Episode 8: Thrive in 2025!

In this episode, we dive into what truly means to thrive in 2025. With the world evolving faster than ever--technologically, socially, and personally--it's not enough to just survive. We're talking mindset shifts, sustainable habits, and practical tools to help you grow, stay grounded, and live with intention. Whether you're chasing big goals, recovering from burnout, or simply craving more balance, this episode offers insights to help you show up as your best self this year. Tune in and let's build a version of 2025 you're excited to live in!! 

#thrive #change #growth #driven 

Faith in Action // Change in Motion

Transcript

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Well, hey, hey, hey everybody. Welcome back. Y'all. It's pretty awesome. Here we are on episode number eight and I'm gonna be cheesy and say, and it's gonna be great, or at least I hope you feel that way when the episode ends. It truly has been a joy to hear from so many of you who have been so kind to. Gimme a call or shoot me a text or some dms that have come, been rolling in and just letting me know that you are enjoying the content and the episodes and that they are bringing some joy to your day and that some even meaningful information. You're even being challenged some. So that's pretty rad and pretty cool. I'm so grateful to hear that you are. Enjoying the podcast and I will just say again that it truly is an honor to be able to speak to you in this way, and that you are taking your time to be able to just allow me to be able to say what I feel like the Lord has been putting on my heart to share with you. It really, it really is special. And so I will just say thanks again for listening. Thanks for your encouragement. Also, it is helping me to not feel so overly, embarrassed as this just all feels outta my comfort zone. It feels a bit vulnerable, just saying that, yeah, I'm trying to host this podcast kind of thing, and. As people have said things to me about it, I'm, I'm a little awkward because I just don't want anybody to ever think that I'm trying to market myself for whatever, you know, putting myself out there because more than anything, I truly have the heart posture of desiring to. Just say what I feel like God is telling me to say and do what he's telling me to do. And in that it's to be a change chaser. And so I'm hopeful of inspiring you to do the same whatever that is and whatever facet of your life. And so I'm just grateful. So just please know that. Just really, really excited for all the ways that each of us are. Looking and searching, and even actively pursuing change in our lives so that we can grow as we go. Right. And so I'm hopeful as you've been listening, that you've been adapting and having maybe perhaps a mindset shift in your way of thinking about yourself. Future. Hopefully you are being challenged in the kindest of ways, in the belief in you being able to be and do new things. Being able to grow in the ways that your heart and your soul desires for you to feel like you have someone cheering you on along the way as you are personally pursuing the mantra. Of growing as you are going and being a change chaser with faith in action, and then getting to experience change in motion. In today's episode, we are going to discuss what it means to thrive. Gimme a t, gimme an H, gimme an argument, an I give it ve. Yeah. Y'all can tell I wasn't a cheerleader by no means, but. I am excited to talk about what it means to thrive. I really feel like I chose this topic because I feel as though it lands pretty well in the mix after we discussed in our other previous episodes, episode one, becoming a Change Chaser episode two, the Pivot of Perspective Episode three, the Power of Friendship, episode four, being More Than Conquerors. Episode five one day or day one, the power of Starting today. And then all of that led us to episode six, cultivating Hope. We talked about hope at this juncture of the podcast because I just, y'all, I just really, I know the power that hope can bring to our minds, our hearts, and overflow into our lives if we will let it. It's our choice to pursue a hope mindset. And then we have a bit of a celebration style message that we found ourselves hopefully getting to enjoy together with a short episode. I think it was,, around 14 minutes or something. Episode seven, which I chose to title, shift, shake, and celebrate, which encouraged us to embrace change and find joy in the journey as we do so, I'll share with you that. I personally found that so much of my life has been lived for other people. I don't know if you're listening and you're like, Hey girl, you reading my mail? That is how all my life has been too. Right? I'm not actually saying that that's necessarily a bad thing though, but as I self-reflect, I, I do find that to be true. Um, most people don't know this about me. If you are a close friend, you know that I grew up in a rough home life. I was surrounded by adults who favored alcohol and drugs much, much more than caring for me. So most of my childhood was spent fulfilling the responsibilities of caring for our home, the day-to-day chores, all of the, just the task at hand, the upkeep, and really just meeting the needs of others. And so after moving out on my own, right after I graduated high school, I. I obviously had to continue