Why I've Decided to Thank My Challenges
29 Aug 2024 · 16 min
Lori Harder argues that obstacles like panic attacks, depression, and financial setbacks are actually gifts designed to teach you. When you ask for less anxiety or more success, you get situations that force you to practice and grow. Thank the challenge and use it.
Questions this episode answers
19th wedding anniversary in Riviera Maya, Mexico.
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Maybe what you're doing is so off. Maybe what you've been thinking about yourself, maybe the fact that you're not, you know, giving yourself enough self love, maybe the fact that you still think you're not worthy, maybe you need a therapist around this. Maybe you need to leave the person who's making you feel unworthy that you believe, you know, you're not able to leave whatever that is if you're like, please, God, help me be happier. Sometimes the gift is going to come in as depression to say, okay, it's time to pay attention, because you're clearly not paying attention to anything else. Hey, everyone, welcome back to the show. It's time for another quickie because there's always time to fit in inspiration. And Chris and I just got back from celebrating our 19th wedding anniversary. We went to Riviera Maya in Mexico, and it was absolutely amazing. It was the slowdown that I needed in order to feel creative again. I observed how on this trip how much my brain is addicted, addicted to going, like, sitting by the pool or sitting in the ocean. I made myself sit in the ocean for like a solid two hours. It took me a while to come down. And the other thing I observed is just how much our brains love nothing. Like, they hate it and they love it. I was like, oh, my God, my brain, like, even though everything in my brain is going, okay, so search for something you should be doing. Okay, now, search for something you should be thinking about. Search for something that you should be feeling bad about. Okay, search for what's wrong. Okay, search for what you should be worried about. I also, on. On the other hand was like, wow, my brain loves empty space. Like, it just loved not having to be anywhere or think about anything. And I really, really use that as practice. And you guys, I just have to tell you as well, you know, I'm going to tell you every episode that I brought my glossy with me, of course. And let me just tell you, after eating all of the carbs, which were amazing, and after having all of the margaritas, I would have a glossy every single night and every single morning. And I really felt amazing. Still getting ready and going in my swimsuit and not feeling crazy bloated and still feeling really hydrated and really great the next day. So you can get the coupon code happy for 25% off. I'm telling you, it is your best friend. It's just like the thing that I'm constantly leaning on to feel better, to feel hydrated. Um, and you know, when we feel hydrated, it helps lift your mood, it helps your skin. It's a skin routine you can drink. After all, telling you that hyaluronic acid is key. It's so key in waking up and feeling like my face doesn't have, like, just look cracked, you know, and dry and kind of like those when I was in the desert, like, feels kind of wrinkly and just. It feels plump and refreshed. So drink your water, you guys. Make sure you're putting your glossy in at night and in the morning, okay? I have had so much come to me on this trip that I feel like it's going to take me a while. It's going to take me quite a few quickies to get this all through to you. But what I want to talk about today is something that I feel is just the biggest key to life, the biggest key to changing how I feel, the biggest key to changing my anxiety, the biggest key to changing my relationships. And that is the idea of thanking our obstacles. The idea of thanking the people who drive you absolutely batshit crazy. Yes. Right now you're thinking of someone and you're like, yeah, I'm not gonna thank them. I'm. I really wanna just give them two middle fingers up and that's gonna feel really good. But we know that's not gonna get us super far.
So I want you to think about.
