Episode 7: “Shift, Shake, & Celebrate: Embracing Change and Finding Joy in the Journey”

In this episode we discuss how life is full of opportunities to grow and thrive, but it starts with a choice—to shift your perspective, shake things up, and celebrate the journey! 

Faith in Action // Change in Motion

Transcript

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Well, hello. Welcome back. We're back for episode number seven, y'all. It's kind of crazy. It feels like I'm starting to kind of get the hang of this thing. And so for those of you that have been listening, thanks for your grace and your kindness to try to hang with me as I'm just trying to learn how to do this thing and growing as I'm going. The whole mantra is really, really real for me. So for those of you that are new, then I say, welcome to the Change Changers podcast. And for those of you that have been hanging tough, then thanks again for. Your kindness, your friendship, your faithfulness, and continuing to come back and hang with me. And so. My name is Mandy and I'm excited to just try to hopefully bring some joy to your day today. I'm especially excited about today's topic as being called shift shake and celebrate. And so I, wanted us to kinda talk about what do those words mean and how can we apply these to our lives as being a change chaser, right? And so when I stop and I just think about how. We navigate life and the different ways that life can sometimes keep us on our toes, that sometimes y'all, we need to shift our perspective and we need to shake things up. And most importantly, we even need to stop as some folks say and smell the roses, or I'm gonna say, celebrate the progress that we're making. And so these three steps can help us to embrace change, overcome challenges, and live with a sense of gratitude and joy. And so I wanna just say, will you go ahead and jump right on in with me or dive in, I guess is a good expression to say as well, and that we are going in this episode, explore what it means to shift, shake, and celebrate in our own lives. And so hot take number one. Shift changing your perspective. We've talked about perspective in, just about every episode.'cause honestly, to me, I think being a change chaser requires us to have a certain perspective, right? Of one, of growth, a mantra, a mindset of growing as we're going. And so changing your perspective, then it allows us to think about. You know, the idea that change often begins with the shift in the mindset, right? And so before we can take action, we need to see things differently. And so what does it mean to shift? Well, shifting is about adjusting your perspective, whether it's how you see a challenge or how you view yourself, or how you approach your goals. And so an example of this is, I think about a time, you know, in my life that. I've been stuck, and so I'll say that to you. Maybe you think about a time where you've been stuck and you just felt like, oh my gosh, how am I gonna get out of this? Maybe even as the expression goes, even thinking about how am I gonna get out of this pit? Like, I mean, goodnight. This is just crazy stuff that you're going through, and so maybe you felt stuck in a job, maybe you felt stuck in a relationship or. Maybe even you got stuck in a personal habit. You know, what if there was just something that you're like, oh, I really wish that I would've never started smoking, or, you know, drinking or cursing or, I mean, whatever the habit was, right? I mean, the breakthrough likely began when you stopped looking at the problem the same way and started looking and seeing new possibilities for your own personal growth. And so when I think about how to shift your perspective, I think about. A great way is one way is to ask better questions, and so maybe instead of asking, why is this happening to me, trying to say, what can I learn from this? Or how can this help me to grow? Another way is to practice gratitude. We've previously chatted about this as well, but gratitude truly does shift our focus from what's missing. To what's present. And so start by listing maybe three things that you're grateful for today, right? And just call'em off. Maybe as you're driving down the road or wherever you're, if you're walking or just whatever you're doing when you're listening to this podcast, maybe just stop and just have a moment of thinking, wow, these are three things that I'm thankful for. And so when that pause I just gave you, I have no doubt that you're able to think of at least one, two. Some of you, 3, 4, 5, you know, just, we have so many different things that we can be thankful for. And whenever we allow ourselves to practice the true art of gratitude, then y'all, we get to have the mindset even to seek fresh input. And so surrounding yourself with people or maybe even books or experiences that challenge your current way of thinking. And so that leads me to think about hot take number two. Shake, right? How are we shaking things up? And so breaking out of our routine is the point that I wanted to make on shake. Because once you've shifted your perspective, the next step is to shake things up. Right? And so, what does that mean exactly? Well, I think shaking is all about action. Shaking is a verb. And it's showing action here. It's stepping out of your comfort zone or disrupting old habits and creating new energy in your life. And. So the question goes, well, why is that important? Right? So we, we often stay stuck though because we're too comfortable. Even if we're not happy, the familiar, y'all, it just feels safe, right? I mean, I don't know about y'all, but again, I mean, I love to feel safe and so, but when we're willing to shake things up, it forces us to grow and it forces us to adapt. And so three ways to shake things up. Number one, try something new, right? Take a different route to work, maybe learn a new skill or hobby, or meet someone new who expands your perspective. Number two, challenge yourself. Set a goal