movement, and sleep fuse with spiritual practices like the rosary and Lectio Divina, equipping women to take up their divine purpose with vigor and clarity.
In our conversation, we shine a light on how temperance and the nurturing of virtues can solidify our moral resilience, liberating us from the grasp of vice.
Whether you're fine-tuning your life or seeking spiritual depth, this episode promises to be your compass to discipline and discover your mission, with Jessica Castillo's wisdom lighting the way.
Join the challenge: https://www.athrivingcatholic.com/lent
Listen to Jessica's Podcast: A Thriving Catholic
I'm here for you. I'm praying for you. You are NOT alone!
Please subscribe to this podcast so you won't miss a thing!
Join the Sacred Sobriety Lab: https://sacredsobrietylab.com
Drink Less or Not at All FREE Guide: https://view.flodesk.com/pages/63a4abe81488000c28b9ba89
Follow me on Instagram @thecatholicsobrietycoach
Visit my Website: https://thecatholicsobrietycoach.com
Discover the transformative power of aligning body and soul with the insightful guidance of Catholic Life Coach Jessica Castillo. Our latest episode takes you on a Lenten journey via the Missio Parata Lenten Challenge, designed by Jessica to weave physical discipline with prayer into a tapestry of readiness for God's call.
As a fellow participant, I share first-hand the invigorating impact of this unique program, where diet, fasting, daily movement, and sleep fuse with spiritual practices like the rosary and Lectio Divina, equipping women to take up their divine purpose with vigor and clarity.
In our conversation, we shine a light on how temperance and the nurturing of virtues can solidify our moral resilience, liberating us from the grasp of vice.
Whether you're fine-tuning your life or seeking spiritual depth, this episode promises to be your compass to discipline and discover your mission, with Jessica Castillo's wisdom lighting the way.
Join the challenge: https://www.athrivingcatholic.com/lent
Listen to Jessica's Podcast: A Thriving Catholic
I'm here for you. I'm praying for you. You are NOT alone!
Please subscribe to this podcast so you won't miss a thing!
Join the Sacred Sobriety Lab: https://sacredsobrietylab.com
Drink Less or Not at All FREE Guide: https://view.flodesk.com/pages/63a4abe81488000c28b9ba89
Follow me on Instagram @thecatholicsobrietycoach
Visit my Website: https://thecatholicsobrietycoach.com
Welcome to the Catholic Subriety Podcast, the go-to resource for women seeking to have a deeper understanding of the role alcohol plays in their lives, women who are looking to drink less or not at all for any reason. I am your host, kristy Walker. I'm a wife, mom and a Joyfield Catholic, and I am the Catholic Subriety Coach, and I am so glad you're here. You were created on purpose and for a purpose. My friend and Catholic life coach, jessica Castillo, says this often, and I firmly believe this as well. I think it's one of the many things that Jessica and I have in common, and we both have a desire to help other women know and understand this truth as well. I'm so honored to have Jessica back on the podcast today.
Speaker 1:It's been about a year since she was on and, believe it or not, lent is quickly approaching. I know we just finished Advent and the Christmas season and Lent's going to be here on February 14th this year, so I knew that I wanted to have her back on to talk about her free Misioparata Lenten Challenge, and Misioparata is Latin for Mission Ready. I participated in it last year and it was amazing. I also recommend that you go back and listen to episode 9. You are one of my very first interviews and it was a very early podcast, and go listen to Jessica's story, and she also talks more about Misioparata there as well.
Speaker 1:Jessica is a former West Point graduate and Army officer. She helps high achieving Catholic women excel at their own missions by helping them learn to optimize every aspect of their health so that they are not hindered in their work by depression, fatigue, overwhelm or preventable illnesses. Jessica knows that God has something important for every woman and that is her goal is to help bring that out in them. Jessica is the founder of a thriving Catholic and host of the podcast A Thriving Catholic. So welcome back, jessica. I'm so happy to have you here.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me, Christy. I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker 1:Let's go ahead and start off, because I'm sure the question that everyone has had if they haven't listened to episode 9 and they haven't had the pleasure of you know, coming upon any of your social media or your podcast is what is Misioparata and how did it come about?
