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Hey, it's Josie with Affirmation Pod and

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this is where you get soothing affirmations

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to help you through your darkest hour,

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your deepest pain, the

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hardest stuff we face in life.

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Thank you for making time to

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be here today. You're welcome here

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whether you are a new listener

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or a returning one. This episode

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is the Hard Times playlist

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so let's take a breather

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here acknowledging the hard

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time you're going through and

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as you breathe call

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out what you need most in

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this moment. I

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will keep this intro shorter than

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usual because of the topic

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here. Let's get you

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right to the Affirmation Pod Hard

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Times playlist. Noticing

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your body now. From

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the top of your head. Recognizing

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any places of tension.

1:09

Breathing in

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love to

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those spaces.

1:22

And breathing out the tension. Feeling

1:29

yourself grounded. Even

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sinking a little lower where you

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are. All

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of this time to give you a release. Giving

1:52

yourself permission to

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be the calm in the storm. Continue

2:04

with your intentional breathing, filling

2:09

your heart space with love, releasing

2:15

shame as

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you exhale. Nowing

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your body to be

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filled with waves of love. And

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with that love comes strength. Noticing

2:42

a balance here and

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noticing the peace here. Facing

2:53

the stress released

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from your body. Guiding

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out all

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that keeps weighing on you and

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holding you back. Now

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in your mind's voice throughout

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loud, say,

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I am grounded. I

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have focus and

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clarity. I

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am monitoring and managing all

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the stress. I

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am the calm in the center of

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the storm. I

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am connected to sources

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of strength, power

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and safety. I

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am willing to see and

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feel the

4:26

stress leaving your body. I

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anchor myself now in

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the values I live

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by. I

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am courageous. I

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am connected. I

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am staying grounded in my body and

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I am listening to what's in my heart. I

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empower myself to

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lead with light, strength

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and courage. I

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ground myself and

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I empower myself to

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lead with light, strength

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and courage. Thank

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you. Being

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here in the

6:21

painful, painful time.

6:28

This can get worse before

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it gets better. And

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it may not get better. It

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is the painful middle. I'm

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uncomfortable. I'm

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in the unfamiliar. It

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is distressing. I

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can now breathe in and release.

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Yes, this

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is so painful. I

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have to take this one step

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at a time. I

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am taking this one

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feeling and sensation

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at a time. I

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am taking this one

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day at a time. When

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it's so overwhelming, I

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clear space to

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set to be sure to

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take care of myself.

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When I'm lost and stuck, I

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find time to reset and

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recenter. I

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am showing myself self-care even

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when the pain is so much. I

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lean on those who are supportive and

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caring. I

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turn to the places that

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help me feel and release. I

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am comforting myself through

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the tears. I

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go deep and

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tap into my inner strength. I

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breathe in and I

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release. I

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help myself through the pain. I

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remember who I am and my

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sources of strength and

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comfort. I

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reach out and I

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reach in. I

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am in the painful middle.

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I am taking this one

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step at a time. I

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am taking this one

10:38

emotion at a time. I

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am taking this one

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day at a time. I

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am giving myself space when

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I feel overwhelmed. I

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am making time to reset when

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I am lost and stuck. I

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am showing myself self-care

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when the pain just hurts so

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much. I

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reach out to those who are supportive

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and caring. I

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turn to the activities that

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help me feel and release.

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I go deep, so

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deep inside and

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connect with my

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inner strength. I

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am comforting myself through

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the tears. I

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breathe in and I release.

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I continue to breathe in and release.

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I am helping myself through

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the pain. I

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am here to comfort

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myself even

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in the darkest pain.

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I am getting through this painful

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time. Sometimes

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it's really hard to accept that

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I cannot control everything. That

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everything's not going to go the way I want

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it to. As

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much as that can frustrate me and

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stress me out. There's

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a big difference between saying, I

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accept the things I

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cannot change. And

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actually accepting the things

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I cannot change. It's

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up to me to

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work on how I will respond to

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things that are out of my control. It's

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up to me to look

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at how things

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are affecting me and what

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I'm doing to take care of me.

