Season 2: (Episode 37) Inner Applause: Turning Nerves into Your Greatest Cheerleader

What if the nervousness you feel when trying something new isn’t fear—but confirmation? In this episode of Change Chasers, we’re flipping the script on anxiety and introducing a new perspective: Inner Applause. Learn how to reinterpret those butterflies as excitement, momentum, and proof that you’re stepping into something meaningful. Through relatable stories, practical mindset shifts, and 5 powerful HOT TAKES, you’ll walk away ready to embrace the unknown with peace and confidence.

Next Week’s Series Start Up: Link for the FREE ASSESSMENT to learn your Primal Question: https://primalquestion.typeform.com/to/DmcABGY6?typeform-source=www.primalquestion.com

#ChangeChasers #InnerApplause #MindsetShift #GrowthJourney #PurposeDriven #FearToFuel #SelfGrowth #FaithOverFear #PersonalDevelopment #StepIntoIt

Faith in Action // Change in Motion

Transcript

0:17

Well, hey, hey, hey. Welcome back, Change Chasers. I am so thankful for the gift of your time. Thanks for tuning in for another episode As we continue to try to rock out this Change Chaser podcast, we are consistently pursuing purpose and growth and leaning into the process of becoming everything and everyone who we are called to be. So with that said, today's episode, I want to encourage you, if you'll join me in a little journey here of embracing a mindset shift that I hope you're gonna grab hold of, and that it's gonna be a blessing to you. And the reason why I developed the content for this episode, of it being called Inner Applause, is because I have consistently been doing life with people, or meeting people, and as I travel and I get to speak and, uh, things like that, that I have found out that so many people have, just a lot of butterflies, so to speak, a lot of what they label as anxiety. And people tell me often, "There is no way I could do that." And so I thought, "You know what? I wanna encourage people of maybe shifting the way you're thinking just a bit," because I believe you can. I think that so much of us get caught up in thinking that we can't do something, and we think less than ourselves. And so I wanna kinda hopefully put out an episode that's gonna help all of you guys, myself as well, but us together as change chasers to think about that, man, inner applause could actually be different than anxiety. And so with that said, I'll kinda lean into the idea that we may all call inside those little... Like, we'll get butterflies. Have you heard that before? It's like, "Oh, my gosh, I have butterflies in my stomach." Maybe you get a racing heart, a slight shakiness in your voice. Um, you're picking up what I'm putting down, right? That whenever you're trying or you're attempting to be trying something new, that I wanna say, what if I told you the idea, though, that maybe all of that is not fear? What if it's your body's way of saying, "Let's go. This matters." You're alive. You're stepping into something meaningful. So it sounds pretty cool, right? And so hopefully that's setting the tone a bit for this episode. I do know, unfortunately, though, that all of us, you know, we do come from different circumstances. Life experiences will condition how we perceive what is happening to us, and information. And so with that said, I know that many of us have been conditioned to label that type of feeling as anxiety, as something negative, and as something to avoid. But what if we've been mislabeling it wrong? Or not completely in the way that it could be used in a positive way this whole time? What if those sensations that you're actually feeling within your internal system, what if you embrace the idea that they are cheering you on? Not panic, but applause. Now, you may think I'm corny for saying all of this, but I really do believe that this word the Lord's given me for this episode, that'll be relatable for you, and hopefully it'll have a connection for your own life for you to be able to kinda grow and think through a different positive way of thinking about what you're going through and what you experience. So with that said, I wanna share a story with you. There's a, a girl, we're gonna call her name Sarah, and Sarah had always felt like she had been called to step into something bigger, and we had an episode about that, right? Um, of, uh, being, you know, just dreaming, believing bigger here a couple episodes back. But so anyway, Sarah was dreaming about... She just felt called to step into something bigger. She had ideas, she had dreams. Uh, she even had a deep desire to speak and encourage others. But every time that an opportunity came up, whether it was speaking at a small group or maybe even being on a podcast episode, or even just sharing her thoughts, her body would react. Now, as you hear that, you might be connecting with this Sarah person of going, "Oh my goodness," raising your hand like, "Whoo, that is me." Because Sarah, what would happen with her is that her heart would race, her hands would get clammy. Her thoughts would spiral into questions such as, "What if I mess up? What if I'm not enough? What if I'm not good enough? What if I don't say the right thing? What if people judge me?" So what did Sarah do? She avoided it again and again and again. Until one day she heard someone say this: "Your nervous system doesn't know the difference between fear and excitement." Wow. Now that's something. Have you ever heard that before, that your nervous system doesn't know the difference between fear and excitement? Y'all, that stopped Sarah in her tracks. And so I'm just thinking about that for real-life application, that if it stopped her in her tracks, then also could it do the same for us? So for her and her story as it goes, is that the next time she felt that same rush, instead of shrinking, she paused, and she said out loud, "Wait, what if this is excitement?" Y'all, and then everything changed for Sarah. She still felt the same sensations, but she learned how to channel that energy differently. And so now she gets to feel that excitement as opposed to labeling it as anxiety, and she chooses to embrace this as excitement within her, and it rejuvenates her energy levels. It