Speaker 2:Okay, so Misioparata is my freelance and challenge, like you mentioned. That basically combines some very disciplined physical practices with deep and intentional prayer, and the intention behind all of it is that you, through the process of participating in the Misioparata challenge, that you really do become this fit instrument in the hands of God, that you are now mission ready and you can accomplish the will of the Lord in your life in, if not a new way, like a more profound or a deeper way, and so that is basically what Misioparata is. And so some of those practices, the physical practices there's discipline, diet and fasting, there's intentional movement every day and a focus on getting enough sleep. We combine that with prayer of the rosary and lexio divina, and it really got started. Last Lent was the first time I ran it, so this will be the second annual Misioparata Lenten challenge, but the way it really started was around this time last year, before Lent.
Speaker 2:I was really reflecting and praying a lot on this concept of mission, and part of it is probably because of my background as a former Army officer and, I think, in terms of objectives and missions sometimes. But I was really motivated and inspired by this quote from St John Henry Newman which I've always loved so much. But the quote is God has created me to do him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another. I have my mission.
Speaker 2:And so this idea of mission, this concept that every single human person was created, like you said in the intro on purpose and for purpose Well, what is that purpose? And how do we help uncover it and discover it? And so, as I was praying and reflecting on this before Lent last year, I really felt like the Lord was saying to me well, your role is to get the mission ready. You get the mission ready. I don't know what your mission is. I don't know what the Lord is calling you to do. All I know is that he has created you for a purpose, and so my role in it is to help you become the most capable and fit instrument you can possibly be, so that you can fulfill that role and so that you can step into that mission and do it even better.
Speaker 1:Oh yes, that's so important, I think, for people to realize because sometimes we just get stuck not feeling well. I've heard you say sometimes we forget how it feels to feel well because we've just spent so much time feeling not good or just being trapped by the comforts that we have. And then when we start to detach ourselves from those things, we're like, oh my goodness, it just opens yourself up and you're like this is what it feels like to feel really well. And I can say I've done a lot of different things. I've done like 30 and different types of elimination diets and those are so, so helpful.
Speaker 1:What I loved about Misioparata is not just the food aspect of it, but because it's lent and we're dedicating this to God and trying to make it a holy work and take care of ourselves mind, body and spirit during lent.
Speaker 1:I loved your challenge because it not only incorporated the food aspect, which I'll let you talk about later, but also exercise in our spirituality, like praying the rosary or lexio divina, and I just found it to be so wonderful. My husband he actually does Exodus 90, which is really hardcore and involves cold showers. So I'm so glad that your challenge does not involve cold showers, but it's similar in the way that it's like self mastery and just detaching. And by the end of lent last year I just felt better than I think I've ever felt and I really did feel mission ready. Now that's not to say I fall back into my old ways, because I have, and that's why I'm so looking forward to Misioparata to just kind of get myself mission ready again, because I feel like I was more creative, I had so much more mental clarity, I had so much more energy, and that's something that I'm sure you hear time and time again from the women that you work with.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, and that's like the whole point of all of it. This is why we do it. And cold showers, I think, are wonderful, they're so good, but of course I wanted to create a challenge that was hard and intentionally hard, but all for purpose and of course, cold shower server purpose too. I'm not saying you don't.
Speaker 2:But I think what?
Speaker 2:When I first created the challenge, too, the idea was in my mind that, oh, maybe people aren't going to want to do this, because I know a lot of. So I am a certified health coach, and I know that a lot of times, with health coaching, it's very common to try to take this very gentle approach. You tell someone to just maybe drink more water or take to get a little bit more merbin, or you take these very tiny baby steps, and I kind of felt like that was not really my role or my personality either. That wasn't what I could effectively bring to the table, and so, when I created the Missio Prada challenge, I almost thought about it as throwing a gauntlet down and saying here you go, this is hard, and it's unapologetic. Like this will be hard.