doing whatever necessary just to survive. Y'all we're talking about thriving today, but I'll just shoot you straight and say that so much of my life has always felt like I'm just doing whatever it takes to survive. And you may find yourself feeling the same way, or maybe you've experienced these feelings in the past as well. I know at this particular time, after graduating high school and trying to put myself through college, I worked two jobs at a time and tried to go to school. I started out full-time, ended up having to go part-time. So I can just share though that just being very transparent with you guys that. Again, I was much more surviving rather than thriving. And maybe you have that same, similar story or maybe you don't. Regardless of our upbringing similarities or not, I am certain that you've had times in your life that you too have felt like you are running on empty. Maybe you are. The type of person that is consistently saying, if I can just get to Friday, and it's like, oh, the weekend, right? You're like, woo hoo. Amen. If you're driving right now listening, you might give a little, steering wheel, tap, tap, tap. Yeah. Girl Friday. Can it get here soon enough, right? Yes. Please sign me up. I'll say, I feel you on that. There's been times in my life that I've been so desperate for Friday to come that I've even called Thursdays Friday Eve. So especially whenever I was teaching, that was oftentimes by about sixth or seventh period on Thursdays, I'd be like, whew, Friday Eve is almost over, and Friday is almost here. But in all seriousness, those of you that are kind enough to listen. I just wanna say that I know that you may also be able to chime in and tell us all the ways that, you know, maybe if you haven't struggle bust and maybe you do not live your weeks for Friday. I am not saying I do that necessarily all the time anymore. I do look forward to my weekend sometimes, and, just depends on what's going on in life, right. For those of you that are listening now, you're like, sh girl, my life is so good. I am not, I'm not ready for the weekend. It's good. I like all the days. And in the Y then I'll just say, if that is you, then hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Let me send you an air high five your way. That's awesome. And I'll say, then just thrive on sir or ma'am, but for the rest of us who. Don't always have perfect days and we experienced some tough stuff. I'm not saying that anybody has perfect days. I'm just kind of making light of the fact that,, some of us, y'all, it's hard to grow as we go, right? Some of us may be going through some tough stuff and it might not always be easy to try to live a life of purpose or live a life of growth, or live a life of fulfillment. And we may not always necessarily even be able to have that mentality of thriving, right? Because we just trying to survive, right? You're like, listen, I'm just grateful to be alive and I'm trying to survive, but so in this episode, I'm just hopeful. That we can pivot our perspective, that we can embrace. How are we going to try to maybe add in a few little things to make our days different so that we really can thrive in 2025? And yes, that is my mantra for this year. I always choose a word every year I've been doing this. I think I'm on year 12 now. And my word for 2025 is thrive. And so my goal in 2025 is obviously just as I told you the word is the action of thrive and always and in every aspects of my life. And so with being a change chaser then, hey sweet friends, I am choosing to. Seeing what we can do here, right, is finding the purpose, the growth, and the fulfillment. And so in today's episode, I'm really excited that we can all hopefully go from surviving to thriving. All right. I wanted to break it up a little bit. I'm trying to learn how to use this big, beautiful, awesome mix cast four by task cam. It's got all these little buttons, and so I'm like, all right, let's break it up so it won't be so boring. So I'm hitting you with some sound bites today. Y'all have to let me know. Y'all good with that or not? Whenever. We talk about the podcast for those that I are in my life and we get to chat, but y'all, here we go. We're gonna get started with the content. The word thrive, y'all, we hear the word a lot, but what does it truly mean to thrive? How do we move beyond just getting by to living a life that feels abundant, meaningful, and alive, right? If you've ever felt like you're stuck in survival mode or are ready to step into something greater than, Hey, here we go. I'm hopeful that the content in this episode speaks to you, speaks to your heart and your mind. For real life application, we're gonna explore what it means to thrive and how you can start thriving in your own life today. So with that said, hot take number one leads us to what does it mean to thrive? I wanted to throw the definition in here'cause hey, why not? Former educator here. The definition of thrive is to do well, to flourish or prosper, especially in terms of growth, health, or success. We often hear the adjective of thriving being used to describe folks who are winning at life, don't we? I don't know about y'all, but I'm like, Hey, I'm liking, I wanna be winning at life. We'll hear, I don't know, it's a saying or song, or all I do is win, win, win. You know, and so. Unfortunately, that's