Business is Human

“ Stop waiting to be enough before you  step into what God has already called you to do.”

In this episode of Business is Human, Rebecca Fleetwood Hession continues the Stand Tall in Your Story series with Michelle Clendenning, Executive Director of Self-Directed Living Supports at Opportunities for Positive Growth. Michelle shares how receiving a pageant’s Miss Congeniality award instead of the crown she wanted as a teenager became a lifelong reminder of her gift for connection, warmth, and making others feel included.

Drawing from Michelle’s story, neuroscience, scripture, and leadership insight, Rebecca explores how performance and external approval keep our nervous systems activated, while presence, service, and faith create safety. This episode invites listeners to stop proving, start serving, and recognize the gifts that may have been there all along.

In this episode, you’ll learn:
  • Why chasing approval keeps your nervous system stuck in anxiety
  • How connection and presence can become a powerful leadership gift
  • Why faith, stillness, and self awareness help you step into who you were created to be

Things to listen for:
(00:00) Introduction
(02:55) The title she didn’t expect
(06:10) Loss, longing, and God’s timing
(08:43) Stepping into leadership with faith
(12:01) Three tensions to notice
(16:54) The gap between appearing and feeling
(20:10) The gift she almost missed
(23:28) Connection as a leadership gift
(27:06) Serving instead of proving

Connect with Michelle:
Explore Opportunities for Positive Growth: https://www.opgrowth.com/ 

Connect with Rebecca:
https://www.rebeccafleetwoodhession.com/

Watch all of the Season 7 Stand Tall in Your Story talks here: https://www.rebeccafleetwoodhession.com/stand-tall 

What is Business is Human?

We need a new definition of success—one that harmonizes meaning and money.

Imagine diving into your workday with renewed energy, leaving behind the exhaustion or dread of a monotonous grind.

Traditional beliefs about success and the root cause of burnout are the same:
Prove yourself.
Work harder.
Take care of the business, and it will take care of you.

We’re recycling the mindset and practices that keep us stuck. Our souls need a jumpstart into The Age of Humanity.

Tune in for a new way of working that honors our nervous system and the bottom line, using knowledge of the brain, the Bible, and business. We’ll discuss timeless truths that amplify growth, ignite change, and reshape the world of work. No corporate speak or business BS. Let’s get to the heart of a rewarding career and profitable growth.

We speak human about business.

What’s in it for You?

Value, Relevance, and Impact (VRI): No, it's not a new tech gadget—it's your ticket to making your work genuinely matter to you and your company.

Human-Centric Insights: We prioritize people over profits without sacrificing the bottom line. Think less "cog in the machine" and more "humans helping humans."

I'm your host, Rebecca Fleetwood Hesson, your thrive guide leading you into the new Age of Humanity. I’ve navigated the highs and lows of business and life, from achieving over $40 million in sales, teaching thousands of people around the world about leadership, trust, execution, and productivity to facing burnout, divorce, raising a couple of great humans (one with ADHD), and navigating the uncertainty of starting a business.

I’m committed to igniting change in the world by jumpstarting business into profitable growth with the timeless truths of our humanity.

Sound crazy? It’s only crazy until it works.

Hit subscribe to never miss an episode, and leave a review to help other listeners discover our show.

Want insight and advice on your real career and business challenges? Connect with me on social media or email me at rebecca@wethrive.live. Your story could spark our next conversation.

