The Growth Practice Podcast
The Growth Practice is a podcast for capable people who want to grow with intention, care, and honesty.
Hosted by Ruth, a nurse, leader, and lifelong learner, this podcast was created from lived experience. From years of caring for others, navigating high-pressure environments, and learning firsthand how easy it is to neglect yourself while showing up for everyone else.
Through her work in healthcare and leadership, Ruth has seen how driven, compassionate people often carry quiet self-doubt, burnout, and unrealistic expectations. The Growth Practice was born from her own journey of learning to pause, reflect, and grow with more self-trust and compassion.
Rather than offering quick fixes or pressure to do more, this podcast explores growth as a daily practice built through awareness, intention, and small, meaningful choices.
Drawing from research, thoughtful articles, and her own lived experience, Ruth walks alongside listeners as they navigate seasons of becoming.
This space is especially for caregivers, high achievers, and anyone who knows they are capable and is learning to grow with care.
We are capable, so let’s grow together. 🌱
The Growth Practice Podcast
The Seventh Practice: Belief — Grounding Yourself in Something Greater
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The Seventh Practice: Belief — Grounding Yourself in Something Greater
What if growth doesn’t always come from having all the answers, but from allowing yourself to believe in something beyond them?
In this episode of The Growth Practice, we explore the role belief plays in how we navigate uncertainty, make decisions, and support ourselves through moments when life feels unclear.
Sometimes, growth can feel heavy. The pressure to figure everything out, make the right decisions, and stay in control can quietly build over time. While the instinct to plan and manage every outcome is natural, psychological research suggests we often overestimate how much control we truly have. This is known as the illusion of control.
In this episode, Ruth reflects on a personal shift, a pull toward faith, and a reconnection with belief. This is not presented as something rigid or prescriptive, but as something grounding. Through honest reflection, she explores the difference between religion and belief, and how choosing to believe in something greater can create a sense of guidance and support.
Drawing from psychological research on meaning, resilience, and the work of Viktor Frankl, this episode highlights how having something to believe in can help us navigate uncertainty, reduce stress, and move forward with greater clarity.
Because belief is not about having all the answers.
It is about not having to carry everything alone.
In This Episode, You’ll Explore:
Why the need for control can become overwhelming
The concept of the illusion of control and how it shapes our decisions
The difference between religion and belief
How belief can create a sense of grounding, guidance, and support
A simple reflective practice to help you explore what you believe in
Growth doesn’t always require more effort.
Sometimes it begins with letting go.
We are capable. So let’s grow together.
Disclaimer
This podcast is for educational and inspirational purposes only and is not intended as medical, mental health, or professional advice. The content reflects personal experiences and perspectives. Please consult a qualified professional for guidance related to your individual situation.
References
Frankl, V. E. (2006). Man’s search for meaning. Beacon Press.
Koenig, H. G. (2012). Religion, spirituality, and health: The research and clinical implications. ISRN Psychiatry.
Langer, E. J. (1975). The illusion of control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32(2), 311–328.