not always the case, but I will say that, heck yeah, sign me up for the wins in life. Yeah, every day that ends in why I'm sure we can all relate, and so when we go into thinking about surviving versus thriving, surviving is, man, it's about getting through the day, right? It's just like, whew, man, I'm just trying to. Just trying to, you know, waiting on the time. Right. What time is it so that we can s get out and get on outta here? Right? So if we're, if we're just surviving, we're just trying to get through the day, we're just trying to meet basic needs and doing what you must do to just keep going. Not like the Energizer Bunny. He was thriving. Right? If you remember all of those commercials back in the day, I'm, I'm actually showing my age at this point, of those of you that don't know the Energizer Bunny, then go YouTube. But it is always a, a good time watching those silly little commercials, but thinking about thriving, on the other hand, y'all, rather than surviving th thriving is. About flourishing. It's about living with energy, purpose, and joy. It's when you're not just existing, but truly living. So a key point I wanna make on this is that driving doesn't mean that life is perfect or without challenges. It means you're growing, adapting, and finding fulfillment despite the challenges. And so maybe together right now as you're listening. Well just, I just wanna welcome you to have a quick little self check. Maybe ask yourself, am I just going through the motions or do I feel alive and engaged in my life? Pretty great question to ask yourself. Right? And my next question is, what does thriving look like for me personally, those are just some things to. Make you kind of just stop and think. You might even wanna pause the episode and just stop and, and just think about those. Am I just going through the motions or do I feel alive and engaged in my life? And what does thriving look like for me personally? Couple little questions just to make you go. Hmm. Now hot. Take number two, the mindset of thriving. Y'all. I 100% believe with everything in me that thriving starts in your mind. Thriving is the moment you realize that your thoughts shape your reality. Thriving begins in the mind as a shift in perspective, a quiet but powerful decision to believe in possibility. It starts when you stop seeing yourself as stuck and start seeing challenges as stepping stones. Isn't that a really cool? Visual to stop and think about. I've just seen challenges as stepping stones. You get through each of the stepping stones into the success as you overcome whatever the adversity or the challenges that maybe were laid out along your path, right? It's choosing growth over fear, choosing curiosity over doubt, and choosing purpose over distraction. So when I stop and I think about some good real life application points to be able to take away, how to cultivate a thriving mindset, number one, I believe that focusing on growth is huge. And so with that, I will say for this one liner on this, what is focus on growth, not perfection, focus on growth, not perfection. Some of us that just gives us permission to just take a deep breath, right? Because some of us are like, Hmm, we're trying to dot all the i's cross, all the T's do everything just perfect. And so whenever we stop and we focus on growth, not perfection, then it allows thriving to. Be more tangible, right? I mean, because I think that thriving isn't about having it all figured out. It's about growing and learning every day. And so a quote that I really like that goes with that is, growth is the only evidence of life. Hmm, that's so good. And number two point practice resilience. Practice resilience. Driving requires bouncing back from setbacks. Resilience helps you see challenges as opportunities for growth, and so being willing to bounce back, whenever the going gets tough, the tough get going, right? We've heard those different lines and expressions leading to point number three. I'd love to make is cultivate gratitude. We've talked about gratitude a couple different times in earlier episodes, but gratitude is so important to maintain and to really practice in our life because I truly believe that gratitude shifts your focus from what's lacking to what's already abundant in your life. This mindset is essential for thriving. Isn't that awesome to stop and think about that y'all, we have the power to control our mindset to be able to thrive. Then one way we get to do that is cultivating gratitude and then actively practicing the gift of gratitude that we give ourselves. Now we're gonna jump on into hot take number three, habits of people who Thrive. Thriving isn't just about mindset, it's also about the habits that you build into your life. So we're gonna look at some key habits that help people to thrive, right? We're all about help instead of hurt, right? And just that personal self-growth, and so ways that we can help ourselves. Point number one is prioritize health. Driving starts with taking care of your body, mind, and spirit. This includes. Regular exercise, moving your body, getting up and doing whatever it is. Like my goal is at minimum, I walk two miles a day. I mean, whatever that looks like for you. Also good nutrition, MyFitnessPal app, y'all have just started using it. You might wanna go download it. It is absolutely