S5. Episode 1: The Importance of Learning to Be Flexible in Life & Embrace Change – Show Notes

7. Understanding and Overcoming Shame: Insights, Strategies, and Personal Stories – Distressed to Joyful; Bailey's Way

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Welcome to Season 5 of Distressed to Joyful; Bailey’s Way! Tune in to learn what this new season of the podcast will bring. Additionally, I discuss why it is important for us to learn to be flexible and embrace the changes that life may bring. As someone who used to resist change with a white-hot-intensity, I talk from experience about how I’ve learned to embrace change and how it’s changed my life for the better. You’ll leave this episode feeling inspired and ready to take on any new challenges that come your way!

Announcements

• As promised, here’s the link to the 2024 Medication Tracking Wall Calendar that I designed as a way to help keep track of daily medication intake. I hope you’ll find it as useful as I do! 
• I mentioned in the announcements of this episode that I am a fashion designer, so I thought I’d share my Instagram page that is devoted to promoting my designs. I’d love it if you’d follow @baileyswaydesigns – thanks in advance for your support!
• Are you interested in being a guest on the podcast? Sign up via this form as I’m starting to conduct interviews to air this season! 
• Lastly, for those curious, below you’ll find my Bride Tribe Sangeet Performance from my Indian Wedding which I mentioned during this episode. Hope you enjoy!

Self Reflection Corner

• This week’s topic: letting things go
  
  • I’ve come to realize that I have a reallllly hard time with letting things go. For example, if someone hurts me (especially if it was intentionally), it sticks with me for a WHILE and sometimes doesn’t go away, making it hard for me to forgive them and move on
• Why do I have such a hard time with letting things go??
  • My theory behind this issue of mine is that I don’t know how to let go of things and move on because I was never taught how to nor did I have any role models in my household who were doing this that I could learn from.
  • Growing up in my household, if someone hurt you, they weren’t necessarily required to apologize and if they did apologize, it was likely forced and not genuine, making it hard to accept. My family basically just shoved everything under the rug and went on with our lives as if the person next to us never did anything to hurt us
    • This is a very toxic way to live because unresolved hurts stay inside of us, and they can later cause more problems in our lives and our future relationships with others
• Solution: I don’t have one yet. THAT IS OKAY! Part of self discovery is identifying our weaknesses so that we can then work towards finding solutions.
  • That said, this is something that I’ll be working on with my therapist this year as I want to learn how to easily forgive those who have wronged me. This is especially important for the instances when someone unintentionally wrongs me.

Resources

• “The only constant in life is change” – Heraclitus. Here’s where I found this quote.
• If you’re serious about learning how to embrace change, be sure to read the entire article that I quoted in this episode, titled “Why Change is the Only Constant and How to Embrace It” written by Hope Gillette and Medically reviewed by Marney A. White, PhD, MS, Psychology. This article was found on psychcentral.com
• Support groups were discussed in this episode and the National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI) has some great resources that I recommend you check out. Use this link and scroll to the bottom where you can select your state to find local support groups near you.
• Interested in locating some bipolar-disorder-specfic support groups? Check out this article found on bphope.com that lists great resources. 
• In this episode, I discussed one of my favorite things – GRATITUDE! That said, if you haven’t yet tuned into Season 2, Episode 15: How Gratitude Changed My Life, I suggest you do so soon. You’ll thank me later! 
• Have a recent win you want me to celebrate with you? Head on over to the Win of the Week webpage and submit your win for me to shoutout on an upcoming episode of the show!
• Additionally, I *briefly* mentioned my past struggles with an alcohol addiction. If this sounds familiar, just know that you are not alone! Feel free to tune into Season 3, Episode 17: Sobriety + Bipolar Disorder = The Way to Go! to hear more about my struggles and what I’ve done to overcome them. 
• Here’s the link to get 15% off your first purchase from my Etsy Shop, Bailey’s Way Designs: https://www.etsy.com/shop/BaileysWayDesigns?coupon=NEWCUSTOMER15
• Be sure to follow @distressedtojoyful_baileysway on Instagram and join the Facebook community group to keep up with the latest information pertaining to the show!
• The podcast can now be found on YouTube! The most recent episodes will even include video so you can see my face while I talk to you. Be sure to check out and subscribe to @whatisheybailsdoing on YouTube to stay up-to-date with all episode releases.
• Never want to miss an episode? Click here to sign up to have new episode releases sent right to your inbox! I’ll throw in some other goodies also, just for you!
• Lastly, if you enjoy tuning in and want to help support the show, your kindness and generosity is much appreciated! Head on over to the Support the Show page to learn more!

My Challenge for YOU

• As we have begun the new year, I challenge you to take a real, hard look at your life and decide if there’s something about it that you’d like to change.
  • Maybe you want to start eating healthier foods, maybe you want to create a bedtime routine habit, maybe you want to learn how to budget and stop overspending
• Whatever you come up with, I challenge you to find ONE THING that you’d like to change about your life and set out to change it! 
  • I’ll tell you from experience – change is so uncomfortable, but the more you start thrusting yourself into it, the easier it becomes.
• Below are a few resources to help you make some positive changes in your life.
  • Free Healthy Habit Guide & Tracker – learn how to create new habits with this simple and effective method
  • 60 Days Stronger Challenge – reset your body and mind with this 2-month-long challenge that you can do with family and friends
  • Bedtime Routine – discover the bedtime routine that I use to help regulate my sleep along with ideas and tips on how to create a routine that works best for you
  • Daily Journaling – here are 31 prompts to help kick off a new habit of journaling which will help you gain a deeper sense of yourself
• Feel free to send me a DM on Instagram @distressedtojoyful_baileysway to tell me what you decided to change and how you felt after working on it

Until next time friends… Take it easy, stay grateful and be joyful!

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