I heaved a mini fridge out of the car by myself, stopped an argument with one calm sentence, and got a text from my son that stopped me in my tracks. This is what it looks like when you've done enough work on yourself that the hard things stop feeling like they're happening to you and start showing up as proof of something inside you.
Episode Description
A couple of Sundays ago I moved my youngest, Danny, into his college dorm in Chicago. All by myself. And I want to tell you the real version of that day, not the "oh Jenny, that must have been so hard" version. The mini fridge I heaved out of the car on my own. The Swiffer request I absolutely did not see coming. The one calm sentence that stopped an argument before it even started. The text from my older son Jonah that made me stop and get a little choked up. And then the Monday after, when it all caught up with me and I let it.
I'm also giving you this week's action step, something I actually used that day and the day after, when things started to feel hard. And near the end I want to ask you something I'm genuinely curious about, because it's shaping a little thing I'm building right now that I think some of you might need.
What you will learn
- The difference between hard things happening to you and hard things proving something in you
- My go-to 5-5-7 breathing technique for calming my nervous system in the moment (inhale for 5, hold for 5, exhale for 7)
- How one calm sentence - "I'm not doing this" - set a boundary and stopped a fight before it started
- The pattern interrupters I use when I catch myself spiralling: "stop it, Jen" and "this is happening"
- Why I let the hard feelings bubble up instead of pushing them down or performing "I'm okay"
- Choosing your hard, because life is hard either way, so it's really just a question of which hard you pick
- This week's action step: finding your own phrase to interrupt the spiral before it takes hold
Resources
If you enjoy these conversations, I send an email every Sunday where I share a little more,some of what I'm learning, what I'm thinking about and things I don't always get to talk about here.
https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/816991/142538089324086821/share
Connect With Me
- Email me: jenny@jennymcoaching.com
- Instagram: @jennymcoaching
- LinkedIn: Jenny Maxwell Coaching
If you're still figuring out your own version of "stop it, Jen," send me a message. I'll help you find it.
This episode was produced by www.keystepsupport.com
