Hey, friends, it's Peggy hall. Back with you. I wanted to give you some words of positive encouragement. Over the many, many years I've been doing encouragement coaching for people, helping them elevate their physical, their mental, their emotional, even their spiritual well being. And that was something that I did long before I started doing the healthy american coaching on your rights and legal issues and all of that. And it's all really related because it all boils down to treating yourself with respect, believing that you deserve to live a life worthy of the calling that God has called you to do. 

And I find that so many people are feeling stuck in their lives, especially over the last couple of years. I'd like you to ask yourself that question right now. Where am I stuck in my life? Is it with maybe relationships with loved ones? Maybe there are strained relationships because of what's gone on for the last few years. Maybe you're feeling stuck in your physical health. Maybe there have been some setbacks in terms of things being upended over the last few years with your exercise, your nutrition, just your overall Joa de Viv. 

Maybe you're feeling stuck in a physical. Well, we were just talking about the physical. But maybe in fiscal, in financial situations where you may have lost a job, you may have quit your job, the economy going south, what is going on there? Are you feeling stuck? Are you unable to make changes going forward or take steps going forward? So we can talk about health, we can talk about relationships. 

We can talk about your financial situation. We could talk about employment and your professional life. Maybe even if you're retired or the things that you still want to do and to contribute and feel that you are productive and using the gifts that God gave you. So think about an area in your life where you may be stuck. Maybe it's something in your home. You have clutter that you need to clear out. 

You have a car that needs to be repaired. You have items in your home that need to be painted or fixed. So tax season is coming up as I'm airing this video now. Maybe you are like many people and you're feeling stuck. You don't know where to get started. It feels overwhelming. Think about an area in your life where you are stuck. I would love to hear that in a comment. 

Great to have you on board. This is something that I have and I think most of us have grappled with for most of our life. There are certain areas where things are going along really well. They're going swimmingly. And then there are other areas where people are stuck. Let me give you an example. Some of the women that I've, and I've coached men as well, but some of the women that I've helped in my wellness coaching, some of them, from the outside, it would look like they had everything together. 

They had a profession that they loved, they had a beautiful family, they had a great relationship with their spouse. They didn't have any financial issues, they didn't have any health issues, but they were struggling with their weight. This is something that I've seen again and again and again. And it's almost as if because everything else was going great, they needed to have an area where they were struggling. 

This sounds strange, I know. Let's do a different scenario where maybe somebody has no issues with their weight or emotional eating, maybe they have no issues with their health, maybe they have no issues with their finances. But they have found that there's a relationship that they're struggling with, and it's like they need something in their life that they can give their attention to their focus and try to fix. 

This is a very interesting phenomenon that I've noticed over many years. And they all have very similar roots as to why they are stuck. And that's why I titled this video. This is probably why you are stuck. It's not 100%, but I will tell you my learnings and how I kind of have become aware of this and what I have done personally in order to unstick myself in certain areas of life. 

And I would say for me it probably is more like in that clutter realm, I'm not a pack rat by any means. In fact, I live rather a minimalist, streamlined lifestyle. But I have so many pictures and letters and journals and just knickknacks that are meaningful to me, things that I've inherited from deceased family members and so forth. So I know that that is an area where I could identify. 

Like, I'm sort of stuck there. I'll open a box. I'll look at it. I'll close the box. I'll set it aside. I'll put that off for another day. If this is you, stay tuned because I am going to be bringing a private class series all about how to simplify and declutter your life. I've run this before. We've had great success. We do it live and each class you get a simple task and then we support each other and we send in photos. 

Let me know if that sounds like something you are excited about. It really helped me get unstuck. And we start with some fun, easy, doable projects and you feel great because when you start to make headway in an area where you are stuck, here's one of the great punchlines, is you actually get a hit of adrenaline. It feels great. You get all of those dopamine. Who knows if those chemicals even exist? They've never really been identified. 

But I'll just use the popular terms of the dopamine hit where you feel great about yourself. It's the same kind of dopamine hit that people get when they buy something new or for those people that are addicted to gambling, they get that thrill. I get that dopamine hit when I clean my kitchen really well and when I start to organize things. And any kind of achievement or progress on a project can give you that same sense of feeling accomplished. 

But let's set that aside for just one moment. So I think everybody has in their mind an area in their life where they feel stuck. You're welcome to leave something in the comment. If you would like me to take a look at it or just keep it confidential, that's all right. But here's where I see people. Here's probably what's keeping people stuck. All right. Number one in our society, at least in my experience, what I have seen back in the day when I used to watch movies, read novels, books, I really don't do that anymore. 