Speaker 2:This is a challenge, and the beauty of it, though, is that you can do hard things, and you can do hard things for the greater glory of God, and so I think that what happens is that we start to feel that inspiration, that magnanimity in our soul. We feel this expansive feeling of, yes, I can do something hard for God, and it's going to result in all of these amazing things. But even in the process of it. It's changing and transforming us, and we're growing.
Speaker 1:Yes, I believe that so wholeheartedly. I think of it like sometimes when I have to get up in the morning and go work out and I know that the garage is going to be freezing cold and I don't want to do it. I just think of it as I'm just getting to the edge of the pool and jumping in, instead of baby stepping into the pool, where it lasts so much longer and it's just so much harder, and then I might not even go in all the way because it's just, oh my gosh, this is horrible. But if I just jump in, then that only lasts for a minute, and then afterwards I'm so glad the way that I did it. And so that's what I always visualize in my mind. If I have to take my dog on a walk and it's freezing cold outside, I'm like, just jump in the pool, christy, it's going to be so much better.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Or I like to say to decide and then don't decide, you've already decided. So when we start talking to ourselves out of it or thinking, oh, maybe I'll just do some of it or I'll do a little bit, and then we start half-stepping and we don't need to do that, yeah, I completely agree.
Speaker 1:So, on that topic, something that always gets me going is the quote by Pope Benedict the 16th that the world offers you comfort, but you are not made for comfort, you are made for greatness. And in a world that offers us comfort and convenience, why do you think that they really can keep us stuck and stagnant and even dissatisfied? So why do you think that is?
Speaker 2:Yeah, first of all, I totally love that quote from Benedict XVI, one of my favorite quotes too. But I think that some of the ways this worldly comfort keeps us stuck and stagnant is that, first of all, just the science behind it of how dopamine works in our brain. So I know that you probably work with clients about this all the time, but things like scrolling our phones and eating sugar and junk food and drinking alcohol all of these things cause these spikes, at least initially, a big spike in dopamine to an unnaturally high level, and so in our brains we think this feels amazing, this is so good, I want this. But then what happens is we have that crash, the dopamine crash, where now everything feels bad and we can't even get back up the baseline again unless we try to start seeking out another dopamine hit. And so I think, when we think about worldly comforts, what we're really searching for, what our brain is searching for, is dopamine. We're trying to have this molecule of motivation, the molecule of more, this neurotransmitter that makes us feel good and happy, and this is a good thing. So I think, on a scientific level, this is what's kind of happening in our brains and the reason why that sort of stuff keeps us stuck and stagnant is that we're now stuck in this loop of destructive or behavior. Really, that's not leading us in a good direction, it's not leading us on the path to greater health or greater virtue it's, and it also isn't helping us to do things that we really desire to do with our time and with our lives. Because now we're stuck where we just waste time scrolling our phones or on Netflix, or we're wasting time feeling sick or unwell because we ate poorly or we drank too much or we did all these things in this pursuit of this dopamine high, and so what happens is that we don't end up taking the action or moving forward on the things that are really important to us, so we stay stuck.
Speaker 2:And then I think also there's a very there's a spiritual level. You know, saint Thomas Aquinas pointed this out himself. He said that man cannot live without joy. Therefore, when he's deprived of true spiritual joys, it is necessary that he become addicted to carnal pleasures. And I always think about that quote, because the reason why we're seeking comfort in the world, why we're searching out this, this dopamine, is because we were made to live with joy, we were made to have joy, and so we can have a more authentic, healthy, real joy, which is a deep spiritual joy, or a joy from accomplishing our goals or, you know, because we also get dopamine from doing these sort of things, making progress toward an important goal or you know, just the joy that we feel when we are eating well and moving well and living in balance and we are having this deep prayer.