Whenever we ask for something, the human side of us, the impatient side of us is like, I'm gonna manifest, and this is what I want. I'm gonna put this house on my vision board, and I'm gonna put me speaking on a stage on my vision board, and I'm gonna put this amazing best friend, and we're gonna be on this trip in Paris together. And I'm putting that on my vision board. And I don't have this best friend yet. And I want this group of people and I want, you know, this best bag and this car, and I want this great business, and I want to be a CEO and I want to be a founder of this incredible company. And we think that we're just going to start, like, leaning into this and really manifesting this every day. And it's just going to. We're going to get on our path and these things are going to come our way, and we're going to find these aligned people and it's going to be amazing. Now, I don't want to close you off to that idea. I don't want to say that some things aren't easy, that some things don't come as a complete surprise. And they feel really great. And you're like, oh my God, like, I completely manifested this. Like, I asked for an extra hundred thousand dollars this year above and beyond what I even thought possible for myself. And look at this. Opportunity appeared. Yes, those can happen, but at an equal amount. What will happen is that when we ask for something and when we ask to be something, right, Someone who could hold all of those things that I just mentioned, you don't just become it and you don't just get it, but what you do get is the opportunities to practice on. What you do get is the people who will turn you into the expert, is the people who will help you set the boundary, is the people who will help you overcome your fear of disappointing people. So let's talk about this in terms of really just asking everyday examples that kind of pop up in our lives. So let's talk about if you are asking for something like less anxiety, right? And maybe this has to do with you not trusting your body. You're afraid that if you get into a situation where you feel nervous or you can't handle something, that you know, you don't trust your body and that you believe you can't handle certain situations, what do you think you're going to get offered? You're going to get offered a panic attack in public because that's where you're going to be triggered or something like this, right? You're going to be offered something where you get to practice in the moment of learning to calm your breath or going, whoa, that didn't go well. I passed out and the paramedics came and I had a complete meltdown. Okay, well, maybe it's because you didn't have the tools, and so now you're forced, you're actually physically forced to go and learn to have the tools and to go and get help, right? Because in our lives, until something happens that's dramatic enough to make us go get the help or to really learn how to use the tools, we typically don't do it. Now, I do believe that we can prevent some of this, not all of it, because I think a lot of it is a gift. Like, even if your worst nightmare is a public panic attack, it might just be if it happens to the biggest gift that you have ever been offered in your life. Because we know that when we get these moments, they are the ultimate practice. It's not just like when a football player gets padded up and gets to go out on the field and just practice with his other teammates. And it's not a real game. It's like you got offered the NFL, you got offered an actual playoff game to figure it out, right? So you have to look at it as I talk a lot about how sometimes the bigger the challenge or the bigger the thing that has happened to you, the bigger the blessing and opportunity on the other side of that thing. Now, I don't want you to go around now nervous that I tell you this, like, oh my God, because it's my fear, because it's what I asked for, this is going to happen. That's not necessarily the case, but sometimes it is. And so what I want you to walk around thinking is whatever happens is a gift. Whatever happens is a gift. I'm going to think it and I'm going to ask, what is the opportunity in this? Right? What is the opportunity that I have to over comment? Okay, if we ask to be happier, maybe that's what we're praying about. Sometimes we'll get infiltrated with thoughts that hijack us. Sometimes we'll get infiltrated with the fear feeling of depression. And we're like, what is this? All I want to do is be happier. God, this is all that I want. Except these feelings and emotions are often signs that we're missing something or we need something or we need to take care of something or we need to move away from something or someone. So depression sometimes is the exact gift of, hey, you want to be happier? I'm trying to give you triggers and clues that tell you there are things so off in your life. Maybe what you're doing is so off. Maybe what you've been thinking about yourself, maybe the fact that you're not, you know, giving yourself enough self love, maybe the fact that you still think you're not worthy, maybe you need a therapist around this. Maybe you need to leave the person who's making you feel unworthy that you believe you know you're not able to leave whatever that is if you're like, please, God, help me be happier. Sometimes the gift is going to come in as depression to say, okay, it's time to pay attention because you're clearly not paying attention to anything else. I've been asking lately for just less anxiety and more peace no matter what comes my way. And guess what? Things are coming my way. Like big things that can really shake my peace and make me worry all night long and make me stay up and make me feel worried about my life and my company are coming my way. Why? Because I've been asking for less anxiety, for more peace to have More fun to be more present and in the moment, no matter what comes my way. And I cannot get those things and I cannot be the person who can do that until things be coming my way, if you know what I mean. And so I had some things at the end of vacation come up in my email. And if I wanted more peace, first of all on my vacation, would I have even checked my email? No, I wouldn't have. I would have said everything, unless it's an absolute emergency can wait until I'm back because I want more peace. And this is how I'm going to get it. That's one way, right? I could have practiced and said, okay, this is one way. I'm going to make sure that I have it. Another way is, yes, that email comes, I read it. And what's crazy enough is that I recognized what the opportunity was immediately because this is my work right now. This is literally what I am talking about on this podcast with you right now, is what I'm practicing every single day. So when I read this email, I said, thank you. I literally read it and I said, thank you for this exact experience happening right now. Because I get to practice that no matter what comes my way, that there are still good things in my life, that this isn't going to be something that's going to take me down. I'm not even going to think that. I'm not even going to let that enter in. I'm going to go into problem solving mode. I'm going to say, it is what it is. I'm going to do my absolute best. I'm going to pray on it, and I'm going to move forward and that's all that we can ever do. And whatever comes out of this was for me. Whatever comes out of this was for me to either learn how to have less anxiety and more peace or to grow or to get a backbone or to let go. Whatever it is, this is for me. So if I'm asking for less anxiety and more peace, right, no matter what comes my way, things are coming my way. To practice on. When an Olympic athlete says, I want to win the gold medal, they don't just expect it to happen. What they look for is, where's the training facility? Where I know people have gone who have won gold medals before. They don't just say, okay, I want that, please, God bless me with it. I just want this to happen. No, they look, they look. Athletes look for. Where is the best training facility? Where are the best training grounds for me to practice on? For me to put myself through pain daily for me to go and do that workout three times a day, Right? Where am I going to get the hardest workouts with the toughest trainers who also understand that it's so important obviously to repair and have some different things to make sure that you're supporting yourself along that journey of that extreme training. But they're looking for it out in the world. They're creating it out in the world. Just like if you look at people that you love that are successful, they are creating the things that stretch them, they are putting themselves on the stages that scare them before, before they feel ready because it is the training grounds that they're looking for. If you want things to not bother you and that's what you're asking for, right? Thicker skin. Everything is going to come in to bother you so that you get to practice on it because you're getting gifted an Olympic gold medal training ground.
