Empowering Self-Discovery Through Adversity

Just like you , I wear many hats and own many titles , such as wife , mom , yaya , fur mom , coach , but the most important one , jesus girl , I'm on a mission to lift you up and help you rise from the ashes of pain and suffering , reminding you each day is a new day to begin a new life , a new chapter and a new journey of rediscovery .

So come , sit with me in my virtual kitchen and let's chat a bit and remember today is the day that you say I am strong , I am fierce , I am Mommy on a Mission . Hello , good morning and happy Saturday to all you beautiful muquetes . Thank you so much for joining in today .

If you're new here , obviously someone either shared previous episodes or they told you about this podcast , or maybe you just stumbled across it , I don't know . But whatever the case may be , I'm just so glad that you came and that you're listening this morning and to all of my amigas that are returning every Saturday with me .

Hey , girl , hey , I am just so happy and grateful that you all have decided to spend a few minutes with me this morning . Ever since I went to the Rise Girl Rise event gosh , I want to say it's been three weeks now . Wow , three weeks already , man . That event was something else . It was something powerful y'all . It was eye-opening .

It was just the most beautiful event that I have gone to in which I've participated in , and that event was designed so that we could provide a safe space for women to one listen to some of our stories , our testimonies , in order for them to realize that they are not alone , that we all go through things in life .

We all go through challenges in life , and here we are survivors , coming out victoriously out of situations that could have broken us down , and some events did break us down . However , because of God's goodness , we've been able to collect those pieces and put them back together .

And then , at my launch my book launch that took place a week later , at that event there were guests there that were invited , and one of those guests was actually a young man who mentioned that everything about that night meant something to him , so much so that he purchased a book to give to his mom because he felt like his mom could receive a message .

And then , after the event , things started happening and it's almost like if you're a believer in Christ , then you know that there's always going to be opposition of the enemy .

So anytime that you're doing something that God has called you to do , then the enemy is going to either one test you or place circumstances or situation in your way to see how you're going to react . Are you going to turn your turn away from God ?

Are you going to blame God for everything that's happening or are you going to recognize the things for what they are ? And , of course , because God is so loving , he provides us that free will to be able to choose how we're going to react to certain situations . What are we going to do ? And that's what's been happening .

I was talking to some of the ladies from the Rise Grow Rise . We had a Zoom chat going on and a lot of us just wanted to come together and just kind of talk about the experience at the gathering .

But at the same time it's almost as if we were being challenged in different ways , like our patience , our attitudes , our families , situations , the punches were coming left and right , left and right . Things were happening from all directions and we realized that it's because we have come out of something so guided by God himself that the enemy is angry .

Because women are starting to speak up and are starting to be delivered from those things that we're keeping them captive . And it reminded me of a scripture , and I want to say it's 1 Corinthians , if I'm not mistaken .

Don't quote me on this and I will find it , but it's talking about how we should be joyful even during our hardest circumstances , in all things , to continue to find joy .

And one of the things that we were talking about was that people will , or people have , the tendency to combine joy and happiness , like they get used , interchangeably , and that's not the case . The way I like to see happiness is happiness is a very temporary feeling .

It's a feeling that we have whenever we I don't know buy a new outfit or receive a really nice gift or something that we've always wanted , or we get recognized for something that we've accomplished , and it's in that moment we feel all this excitement . We feel happy and sure , very grateful and joyful about the occasion .

Right , remember , the difference between happiness and joyfulness is we're happy for that moment and then , once that high passes , then we go back to , I guess , normality or normalcy , and with joy .

Joy is experiencing and knowing that , even though things are tough , things are hard , you are content with who you are , with what you have and you're going to continue to push forward right . And I'm not saying happy because joy doesn't have anything to do with I mean , it doesn't always have to do with the smile , the happiness .

It means that we're accepting of the fact that we're going through a rough time , but we're going to put our full faith in God , knowing that he's got everything taken care of . Now , if you're not a believer in Christ , then you may not .

This message may not resonate completely with you , but if you stay along with me for a moment , you know I'm going to kind of share I don't know a little bit of wisdom , okay . So , as I was mentioning , it is challenging to be joyful because pressing through heart seasons are never easy never .

However , you learn lessons and the lessons you learn will provide you with the wisdom so that you can share with others .

Yes , it's true that difficult seasons can be trying , but it's important to remember that the lessons we learn during those times can be invaluable , and here's some things to keep in mind that can help you find joy even in the midst of hard times . 1 . Focus on the good . Even when things seem bleak , there's always something or things to be thankful for .

We don't do that enough . We're always about the moment , but never stop and just show full gratitude for the things that we already have . For instance , I'm very thankful that I was able to press through when I was going to college as a single mom , that I was able to press through and obtain my degree . Why ?

Because that degree helped open doors for me that I never thought possible were going to open for me . My degree is in business management , but yet that degree took me in a different direction because all along , god already knew what he had designed me for .