Speaker 2:This is also joy, but it's joy of a different and more lasting sort and it actually helps us become better and move towards our goals. So I think that that's kind of the difference between here's worldly comfort and it's only going to feel good for a very short amount of time and then it's going to feel worse and you're going to have to keep chasing that and it's not going to be consistent. But here's a steeper kind of joy, here's this joy that, of course, man, you were made for joy, so you must experience joy. But we get to choose and use our intellect and our will and decide then well, which do I want to pursue?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree, and I love that St Thomas Aquinas quote too. That's so. I think that's so illuminating and can really help us keep focused on the why of it, like, instead of beating ourselves up like why do I do this, why am I doing this, look for maybe the deeper root of why you're doing it. It's probably not what you think a lot of times, so I really like that. So, speaking of virtues, so virtues like temperance can be really powerful in helping us detach from vices. So can you share about how cultivating virtues has helped you personally in your endeavors to be mission ready?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so. Temperance, we know, is that moral virtue. When we talk about temperance, it's the virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of creative goods. So when we're thinking temperance, this is what we're thinking. The cool thing about growth in virtue is that when you start growing in one virtue, it actually becomes easier to grow in other virtues as well, and this when we talk about growing in virtue in order to detach from vices.
Speaker 2:One thing that I think is really important to point out is the way that we grow in virtue is by the exercising of virtue. So it's kind of like that analogy of working out in the gym. How do you grow your muscles? Well, you put them under stress. You stress your muscles by lifting weights and then you grow back bigger, stronger, better muscles. And the same thing with how do we grow in virtue.
Speaker 2:How do we practice virtue? Well, we have to give ourselves opportunities to practice virtue. I mean, they exist already. Our daily lives are going to provide plenty of opportunities to practice virtue.
Speaker 2:But we can also intentionally train ourselves in growing in virtue, and I think what people start to notice, especially if someone were to take on something like the miscobrata challenge or any intentional endeavor, where we are deliberately saying no to one kind of perceived good or to a comfort that the world offers us and instead we're embracing a different path, this maybe more challenging and more arduous path.
Speaker 2:What we're giving ourselves the opportunity to do is to now exercise that virtue, that virtue of temperance, that those virtues of fortitude, those virtues of prudence, and as we start to grow stronger through the use of exercising these virtues, they become easier, they become more habitual for us to exercise. And this is 100% been true in my life, because I can. I can attestify, much like you, that whenever I am really holding to these habits that I know are helping me to be at my best, physically and mentally and spiritually, that everything in my life is going usually much better. So I'm more successful in my business, I'm having an easier time in my relationships with my family or homeschooling my kids. There is there's so many benefits that just come from exercising these virtues, and then how it spills over into every part of our life.
Speaker 1:That's so true because I notice I can get so much done when I am balancing all those plates and just giving attention to each one. Not a ton of attention, but a little bit. And it's so interesting how I can, all of a sudden, when I was thinking I don't have time for anything, like I don't have time to exercise, I don't have time to cook, we need to eat out, or I don't have time to clean my house. It's a complete disaster.
Speaker 1:Yet when I get in that habit and that's what you focus on so much and I love is, once you get in that habit it doesn't mean that you're always doing it perfectly, but when you're in that habit, it's like everything else goes so much more smoothly because you're not having to spend an ordinate amount of time on one thing, because you've been able just to do little, little daily habits to keep everything going smoothly. And then, yeah, it's just, it's so freeing, because sometimes I think, well, I don't really want to do that, I would rather do that, I would rather scroll on my phone or whatever. Well, that's not going to get me the results that I want. It might, in that moment, be something that I think that I want to do, but it's not going to get me the results I want. So if you keep your results in mind, that's also super helpful as well.
