EP 151: Breaking Scarcity Cycles: How to Shift from Survival Mode to Abundance Mindset

Scarcity isn’t just about money—it’s a deeply ingrained pattern that can shape the way you approach time, relationships, energy, and your sense of self-worth. It keeps you in survival mode, constantly striving, chasing, and feeling like there’s never enough.

But here’s the truth: scarcity is not your identity—it’s a learned cycle. And cycles can be broken.

In this episode, Jessica Read unpacks how scarcity subtly influences your life and business and offers practical, soul-aligned strategies to help you step into a state of abundance, ease, and trust.

If you’ve ever felt trapped in “not enough”—not enough time, money, clients, energy, or space—this episode will show you how to shift from survival mode to expansion so you can start thriving instead of just getting by.

Key Takeaways:

✨ How Scarcity Patterns Show Up in Your Life

• Scarcity isn’t just financial—it impacts your time, relationships, creativity, and energy.
• Noticing where scarcity is showing up is the first step to releasing it.

✨ Why Survival Mode Keeps You Small

• When your nervous system is stuck in fight, flight, or freeze, you operate from fear, not trust.
• Learn how to shift from reaction to creation by grounding yourself in safety.

✨ The Energy of Abundance is About Trust

• Abundance isn’t about external conditions—it’s a vibration, a belief, a way of being.
• When you trust that life is supporting you, you shift from striving to receiving.

✨ Daily Practices to Cultivate an Abundance Mindset

• The power of gratitude to amplify what’s already here.
• How to embody the energy of “more than enough” in your everyday life.
• Why giving from overflow (not obligation) expands your ability to receive.

✨ Expanding Your Capacity to Receive

• Every time you trust, take aligned action, or release old stories, you expand your ability to hold more—more success, more freedom, more ease.

Reflection Questions (from the Episode):

• Where is scarcity showing up in your life, and how is it keeping you small?
• What would shift if you fully trusted that there’s always enough for you?
• What’s one small way you can embody abundance today?

JOIN THE SOUL-LED SUCCESS ACADEMY WAITLIST HERE: https://www.inspiredlifecollective.com.au/academy-waitlist