that stretches you. I call it being Gumby, right? I don't know if anybody remembers that old show back in the day, but. Gumby was stretched to and fro. And so the ideas set a goal that stretches you face of fear or take a risk you've been avoiding. And then number three, declutter your life.'cause sometimes shaking things up means letting go of old habits or toxic relationships, or even physical clutter. That's something I'm working on as well. And so. I just share these points with you that I hope that they're helpful and I also wanna give you just this word of encouragement and thinking about, you know, shifting and shaking and celebrating. Is that when we are willing to shake things up? Yeah, it might feel uncomfortable at first, but remember, growth always happens outside of your comfort zone and so hot. Take number three. As I want to encourage you to celebrate, this is something that I don't do enough in my life. I'm like, oh, gotta do the next thing. And I'm the type of person that I always gotta be about three to five steps ahead. I don't know if anybody else is like, mm-hmm. Me too. And so whenever we're wired this way, y'all, we don't always stop and celebrate. And so with this hot tech number three of celebrate, I want to encourage each of us to find joy in our progress. When I stop and I think about after you've shifted your mindset and shaken up your routine, it really is time to celebrate. And so celebration matters because I think that celebration isn't just about big achievements. It's about recognizing and honoring the small wins along the way. But yet, if you're wired like me, then the problem is that many of us, unfortunately y'all, we rush from one goal to the next without stopping to appreciate how far we've come. And that can lead to burnout. It can lead to us feeling stuck. And so when I stop and I think about the benefits of celebration and how life-giving that can be for us. Man, y'all. It led me to several different bullet points such as it boosts motivation and energy. Celebration, creates a positive cycle of growth and gratitude and celebration reminds us that life is meant to be enjoyed, not just endured. So thinking through that of how to celebrate your progress. Well, man, I'm working on these different things as well, and I think that it's important to pause and reflect. To take a moment to look back and acknowledge the effort that you've put in, and then also think it's really important to share your wins. Tell a friend or a safe person in your life, a a loved one, somebody that is one of your truth speakers, right? Somebody that. Wants to encourage you, somebody that makes you feel like what you have to say matters. And so tell that friend or loved one, uh, about one of the things that you've accomplished. I mean,'cause the truth is sharing joy, multiplies it. And so then also think about another way that we can make sure that we are celebrating well is reward yourself. And that's something that we might not always do. We might not remember to treat ourself because if we're always going to the next thing. Which again, I think leads to burnout, but when we treat our self it can be something meaningful. It could be something simple. And so whether it's a relaxing day off, maybe, maybe a nice meal out to eat, a massage, going on a hike, going on a bike ride, maybe you wanna go get a pedicure or just some activity that is fun for you. Choosing something that brings joy to your day. It can really be such a game changer in the way that you are being able to navigate life. And so celebration doesn't need to wait for the finish line though. And that was one of the points I wanted to make in this episode is that we don't always have to wait until the very end that something is accomplished to be able to celebrate. And so I just wanna encourage you as thinking about, celebrate the steps, right? Celebrate the effort, celebrate the lessons that. You learn along the way. And so that leads me to hot take number four, putting it all together. Y'all. we don't necessarily just need to, but I think that it's a mindset of instead of a got to, it's a get to philosophy in my mind is that we need to shift, shake, and celebrate in real life. It's a get to. Positive spin and twist on the way that we navigate things because the cycle of shifting, shaking and celebrating is powerful way to keep growing, adapting, and finding joy in our journey. And so hot. Take number five. It's our call to action on this episode, your change chaser challenge C3 time, right? So real life application, our to-dos are number one, shift. Identify one area of your life where you feel stuck or inspired, and write down one new perspective that you can take. Number two, shake. Do one thing this week to disrupt your routine or step out of your comfort zone. And number three, celebrate at the end of the week. Take time to acknowledge your progress no matter how small. Still celebrate it. So sweet friends. In closing, I just wanna say that I believe in you and I know that you've got this, whatever it is that you are deciding on being a change chaser and how you're applying this to your day-to-day life, that heck fire. You're doing awesome, and I have no doubt of that. I'm sending you air high fives along the way because I believe that you are made for more life is full of opportunities to grow and to thrive. But it starts with a choice to shift your perspective, to shake things up and celebrate the journey. So my closing quote that I wanna share with all of you is, change is inevitable, but growth is intentional. Don't just let life happen. Lean into it with purpose and with joy. Thanks for joining me on this episode of the Change Chasers podcast. If you found today's conversation helpful, then I hope you'll share it with a friend, and don't forget to subscribe. Until next time, keep shifting, shaking, and celebrating your way to a brighter and bolder life. Keep chasing change and living with purpose. Goodbye sweet friends.