Speaker 2:But I think I was just going to mention. I know probably a lot of your listeners might be working their way through to Father Michael Mike Schmitz's Bible in a year podcast since January, starting the year. A lot of people are probably working through that and I know a few days ago we read about how Jacob and Esau and how Jacob was willing to trade his birthright to Jacob for a in exchange for a bowl of lentil stew or potage, and I know Father Mike highlighted well, how can we be willing to trade away something so precious for a bowl of stew? But that's how it is. When we're actually in that moment of temptation where we're like, okay, I have these dreams and these aspirations and this and maybe even this mission from God that I am supposed to be fulfilling, but in the actual moment, in the right now moment, it feels so much better to try to seek out comfort than it does to do the hard work of what I might be called to do.
Speaker 2:And that's not to say there's not a time and a place for rest and there's not a time and place where it's probably fine to be on your phone or to watch Netflix or to rest. There's a time for all of that. It's just that's where it comes in to using the virtues and relying on the virtues and using your prudential judgment of when is this an appropriate time and when is this not an appropriate time. And again, that's what temperance is. It's just moderating the attraction of pleasure, it's just providing balance in the use of these creative goods. It's not saying you should never have pleasure, you should never use these creative goods.
Speaker 1:Right, I'm so glad you highlighted it and that that scripture is. I do listen to Father Mike Schmidt's Bible in here and I know that when I've heard that scripture I'm just like that's crazy, like, but we do that, how often do we do that? And so it is very good to look at those old stories like that and be like it's so applicable to my life today, because how many times have I given something so good just for the carnal pleasure in that moment that I think that I need, and then I just don't feel great later and I'm like, wait, I didn't mean to do that, I didn't want to do that. So I'm sure that my listeners are wondering what? Because we've alluded to a little bit about what you need to do in Missio Parada, but I would just like you to go through what are some of those things that we are detaching from so that we can free ourselves up to greater health and clarity and optimization. And also I just want to say that one of the things that Jessica has is like this Excel. She's like an Excel sheet wizard. She's like I don't know if you know this, but she has an Excel sheet. I don't know if she's doing it this year. Are you doing it again? Yeah, ok, and so it's live.
Speaker 1:And for some people that can be daunting, like, oh my gosh, look at Susie, she's like knocking it out of the park every day and I am sitting here like, well, ok, I can not to brag, but I can rock the alcohol the no alcohol thing I'm just saying. But I've been practicing it for a long time. But some of the other things, like the fasting, and I'll let you get into all of that, some of those things I can't hit every day, but when I was filling it out sometimes those types of things, my brain is like I didn't do all of them. So now I have totally messed it up and I just did not allow myself to do that. And your coaching and everything was so helpful in that because you are so like it's OK if you don't do it, just do as much as you can. And I did that instead of quitting and saw so many fruits from that. So if you could just talk about what's in it, maybe some of the hurdles that people will face and how to get through that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely OK. So these are the components of basically what the challenge is. The first, you've mentioned already, is discipline, diet and fasting. So during the course of the Nisiyo Karate Challenge, you will be abstaining from sugar, alcohol, gluten and dairy for the entire challenge, and so that eliminates the Sunday cheats. There will not be a Sunday cheat in the challenge. You will be abstaining from these things the entire challenge, and the reason why we do that is because these are actually the most inflammatory foods for most people, and so eliminating them entirely is going to help your body heal and strengthen. And in addition to that, during the challenge, you'll be fasting on Fridays, and, of course, I give a lot more detail and training into what that consists of Basically, if you're not pregnant or nursing, in which case you will not be fasting, or if you don't have a medical condition that prohibits you from fasting.
Speaker 2:Fasting is a powerful spiritual practice and it also has a lot of physical benefits as well. So Fridays, during the challenge, there is a fasting component. There's also a restorative sleep as part of the challenge, so I'm literally challenging you to spend seven to eight hours in bed each night, and for some people that sounds too easy and they're thinking well, how hard could it be? But for other people who are sleeping a lot less than that, it's a real challenge to be consistent in your bad wake time, but that's such an important, critically important component to helping people to have the clarity, that focus, that vitality that they need. Sleep is foundational and a lot of people aren't doing it, so that's part of the challenge.
