Facing Life's Challenges

The Stories You Tell Yourself

Think back to when you were a child playing with shadows on a wall — the flashlight under the covers, the campfire, your hands casting wolves and birds and dinosaurs. The shadow was not scary. It was your co-creator. And then somewhere along the way someone told you a different story. In this episode I break down why the shadow was never the problem, the wolf was never the villain, and the stories you have been handed and believed are still running your choices today. This is not about positive thinking. It is about catching the narrative before it catches you. Key Takeaways * The shadow was never scary until someone told you it was. The story changed. Not the shadow. * Wolves are loyal, strategic, and protective. The big bad wolf was never real. But your belief in it has been running your choices anyway. * The story you tell yourself the longest is the one you believe the most. * You can catch stories in real time — in your thoughts, out of your mouth — and reassign them before they take root. * Old stories are not facts. They are programming. And programming can be changed. Action Steps 1. Today, catch one story you are telling yourself and write it down. Then ask — is this actually true or is this just the story I have told myself the longest? 2. Identify one area of your life where you have labeled something bad based on a single experience. Go back and look at it honestly. 3. When a limiting story surfaces this week — put your foot down. Say it out loud: this story is old, it is outdated, and it has kept me here long enough. Notable Quote The story you tell yourself the longest is the one you believe the most. Connect newsoulrising.com [http://newsoulrising.com] bookjaime.com [http://bookjaime.com] @newsoulrising on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn If this one landed — put it in front of one person who needs it. Remember — we go forward and up. Music by @visacard_ on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/visacard_ [https://www.instagram.com/visacard_]

Blind Spots

Blind Spots Your car has every safety feature available. You chose it specifically for that reason. And you still crashed. Not because the car failed. Because the alarm bells that were supposed to fire — didn't. And by the time you heard the sound, the damage was already done. In this episode Jaime is driving home frustrated, hungry, stuck in traffic, one red light away from the edge — and pulls into her garage a little too fast. The sound of bumper meeting bumper. No warning. No alarm. Just the crash and the question that followed: where were the alarm bells? That question is this episode. 95% of people believe they are self-aware. Research puts the actual number closer to 10 to 15%. Which means most of us are moving through our lives, our relationships, our work — convinced we see ourselves clearly — while entire patterns play out in the blind spots we cannot see. The trigger that fires when the dishes are in the sink. The tone that shifts when the stakes get high. The reaction that surprises even you. These are not character flaws. They are information. They are the alarm bells — and they are asking you to get curious before the next crash. Because some dents are repairable. And some are not. newsoulrising.com [http://newsoulrising.com] bookjaime.com [http://bookjaime.com] @newsoulrising on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn If this one landed — put it in front of one person who needs it. Remember — we go forward and up. Music by @visacard_ on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/visacard_ [https://www.instagram.com/visacard_] 7:51 PM CLAUDE RESPONDED: WHAT THIS EPISODE IS ABOUT What This Episode Is About We all have blind spots. The ones we can see in others instantly and cannot find in ourselves at all. This episode is about learning to spot them before they cost you something you cannot get back. The Story A plastic bag flies out from under a car and her vehicle slams on the brakes — safety system working perfectly. Days later, hungry, frustrated, stuck in traffic, she pulls into the garage a little too fast and catches her kid's bumper. Same car. Same safety features. No alarm bells. Just the crash and the silence after it. The Lesson One incident with a coworker is an incident. Five incidents with the same coworker is a pattern. That pattern is the information. Your blind spots show up in the moments when the stakes are high, the stress is real, and the version of you that still needs work steps forward before the aware version of you can catch it. The Framework When the alarm bells fire — stay curious, not defensive. That is not the time to ignore them. When the crash happens without warning — that is still an invitation. Look at what was present before it. The blind spot is always there. You just have to be willing to find it. The Input Find two or three people in your life and give them explicit permission to tell you the truth. Not to be kind. To be honest. Where are you versus where you think you are? That gap is where your blind spots live. Look for them before you end up in a crash.

Stuck in Traffic

Stuck in Traffic You can only see the storm when you are in the storm. Jaime spent an entire day in Austin traffic — electronics down, no phone, no music — and instead of fighting it, she watched. Every range of emotion playing out through windshields. Anger. Laughter. Tears. And then one woman. Blank stare forward. Void of anything. Not bored. Something heavier than that. And the question that would not leave: is she not just stuck in traffic — but stuck in her life? Because here is the thing about getting stuck. It does not happen overnight. It happens so slowly, so quietly, so disguised as routine and responsibility that most people do not know how stuck they are until they are not stuck anymore. This episode is the wake-up call that does not require a tragedy. Just a Tuesday. Just traffic. Just the moment you look at your life and realize you have been so busy living it for everyone else that somewhere along the way you stopped living it for yourself. You deserve to be in the leading role in your own life. This episode is about finding your way back to it. newsoulrising.com [http://newsoulrising.com] bookjaime.com [http://bookjaime.com] @newsoulrising on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn If this one landed — put it in front of one person who needs it. Remember — we go forward and up. Music by @visacard_ on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/visacard_ [https://www.instagram.com/visacard_] What This Episode Is About Getting stuck does not happen in a moment. It happens slowly, over time, disguised as routine and responsibility — until one day you look up and the life you are living stopped fitting a long time ago. This episode is about finding that before a crisis forces you to. The Story A full day in Austin traffic with no electronics, no phone, no music. Just the cars around her and every range of human emotion playing out through windshields. Anger. Laughter. Tears. And one woman — blank stare forward, void of everything — who raised a question Jaime could not shake. Is she not just stuck in traffic, but stuck in her life? The Lesson The same way we build habits we want, we build habits we do not want. The daily grind becomes so ritualized, so automatic, that we stop noticing what it is costing us. You can be so busy being busy that you lose yourself in the process — slowly, quietly, one day at a time. The Input Carve out time today while this is fresh. Examine your life. Where are you overgiving? Where have you stopped showing up for yourself? Where are you stuck — not just in traffic, but in your actual life? You already have the answers. You just have to be willing to look. You deserve to be in the leading role in your own life.