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I think it's time. It's

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time to reset some of my boundaries.

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So I can have a space of

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safety and control. That

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means I need to put up

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safety gates in my mind. That

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means I make two lists. One

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of the things I do

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have control of in my life.

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And one of the things I don't

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have control of. I

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choose what I do during

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my personal time. I

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choose what I focus on and

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what I put my energy into.

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And right now I identify

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what will help me get back a

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sense of control. And

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in the moments when things

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feel so out of control, I

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get creative in

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making things happen in my life.

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So at any point of the day, I take

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a minute, five

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minutes, ten

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minutes to

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ease my mind. I

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give myself safe and effective

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outlets for my

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frustrations. I

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tap into my

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arsenal of coping strategies. I

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remember everything that I can do to regain

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a sense

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of personal control. I

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stand in my power. I

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ground myself. I want myself in who I am.

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I give myself a

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sense of control over

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the things that I

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can control. I

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also look at my choices for

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what I can do about

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the things I cannot control.

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I listen for what will help

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me stay true to my heart.

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I am regaining a sense of

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control and clarity.

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I am rising to meet this challenge.

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I am empowering myself every

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day. I

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am helping myself. I

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am taking care of myself. I

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love and value me. Thank

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you. Thank you. Thank you.

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I have been through so much. I

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am going through so much. I

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am trying to find my way

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through this. It's

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a lot. I

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am beyond exhausted. I

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feel so depleted. I

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really don't like when I feel this. The

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simplest things are so hard. Anything

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that goes wrong hits

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me so much harder.

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The simplest things are so heavy.

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I gotta remember, I don't

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have to have it all together.

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I just need to make it through this day.

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And I can make

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it through this day. I

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can carry on. I care for myself with anything,

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everything that is helpful.

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When it's too much, I can

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change my environment or

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go to what shifts my focus and

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attention. I

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can get through this day. I

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can practice the lowest hanging fruit

22:45

of self-care. I

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can give myself a healthy dose of dopamine. I

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can make it through this day. If

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doing nothing is all I've got, it's

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better than doing something harmful. I

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can reach out to those who are supportive.

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I can breathe and release. I

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can take healthy escapes. I

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can be even kinder to myself.

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I can be even more

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gentle and compassionate with

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myself. I

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am taking the next right step for

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me. And

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I can make it through this

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day. Dealing

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with it doesn't mean the problem

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is solved. Dealing

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with it means I'm getting a handle on it.

25:34

Dealing with it means I'm making coping

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a priority. And

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by that I mean coping in healthy,

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wise and productive ways. Dealing

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with it means I choose to see

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what's in front of me. But

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also step back and

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shift even just a few degrees

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in either direction. To

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see what else is going on. Dealing

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with it means I check in with my body and

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put things in place to take care

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of my physical health. Dealing

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with it means I check in with

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my mental health and

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apply the resources and skills I've got

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to take

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care of my mental state. Dealing

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with it means I work out my emotions, I

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identify them, I unpack

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them, and I

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process them. Dealing

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with it means I clear space to

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examine my own biases, my

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own blind spots, and my own

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brokenness. Dealing

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with it means I get through the denial

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part and get realistic

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on what needs to be done. Dealing

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with it means I accept the things I cannot

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change. Dealing

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with it means I change the things I have

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the power to change and

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I do the things I have the power to

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do. I'm

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dealing with it. It's

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heavy. It

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ain't easy. It's

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making me go deep and

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call for deep gratitude and

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perspective. Dealing

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with it means I catch myself when I'm

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drowning in it, when

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I'm caught up in it, when

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I'm downright out of control about it.

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There's no turning back. I

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gotta face it and

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figure out how I'm going to get

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through this terrain. Some

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days it will feel like

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a battle or an all-out

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war. I

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can even expect battle scars.