And that degree opened the door so that I could begin my career as a coach , as a career coach , and then eventually I became a life coach and a financial coach . But if you ask of all three , which is my favorite , my favorite is a life coaching .

Yes , career coaching is something that I've done for the last 13 years , but the life coaching part is the part that really has my heart . I am very passionate about that because I want to be able to see women succeed . I want them to know that it is possible for you to still make goals and achieve them , and so I'm thankful for that .

I'm thankful for the lessons that I have learned along the way , because without them I couldn't be the person that I am today . So I'm very thankful for those things and , sure , oftentimes when we seek gratitude , it's always about our family , it's about our friends . But dig deep a little bit more to find gratitude and all those things .

I'm not saying don't recognize . Your family , your friends , your job .

Those are all good things to be grateful for , but I challenge you to dig a little bit deeper and think of things or moments or situations in your life that you don't always think about , and then really hone in on it and say I am thankful for this because , and what did it help you obtain or gain ? The other thing is connect with others .

It can be easy to want to isolate yourself during tough times . Trust me , I know this because I've done it . There are moments in my life that I just want to be left alone . I'll go in my room , and even to this day , I'm a life coach . I'm a person who has healed from a lot of things .

I'm still working on other aspects of my life that require some healing , but for the most part , there are things that I've already healed from .

However , I have to recognize that I do battle with depression and anxiety and from time to time depending on my hormonal changes , I guess , or the chemical imbalances or whatever situations it puts me Perhaps there's something that'll trigger something in me , like maybe somebody would say something that I didn't even know , I still felt a certain way about , and I have

to work through that . But there are moments that I need to go and just isolate myself , and I do it , but not the way that I used to . There were times that I wouldn't even get out of bed , I wouldn't shower , I just didn't want to talk to anyone complete isolation .

I didn't want to have anything to do with anybody and I didn't speak to many people about the things that I was going through .

Now I will isolate myself for maybe a day or maybe a few hours , just so that I can think about what's going on , but then I will reach out to someone , a trusted person , because I can't go to everyone for a certain subject matter . There are designated people .

God has designated people in your life that you can go to for certain things and in its things that they'll be able to resonate with or empathize with , because they've either gone through it or they knew someone close to them that have gone through a similar situation . So I have to know and recognize who those people are .

But the important thing is is that I do go and seek someone that I could trust or , depending on the situation , then , yes , I will go and schedule an appointment with a therapist so that I can have that professional guidance to assist me with that . So that's one of the things that I challenge you to do is find those individuals you know .

A lot of times we'll say , well , I already have my best friend and I have and that's okay if they can understand exactly what you've gone through and can provide you sound wisdom to help you get through whatever challenge you're going through , because , trust me , not everybody can can be that for you , and I've said this in another episode .

You can't just share a lot with certain people because they're gonna express an opinion , they're going to express how they think they would handle a certain situation , but unless you know for sure that these people or this person has been through what you are experiencing at the moment , then that's the person that you need to be speaking with or , like I said , go

to a therapist . The next thing is practicing self-care . Taking care of ourselves physically , emotionally and spiritually can help us stay resilient in the face of adversity . Y'all , I can't , I can't share that enough . It was so hard because a lot of us , especially us women , right , I mean , we're always the last one to take care of ourselves .

We take care of everything and everyone else , but when it comes to us , we're either too tired or too exhausted to even care anymore . And the truth of the matter is that we have to . We have to make ourselves a priority .

We cannot feel guilty , or we should not feel guilty about that , because what good are we going to be if we're moody , if we're tired , if we're going to be reactive in certain ways , if , you know , if we're not going to handle certain situations the way perhaps we need to because we're just emotionally , physically and spiritually spent , it's , it's not gonna be

good for anybody . We need to be able to give our best version of ourselves to the people that we love , and the first thing is is Practicing self-love , self-care , loving yourself first . When you can love yourself , when you can take care of yourself , then you can love others even more and then you can take care of them even more . Why ?

Because you have paused your Resting and you're resetting to be able to function and do things better , and that may require you . If you're that person that's Not getting enough sleep , then maybe you need to get in that you need to get more sleep .

If all you're doing is feeding yourself junk food and really not nourishing your body with the right foods , then you're gonna feel depleted , you're gonna feel tired , you're gonna feel exhausted . For the moment You're going to have that rush , but then you're going to just Fall down very quickly . You're gonna be drained .

Taking time to Meditate in my case , prayer sometimes I'll do both , but it's really just being focused in the present moment , staying quiet and just really connect with yourself and with God Speaking to him . You know , one of the things that I was listening to the other day was this pastor was talking about that he is in a season of being a grandfather .

Well , I'm in a season of being a grandmother . However , my grandson is autistic and so he's not able to verbalize To us , like he's not able to speak to us and tell us I love you or anything . But we know he understands because whenever we say , give me a kiss , he gives us a kiss .

