I'll admit it. The day we recorded this episode of The Influencer Podcast, I was in a funky place. Here's the deal: At the time of this recording, I had just made a mistake and missed something important to me for the second time! I was incredibly embarrassed. I started going down the storyline of how I could have handled things differently. I was blaming myself. I was seeing everything through the lens of fear. I was being very hard on myself and creating a lot of unnecessary pain. I kept saying, "What's wrong with you? How could you let this happen? You should be ashamed of yourself!" ^^ This, my friend, is what I call the misery cycle. It ain't fun. But you can escape this vicious cycle and feel freer than you ever have before. In this live talk, I'll tell you exactly how. But that's not all... I paused and reached for one of my favorite writing practices to use whenever I am hard on myself … and I chose again! I chose to recognize that although this outcome wasn't what I'd hoped for, it was exactly what I needed. It was an opportunity for me to create awareness around my self-criticism and pity, surrender, and be grateful for the new actions and choices I can take. If you tend to be self-critical, intolerant, or hard on yourself, you'll connect to this episode! You'll Hear: Why we are so hard ourselves and how to release the negative self-talk How to stop the "misery spin" and learn what you need to The writing practice called the 3 A's that I use to release guilt and shame How to see every experience as a learning opportunity to get closer to love How to give yourself permission to be imperfect and messy The Questions I leave you with are: What story are you living by? What story do you want to live by this year? Are you underestimating the power of your purpose?