Transcript

squadcaster-jj5c_1_01-30-2025_092103: 0:00

Scarcity isn't just about money. It's actually a pattern, a mindset, and a vibration that shows up in every corner of your life. And what if I told you that abundance isn't something that you chase? It's actually something that you embody. Let's explore today how to break free from scarcity cycles and how to step into the energy of true expansion. Welcome to Alive and Thriving. This is where we blend soulful transformation, intuitive leadership, and energetics to help you create a business and be the embodied entrepreneur, creating the life. That feels luminous, abundant, and deeply aligned with your truth. Now I have something really exciting to quickly share with you today. As I record this episode, it actually marks the end of an era for alive and thriving. Don't worry. The podcast is not going anywhere next week. I'm going to announce a beautiful, exciting. Elevating rebrand that I just cannot wait to share with you. So I just kind of wanted to take a moment to really sit and reflect, you know, that alive and thriving has gotten all of us as we listen to all these amazing episodes. To where we are now. And I'm so excited to share the next chapter with you. The content is only going to get better. Everything is just moving. It is shifting. My whole business is entering a new era and it is just so exciting. So stay tuned for that. I will share. Everything on next week's episode, but today we are going to dive into scarcity and we're going to talk about how it quietly weaves itself into not just your finances, but your decisions, your relationships, your sense of worth. Scarcity tells you that there's never enough, that there's not enough, that there, you know, if somebody has something that you can't. It tells you that there's not enough time, not enough money, not enough energy, not enough space for your dreams. It keeps you stuck in survival mode, and it keeps you chasing more, while never actually feeling truly fulfilled. Here is a shift I want to offer you today. Scarcity is not your truth. It's a cycle, it is a story, and it is a vibration. That you have learned and there are aspects of my life that I am still unlearning this Aspects of my life that I didn't even realize I was operating from a space of scarcity But I promise that you can unlearn it because abundance isn't just about wealth. It's not just about money. It's about freedom expansion health love the energy of trusting that life is working with you not against you The energy of trusting that things are unfolding for you, not to you. So in this episode, we'll explore how scarcity patterns show up in your life beyond money. Why survival mode is keeping you small and keeping you disconnected from that beautiful abundance and actionable ways that you can shift your, sorry, shift into the energy of abundance so that you can stop striving, start thriving. By the end of this episode, you're going to feel empowered to break free from scarcity. You are going to step into a more expansive and abundant way of living. So let's dive in. If we haven't met yet, my name is Jessica Raid. I am an intuitive business mentor and alternative therapist. I have over 17 years of Entrepreneurial experience. And now I help soulful entrepreneurs release scarcity patterns, align their energy and create success from a place of wholeness and authenticity. Now I know what it feels like to live in survival mode, but lead me. I have spent the better part of the last, oh gosh, I don't know. Like probably since I was about 17, 18. Living in that space. And so I also understand what it feels like to be constantly running, hustling, proving yourself, feeling like fear is standing in your way, feeling like there is not enough of something to support you. But I also know how life shifts when you begin to trust that you are supported. When you begin to trust that you are here to create an impact. And today I really want to help you create that shift. Scarcity isn't just about your bank account, it's a pattern that touches every part of your life. Scarcity is rooted in the belief that there is never enough. It creates a lens through which you see lack, even in moments of plenty. And here is some ways that it can show up. It can show up in your time, feeling like there is never enough time, always rushing, multitasking, struggling to be present in the moment. It can show up in your relationships, over giving or people pleasing because you fear rejection, or believe that love is conditional. Again, that's coming back to not enough. Over delivering for your clients because you fear that they might choose somebody else who you perceive is better than you. Or you perceive as, you know, whatever you are less than is coming from that scarcity mindset that there is not enough clients for all of you. It can show up in your energy when you're pushing yourself to exhaustion because rest feels indulgent or unproductive. I know that was a huge belief that I had to break. I could do a whole episode on that. I literally have spent the last five weeks. Five weeks, it's been school holidays here. And I was like, do you know what? I'm not going to push myself in January this year. And there were times where I literally just spent my days. Just being laying down, doing nothing, resting, allowing myself the pause that I really greatly needed. And that that's taken years and years of being able to do that, of being able to release the belief that that is actually lazy, that it's unproductive. That my business won't make money, that I'm not doing, doing, doing, guess what? I had the creative energy for a full rebrand. Because I was doing nothing. I had the creative energy to bring this beautiful new program that I'm going to introduce shortly to life because I was doing nothing. So I just realized that I never blew out the flame on my incense and I'm like, I can smell fire. I can smell something that doesn't smell like incense. I've said to burn it out. Oh, sorry, blow it out. So scarcity is also showing up in your creativity. Okay. It is going to hold you back from sharing ideas. From sharing your voice because you think that opportunities are limited and, you know, someone else