free in the app store. MyFitnessPal, it's great. It collectively does everything. All I have to do is put in. The food and it breaks down macros and calories and, uh, protein. It, it's just phenomenal. So nutrition, that's a, a good little tool that you might wanna use if you're also like me pursuing being healthier, getting enough sleep, man, that one's not always easy, right? We might be scrolling on our phones. I call it doom scrolling, or we just simply are. Living really, really crazy, busy lives and we don't get in bed until late and then we have to get up early and go through our day and do it all over again. But, so making sure that we include adequate rest and sleep and in doing so, that will also help our mental health. I mean, really it helps us cognitively to be able to, uh, make sure that our hormones are not off balance and all of the things and. So we'll talk a little bit more about that in the future with some more episodes that we're going to kind of break down and, and pull in. But for now, thinking about thriving, just being willing to prioritize your health is huge. Point number two, build meaningful relationships. Connection is key to thriving. We gotta invest in relationships, that uplift and encourage us. And so I'd encourage you to keep being somebody who makes everybody feel like a somebody. Continue to encourage those around you because I truly believe that your encouragement, it breathes life and joy and love and goodness, and so just being intentional about connecting with others will also help to thrive. Remember, thriving isn't a solo journey. Hmm. Sometimes I need that reminder'cause a lot of my life feels pretty solo. But when you just stop and you allow people to also love you back and support you is a huge way to be able to grow as you go. And number three, embrace purpose. People who thrive have a clear sense of purpose. They know what they value and pursue it intentionally. So sweet friends, I hope that you'll be pursuing with great intent of whatever it is that you feel called to do, asking yourself maybe even the question of what brings me joy and meaning. I don't know if you've ever stopped and ask yourself that before, but maybe right now's a great time on this podcast is to ask yourself, huh, what brings me joy and meaning, and then how can I spend more time? Doing those things'cause those are gonna be life giving for you. And so I am hopeful that some of these questions, as I throw them out, I will tell y'all as I develop this content, I ask myself these same things and so know that I'm cheering you on as we together truly are growing as we're going. Number four, set goals and take action. Driving people don't just dream, right? They act they set meaningful goals and take consistent steps toward them. So with that, I'll say start small, but stay consistent. And so with whatever it is you're trying to do, hey, do a little bit at a time, right? Just consistently just doing the next thing. And now, sweet friends, we're gonna jump into hot take number four. Barriers to thriving. Because unfortunately, there are some barriers that may prevent us from feeling like we are able to thrive as quickly as we truly hope. And some of those barriers make us feel more like we're just. Surviving, right. You know, we're not thriving, we're surviving, and so when we go through and we just think about how thriving may feel out of reach because of the barriers that we face, like let's kind of talk through what does those look like, just from some examples that'll kind of help you get your nogging and your wheels turning of thinking through so that you can also identify what is it that you are having in your mind, as I call it stinking thinking. That may be preventing you from thriving because hey, you're allowing this barrier to have power and prevent you from your purpose or what you feel passionate about doing. And so the first one up is fear of failure. Mm. That one will kind of feels like we just got like a little hit in our knee, doesn't it? Right. That's real for all of us. I don't care who you are, you're listening to this. You've had fear of failure in your life. We all have. I mean, because we're human. I truly believe that fear keeps many of us stuck in survival mode. Driving requires taking risk and driving requires us to embrace the possibility of failure as a part of growth. And so maybe listening to this encourages you to give yourself permission to take some risks. To try really hard to not allow fear to hold you down, weigh you down, and keep you from stepping into what you feel called to do. Great things, new things. It doesn't even have to be big things, you know? I mean, just whatever it is that you desire to pursue as a change chaser. So then the second barrier is burnout. Driving is impossible if you're constantly overworked. Or overwhelmed. Rest and renewal are essential. So friends, I'll say, I know, um, man, this is not always easy for me. So maybe you're like me and you need to ask yourself, am I giving myself permission to rest, rest? What's that right? No, but in all seriousness, when we stop and we think about it with the perspective that rest helps usher in renewal, another positive way to combat failure and burnout is to be mindful of what you say to yourself. And so the third barrier is negative self-talk. The way that you speak