[00:00:07] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Welcome back to Business is Human. I’m your host, Rebecca Fleetwood Hession, and we’re here to bring you episodes that blend meaningful work with profitable success. Here to steward what I call the Age of Humanity. I believe if we transform the way we work, we can transform the way that we live. As always, my friendly request, if you like what you hear, hit subscribe so you don’t miss any episode and leave a review to tell the other humans that they might like it too. Always looking to help you and connect with others. All right, let’s get into it, shall we? I want you to think about the last time you entered into a situation, walked into a meeting, whatever the situation was, and you were thinking about how you were going to prove yourself or impress someone, not necessarily thinking about how you were going to be the most helpful or the most present, but instead the most impressive.
[00:01:14] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: I want you to think about that as you listen to our next story in the Stand Tall in your story series, because most of us don’t think about it consciously or admit it out loud, but our nervous system knows. And it’s what we’ve been chasing for years in the business community, which is, look at me, prove myself, the promotion, the title, the deal that gets talked about long after it’s done, recognition at the all hands meeting. Here’s what’s interesting. The brain rewards that. That chase of that feeling of impressing someone and of status of any sort activates the same dopamine levels that we get from French fries or a bonus. So your nervous system isn’t broken because it wants it. It’s doing exactly what it’s designed to do, but it’s based more on a fear-based system of I have to get it because I’m afraid if I don’t.
[00:02:25] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: But there’s a different thing that we can chase. And today’s story from Michelle Clendenning, from Opportunities for Positive Growth, she discovered this in a really interesting way at a pageant as a teenager when they didn’t call her name for the title that she wanted. Let’s hear Michelle.
[00:02:57] Michelle Clendenning: Wow. I love you, Kate. They called my name, but it wasn’t what I expected. I went into the pageant with my eyes on the crown. You know, the crown that symbolizes beauty, perfection, poise, confidence. But as the judges finished and the contestants gathered, it wasn’t the crown that found me. It was something different. Something voted on by the women who saw me in the quiet moments backstage, in the laughter between nerves, and in the way I made them feel seen and heard. Ms. Congeniality. The title that means pleasant, friendly, warm to be around. Someone who makes you feel included just by being themselves. It’s not the title I wanted or expected, but it was the one God was revealing exactly who he created me to be. You see, I can go into any party and not know a soul and still somehow come out with friends.
[00:04:08] Michelle Clendenning: I can read a room instinctively and blend in absolutely anywhere, not by disappearing, but by connecting. Yet, I’ve had a persistent battle within me that many don’t see. I’ve wrestled with the fact the feeling I’m not pretty enough, smart enough, confident or worthy enough. Not because any single person told me that, not because of any moment or trauma. It’s just something I felt. The girl that appears to have it all together, smiles and makes everyone feel included, continually questioned herself. Why am I not enough? In the midst of the self-doubt and uncertainty, there was something planted in me by my grandparents and parents that was beginning to grow. My faith. It wasn’t loud or dramatic. It was quiet, consistent, lived out faith. The kind that reminds you that God meets you exactly where you are. Faith was woven into my every day. While my friends were trick or treating, we were at the holiday party at church.
[00:05:27] Michelle Clendenning: Sunday mornings, whether we were grumpy, tired, pretend sick, you found us in those pews. We prayed over every meal, whether it was a Sunday dinner, a holiday feast, or simply a taco salad by the pool. We locked hands before vacations and prayed for traveling mercies. I saw countless people baptized in my grandmother’s pool and at church picnics. In the moment, it all seemed so ordinary, but now I see it for what it is. It’s faith that shows up in kitchens and in backyards, in the people that surround us, and in the moments when God shows up powerfully yet quietly. This foundation was evident. When my husband and I found out we were pregnant before marriage, coming from a very traditional Christian family, I was terrified to tell my grandparents. I braced myself for their judgment, their disappointment, and the weight of their expectations. Instead, they met us with the same love and grace that God extends us all.
[00:06:44] Michelle Clendenning: They didn’t score or shame us. They prayed with us and for us. Little did we know in a few short months we would lose that baby and … Excuse me. And after marriage, we would endure many years of infertility filled with hope, heartbreak, waiting, and more prayers than I ever thought I was capable of. My faith and prayers didn’t waver. They shifted into the longing of a mother, whispered through adoption of three beautiful babies who are now 14, 12, and 11.
