1332: Flavours of hard

If you’ve ever felt broken for struggling with things that seem easy for others, this pep talk is your reminder that you’re wonderfully human—just as you are!

Episode transcript:

Good morning, Daily Peppers, and it's very happy Wednesday to you. It is hump day, and I'm here with a huge dollop of compassion and to remind you that you're doing alright because you really are. Now this week on the Daily Pep, we've really gone deep in terms of identifying your needs, giving yourself permission to take up space, and leaning into your dreams even if they feel impossible or even if it feels really uncomfortable to admit. And today, I wanna add a shit ton of compassion to the mix by reminding you that we all have our different flavors of hard, and that doesn't make you some kind of faulty human being. It simply makes you a human being. And if we can take off even just 10% of the judgment that we can give ourselves, we might just live a life that is a whole lot kinder to ourselves. So I wanna give you a concrete example when I'm talking about flavours of hard. So something that I find nigh on impossible and have to take really intentional, considered action to do is brushing my teeth.

I have also, in the past, really struggled with taking daily medication. Now for some reason, I just find it really, really hard. I find it hard to remember. I've got some resistance towards it, and it just feels like a harder lift. But here's the thing. For a long time, it felt like an even harder and much heavier lift because not only did I struggle with doing the thing, but I also had so many of these internalised stories about how I shouldn't struggle with these things, how it's easy for everybody else, and there must just be something wrong with me. I've also always been intrigued with personal development and things like habit building. And my internal stories were not helped by all of these examples in so many of those popular books about how to chain habits together.

You know, everybody brushes their teeth every day. It's something you do without even thinking. So just add a habit onto that. And I would feel even worse. But here's the thing. Something changed when I realised that, actually, this is just hard for me. I do not need to get forensic about the reasons why. Sometimes that helps.

But the most helpful thing in this scenario was just to realise that this is something I find hard. And with a bit more of that acceptance and less judgment, I was able to figure out how I could make it easier for myself without wading through the shame, without also using it as evidence that I am indeed some kind of faulty human being and there is something wrong with me. Now we all have our different flavours of hard. And for many of us, we get so caught up in trying to work out why it is hard for us and beating ourselves up for it that we completely forget that there are other things that we do that are pretty easy and frictionless that actually are really hard to other people. Chances are we might not even know other people struggle with those things because we assume that everybody can do them, and that is often not the case. So if you are hard relating to this, I want you to know that every single person has their own different flavours of hard. There is nothing wrong with you. And maybe ask yourself this question.

If in some parallel universe you were able to remove that shame and simply accept that this thing is hard for you and that self judgment and self criticism wasn't so heavy, what would that change, and how could you get creative about it? That is my food for thought for you today. And I wanna wrap up on another important reminder, and that is don't compare your insides to somebody else's outsides. I'll see you tomorrow.

Transcription automatically produced by Castmagic.io

ABOUT THE DAILY PEP! PODCAST

A short, snappy and sassy daily podcast to keep your internal - and external - dreamshitters at bay!

The Daily Pep! is the rebel-rousing, daily podcast for couragemakers, creative, multi-passionate and unconventional women.

If you’re surrounded by people who don’t get who you are or what you do, if you want reminders you’re on the right path (no matter how scary it feels), or you’re sick of being your very own worst enemy, this is the podcast for you.

Every weekday, your host - writer, coach and professional rebel-rouser - Meg Kissack helps you build a creative and wholehearted life, one day at a time. Through short and snappy insights, reminders and stories, The Daily Pep! is here to remind you you’re not alone, and that everything changes when you believe you matter. Each episode is short and snappy, designed to fit in with (or help you start) your habits and routines

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