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Thank you for practicing growth with me. 💛🌿
Hello, achievers! I'm Ruth your host, and I'm really glad you're here for this episode. If you're joining us for the first time, or if you've been practicing growth alongside me in previous episodes, welcome to the Growth Practice Podcast, a space where capable minds come together. Today's episode is a little different. We're exploring a more personal and reflective practice, the practice of belief, and what it means to ground yourself in something greater. This may not resonate with everyone, and that's okay. I'm not here to tell you what to believe in. I'm simply sharing something I've been reflecting on. Because recently I've been feeling a pull, a pull toward faith, toward God, toward something I couldn't quite name at first, but couldn't ignore either. And I want to share this carefully because I'm still in the middle of it, I'm still learning, I'm still finding my way. But here's what I do know we all need something to hold on to. Something that steadies us when the world gets overwhelming, something that gives us the courage to keep moving even when we can't see what's ahead. Something to believe in. I want to take you back to where this started. There was this quiet pull, a desire to slow down, to reflect, and to reconnect with something I had kept at a distance. I found myself craving stillness, wanting guidance that went beyond what I could think my way into. I found myself wanting to pray. And I'll be honest, this wasn't easy to lean into. I carry real resentment from past experiences with religion, experiences that left me skeptical, guarded, and honestly a little cynical about the whole thing. But I want to be clear about what changed, because it wasn't that I suddenly got over it. What changed is that I stopped conflating religion with belief. They're not the same thing. Religion is a structure, belief is a decision, and that distinction opened up something for me. Less like something external and more like something internal that I was being drawn toward. A sense of permission that maybe I didn't have to rely only on myself for every answer. And the more I sit with this, the more I notice something else, how much weight I had been carrying. The decisions, the uncertainty, the relentless pressure to have it all figured out, and if I'm being completely honest, there is a part of me that wants to control it all, needing to understand everything, to plan for every outcome, to never get it wrong. But here's what I have to confront. There's something psychologists call the illusion of control. It's the idea that we tend to overestimate how much influence we actually have over what happens in our lives. And in a way it makes sense. That instinct to try to predict, plan, and control everything, it once helped us survive. But now that same instinct can start to work against us. Because when we believe we're solely responsible for every outcome, we don't just get tired, we get brittle, we stop taking risks, we stop asking for help, and we start to shrink. It can feel isolating. And I think that's part of why this pull toward faith has felt so meaningful. Because it's not just about belief. It's about trusting that there may be something beyond my own understanding that I can turn to for guidance. And that shift from trying to control everything to allowing myself to trust has felt both unfamiliar but also quietly freeing. And I think this is where the tension really shows up, because part of me wants to trust, and part of me still resists it. There's a voice that says, be careful, don't give something your trust too easily, don't believe something you can't fully explain. And I think that voice comes from experience, from wanting to protect myself, from not wanting to feel misled or disappointed or wrong. And maybe you felt that too, that push and pull between wanting to believe and wanting to stay in control. Because belief requires something that doesn't always come easily. Trust. And trust, especially after certain experiences, can feel like a risk. But what I am beginning to understand is that holding on to control feels safe, but it can also keep us stuck. And allowing even a small amount of trust can open the door to something different, something steadier, something that doesn't require us to have all the answers first. So for me, this pull toward faith has been about feeling guided and not feeling alone. Because we've all been there, standing at the edge of something, not knowing which way to step, moments that are heavier than we are prepared for. And in those moments, sheer willpower just isn't enough. But when we allow ourselves to believe in something greater, something inside us opens up. And interestingly, research actually supports this. Research in psychology consistently shows that people with a strong sense of meaning or belief, whether it's through faith, spirituality, or even a deeply held personal philosophy, report higher resilience, lower anxiety, and better recovery from adversity. Victor Frankel, a psychiatrist who survived the Holocaust, built an entire school of therapy around this insight, that the human need for meaning isn't a luxury, it's a survival mechanism. When we have something to believe in, we don't just cope better, we live differently, and that's what this reflection has been for me. A reminder that I was never meant to figure all of this out alone, that there is guidance available to me even when I can't see it clearly yet, even when I don't fully understand it. And that belief, whatever shape it takes for you, can become something steady to return to. You may define this differently in your own life, and that's okay. But for me, this has looked like reconnecting with faith and with God. So this week, the practice is reflection, not something to complete, but something to sit with. Find a quiet moment at the end of your day, early in the morning, or whenever you feel most clear, and ask yourself a few simple questions. What do I believe in? What grounds me? Where do I turn when I don't have all the answers? If you've been feeling something similar, a pull to slow down, to reflect, to reconnect with something deeper, allow yourself to explore that. Because belief doesn't always begin with certainty. Sometimes it begins with a quiet openness, a willingness to seek, and a willingness to trust, even if just a little. That's where it starts. Not with a leap of faith, but with a step toward honesty. This episode isn't about arriving somewhere. It's about allowing yourself to ask the questions, to pause long enough to notice what you've been carrying and whether you still need to carry it alone. Because maybe growth doesn't always look like pushing forward. Maybe sometimes it looks like letting go. Letting go of needing all the answers, letting go of needing complete control, and allowing yourself to trust something, even if you're still figuring out what that means. Wherever you are in that process, that's enough. And if this is something you're just beginning to explore, you're not behind. You're just becoming aware. We are capable. Until next time, this is the growth practice. Let's grow.