[00:07:31] Michelle Clendenning: Each one of them have their own unique stories. Each one has God’s fingerprints all over them. Each one is a reminder that God’s timing is rarely our timing, but always the right timing. Now, as my faith was becoming deeply rooted in my personal life, it was a slow trickle into my professional life. My professional journey began at a place that felt like home from the beginning. Providing supports to individuals with developmental disabilities, it felt sacred, purposeful. It’s where I was meant to be. It’s where I learned what true leadership is. Service, compassion, patience, and presence. It’s also where I met my first supervisor, Leslie. Leslie saw something in me long before I ever saw it in myself.
[00:08:37] Michelle Clendenning: She gave me opportunities, responsibilities, and insurmountable trust. I remember vividly working on a project with her one day. I was close to graduation, which mind you, was 11 years in the making. I was overwhelmed, exhausted, ready to quit. I said, “Leslie, I am not smart enough, capable, or confident enough to step into any leadership. I just can’t do this. “ She simply looked at me and said, “You have to, and I have faith in you. “ Those words meant everything. After many years of doubting myself and starting over more times than I can count, I finally graduated and stepped into leadership. Now, my self-doubt and uncertainty didn’t just disappear immediately. However, once I began to rely on my faith and trust in the God that created me, I became a woman and a leader who prays and perseveres, who extends grace over perfection, who leads with warmth and understanding, is shapened and strengthened by her experiences and her faith.
[00:09:56] Michelle Clendenning: And finally, seeing herself as God has always seen her, capable, chosen, and more than enough.
[00:10:14] Michelle Clendenning: So stop waiting to be enough before you step into what God has already called you to do. If I would’ve waited, I’d still be sitting on the sidelines of my own life. I would’ve missed opportunities, promotions, relationships. I would’ve missed the people I was meant to serve. You don’t need the world’s approval. You don’t need everyone to believe in you. You don’t need a perfect past, a perfect confidence, or a perfect crown. You need courage and willingness to step forward, but most importantly, you need faith in the God that created and carries you. Ms. Congeniality wasn’t the title I wanted or expected, but it’s exactly who I was created to be. So my hope and prayer for all of you this evening is that you are able to see yourself as God has always seen you, capable, chosen, and more than enough.
[00:11:35] Speaker 2: Yes.
[00:11:36] Speaker 2: Yes. Now, I did not stage this tonight. Your team, your sisters did, and they wanted you to have the perfect crown. Thank you. I love you.
[00:12:00] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Okay. What are you thinking about you and your story as you listen to Michelle’s? Because what I pull out of that story is leadership, neuroscience, scripture in a way that is more true and aligned than maybe a lot of business books that I’ve actually read. Let’s get into it, shall we? When she walked out with a different award than the one that she wanted, she almost missed the gift that was in all of that. And there are three particular tensions that I want to highlight for us today. One is the performance battle, the feeling that we have to, or at least appear to have it all together while really inside asking ourselves, “Why am I feeling this way of not being enough?” The second is that she almost missed this as a gift, that desire to make people feel seen and included, the thing that she wasn’t paying much attention to is the gift.
[00:13:18] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: It’s not ordinary. And then the third tension is that we can’t wait to stop waiting to be enough before you step into what God has already called you to do. So there’s tons of things to be learned from a neuroscience perspective in Michelle’s talk. Let’s talk about how the nervous system works. It is a sensing system. It’s constantly scanning. Am I safe or not? Am I in a threatening situation? Well, where do I stack up in this situation that I’m in? And when we’re looking for status, it triggers dopamine. Approval then becomes what we feel like we need to survive. And this is the way we’re designed. And so there’s not a right or wrong about it. It’s doing exactly what it’s designed to do. The key is to understand how we’re designed at this level of below the level of consciousness so that we can do things that set us up to feel better in our day-to-day work scenarios.
[00:14:33] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: So when the nervous system is running on what neuroscientists call contingent self-worth, when your sense of value is based on outcomes and titles and external validation, then naturally, the way the nervous system is designed is going to increase our anxiety because all of those things are outside of ourselves. We don’t know how it’s going to go. So it creates some anxiety. It creates a fear of failure. It creates a decrease in our interest or ability to take risk, to do things that are more creative. It just makes things harder and harder. The performance-based system doesn’t just exhaust you. It keeps you incompatible with the part of your brain that is doing its best thinking, being its most creative, experiencing joy because it’s linked, we are connecting ourselves to things that we don’t actually have control over, and so we feel out of control. And then that spikes anxiety and then shuts down creativity and all of the other things.