to yourself matters. I wanna encourage you, I wanna challenge you, but I also wanna celebrate you for believing that you're going to be putting into practice these things and these ways of being able to grow as we are going together, right? These tactics. And so the sense of recognizing like the way that you speak to yourself matters. And so replace the self doubt with affirmations that remind you of. Your worth and your potential. So I made a little list, a short little five to thrive, so to speak here. In thinking about just the idea of getting you started, of thinking about, and for you to be able to personalize on your own, but number one, as an idea of allowing this to be something that motivates you. In thinking about that, you can say, I am enough, just as I am. Two, I have everything I need within me to succeed. Number three, my potential is limitless. Number four, I am worthy of love, success, and happiness. And number five, I release fear and I welcome growth. Those are just five quick little things I put together to get you thinking about ways to help you. Thrive. I sincerely am cheering you on as you form your own positive self-talk affirmations. And so now sweet friends, if we're gonna jump on into hot take number five. We got five and thrive all up in here today, don't we? But so looking at how do we start thriving today? What does this look like? And so I'm gonna share with you that we've got three specific points on this one. The number one is thinking about, reflect on what thriving means to you. Well, thriving really looks different for everyone, so I will encourage you take time to define what it means to you. Write down, what does a thriving life look like and what does it feel like? You know what I'm saying? Like you feel like you know when you feel good and you know when you feel bad. You know, whenever you are just like, oh, you feel deflated and defeated. And so I just wanna encourage you a thinking about, hey, what breeds life? What makes literally your heart like flitter? Like, oh, you get so excited about something. Write those things down. We don't always have to look to the negative. Like, let's look to the positive saying, what does thriving look like and how do I feel? Whenever it's something that you feel like you're just doing well, right? Something that breeds joy in life, and so that's something that maybe you need to spend more time doing because you're thriving. Number two, change chasers. It's okay to start small. So, hey, change chaser listening. On the other side of this, it is okay to start small, but you gotta start now the NOW time, right? I don't know if you ever thought about this, but if you reverse the letters in now, then you get the word one WON. So woo hoo. So if you start now, then eventually you will get that win, which will turn into past tense one, you know? But in all seriousness, you don't have to overhaul your life overnight. Choose one area to focus on, be it your health, relationships, purpose or mindset. And then take one small step today, but start today figuring all of that out, whatever it is, the one thing, right? And then again, talking about number three, celebrate progress. We had celebration in there last week. I wanted to bring it all back because I truly believe that. If we can celebrate progress, not perfection, it's a game changer. This one feels like a gift that has a big red bow on it. To me, y'all, the whole idea of celebrating progress, not perfection, it truly is. Ah, it, it's like I can just see it. It's like this big, beautiful gift with a big red bow because progress over perfection. To me is so freeing is to think about, oh man, I don't have to have it all together. I don't have to know exactly what I'm doing, but just choosing to continue to make progress, right? Choosing to focus on progress over perfection truly is a gift that we give ourselves. I believe this truly with all of my heart, y'all, I've always struggled with trying to do things perfectly, and so it sometimes has slowed me down in making progress, and I'm probably willing to, Bet you'll order a large fries from Zaxby's that you can relate. So in thinking though about the content for this episode, I thought that, you know, thriving is a journey. It's not a destination. And that came to me and I thought me, that is pretty stinking good right there. That is powerful. And the whole idea of that statement of knowing that thriving is a journey, not a destination. Y'all. The last episode we talked about shift, shake, and celebrate. So that leads me to reiterate the importance of taking time to celebrate. We celebrate little kids and birthdays and that kind of thing, but how many times do we celebrate our personal successes in our life? Right? So whenever you're listening to this, I hope you're being inspired to think about maybe some stuff you wanna change up. Celebrate your progress. All right? Whatever that looks like for you. But celebrate, tell somebody you know, and just letting them know, like, and that way you've got your own little cheering squad and everybody is getting you through.'cause we're so much better with connection as we've already talked about and friendship. And so every step forward, no matter how small is a reason to celebrate. And so I was thinking about somebody that. Has lived a life that,, if you don't know the