238 - Why Change Feels So Hard (and How Small Shifts Create Real Growth) | Life Happens Podcast
Life Happens with Barb & Michelle
Michelle Maros & Barb Schmidt
4.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 30 December 2025
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” Change isn’t something to fear—it’s an invitation to grow, evolve, and step into what’s possible. 💫
In this week’s episode of Life Happens with Barb & Michelle, we close out the year with a powerful conversation about the one constant in life: change. Instead of viewing impermanence as something negative, we’re flipping the script and exploring how change can be a doorway to clarity, freedom, and fulfillment.
All growth is born from change—and learning how to work with it, rather than against it, can transform the way you move through life.
💬 Barb shares how embracing small shifts and cultivating self-awareness helped her recognize where change was needed in her life, ultimately leading to one of her biggest turning points.
💬 Michelle opens up about her struggle with resisting change, getting stuck in the habit of complaining, and what helped her begin moving forward with intention.
In this episode, we explore:
- Embracing Change: Reframing change as an opportunity instead of a disruption
- The Habit of Complaining: How staying in negativity keeps us stuck—and what to do instead
- Small Shifts, Big Growth: Why easing into change creates lasting transformation
- Practicing Presence: Finding peace by staying grounded in the present moment, even when things feel uncertain
You may not know how the story ends—but every chapter offers a new beginning. Trust the process, honor the season you’re in, and allow change to guide you forward.
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💛 Episode Topics
- Being alone during the holidays
- Redefining family, tradition, and what celebration means
- Grieving and making space for difficult emotions
- Navigating disappointment with compassion
- Giving yourself grace, care, and permission to choose what you need
💬 We’d love to hear from you! What insight or moment resonated most with you in this episode? Share in the comments—we truly read every one.
📅 Subscribe & Join Us Next Tuesday for another heartfelt episode of Life Happens with Barb and Michelle! 💕
🎙️ Host by:
- https://www.instagram.com/peaceful_barb/
- https://www.instagram.com/michellemaros/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello everyone. Hi friends and welcome back to Life Happens with Barb and Michelle. We are so excited |
| 0:06.4 | you're here with us to close out 2025. It's hard to believe we are nearing the end of the year and we're |
| 0:13.3 | thrilled that you're here with us to chat about all of the things that we're all experiencing and |
| 0:18.0 | feeling when we come to the end of a calendar year. So as always, |
| 0:22.2 | I'm excited to chat with you today, Mom, about it and so much more, I'm sure. Hi, how are you |
| 0:27.8 | feeling coming to the close of this year? 20, 25 is coming to an end. And it's nice to be here. |
| 0:34.4 | I love being here with our community and love being here with you to close out the 20-25 year. |
| 0:41.2 | So. |
| 0:41.6 | How is it feeling for you thinking about that |
| 0:45.6 | or what is the energy that you're feeling right now |
| 0:48.9 | about 2025 ending? |
| 0:52.3 | My feelings about this year ending are upbeat. |
| 0:55.9 | Oh. |
| 0:56.4 | Yeah. |
| 0:56.9 | I didn't expect you to say that. |
| 0:58.6 | That's great. |
| 0:59.7 | I feel like for me, it feels like it's been a tough year. |
| 1:04.6 | Yeah. |
| 1:04.9 | And I think collectively more than anything else, I think a lot of us are feeling that |
| 1:08.5 | way for the most part, probably the whole world. You know, it's been a very volatile year, I think a lot of us are feeling that way, for the most part, probably the whole world. |
| 1:11.3 | You know, it's been a very volatile year, I think, and so many ups and so many downs. But I think |
| 1:17.7 | also what it's reminding me in my meditation in the past few days, it's reminding me that |
... |
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