Adjusting Your Approach: Avoidance Is Just Settling With Better Excuses

Adjusting Your Approach: Avoidance Is Just Settling With Better Excuses

Let's be honest, avoidance rarely looks like hiding under the covers. Most of the time it looks like staying busy, saying "I'm not ready yet," keeping your distance in relationships, not having the conversation, and never quite letting yourself explore what else might be possible for your life. And here's the thing nobody says out loud: avoidance isn't the opposite of settling. It is settling. Just with more sophisticated excuses. In this episode, we're getting into all of it: what avoidance actually is, how it shows up in your relationships, creative work, community, and daily life, and why the cost of staying frozen is so much higher than we want to admit. We're also talking about what it means to live a purposeful life and why you genuinely cannot afford to let fear be in charge of how you use your time and your gifts. In this episode: * What avoidance actually is — and why it's not laziness or weakness * How fear keeps you frozen and what that really looks like in everyday life * Why avoidance of conversations, community, and new possibilities is avoidance of hope * How avoidance quietly becomes settling — and what that's costing you * Why you have one life and your gifts were never just for you * The difference between courage and confidence (and why you don't need to feel ready) * What your nervous system needs before you can take the next step * Six things to consider as you start moving toward the scary thing — one small step at a time You don't need a big breakthrough. You don't need to feel ready. You just need to be willing. This episode is going to feel like a diary entry — and that's completely on purpose. 🎧 New episodes every Monday! Follow so you never miss one. Let’s Connect!  Website: www.adjustingpod.com [http://www.adjustingpod.com/] Social Media: @adjustingpod on Instagram | Facebook | Youtube | TikTok Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/adjusting-podcast/id1748188929 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/adjusting-podcast/id1748188929] Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Lyu594jw5luH1rujNcTZZ?si=386a7e7728f5461b [https://open.spotify.com/show/4Lyu594jw5luH1rujNcTZZ?si=386a7e7728f5461b] Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7863b34c-b85c-4f67-8044-10dd08cfb660/adjusting-podcast [https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7863b34c-b85c-4f67-8044-10dd08cfb660/adjusting-podcast] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AdjustingPodcast [https://www.youtube.com/@AdjustingPodcast] Substack Channel: https://justingnelson.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips [https://justingnelson.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips] Guest/Topic submissions: adjustingpod@gmail.com [adjustingpod@gmail.com] Disclaimer: Adjusting Podcast is NOT a substitute for professional diagnosis or treatment.

Adjusting Your Lens: The Power of Curiosity

What if the most powerful thing you could do when fear shows up… is just get curious? In this episode, we're trading "what if it goes wrong" for "I wonder what this will teach me" — and exploring why that shift is so much harder than it sounds. Curiosity isn't toxic positivity. It's a deliberate, nervous-system-level practice that can change the way you move through fear, relationships, creative work, and healing. We're getting into: * Why fear closes us down and curiosity opens us up — and what that actually looks like in your daily life * How shame — especially around sexuality and desire — shuts curiosity down at the root * The body-based difference between anxiety and curiosity (polyvagal theory, but make it relatable) * How to shift from what if to I wonder in real time * The connection between curiosity and self-compassion — including insights from Dr. Thema Bryant's Homecoming * What it means to get curious about yourself after religious trauma or spiritual deconstruction This one is going to feel like your journal entry come to life, bestie. Settle in. Adjusting is a podcast for creatives, everyday people, and those healing from trauma and relationships who are learning to live with less fear and more freedom. Season 3, Part 2 Series: From Fear to Freedom — What If It All Works Out? Let’s Connect!  Website: www.adjustingpod.com [http://www.adjustingpod.com/] Social Media: @adjustingpod on Instagram | Facebook | Youtube | TikTok Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/adjusting-podcast/id1748188929 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/adjusting-podcast/id1748188929] Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Lyu594jw5luH1rujNcTZZ?si=386a7e7728f5461b [https://open.spotify.com/show/4Lyu594jw5luH1rujNcTZZ?si=386a7e7728f5461b] Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7863b34c-b85c-4f67-8044-10dd08cfb660/adjusting-podcast [https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7863b34c-b85c-4f67-8044-10dd08cfb660/adjusting-podcast] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AdjustingPodcast [https://www.youtube.com/@AdjustingPodcast] Substack Channel: https://justingnelson.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips [https://justingnelson.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips] Guest/Topic submissions: adjustingpod@gmail.com [adjustingpod@gmail.com] Disclaimer: Adjusting Podcast is NOT a substitute for professional diagnosis or treatment.