I like to work on my own self growth and expanding my learning and knowledge. So I do not spend time listening to popular music or I don't go to concerts. That's just me. You may be different, but back in the day when I did that, there was like an underlying theme of, like, you can't have it all, and who do you think you are? Almost as if there needs to be an area in our life where we are falling short. 

Otherwise we might overshadow others, or they would think that we're superior. I've had clients that have told me that their family members were saying to them things like, well, who do you think you are? When they would have some kind of accomplishment? And they were doing it because they have these gifts and talents to share, but the others were feeling threatened and vulnerable because they really couldn't keep up. 

I've helped people who have lost friends and friendships because they just didn't want to come along. They didn't want to keep improving and growing and developing and learning and expanding. And so it's almost as if our society wants to keep us mediocre. Can anybody relate to that? And to me, there's nothing wrong if that's what you want, if you have chosen to just sort of be in the middle of the pack, to stay behind the scenes, to just do the bare minimum, some people actually are comfortable doing that, but don't do it because you think society has told you to do that. 

I have lovely family members, friends, people that I know that have so much potential. They are just like incredibly gifted, yet they keep squashing these areas of their life. Why are they doing that? And this is the answer that I'm going to give you. So, number one, it's almost as if it's not acceptable in our society to have it all together. You've got to have something to complain about. 

You've got to have one area of your life where you're falling short so that you can feel bad about yourself. All right? That's the second point. Our society, whether through our parents, our teachers, our peers, our coworkers when we grow up, adults, society, it's almost as if they want to keep us down. This is the whole problem with our society right now, equity and diversity. Like no one can achieve more than someone else. 

Somehow it's not appropriate, this demonization of corporations. Yes, there are slimy corporations that are putting their profits before. Well, they have to put their profits first, otherwise they can't stay in business. And so the idea that somebody being successful or being a millionaire or a billionaire is inherently bad and wrong, I've never accepted that. Well, at least in my adult years, where I learned about how harmful that was to tell people that they shouldn't achieve things. 

So it's a way of making ourselves feel bad about ourselves because society encourages that. They don't want us to achieve. And if we do, somehow we have privilege and we were advantaged. And it's like, I can share with you stories of friends of mine that I knew in childhood that came from broken homes, that had to go to work babysitting at the age of eleven, that never had any handout hand up or anything. 

And regardless of skin color or anything like that, they had major disadvantages that they had to overcome. And I've done videos before about the upside of hardship and how disadvantages actually can help you. And some of these people are so strong and intelligent and they've grown so much because they had to. So I reject society's. Again, it's kind of an unspoken feeling. Let me know if you can even relate to that. 

It's this idea that who are you to achieve? Who are you to have it all together? So that's something that's really powerful. I believe in our society. And maybe it's something that you picked up as a child or something. And then the other thing is that I notice when people are trying to get themselves unstuck, instead of doing positive encouragement, they berate themselves. It's all sorts of criticism and negativity and what's wrong with you? And you're such a slob. 

And there you go again, and you're never going to get it together. And I knew you wouldn't be able to do that. These are the messages that we send. Number one, the number one tool I can give you in all of this, actually, I'd love to know from you. Okay. Samantha says, people say to me all the time, don't be so cheerful. Yes, Samantha, you and I are the same. 

I have a cheerful personality by nature. And somehow people want me to be down in the dumps. Not you, my lovely, healthy americans. Imagine. And you don't have to imagine. I'm sure that you experienced it, especially as a child, being told, sit still. Can't you be quiet? Or maybe you were quiet by nature and your parents said, go out, make friends, take the lead. And you're like, well, that's not my nature. 

So that's a topic for a whole nother day. But the point is this. The number one tool that I can give you in all of this is awareness. Being aware of what you're saying to yourself, what you're thinking about yourself. And I recommend that you actually get a pen or this is my eyebrow pencil. Get a pen or a pencil. And I would like you to write down on a daily basis, just keep it with you. 

Or you could do a little message on your phone, and every time a thought comes up about yourself or about where you're stuck, I want you to write that down. I want you to acknowledge and be aware of the language that you are using in your mind. Friends, it doesn't matter what other people think. It doesn't matter. First of all, we don't know what they think. Even if they tell us what they think. 

We don't know if that's what they're really thinking. What's more important is what you're thinking. Spend more time thinking about your thinking than thinking about what other people are thinking about you. Frankly, they're not thinking about you that much. They're thinking about themselves. But I want you to take this level of awareness and I want you to approach it with compassion. I don't want you to be critical about the messages that you're sending yourself, because that's another layer of being critical. 