feels more like anticipation, like possibility And so for Sarah, it was a game changer. That night, whenever she chose to have that mindset mantra, she said yes to speaking at an event. And even though her voice shook a little at first, something shifted halfway through. She realized the feeling didn't go away, but it needed to, and she thought it needed to, but in reality, it didn't have to because she learned how to use that for a positive way of internal energy and internal applause, so to speak, as I'm labeling it. She learned that all of the butterflies from within was her internal cheerleader because she chose to embrace that, of like she could do this, right? That she could turn her nerves into her greatest cheerleader. And so she learned that in having the courage to step out and to do the hard things that she felt called to do, she learned that how she was feeling wasn't her enemy. It was her evidence. And with that, that she learned that she could finish and do hard things. And so it is so awesome because that first night of Sarah speaking, her story goes that she didn't just hear applause from the room, she got to feel applause from within. And so just sharing a little snippet about a girl named Sarah that I know, y'all. I hope it encourages you as well to know that she chose to reclaim her energy, so to speak, and channel her inner applause. And so that's what we're talking about today is inner applause. Not waiting for external validation, but recognizing that your body is already rooting for you. Almost kinda like you're at a sporting event with a, "Woohoo, woohoo, woo. Let's go," right? Um, and so just thinking through that, like how is your body rooting for you? And it's always about a pivot of perspective and how we think about... And so with that, it has me wanting us to go ahead and jump on in to hot take number one. Your nerves are not a stop sign, they're a green light. And so what I mean by that is that, you know, you might be in a place where, you know, if you feel nothing, then you're probably playing it safe, and that's been all of us sometimes, right? We play it safe. We don't like to feel uncomfortable. But y'all, whenever your heart starts beating faster, like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, right? I think I actually have a soundbite on my, um, awesome mix cast here, but, um, I won't, you know, make you feel like you're listening to a four-year-old here doing this. But, oh, for real, like your, your racing heart, like beating faster, like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. That's activation. That's alignment. That's your body saying, "Hey, this matters. Lean in." And so I encourage you on top take number two, hey, listen, allow your nerves to not be a stop sign, but let them be a green light. Hot take number two, excitement and anxiety feel the same. Your interpretation determines your experience. Same racing heart, same adrenaline, But one thought shift changes everything. So how are you gonna let that thought process shift to change everything? You can say maybe going from, "I'm scared," whoo, shaking in my boots, right? To, "I'm excited" and then suddenly you're not shrinking, you're stepping forward. And so I wanna encourage you there with hot take number two, excitement and anxiety can feel the same, but your interpretation determines your experience. Leading us on in, jumping into hot take number three, inner applause creates productivity and peace. So when you stop fighting the feeling, you stop draining your energy trying to calm down. Instead, you learn how to channel it. You move, you act, you create, and oddly enough, that's where peace comes in. Because peace isn't always stillness, sometimes it's confidence in motion. So I wanna encourage you there with hot take number three to allow your inner applause to create productivity and peace. I always say, "Sign me up for extra peace and extra fries." Can I get an amen, right? Oh, in all seriousness, y'all, I'm excited to share hot take number four with you is that you don't need to eliminate the feeling that you're having. Perhaps maybe you just need to learn how to reframe it. Stop trying to get rid of the nerves because unfortunately, real talk, they're not leaving. Ask me how I know, right? They're not leaving because they're part of growth. Instead, I wanna encourage you to try this. The next time that you feel very nervous, then maybe embrace the idea that, "This is my inner applause. This means I'm doing something brave, and this is proof that I'm growing." With that thought process, I wanna encourage you as you do that and you practice that, watch how your body responds differently. Hot take number five, the life that you want lives on the other side of that feeling. Every opportunity, every next level, every breakthrough is wrapped in that same sensation. So if you keep avoiding that feeling, then I do truly believe you'll keep avoiding the life that you desire to live. But if you embrace it, you unlock everything that is waiting for you, sweet friends. So just thinking through a, a practical, maybe some fun ways to be able to embrace inner applause and know how to practice this, to put it for real-life application so that you truly can grow and turn your nerves into your greatest cheerleader. Just thinking through maybe, I mean, gosh, I don't know. I'm just throwing some stuff out here that Maybe you can try clapping for yourself. Like, whoo, right? Just physically before stepping into something new, give yourself a literal clap, just like I just did, right? I mean, it is so important to do that because physically, that actionable step is also helping to rewire your brain. Give yourself maybe a hype talk. Like, you're your own coach, right? You can, you can get into the mirror possibly even and be like, "You were made for this. Let's go," you know, and do your deepest voice and throw your hands in the air or point at yourself in the mirror. I mean, I know that sounds cheesy, but I will tell y'all, when I first started doing public speaking, I was nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof, and so I would practice all of my messages in my bathroom mirror, and I would set up like