Adjusting to Uncertainty: Learning to Live in the Grey

Most of us aren't just afraid of bad things happening, we're afraid of not knowing. In this episode we explore what it actually means to live in the grey, why certainty feels so necessary and what it costs us when we demand it, and how black and white thinking keeps us stuck in our relationships, our creative work, and our healing journey. We talk about how to expand your tolerance for uncertainty, what the body does when ambiguity feels like a threat, the connection between trust and the unknown, and the spiritual roots of certainty-seeking including what faith actually says about living without all the answers. Plus five things to consider as you start making peace with the in-between. If you've been waiting for everything to feel certain before you move forward, this episode is going to meet you right where you are. Let’s Connect!  Website: www.adjustingpod.com [http://www.adjustingpod.com/] Social Media: @adjustingpod on Instagram | Facebook | Youtube | TikTok Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/adjusting-podcast/id1748188929 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/adjusting-podcast/id1748188929] Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Lyu594jw5luH1rujNcTZZ?si=386a7e7728f5461b [https://open.spotify.com/show/4Lyu594jw5luH1rujNcTZZ?si=386a7e7728f5461b] Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7863b34c-b85c-4f67-8044-10dd08cfb660/adjusting-podcast [https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7863b34c-b85c-4f67-8044-10dd08cfb660/adjusting-podcast] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AdjustingPodcast [https://www.youtube.com/@AdjustingPodcast] Substack Channel: https://justingnelson.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips [https://justingnelson.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips] Guest/Topic submissions: adjustingpod@gmail.com [adjustingpod@gmail.com] Disclaimer: Adjusting Podcast is NOT a substitute for professional diagnosis or treatment.

Adjusting Your Instincts: Fear vs. Intuition

How do you know when your anxiety is lying to you and when your gut is actually telling you the truth? In this episode we kick off the second phase of Season 3 with the series, From Fear to Freedom: What If It All Works Out?. We begin by exploring one of the most important distinctions in your healing journey: the difference between fear and intuition. We talk about what it means to live from scarcity vs abundance, why so many of us learned fear-based thinking as children, how fear and intuition feel different in the body, and the spiritual roots of fear-based living including what scripture says about abundance and overflow. Plus five things to consider as you start making decisions from freedom instead of fear. If you've been waiting for the part where the healing actually starts to feel like freedom, WHOOP there it is! Let’s Connect!  Website: www.adjustingpod.com [http://www.adjustingpod.com/] Social Media: @adjustingpod on Instagram | Facebook | Youtube | TikTok Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/adjusting-podcast/id1748188929 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/adjusting-podcast/id1748188929] Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Lyu594jw5luH1rujNcTZZ?si=386a7e7728f5461b [https://open.spotify.com/show/4Lyu594jw5luH1rujNcTZZ?si=386a7e7728f5461b] Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7863b34c-b85c-4f67-8044-10dd08cfb660/adjusting-podcast [https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7863b34c-b85c-4f67-8044-10dd08cfb660/adjusting-podcast] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AdjustingPodcast [https://www.youtube.com/@AdjustingPodcast] Substack Channel: https://justingnelson.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips [https://justingnelson.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips] Guest/Topic submissions: adjustingpod@gmail.com [adjustingpod@gmail.com] Disclaimer: Adjusting Podcast is NOT a substitute for professional diagnosis or treatment.

Adjusting to Should/Must Statements: The Guilt Loop Keeping You Stuck

We're closing out the season with the one that started it all — the quiet rulebook most of us have been living by without realizing it. Should/Must Statements are the cognitive distortion underneath almost every other pattern we've covered this season, and today we're getting into all of it: why getting back to a routine after a gap feels so hard, the guilt spiral that follows every canceled plan, how hustle culture weaponizes your own standards against you, and why boundaries feel impossible when your whole mindset is built around "I must." If you've been trying to rebuild — your health, your business, your sense of self — this one is for you. We're addressing where this pattern lives, adjusting with actual grace (not the platitude version), and applying real tools you can use starting today. Topics covered: cognitive distortions, Should/Must Statements, rebuilding routines, entrepreneur burnout, guilt and shame cycles, boundaries, unspoken expectations, healing with grace. Let’s Connect!  Website: www.adjustingpod.com [http://www.adjustingpod.com/] Social Media: @adjustingpod on Instagram | Facebook | Youtube | TikTok Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/adjusting-podcast/id1748188929 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/adjusting-podcast/id1748188929] Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Lyu594jw5luH1rujNcTZZ?si=386a7e7728f5461b [https://open.spotify.com/show/4Lyu594jw5luH1rujNcTZZ?si=386a7e7728f5461b] Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7863b34c-b85c-4f67-8044-10dd08cfb660/adjusting-podcast [https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7863b34c-b85c-4f67-8044-10dd08cfb660/adjusting-podcast] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AdjustingPodcast [https://www.youtube.com/@AdjustingPodcast] Substack Channel: https://justingnelson.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips [https://justingnelson.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips] Guest/Topic submissions: adjustingpod@gmail.com [adjustingpod@gmail.com] Disclaimer: Adjusting Podcast is NOT a substitute for professional diagnosis or treatment.