I want you to do it with a sense of compassion, as if you were talking to a loved one and you heard them. Maybe you even do have loved ones who walk around all day saying things like, oh, I'm such a dummy. Oh, I'm so stupid. I can't believe I did that. When am I ever going to learn? Personally, I find it very difficult to be with those kinds of people. 

It's like fingernails on a chalkboard. Everyone, regardless of the hardships they may have faced in their life and are still facing, every single person, has the superpower of taking charge of looking at their thoughts. You don't even need to change them. I just want you to acknowledge them, be aware of them. Notice the patterns. Are you saying things like, hey, I'm just going to get started in one corner of the room. 

It'll be fun to clear out this box? Or are you going to say, I can't believe it, it's been years. I'm such a slob. When am I ever going to get organized? I want you to write those phrases down. This is why you're stuck. Because the methods that you're using to encourage yourself aren't working. If those phrases were working, you wouldn't be stuck. Now, you may say, peggy, it has worked. 

I've lost weight in the past. I have done my taxes. I have had these conversations with my loved ones. But let me ask you, was it short lived? If it worked, then why did you backslide? If it worked, you wouldn't be in the situation where you are now. And just because it worked doesn't mean that something else couldn't have worked better, more easily, more enjoyably, more effectively. Will you begin to ask yourself, what am I thinking? The part two question is, why am I thinking that? What am I saying to myself? Why am I saying that? Is that just a phrase that somebody else said growing up? Do I have to keep repeating those phrases over and over again? Many of you have told me and the clients that I've had in the past have said that. 

People told them, you're just too much. You're just too much. You're too much. People tell me, you're too bright. Why are you always wearing bright clothes? As if I care that they care. It's so strange. People will say that all the time. You're too much. Can't you just relax? Why do you take things so seriously? Is another one right? Because I care about the world and I care about society, and I care about justice. 

Why can't you just leave that alone? Why do you have to be so involved in everything? Can't you just let it go? Okay, these are the phrases that I hear from society, but I don't have to repeat them to myself. How do I know if I'm repeating them to myself? Awareness. So I would love to offer you this challenge. What are the phrases that you are thinking that you are saying in this area where you are stuck? And then write those down so that you can actually look at them. 

They can get out of your mind, out of your body, onto a piece of paper. One of my favorite tools is called think on paper. And when you get things down on a piece of paper, there's a little bit of a distance, and you're able to look at them slightly with a view of objectivity, and they're not so easily dismissible because they're there on paper. So writing these things down and then approaching these phrases and approaching your actions and your thoughts with compassion as if you are a coach for yourself and you want to do self encouragement, friends, that is the bottom line. 

In my many decades here on earth, I have learned that self loathing is far worse. Self loving is far superior to self loathing. Let me put it that way. And self encouragement is far superior to self criticism. That's the message that I have for you today, friends. When I come to you for these weekly videos, I always ask myself, what is the most important message that I can leave with you today? What can have the greatest impact? And so all of the topics that I've done, this is almost video 300 on this channel. 

Each one can stand alone, but they all kind of build on each other. I talked about building your confidence. I talked about blasting through procrastination. And it's all related because it's how we see ourselves. It's how we speak to ourselves. It's how we allow the inputs of the world, whether it's people, things we read, things we listen to, areas, events that we go to, surroundings that we are in, clothes that we wear, all of that affects and impacts our life and our lifestyle. 

Listen, when you are big, when you're bold, when you're living in your truth, when you are expressing your soul, your gifts, your talents, you're not going to overshadow people, you're going to inspire them. It's the exact opposite of overshadowing. You're going to be shining a light, a path, to say, hey, this way, friends. This is the way I'm going. Come along with me so you can change your outlook to change your outcome. 

Hey friends, before you go, I want to make sure that you know where you can sign up for my live private webinar all about how to stop procrastinating. Now. If you can't make it live, it will be recorded for you. Let me show you where you can sign up. That is over@thehealthyamerican. org. Click on products and classes. And right here, five ways to stop procrastinating now. Because it's the holidays, I wanted to make sure that this was a price for the course that everybody could afford. 

So don't procrastinate on signing up. It's right here, over@thehealthyamerican. org we are going to talk about the top ways that people are procrastinating on their dreams. And I have identified five major areas with a couple of little bonus tips that I want to share with you. Ways that I have been able to be productive, effective, efficient. I know that you have God given gifts and talents and skills to share and you want your life to be a blessing to others. 

Let me come alongside you step by step and help you stop procrastinating. Now the clock is ticking. Our life is lived forward. So let's roll up our sleeves, tackle these issues that are keeping you stuck so that you can share your gifts as intended. .