has already taken your spot. Recognizing these patterns is going to be the first step for you to break them because scarcity is not your truth. It is a conditioned way of thinking. So when you notice, where is it showing up in your life? You begin to start to take back power to that. And you can also begin to start to break free from the internal prison that you've created yourself. So you're just standing behind these bars and there's not enough. There's not enough. There's not enough health. There's not enough money. There's not enough time. That is all a mindset and a story that you have created that is keeping you limited is literally holding you prisoner. You need to break free from that. And only you can do that for yourself. Now I can help you. You can jump onto the wait list for the soul led success Academy. That's something a step that you can take. But another thing that you can do right now is to take five minutes just today to journal. Where am I operating from a place of not enough in my life because having that awareness is going to be the starting point for your change survival mode. When we are living in survival mode all the time, it feels like hustle. It feels like worry. It feels like constant striving, but it actually feels again. It's a restrictive. It's keeping you from expansion when you are in survival mode. Your system is locked in fight or flight or freeze, and this is going to create tunnel vision, meaning that you only focus on the immediate needs. It makes it so much harder, if not impossible to see long term possibilities. I know even for me, like a couple of weeks ago, I spent a good period where there was anxiety rising through my body. And I had to go through this process again that I've been through before. I know how to move through it. I know what help to get. But I, this time was really like observing what was happening and when I was trying to think about programs and I was trying to think about 2025 and I was trying to think about all these things and I was trying to initiate all these things, which is not in my nature, what I actually realized was that I was unable for that period of time to see further ahead. And the reason being for that was because I was in survival mode. It also creates reactive decision making, meaning that you are making choices about your life, about your business, from fear, from your current circumstances. Not from alignment, not from trust, not from what would future me be doing and, and what does that look and feel like, but from your current circumstances, which are reactive. And it also creates energetic exhaustion, not to mention physical exhaustion. But we're not here to talk about that today. You give and you give and you give everything that you have, but it'll feel like it's never enough. Survival mode, that's not just a mindset, that is an energetic and physiological state that is going to keep you disconnected from your creativity, from your intuition, from your abundance. It is going to keep you feeling like there is never enough. Moving out of survival mode starts with creating safety in your body and your mind. It starts with practicing regulating your nervous system. It starts with identifying the thoughts that are fueling these stress responses for you. The stories that you have been telling yourself. Have you ever heard the saying that your thoughts become your reality? They don't just become your external reality. They are your internal, your reality. If you were to pause right now and ask yourself, how am I feeling? It's, Oh, actually I'm feeling a bit low. I'm feeling flat. I'm feeling something other than how you want to be feeling. I want you to take a step back from that and ask, what thoughts have I been thinking? And, and most, most likely you are going to recognize that you actually woke up in the morning, repeating the same set of thoughts that you repeat most mornings that puts you into that same state was something that I do with private clients is actually create them what I like to call a morning interruption. It is a process that brings together cognitive processes, energetic processes. And somatic processes to, first of all, interrupt a habitualized state of survival mode. Second of all, to help you come into your body and to ground and to actually come into a parasympathetic state. And thirdly, to tell your mind straight away what it is you want to focus on for that day. And it's really highly effective. It's actually the technique. It brings together multiple modalities that I've learned, but it's actually technique that I put together for myself in 2023 after I had a car accident. And it brought back old traumatic memories and I just went straight into survival mode. I spent pretty much six weeks frozen, panic attacks, migraines, unable to actually get out of bed most days because I was so dizzy and I was so just in this state of fear. And that process helped me more than I could even describe. So I've got an activity for you that might help you. I want you to practice some grounding techniques daily. Really simple things. Placing your feet on the floor. Taking three deep breaths. Affirming to yourself, I am safe, I am supported, there is more than enough for me. Because abundance isn't something that you achieve, it is actually something that you allow. It's a natural state of being. Do you know, look out, I've got a beautiful window here and I'm looking out at all of this greenery. I'm looking out at all of these shrubs that miraculously are still alive because I didn't water them. But there is an abundance of, of life out there. Literally right there at my window. So this isn't just about money in your bank account or the opportunities that you have access to. It's a state of being that reflects trust in yourself and trust in the universe. And when you embody abundance, and what do I mean by embody? I mean, you allow your nervous system, your mind, every part of you, every cell in your being to take on this state. Then you trust that there is always enough time, space, opportunity for your dreams. You create from a place of overflow, not over delivering. We talked about that in last week's episode, but overflow not from obligation and you