The RISE Experience
It's not always about becoming someone different.
Sometimes it's about realizing you've been disconnected from yourself for longer than you thought.
The RISE Experience is a podcast for the woman who can handle a lot. She shows up, gets things done, keeps life moving… and still quietly wonders, Why don't I feel like myself anymore?
Shannon Denniston is the founder of RISE, with a deep background in behavior change and the human side of transformation. Here, she explores what real transformation actually looks like — the patterns underneath what we do, the beliefs and roles we've carried, the relationships that shape us, the systems that support us, and the identity shifts that happen when our old ways of functioning stop carrying us.
A lot of what gets called "starting over" isn't starting over at all. It's learning to notice what's been running in the background, reconnect with your own voice, and move forward without erasing who you've become.
No reinvention. No pretending you need to become a whole new person. Just honest conversations about finding your way back to yourself, with faith as an anchor, and learning how to live from that place.
The RISE Experience
Why Growth Happens Faster When You Stop Doing It Alone.
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Strong people often carry the heaviest loads in silence.
But growth was never designed to happen alone.
Welcome to The RISE Experience, a podcast for women who are rebuilding trust with themselves — in health, leadership, faith, and everyday life. This is a space to slow down when everything feels loud, to lead from steadiness instead of urgency, and to listen again. Here, identity, faith, the body, and quiet inner wisdom matter. A place to pause, reflect, and rise from clarity instead of pressure.
Episode Highlights
In today's episode, the focus is on how support directly affects personal growth and leadership. Many people operate in isolation due to conditioning that equates needing help with weakness, which leads to exhaustion and slower progress.
When steady support is present, through relationships or structured environments, the nervous system relaxes, clarity returns, and growth becomes more sustainable. The core message reinforces that receiving support is not a weakness but a necessary part of lasting strength.
Episode Outline
- Understanding the burden of doing everything alone
- The rise experience and growth without burnout
- Societal conditioning that links help with weakness
- Pressure on women to remain self-sufficient
- How isolation exhausts the nervous system
- Why feeling seen and supported changes performance
- The difference between pressure-based accountability and steady support
- Faith reference and the example of Jesus seeking connection
- Fear of depending on others and past disappointments
- Why receiving support can feel unfamiliar or threatening
- How supported strength becomes sustainable
- Reflection on areas where too much is being carried
- Closing prayer on connection, gentleness, and guidance
Episode Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:32 Doing hard things alone
01:25 Conditioning & self-sufficiency (esp. for women)
02:40 Nervous system, exhaustion & survival mode
04:05 How support shifts body, brain & perspective
05:20 Safety, capacity & growing with others
06:40 Accountability vs steadying support
07:35 Faith, Jesus & shared burdens
08:50 Why receiving support feels threatening
10:05 Strong ones who struggle to be supported
11:15 Reflection questions on carrying too much
13:05 Support, connection, prayer & closing
Action Taken
- Lead a guided reflection using these prompts:
- Where am I carrying more than I need to?
- Where have I been managing instead of being supported?
- What would feel different if support was received?
- Invite listeners to share the episode with someone carrying a heavy load if it brought relief or clarity
Conclusion
Personal growth and leadership are not strengthened through isolation. Carrying everything alone leads to exhaustion and slower progress, while steady support creates clarity, safety, and sustainability. Growth accelerates when support is received, not resisted.
CTA
Listen to the episode, follow the podcast, and share it with someone who might benefit from the message.
Visit the links provided to stay connected.
- Instagram: @risewithshannon
- Facebook: Rise Experience
- LinkedIn: Shannon Denniston
- Business: https://msha.ke/shande
- Coaching: https://msha.ke