He expresses it through Physical ability , like he will grab our hands and show us and he'll demonstrate it with physical with him . You know , physically he'll let us know .

But he was telling the story about how when his grandchildren come over , they will make all their requests because they can trust and they know that with grandma and grandpa , for the most part they're gonna get what they want . But then again , that's what we grandparents do .

We want to be able to give our grandkids the things that we couldn't get our kids , and Sometimes we give them things that we just don't want to give our kids , and we give it to my grandparents . All of a sudden my daughter says oh , all of a sudden you have McDonald's money . Yes , I do for my grandson I do .

But the point I'm trying to make here is that Our grandbabies or our children can come to us , especially when they're really small . They can come and make their requests known and they are very real , they're very Authentic in their request or in what they say , or and how they do things .

But as we get older we start to lose that because we start to experience the insecurities , the Shineness starts to develop and then we want to isolate ourselves and no longer make any type of requests . But God wants us to reach out to him and make those requests .

You know he already knows when we're mad , he knows when we're sad , he knows when we're confused , he knows when things are going chaotic . But the but the thing is is that he already knows how you're feeling . He just wants you to come to him .

And we don't often do that because Because most women and I will say that majority of women feel like they need to be in control of everything . And I'm not saying that in a bad way , I'm saying it in a way because we're put in positions where we have to take control of certain situations .

In my case , I lived with a person who was addicted to drugs and was not fulfilling his role as the head of the household . So bills needed to get paid , but they weren't getting paid because he was snorting . Car notes weren't getting paid because he was out doing some other thing , but he wasn't doing what he needed to be doing for the household .

So then that's where the roles kind of changed a bit , and then I had to start taking care of those things and over time because I was put in that position of the one having to manage and take care of children and take care of the finances and take care of the grocery shop and then take care of everything else and adding on some of his responsibilities onto

my plate that it got to the point where I was already in full control and I would forget to go to God and say God , I can't do this by myself , I need you to help me . And the thing about it is is that I wasn't doing that , and so anytime that I put myself in a position of being in control , things were falling apart .

So we need to take time and be present in the moment and understand what we can and cannot do , and it's okay to ask for help . Engage in activities that bring you joy .

One of the activities that I love to do is going in my car and just going for a road trip , and sometimes I like to do it by myself because I can just go down country road , like five miles from where I live , south of where I live , and I was like , oh wow , you know , and so it almost has me believe that I'm on vacation for some reason .

So I think I posted this during COVID one time , because this is when I discovered that road and I was just going down this road and it was nothing but fields and little farmhouses and I was like , oh my God , I didn't even know this was around here , and so I just felt like I was on vacation , and even though it was for maybe like 30 minutes that I went

out for this little car ride , that 30 minute car ride not only did it bring me joy , but it brought a sense of calmness to myself .

It provided me moments of clarity , I was able to think , I was able to just really let go of some things and just think about things that I had forgotten , that I enjoy doing , and so we need to find opportunities to seek joy even when it's hard .

The wisdom that we gain during difficult seasons can be a true gift we can share with others who may be going through a similar struggle . So , amigas , I want to encourage you to keep pressing on and know that you are not alone . This is a season . In this season , you may be going through some really hard times .

I don't know if you're going through a bad marriage . I don't know if you're having trouble with your children . I don't know if you're a single parent and you have a special needs child , that you're just really going through some things .

I don't know your situation , but here's what I do want to tell you is that none of this is going to be forever , and I say that because my situation was not forever . Now , if you have a special needs child , obviously that is a situation that you're going to live through , but know that there is support out there for you .

Allow yourself moments of peace , moments of a break . Find people , connect with people that can help you . Don't place yourself in a situation where you have to feel alone all the time .

That's my little bit of wisdom that I wanted to share with you today , and I really do hope that , whatever it is that you're going through , whatever hardships you're facing at this moment , know that we're here for you . So in the meantime , if you found that this message could be useful for somebody else , please share this message with them .

Let them know there is a mohead out there that wants to just pour a little bit of wisdom into them , to brighten their day or motivate them , encourage them , empower them to be that mommy on a mission who is just seeking to succeed . Thank you , amigas . I hope you have a wonderful Saturday . Thank you for taking the time to chat with me .

I hope you had your cacito and until next Saturday I will be back again for another episode of Mommy on a Mission podcast . If you are hearing this message , you've listened to the entire episode and for that I want to say me gracias from the bottom of my heart .

If you would like to dive deeper into today's message and would like to connect with me , send the DM on Instagram at olamommyonamission , or Facebook at mommyonamission . You can also find me at mommyonamissioncom .

I hope you've enjoyed this new episode and , if you did , it would mean the world to me If you would subscribe , share this podcast and leave me a review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcast . Tune in next week for some more words of motivation , inspiration and encouragement on Mommy on a Mission podcast . Thank you .