allow yourself to receive without guilt, without hesitation. This energy of abundance is expensive. It's radiant, it's magnetic, and it shifts you into this place of thriving. It really, truly does. It's not just a mindset. It is an embodiment and the key to abundance. I am learning and I believe is letting go, letting go of the need to control, letting go of the fear of not enough, letting go of the stories that are keeping you stuck. Ask yourself, what am I actually holding on to out of fear? And what would I shift? If I let go, if I let go of one small thing this week, whether it be an old belief, a fear, an unnecessary commitment. Because as you move through these reflections, and as you move through these questions, remember that abundance is not a future goal, it's a daily practice of choosing expansion over scarcity. What would abundance do in this situation, not what would scarcity do? So there's a few strategies that you can use to bring more of this into your life, and one is gratitude. Gratitude is an abundance amplifier. It shifts your focus from what's missing to what's already here. And you can practice this each morning. You can write down three things that you're grateful for. Not big things, simple things, soulful things that nourish you. Grateful for the big, beautiful breath that I just took into my body. Grateful for the sleep that I had. I'm grateful for the fact that my legs are going to work. They're going to get up and they're going to move me around and they're going to take me where I need to go. We don't need to be looking for big things. Start with what's already within you. You can also another strategy is to move through your day with the intention. That there is more than enough for me, speak it, act on it, allow yourself to feel it. There is more than enough for me. So the next time that you feel lack creeping in, I want you to pause and I want you to say out loud, I am enough. There is enough life is abundant. Say it with me out loud right now. I am enough. There is enough. Life is abundant. And then the next thing to keep in mind as you move about your day and you start to really embody abundance now is that abundance will thrive when you give joyfully, not giving out of fear, not giving out of scarcity to check in with yourself before saying yes to something. Am I giving from love? Am I giving from overflow? Or am I giving from fear or lack? Because there is a very different energy behind that, and you can look at that not only in, in where you give your time, but you can look at that in, you know, also in your business, in your offers, in your family interactions. Am I giving from love? From overflow? And if it's not from overflow, you need to come back in here and check in with you. The more you step into abundance, the more you expand your ability to receive and to trust, because abundance isn't static. It is going to grow as you grow. So every time you choose to trust and take aligned action or release an old pattern, you are expanding your capacity to hold more, more opportunities, more joy, more ease. This is not about forcing or pushing. This is about becoming the version of you who can hold the life that you desire. That is the embodied entrepreneur. So you might like to reflect here. What would my most abundant self believe? What would she think today? What would she do today? And take one step, just one step that aligns with that version of you. So I'm going to leave you with some questions that we will also pop in the show notes. If you are like so many of my listeners and you want to come back and you want to get your journal out and actually spend some time, not just listening, not just consuming, because we can get into a real pattern, especially with things like podcasts. I know I've done it too, where I will just consume, consume, consume, consume, and guess what? I don't implement. So here are some reflection questions to help you implement. First of all, where is scarcity showing up in your life and how is it keeping you small? Second, what shift would you make if you fully trusted? If just remember there's that if word that there was always enough for you. And thirdly, what is one small way that you can embody abundance today? Okay. And if you are really feeling ready to break free from this scarcity mindset and really step into abundance, then make sure you jump on the wait list for the. Soul Land Success Academy, we are going to be doing the inner work, working on the internal foundations that are going to fuel your business growth. And it is launching very, very soon for those who are on the wait list. You are going to have the opportunity to actually save 39 percent on your enrollment. As well as access to some amazing bonuses that nobody else will get. So make sure you jump on the wait list. It is just down in the show notes. And I cannot wait to support you as you step into this more and this more beautifully receiving abundance self who trusts herself, who believes in herself enough to show up with this confidence that is authentic. We'll see you on the wait list. And I would love for you to DM. Over on Instagram and share with me what resonated the most with you from this episode. I always love to hear your breakthroughs. So as we finish up today, I want to leave you with this final thought. Scarcity, it is not your truth. It is a story that if you are listening to this, I am going to assume that you have now outgrown. Abundance is already within you. It is just waiting to be activated. So when you step out of survival mode, and if this is tough for you, if you have been hustling to grow your business, hustling in life. In survival mode for a long period of time, it is tough to do and we can work privately together to do that. But when you step out of survivor mode and you trust that in the enoughness of life, you find that everything you need actually flows to you in perfect timing. You are abundant. You are supported and you are ready. Thank you for joining me on what is now going to be the last episode of Alive and Thriving. I cannot wait next week to introduce you to our brand new rebrand of the podcast. I'm so excited and I will hear from you over in my DMs. See you next week.