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With Shopify by your side, you're getting gifted this. And until we can start seeing that and say thank you, you will never get out. You won't learn the lesson. You won't even get to the Olympics. You won't even get to try it. You'll just be stuck in eternal training with no result. You want to not be so attached to what people think and not controlled by opinions of what other people think. You're going to get opinions. You're going to get rude comments, you're going to get bad reviews. And these are all moments to take a breath, to pause and to say thank you. Thank you so much for this opportunity to be someone who's not so attached to what people think. To not let this totally ruin my whole day, but just let this be a moment and keep learning. Or keep trying to do everything that I can to think of something else. Grab a better thought, even one little better thought. Call somebody, say hi to someone. See how you can help someone. Want to love yourself more. You're going to notice that you're getting the opportunity to always want to go onto Instagram and compare yourself and make yourself feel awful. Right. You're going to get these opportunities to go and make yourself feel awful. Then you might go, you know what? Okay, I'm going to see off Instagram. But then you find yourself in of front, front of the refrigerator, going and snacking again. Even though you're really trying hard to eat healthy, you're going to be given the opportunities to grow a muscle. You're going to be gifted the weight. Right? If you want to go and get stronger in the gym, you're going to be gifted heavy weights. It's going to be the thing that's the most challenging. You want better boundaries and to stand up for yourself. You're going to have someone in your life specifically sent to you as a gift who pushes all of your boundaries. And it's most likely going to be someone that you can't just get out of your life. Because if it was someone you could just walk away from, would you ever actually have to really flex those boundaries and stand up for yourself? No. So thank you. Thank you to that person who's finally making you become the person who has some boundaries, who can speak up for herself, who actually holds to them to the point where someone goes, oh, wow, they're not letting me do this anymore. Wow, you know what? I don't like this. I don't like that they're not letting me do it. So I'm going to push them even more. I'm going to say bad things about them. I'm going to try to destroy their character. Okay, Again, the opportunity to have those boundaries, to believe in yourself, to let it be okay, that no matter what people say, you're still okay with yourself, that you're still going to live the life that, you know you were sent here to live. Want more money? You get to feel lack and learn to overcome it. Right? If we want to feel wealthier, if we want to feel more abundant, we first get gifted. This experience of lack, maybe you notice even that you're trying to get to a new level, but your bank account somehow is going backwards. You're like, what is going on? Like, I thought we were rock solid. I thought this. I thought my life was set. And I just want to get to this new level. I just want to break through. And now we're going backwards. Yes, because you have to know how to face lack. You have to know how to turn that feeling of lack into a feeling of abundance, even when that is all that you're seeing out in the world. In order to change that reality and in order to go to the next level. So what is the thing right now in your life that you're like, my God, I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. Or I can't believe this is happening again. Or, how is my income going down again? Or I can't believe these bad reviews. This is awful. Oh, my God. Business is so hard. This is not what I want. I'm so afraid to start. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for this gift that has come my way so that I can practice to be the person that I want to be. So, you guys, I hope that this helped you. This is where I'm at right now. If this is where you're at, let me know. You guys always know that I love to get your messages on Instagram. You can DM me and also share this with someone that you know is. Is struggling with a hard time or is trying to break through. The bigger the challenge, the bigger the blessing. So thank it so that you don't have to stay in it. Thank it and use it. Use it. It's the heaviest weights that are in the gym that are going to get you the fastest result. All right, you guys, I'm sending you so much love. And until next time, earn your happy. Bye, everyone.
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