Mo Balance™

Shift Over Survival

• Monique Sequeira • Season 2 • Episode 1

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We share why the mic went quiet and how a gentle reset replaced loud resolutions. The theme is shifting from survival mode to sustainable balance through nervous system regulation and emotional honesty.

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SPEAKER_00:

Hey, hey, beautiful people. Welcome to season two of the Mo Balanced More Life with Mo podcast, where we talk about topics supporting a more balanced life. I'm your girl Mo, and in today's episode, we will discuss the shift season, which is a part of our shifting series. But before we dive in, let's do a quick post check. And I hope everyone is doing well and having a blessed week thus far. You know, the weather here has me feeling like I am ready to relocate. We haven't gotten this much snow in years. And these freezing cold temps, it's either relocating or time to plan a vacation because I am fed up. But for now, I am warming up with a nice cup of tea. I got my candle lit and of course my fave sholi biscuits. So I'm ready to vibe out with my listeners. Most importantly, I just want to say I appreciate these Wednesdays because it's that midweek treat. And I realized during my downtime, Wednesdays became wellness for me. So even if I knew my week was starting out hectic, I could depend on taking my Wednesdays to refocus, reframe, and reset the week flow. But let's just say sometimes it can still be a little bit challenging, but we hold on to that hope. So listen, everybody, the weekend soon reached. So hang in there. But I know you're probably out of work or on your way to work, finishing up some of those school assignments, getting the kids situated, or maybe they're just driving you a little crazy. But either way, I am glad you are sharing your time with me. So put some volume on that Bluetooth, grab your favorite breath, go hang out or get together with your girls or your guys, whatever your podcast routine is, get comfortable. Celeste get this time to reconnect with each other. Cause uh it's been a while, you know. It's been a while since I've been behind the mic. And let me tell you, I've missed it. And I owe it to my listeners to explain my absence. Um, I was receiving a lot of where did you go? Why did you disappear? And honestly, I just had to step back momentarily. And that's why this episode is called Shift, because that's exactly what the season has been for me. So it was more of me having to step back intentionally. I needed a reset, not just from my podcast, you know, because my podcast is my outlet, but more from my patterns and the pressure and the pace that I was moving. I didn't want another repeated year. I wanted something different. I wanted a shift. And as I mentioned in my first season, I speak from experience. So these episodes are a part of my testimony. And at that time, I had to get a grasp on the direction in which my life was going because, of course, we're all moving at a rapid pace. And the content that I wanted to push just didn't sit right in my spirit at that time. I knew I was going through some things and I had so much more to offer. But in order for me to put out the content that was needed, I had to begin with working on me first. And I'm not just here to speak because I have a mouth. I'm here to share my walk, you know, my journey to balance in hopes that it could reach someone and support a new direction in their journey. So that's why it was so crucial for me to make sure that I was more regulated before stepping out. So I had thought really long and hard on what I wanted this first episode to be like. Um, and it's the top of the year. So I was like, let's talk about these New Year's resolutions. But honestly, New Year's resolutions are often made from emotions, and emotions fluctuate. We start the year and we're making these promises to ourselves when we're super motivated and hopeful or just overwhelmed, and we feel like, okay, great. Now I feel our nervous system just can't seem to keep up this race, and we drop out. And that is why I try to stay away from making those New Year's resolutions and don't really believe in them. If anything, I believe more in a reset because with resets, we are embodied. Um resets include rest, um, involves awareness, involves God and body alignment. And that's exactly what I needed in my time. I knew that I didn't want for my reset to be this dramatic, loud reset, you know. I wanted it to be just a soft moment when I'm listening to my body, being more aware spiritually and focusing on what I'm trying to build. So I didn't want to come back and be louder or, you know, anything other than being more wise, which ties into being more regulated. And when you're more regulated, your nervous system is able to rest, and there's more emotional honesty. Let me tell you what that actually means. Because sometimes we think growth has to look big and visible, but for me, growth looked quiet, it looked like paying attention to things I used to push through. It meant learning about regulation and honesty. I didn't even realize how dysregulated I had been over the years while still