Speaker 2:The other physical aspect of the challenge is daily movement. I challenge everyone to move every day for at least 30 minutes, and this can be broken up throughout the day. I let people choose whether they want to do it all at one time, if you want to break up and maybe go for a 10-minute walk here and another 10-minute walk there and then 10 minutes of stretching or something later in the day, or if you want it to be more intense, and so this is kind of variable and I'll let you choose how you want to do that. But there's just no doubt that exercise is the most effective way to increase our ability to focus, to concentrate, to grow new brain cells and also our ability to manage stress, and all of this helps us to serve God better, because we have that focus and that clarity and that ability to think more clearly. And then we combine all of those physical practices with deep prayer.
Speaker 2:So I ask everyone to commit to praying a daily rosary and also 30 minutes of Lectio Divina every day of the challenge and then going to confession at least once during the challenge, which is just actually required of all Catholics during Lent, anyway. So you're just doing that. So that's the components of what I'm asking people to do, but I also include in the challenge things to help make that more possible. So I have a pre-challenge training call where I actually outline the exact protocol of the challenge, how all of it's going to work, what resources you have access to to make it easier, and then I'll do a weekly live coaching and training during the challenge. So every single week of the challenge I'm providing a deeper training on once some aspect of the challenge, so sleep and diet and exercise and Lectio Divina and how to pray the rosary all of the components of the challenge I provide deeper training in, and so that's a chance every week for people to come together and get their questions answered and be coached live as well. There is a private Facebook group where everyone can connect and build that community so that we're able to know that we're in this together.
Speaker 2:And then what you were talking about is the shared Google sheet that I've created.
Speaker 2:That is the habit tracker for the challenge, and so for every single day of the challenge, you basically go on there and put your name on a row of the habit tracker and you have the chance to track how you're doing on all of these components of the challenge every single day of the challenge, and that's really meant to help keep you motivated and accountable to yourself more than anything.
Speaker 2:But also at the end of the challenge, when I have the post challenge closing call, I do have the opportunity for you to win a prize for participation in the challenge, which I just think is a fun way to wrap everything up. And also that post challenge closing call. I mean, you've spent all of Lent working on getting mission ready, and so where do you go from here? What do you do next? How do you go out into the world and actually serve the Lord in your mission? And that's what we do in the wrap up call. So those are all the components of the challenge and then what I'm trying to include in the free challenge. So all of that is free in the challenge because I think it's powerful and I think it's really helpful.
Speaker 1:Oh it is, and it's so generous and there's so much included in it and it's so powerful, right? Because I say this all the time when I'm talking to women about sobriety when you have support and you have other people walking alongside of you, it just makes it so much easier. So I know, being in that private Facebook group, sometimes women would be like I'm having headaches, because when you have been eating all this sugar from the holidays and then you detox from it, your body is going to feel some things that are very uncomfortable. But when you have somebody else, that's like, yeah, I was feeling like that too, but I got through it.
Speaker 1:Or you come on I mean you're very active in there too and you're like this is what's happening, this is what you can do to minimize that, you know, and so it's so very helpful to have that added support on the journey as well, because if we're just doing it for ourselves, that's great.
Speaker 1:If we're doing it for ourselves and for God, that's amazing too. But when we just have that extra added encouragement and support of you know, you and I both feel very strongly about spiritual gifts and like our ability as Christians to work together, and I feel like this is just another powerful way of all of us coming together and supporting each other, encouraging each other and being the light of Christ to each other, just for the greater good. And you alluded a little bit to what happens at the end, because that's what comes up for me is at the end of land, I start feeling really anxious. I feel so good. I don't want this to go downhill, and maybe we don't keep such a strict regimen all the time. So what is like one thing that you would tell women as they're reintroducing some of these things, or deciding what to keep and what they can maybe be a little more lax on?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's such a good question. I think that the main thing is to reflect on what felt the best for you during the challenge, what had the biggest impact, and so those are going to be the things that you want to keep moving forward. And I will be honest, for most of the people who participated in the challenge last year, the most consistent thing that people said that they were going to continue in their life and keep doing moving forward was actually consistent lexiodivina. For a lot of people, that was something that they had not done before. And so, recognizing, as you parse through the pieces of the challenge and you try to analyze, okay, what is it that is making me feel so good right now, what is having the biggest impact in my health, in my happiness, in my relationship with God, and then, as you find those elements of the challenge, yeah, just continuing moving them forward. I think that's really helpful.