backstory on this person, then you'll be surprised to hear it probably. But we're gonna go into a quick little story time about a modest writer. This modest writer became a world renowned author. You ever heard of JK Rowling? Yep. Some of you're like, oh yeah, I'm a huge Harry Potter fan. All of the people might say. Unfortunately, I've never gotten into it, so I hope that's, it's not gonna disappoint or offend some of y'all. But for all of y'all that are big fans, then you're gonna like this tidbit. But I found it really interesting to know that before Harry Potter, JK Row was a single mother living on welfare, battling depression, and she was struggling to make ends meet. She wrote her manuscript in cafes while her daughter slept beside her. 12 publishers rejected her book before one finally said yes. That one yes. Turned into, as we all know, a global phenomenon. And today she's one of the most successful authors in history. And I'll just say maybe even the most successful author. With an estimated net worth of$1 billion. Holy smokes. On fire, right y'all, her story reminds us that when you believe in your vision and you don't give up those first four 11 rejections, she didn't quit, right? She continued to go and persevere, and finally on that 12th she got her yes, for the publishing of her book. And so I hope this encourages you to think about that when you believe in your vision and you don't give up, that, hey, even rock bottom can be the foundation for something magical, for something moving you with momentum into the moment that you are meant to live in. And so when I think about J K's story, I think, gosh, it's an awesome reminder that thriving is possible for everyone. It's not about where you start, but about your willingness to grow and embrace the journey, taking the next step, choosing to do the next thing. And with that, y'all, like, I'm trying to throw in some sound bites, keeping everybody awake here, right? As I'm being mouth of the south, I'm gonna close this thing out here. Uh, we're gonna wrap up in just a moment, but I will tell you that I'm thinking so truly from my heart that driving isn't about having a perfect life. It's about choosing growth. It's about embracing purpose. And it's about finding joy in the process, allowing yourself to have progress over perfection. Hopefully that one liner will stick with all of us today out of this episode. Hopefully, it's a takeaway. Maybe you're gonna hashtag it on a post that you're gonna pop out on your own personal socials later today that you're going to have progress over. Perfection. Name it, claim it, win it. Let's go.! Thriving is about showing up every day. Showing up every single day with intention. And also, I don't, I think we, we gotta show up with gratitude too. And so thinking through that, just knowing that even in the hard seasons, you're building something beautiful. And as you are building your, something new, your something beautiful. I wanna encourage you to speak with yourself with kindness, speaking to yourself with kindness and imagining better outcomes, right? Give yourself permission to want more. Again, I truly believe that it's not about perfection, it's about believing you're worthy of progress and joy. Form that type of mindset and y'all actions will follow confidence builds. Habits align and life begins to reflect the vision you dared to create in your mind in the first place. So change chasers our challenge for this week in our three point deal C3. Time. Number one, reflect on one area of your life where you feel stuck in survival mode. Figure that out. Write it down. Number two, write down one small action step you can take to move forward and thriving in that area. So write it down. Figure out, okay, you've identified it now, what's your plan? What are some steps forward that you can change surviving to thriving? Number three, share your progress, celebrate. Let somebody else know that's a safe person in your circle. Just let'em know like, Hey, this is my new project, or this is my new goal that I'm really, I'm looking to try to do. And then that way somebody else is linking arms with you, so to speak, and cheering you on. Remember, we're better together. So in the closing quote, I'd love to leave with you guys, is that thriving is not about avoiding challenges. It's about growing through them and coming out stronger, wiser, and more fulfilled. I think I just had a little faux pa there. I double tap that button, but I'll just say, Hey friends. Thanks for joining me on this episode of the Change Chasers podcast. If you found today's episode meaningful, then I hope you'll share it with a friend. And if you haven't subscribed or hit follow, I think is what it is on Apple Podcast, then I hope you'll do so and I'll go ahead and say, thanks for doing that. Let's keep thriving together. Taking one step, one goal, one accomplishment at a time. So sweet friends. Until next time, let's keep growing as we're going, or I'll leave you with this that you may even want to embrace my mantra for this year, which is. Thrive in 2025. Make it cool. Turn it into a t-shirt, hashtag it, whatever it is, but allow that sweet friends to be a part of your everyday life and your mental mindset of saying, let's go. We are going to thrive in 2025. Keep chasing, change and living with purpose. Goodbye sweet friends.