The Dark Is a Powerful Teacher

The Dark Is a Powerful Teacher Most people are trying to get out of the dark as fast as possible. What if that is exactly the wrong move? In this episode Jaime makes a case for the forge — the seasons, the hardships, the private work nobody sees — as the most powerful classroom available to you. Not something to survive. Something to learn from. Because what gets built in the dark cannot be built anywhere else. Resilience. Self-trust. Boundaries. Standards. The sharpest version of who you are becoming is not built in the comfortable seasons. It is built in the fire. The moth has known this for 300 million years. It navigates in the dark, seeking light it cannot see — not because it knows where the light is, but because it trusts the light is there. That is the work. That is the forge. That is this episode. The dark is a powerful teacher. What you learn there cannot be learned in the light. And what you produce in the hardest seasons is often your best work. newsoulrising.com [http://newsoulrising.com] bookjaime.com [http://bookjaime.com] @newsoulrising on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn If this one landed — put it in front of one person who needs it. Remember — we go forward and up. Music by @visacard_ on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/visacard_ [https://www.instagram.com/visacard_] ---------------------------------------- SHOW NOTES The dark is a powerful teacher. What you learn there cannot be learned anywhere else. This episode goes directly to the forge — the place where resilience, self-trust, boundaries, and standards are actually built. Not in the comfortable seasons. In the fire. The ironworker does not shape metal gently. The process is violent, repetitive, and relentless. And what comes out on the other side is unrecognizable from what went in. Sharper. Stronger. Ready. The Story A moth landed on the porch screen and stopped everything. For 300 million years moths have been navigating in complete darkness, moving toward a light they cannot see. Not because they know where it is. Because they trust it is there. Somewhere between the butterfly, the moth, and every hard season you have already survived — that is where you are standing right now. The Lesson You are not designed to live in the dark. But you are absolutely designed to learn there. The forge is not your home. It is where you are made. The dark seasons are not there to break you. They are there to produce the version of you that can handle everything that comes next. Only you know the light you carry because of the time you have spent in the dark. The Input Be like the moth. Trust the light is there before you can see it. What is one thing you can do today — in private, in the dark, when no one is watching — that moves you toward it? Connect newsoulrising.com [http://newsoulrising.com] bookjaime.com [http://bookjaime.com] @newsoulrising on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn If this one landed — put it in front of one person who needs it. Remember — we go forward and up. Music by @visacard_ on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/visacard_ [https://www.instagram.com/visacard_]

Feeling vs "Feelings"

Feeling vs Feelings Your body is sending you information all day long. Tight chest. Heavy legs. Shallow breath. Racing heart. The problem is your brain gets there first — and turns data into a story before you ever have a chance to decide what it actually means. In this episode, Jaime shares what happened on a Friday morning run that should have been terrible — heavy legs, hard breathing, hills, six days off, a story running on repeat that said this is bad, you are failing. And then she got home, plugged in the data, and found out she had run three of four miles faster than usual. The run was not the problem. The story was. There is a gap between what your body feels and what your brain tells you it means. That gap is where everything changes — in your training, in your work, in your relationships, in every high-stakes moment where your reaction is running faster than your judgment. This episode teaches you how to find it, widen it, and use it. If you have ever let a story stop you from finishing something that was actually working — this one is for you. What This Episode Is About There is a difference between feeling and feelings. The physical sensation in your body — heaviness, tightness, shallow breath — is data. It does not carry meaning until your brain steps in and tells you what it means. And your brain is going to tell you a story based on what it has experienced the most. Not what is actually happening right now. The gap between the sensation and the story is where your power lives. The Framework Name the sensation, not the story — no judgment, no meaning, just data. Postpone the verdict — decide in advance that you are not allowed to judge how something is going until it is over. Stay curious — what am I feeling, where is it, how intense — not what does this mean. The Story Six days without running. A Friday run that felt like failure from the first mile. Heavy legs, hard breathing, a voice saying this run sucks on repeat. The data said otherwise — three of four miles faster than usual. The run was not the problem. The story was. The Lesson Difficulty is not the warning sign. It is the data point. Heavy means you are carrying real weight and still moving. Your body is doing the work. Your brain is telling you the story. The Input Before anything you have labeled hard today — stop. Feel what is in your body without assigning it meaning. Delay the verdict. Stay curious. Finish. Then decide. Connect newsoulrising.com [http://newsoulrising.com] bookjaime.com [http://bookjaime.com] @newsoulrising on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn If this one landed — put it in front of one person who needs it. Remember — we go forward and up. Music by @visacard_ on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/visacard_ [https://www.instagram.com/visacard_]