Speaker 2:And I think it's also helpful to work with a coach or to find someone accountability buddy or someone to work through this with you, where you recognize that you want to maybe loosen some of these practices up, but you don't want to completely go back to square one or start over again, and so I think it can be really helpful to talk with another person about well, how can I create parameters in my life where this fits seamlessly, where maybe I'm not never having sugar ever, but where can I put it in my life where it's not taking over my life again?
Speaker 2:Or maybe I'm not going to be fasting every single Friday, but how could I still have some fasting in my life? And this is something that's helpful. So I think those things are important and I think also the main thing with ending out the challenge is just again focusing back very intently on the reason why you took it on in the first place. So, now that you've got to this point and you're feeling good, and you're feeling capable and you're feeling mission ready, well, it's time now to really offer that as a gift to the Lord and say okay, lord, what do you want to do with this extra energy and focus and vitality? And I think that the number one way to not completely fall off the wagon and just look back into all your old habits is to continue that walk with the Lord and continue offering this to him and letting him show you what he has in store for you next.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree, and I also recommend keeping a journal so that you can go back and remember how you felt all along that journey and then how good you felt at the end, because I know that sometimes it's easy to start getting into that place where you're not feeling great but you're not really sure why, and then you can look back and be like remember when I was doing all the things and I felt really good, but it's still very rested, like what was I doing, and then you can go back and chart your journey and say, okay, this is where the breakdown is.
Speaker 1:But again, like you were saying, that's what having like working with a coach. If you're struggling with that, women can come to you and you can say, okay, what is your main goal, what's your main objective, and here's how we're going to get there and then guide them in that, which is so, so, very helpful. So, before we close, you've just shared so much good information and I know that this challenge is going to be really, really helpful for so many. You just let people know where they can sign up for the challenge, where they can find you and just anything else that you want to talk about or promote while you're here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you can sign up for the challenge at atthrivingcatholiccom. Forward slash lent and you can find me and connect with me in my work at atthrivingcatholic. That's my handle on Instagram and Facebook and my website and my podcast, so it's pretty easy to remember it's atthriving atthrivingcatholic.
Speaker 1:Perfect. So one other question since I did it last year and maybe some of my listeners did too, since you talked about it on our last, the last time you were here is if you signed up for the challenge last year, are you automatically on the email list to be on it this year, or do we re-sign up?
Speaker 2:You are probably. You might still be in the Facebook group from last year, but you should go ahead and re-sign up so that I can get you on this year's email list and that way you'll get notifications of when we're meeting and all of that.
Speaker 1:Perfect, okay, well, I'm going to do that as soon as we're done here, so that I can get on your on your list, jessica. Thank you so much once again for being here, but most of all, for the work that you are doing with Catholic women to get us mission ready, so that we can not be constantly seeking happiness, but have that fulfilled and sustained joy that God desires for all of us.
Speaker 2:Well, you're so welcome, delated, to be here.
Speaker 1:Well, that does it for this episode of the Catholic sobriety podcast. I hope you enjoyed this episode and I would invite you to share it with a friend who might also get value from it as well, and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss a thing. I am the Catholic sobriety coach, and if you would like to learn how to work with me or learn more about the coaching that I offer, visit my website, thecatholicsobrietycoachcom. Follow me on Instagram at theCatholic sobriety coach. I look forward to speaking to you next time, and remember I am here for you, I am praying for you, you are not alone.