functioning well. Because regulation isn't about being calm all the time, it's about being able to return to yourself when life pulls you out of balance. Um, I started realizing that I wasn't tired because I was weak. I wasn't tired because my body had been in survival mode for a long time. I was in survival mode and it just doesn't shut off because life looks good on the outside, and that's where I started understanding the nervous system changes everything, and it changed everything for me. Because our nervous system is constantly scanning for safety or danger space, even when we don't notice it. So when you've spent years being responsible and strong and needed and holding everything together, your body learns to stay alert even when there's no emergency. That was me. And when I finally slowed down, I realized something else that was even harder to face. I hadn't been practicing emotional honesty, not with other people, but with myself. It just moves them into the body, and eventually the body speaks. The headaches, the burnout, the irritability, the emotional numbness, exhaustion, that sleep that doesn't fix anything. That wasn't failure, that was communication. And once I started listening to those signals, instead of fighting them, I realized something really important. If I wanted the life I was building to last, it had to be sustainable. And sustainability means creating a life that your body and your spirit and your mind can actually maintain, not just for a season, but for long term. It means a balance over burnout, consistency over intensity, honesty over performance. And that's really what this shift has been for me. Not doing less because I'm giving up, doing things differently because I want to stay whole. Not doing the less, not the giving up, but when you do things differently, now you can be presenting yourself differently as that whole human being that you're striving to be. And in the midst of all of this, I realized something else. In order for us to journey toward balance, we have to be honest with where we're going. And also honest about where we are right now. Sometimes we say we want peace, but we're still choosing patterns that keep us overwhelmed. Sometimes we say we want rest, but we're still trying to show our worth and be productive. Sometimes we say we want healing, but we're afraid to acknowledge what's really hurting us. And emotional honesty can be uncomfortable because it removes the mask we've learned to wear just to keep moving. Being honest might look like admitting a few things. Like I'm more tired than I thought, but I've been carrying things that were never mine, or I don't know who I am outside of being needed. Most importantly, I've been surviving so well that I forgot what living balanced even feels like. That kind of honesty doesn't weaken you, it actually creates the first safe space needed for your healing to begin. If you can't regulate what you refuse to acknowledge, you can't sustain a life that's built on avoidance. And you can't find balance if you're constantly performing strength instead of living in truth. So for me, being honest meant admitting that I couldn't keep building a life that looked successful but felt exhausting to maintain. It meant acknowledging that I needed slower rhythms, stronger boundaries, deeper faith, and more compassion for myself. And that's the thing about balance. Balance isn't something you achieve once and keep forever. No, it's something you practice, it's something you return to, it's something that changes as your life changes. So this journey, this shift, isn't about becoming perfect or suddenly having everything figured out. It's about learning how to pause long enough to ask yourself honest questions and trusting that the answers don't have to be immediate. They just have to be true. And that's why I knew when I came back, this podcast couldn't just be motivation. It had to be honest, it had to be regulated, and most importantly, it had to be sustainable. So I'm not here to tell anyone what to do or how they should do it, or I have more all the answers because honestly, I'm here walking with you. And if you're in a season where your body is asking for something different, don't feel like you're feeling, you know, you're being invited, invited into a new season, a way to shift your thoughts and your process and everything that you've been doing. And that's why in this series, we will be real and we will be raw because we're journeying together. For me this year, I'm choosing this shift over survival mode, resetting over rushing and alignment over urgency. So if you're here, you're not late, you're right on time, and I'm so glad that you're here with me. Welcome to the family. Well, I hope that you enjoyed yourself today. And if you did, please, please make sure to share, like, and download my podcast. You can check me out on YouTube at Mo Balance or on Instagram at Mo underscoreBalance underscore. Or you can join my balance group on the Geneva app where we stay connected and updated and share comments and topics on things you would like to be discussed this season. So remember to check back next week and every Wednesday for more wellness episodes, more life.