a box or something to have my printed out speech right there on top of the box so I could look down and see it, but I would try to make eye contact in the mirrors, pretending like there was an audience. And so I mean, I'm just being for real with you guys, that that's how I got better, right? I, I built my confidence up and I would start noticing, oh, I need to look up more, and then as I got more comfortable with my message that I was delivering and I would learn how to articulate better and where to pause and all of that. So I mean, whatever it takes for us, right? So maybe you wanna be your own best coach, and you hype yourself up with telling yourself great things, positive things. Like, "Let's go," right? "You were made to do this." Like, you know, and just stepping into that because I also just truly believe that it's possible. Um, maybe you need to move your body some. Shake out the nerves, so to speak. I've saw people do that where they take their shoulders and... And I'm actually doing it right now. You guys can't see me, but shaking it, shake it, shake your fingertips, you know, and be able to get some of that nervous energy out that way. Also, you can smile at yourself in the mirror. Maybe use your cellphone, put it on selfie mode, give a quick little smile, and be like, "I'm looking good," right? Um, whatever it takes, right? Tell yourself, say, "I am proud of you for trying." Positive self-talk, right? Because we've gotta stop the stinking thinking and we've gotta quit professing negative self-talk against our, ourselves, right? Because y'all, we hear 100% of everything that we say, and so I wanna encourage you, of thinking through. Like, maybe creating a let's go song playlist that signals excitement, not fear. So whatever your power ballad musics are, if you're, you know, an '80s fan or if you like Forrest Frank right now, Rocking Out, Rolling Out, like whatever it is, like put together the music that hypes you up and pumps you up. Like, whatever it takes, right? Because I also wanna be very clear, though, that I know That it might seem cheesy and you might not really be buying in. I'm not trying to create this as a process of pretending that you're not nervous. It's not that at all. I'm just choosing to rechannel our energy, right? Is that it tells us that when we study the brain, that our brain uses the same sensors, same, you know, same nervous system part to be able to be fearful or to be able to be excited. And so encouraging you to just stop and just think about choosing a better story for what you want and for what really makes you feel better. And so I think if we stay in negative thinking, then it can affect us all over, right? It can affect our health even. But if we are positive and we continue to speak great things, so like when I don't feel good, I'll walk around and I'll say, "I feel great, I feel fine. Nobody get in line." And so maybe that's something that you might wanna say as well. Like, I'm just consistently and constantly speaking positively. I'm constantly speaking positive statements over my life and my body, my soul, all the things, right? And so I wanna encourage you that as you're listening, I do just wanna be real and say that if you take anything away from today, I do hope that you will let it be this: that you are not broken for feeling nervous. You are alive. You are stepping into growth, and your body is not trying to hold you back. It's trying to propel you forward. And that feeling, that's not fear. That's your inner applause. It's all about how we choose to frame things, right? It's all about our perspective, friends. And so the next time that your inner applause sh- shows up just for you, don't run, don't shrink, don't second guess. I wanna encourage you, pause, smile and say, "Thank you. Let's go Right? It's as simple as that, sweet friends. I wanna encourage you of choosing to turn your nerves into your greatest cheerleader. That's what a change chaser does, and that is what we will consistently seek to try to do. I'm right there with you in the trenches, digging deep to hopefully continue to keep chasing change and growth and embracing the process, and stepping boldly into every single thing that we are called to do, sweet friends. I wanna encourage you, though, to always remember that the applause that you're waiting for, mm, it might already be happening inside you. Lean in, pay attention, pause, and then praise, right? And just give yourself a, the most positive little pep talk that you can. And so I'm gonna go ahead and sign off. I wanna say that I thank you for listening today. I do want to encourage you to come back next week, as we're going to start our new series. We're staying in season two, but I'm gonna do like a seven to eight week long episode. I mean, it's not gonna be the same episode, but it's gonna be a different... seven to eight episode series breaking down the seven primal questions using both the book and inspiration of author Mike Foster as he guides us on how to take control of the hidden forces that drive you. I hope that you will enjoy diving into all of that information with me because I annually, every June actually, retake the primal question quiz to see what my primal question is currently so that I can continue understanding how and why I respond the way that I do, especially in the moments that are refining me. I hope that you will jump back here to listen again next week because y'all, I sincerely do count it as a true privilege to speak into your life. As you go through your week, I want to wish you the best day and the best blessings and momentum to help you to continue to flip the script on anxiety and live with a new perspective. I am so excited to jump in with our new topic next week. I'm going to attach in the show notes for you to know how to go take your self-assessment as well so that you'll know what your primal question is as we begin this series of the seven primal questions. Friends, it is always such a joy, such a privilege, such an honor to get to spend time with you. So thanks for the gift of your time, and I will say as we do on every episode, hey y'all, let's keep chasing change and living with purpose. Goodbye, sweet friends.