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I can just work at limiting them. Feeling

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with it means there will be dark days and

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dark moments. It

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is up to me how I will

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manage each one. I

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will have impulses, temptations, and

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even invitations to be destructive.

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It's on me what I will choose in

28:56

those moments. Dealing

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with it means I regularly measure how

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much power this has over me. Over

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my thoughts, my physical

29:12

state, my

29:14

reactions. Dealing

29:19

with it means this

29:21

is robbing me of time, energy,

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and resources that

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I would use for other things if

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this wasn't here. But

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it's here. And

29:34

I need to care for myself. I

29:38

need to look at the stress

29:40

and apply self-care strategies to both

29:42

prevent and treat

29:44

the stress. I

29:49

need to monitor my rest, my

29:51

exercise, my nutrition. I

29:56

need to get spiritual and give service. I

30:02

need to find calm to stay

30:04

calm. Dealing

30:07

with it means so many things, so

30:10

many emotions. I've

30:13

never been through this before. I

30:15

don't have a point of reference. I

30:18

don't always know what the best thing to do

30:21

is for myself

30:23

and for the situation. Dealing

30:28

with it means I wake up each day and

30:30

keep trying. I

30:32

keep showing up and doing the work

30:34

of self-awareness. I

30:38

keep improving myself to

30:40

improve my world. Dealing

30:45

with it means I can handle the hard days.

30:48

It means I know the patterns and where

30:51

I get locked into a bad cycle. Dealing

30:58

with it means acknowledging I am not perfect. I

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will not handle every moment perfectly. It

31:04

means sometimes I may not even recognize

31:07

myself. Dealing

31:10

with it means it may get messy. I

31:14

may need to get through the fog with very little

31:16

light to work with. Dealing

31:20

with it means I may need to take

31:22

slower, smaller steps

31:25

for a while. Dealing

31:30

with it means I don't know how things are going to

31:32

turn out. Dealing with

31:34

it means I don't avoid the possibilities, but

31:37

I keep really focused on the now and

31:41

the what is now. Dealing

31:45

with it means no matter what is going on, no

31:48

matter what is happening, no matter

31:50

what the uncertainties are, I still

31:54

know that I am so loved that

31:57

I am enough and

31:59

that The spirit can come back from

32:02

all hurt, disappointment,

32:04

anger, anything. I'm

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dealing with it. Yes, I'm

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dealing with it. I'm

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dealing with it. I'm

32:35

dealing with it. Sometimes

32:49

when I'm going through really

32:51

tough stuff, there's this voice

32:53

in my head telling me I really

32:56

need to sit down and journal.

32:59

Or reach out to that friend

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who would totally be there for me, but

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I just have to reach out and ask.

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During tough times, I can make many

33:09

excuses or just avoid

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because I'm too exhausted,

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stressed out, overwhelmed.

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And yet so much of that would

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dissipate not everything, but a lot would

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if I made the time to sit

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down and maybe that's

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something that would work for you too. And

33:29

today, no pressure. It's a reminder

33:31

for myself as well. This

33:34

Affirmation Pod Hard Times

33:36

playlist features five episodes.

33:39

The first one is

33:41

episode 353, grounding yourself during

33:43

stress. Next is episode 471,

33:45

during the messy middle. Then

33:49

it's episode 282, a sense of control when

33:51

things feel out of control. Then

33:55

you hear episode 489, I can

33:57

make it through the stay. say

34:00

that a couple times now if you need to, I can

34:02

make it through this day. And

34:05

we round off this playlist

34:07

with episode 153 called

34:09

Dealing With It. These episodes are also

34:11

listed in the show notes of this

34:13

episode. If you know it'll

34:15

help to listen to the episodes without

34:18

ads and without announcements, that's available for

34:20

Premium Access members. Premium

34:22

Access unlocks all the

34:24

episodes plus bonus episodes that

34:26

you won't hear on this podcast. Get

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started today by going

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to affirmationpod.com. That's affirmationpod.com.