[00:15:53] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: So that’s being activated on high alert. And that’s really a good thing that we have this ability in our nervous system because we do want to be triggered when there’s a problem, but it’s meant to be a short-term system, not a way of life. That’s where we short circuit our own systems. Activation disguises itself, what I call the counterfeit. It disguises itself as focus and drive and ambition. I always got to be on. I always got to be ready. And that kind of morphs into anxiety, reactivity, and eventually burnout because the brain can’t tell the difference between a genuine threat and the perceived threat of, “I don’t know what’s going to happen at my performance review or this next client meeting or all the same thing.” So it feels the same to your nervous system. And this is exactly what Michelle was describing. And the way that she named this battle, she said, “I’ve wrestled with the feeling I’m not pretty enough, smart enough, confident enough, or worthy enough.” And so that internal belief and battle was the nervous system running on fear, a contingency-based self-worth, which has nothing to do with her real confidence.
[00:17:21] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: It was what she was believing about herself. And so then our brain builds this protective performance way of living to not showcase that we’re feeling these things. So we show up with a smile on our face. We show up in a way that says, “I kind of fake it till I make it. “ Well, below the surface, our nervous system is saying, “Holy crap.” So the neuroscience word for that is self-discrepancy. The distance between how we present ourselves and how we actually feel about ourselves. And when we try to sustain that for long periods of time, we get chronic activation. And the effort that it takes to maintain that gap is exhausting in a way that we may not realize it’s happening. And that’s why I love doing these episodes and sharing this with you. So you can now be more aware of these things and start to observe yourself and ask yourself, are some of these things impacting me in a way that this is why no matter how much rest I feel like I get, I never feel rested because your nervous system is running this constant play of vigilance to try to appear to show up better than we actually feel about ourselves.
[00:18:49] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: So before our brain actually has a conscious thought, your nervous system has already sensed the situation and made a decision for you. Your thoughts simply confirm what your nervous system has already decided, and then your thoughts build the story around why that has to be true, even if it’s not actually true. So Michelle’s story of I’m not enough was not a thought that she was choosing consciously. It was a pattern that had been developed below the level of consciousness that started to run automatically, just like a path that we would always take through the woods. The work that we do in the Rise and Thrive experience before they get on stage to tell these stories helps to uncover some of these patterns that have been running in our lives for decades. Oftentimes we reveal them so that we can ask ourselves, is this actually true or is this just what I’ve built the pattern around thinking I was keeping myself safe?
[00:20:00] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: And once it gets revealed, then they can look at that and say, “I’m not choosing this path anymore. This isn’t a pattern that I want in my life.” And so what Michelle discovered is that the Ms. Congeniality is actually the superpower gift that she has. And she said it in her talk, “I can go into any party and not know a soul and still somehow come out with friends. I can read a room instinctively and blend in anywhere, not by disappearing, but by connecting.” And so the very thing that she received an award for as a teenager is her superpower, and it’s a gift that the world, and especially the world of business, needs far more of. From a nervous system perspective, what she’s describing by being able to connect is when the ventral vagal state of connection is the highest functioning mode of the human nervous system.
[00:21:05] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: It’s when there’s genuine presence and curiosity. So when you interact with Michelle, and all of the folks that know her in my circle will tell you this, she’s present. She is making eye contact with you. She’s genuinely curious about you and your story, and you then by nature, have a calming presence because of her presence that she brings to the conversation. And so the ability for her to show up in that way regulates your nervous system just by having a conversation with her. You feel really safe when you’re with her. And you can imagine what kind of leader that creates in her. It’s phenomenal. So then she has access to wisdom and empathy and clear decision-making and even creativity. And so the award that we often chase in business isn’t actually what our team needs or what makes us feel great about ourselves. And so when we were able to show Michelle through the science of the nervous system and her own story, that actually this was a true and powerful gift that she brings into her life, you could imagine how that changed her sense of self.
[00:22:31] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: So when she was no longer chasing after somebody else’s approval of her and instead could sit in the confidence that what she brought was so beautiful, ugh, it was like an instantaneous transformation in her. I remember the first group session that we had together and when we started talking about these things and learning about these things, I just saw her start to sit up a little taller and the lights come on in her eyes and it was just this beautiful transformation that took place. And the way that she continued over the seven months that we were all meeting monthly, the way that she continued to bring that gift into the room to help others see themselves and help them transform. One time in particular, I will never forget this moment, one of the gals in her group, Kate, who you heard from in the last episode, each of us have unique gifts and talents.
[00:23:37] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: And I do an interview with them to help them discover what theirs are. And I gave them a printout of their unique gifts and talents from their own story, and I gave them some reflection questions for them to consider, to observe themselves and where these gifts showed up in their day-to-day lives as part of the assignment, if you will. And as Kate was reading her gifts and talents, she was emotional. She said, “I’ve always wanted someone to say this about me. This feels so good.” And without even missing a beat, Michelle said, “Can I read them to you? “ “Oh, I’m going to cry thinking about it. “And Kate said,” Yes. Oh my gosh, would you? “It wasn’t a strategy. It wasn’t a plan. It was just her instinctive knowing that that would help Kate. And she took the paper and she stood there eyeball to eyeball and read that list of Kate’s gifts to her.
[00:24:39] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Oh, y’all, there wasn’t a dry eye in the whole place that day. And all of us will never forget that moment of what that meant to feel seen and heard by somebody. And that’s what the Ms. Congeniality Type Award of being voted on by the other pageant contenders, if you will, not the judges. It’s when your peers see you, when you have that connection that feels completely safe, that opens up the part of our nervous system where we can be our best self. Activation, outside approval shuts it down, and that kind of connection opens us up and we start being bolder and more confident. And Michelle’s gift, the one that she almost missed that is just so inherent to who she is, is the way that we are wired naturally to want to connect with people, but we shut too much of that down seeking external approval and validation from others, which is why the business world suppresses this gift in us.
[00:26:00] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: It’s a performance-based system, which then naturally triggers activation. It treats urgency as an utmost value. We got to be faster, smarter. Busyness is how you prove yourself and show that you’re valuable and the emotional connection, the heartbeat to heartbeat, eyeball to eyeball connection as seen as kind of secondary. And sometimes even leaders who are good at that are described as,” Well, they’re great at culture, but I’m not sure they’re great at execution. “When in fact, what we all need to execute is to feel safe enough to bring our best ideas. And so that’s the counterfeit at work is leading us to believe what’s not true is true, but our nervous system never lies. And so that activation you feel to prove yourself is your nervous system saying to you, “ This isn’t working for us. We need stillness. We need to feel safe within ourselves so we can be our best self.
[00:27:07] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: “Business is always trying to control, measure, and optimize, which isn’t a bad thing. I’m a business consultant. I would tell you that that’s a good thing, but humans need to understand more of our personal, emotional and social aspect of our nervous system because they’re not in conflict. Understanding our humanness then allows us to be better at business. And then of course, there’s the spiritual component that you can’t deny. There’s always a battle of good and evil happening in the world. And the more that you can align yourself with the good, certainly does everyone a favor to bring that into the conversation as well. But if you can only speak to the metrics and the validation of seeking approval and not really connect with people on a human level, everybody’s going to struggle. And there’s a scripture that ties directly to this, “ Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant.
[00:28:02] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: “So if you show up to help versus prove yourself, you are going to bring such beautiful nervous system, regulation, and safety to the rooms that you’re in just like Michelle does. And that’s the point. We’re here to serve and your nervous system knows when you’re there to serve and it says,” Oh, we love this. We like it when we can help people and serve in a beautiful way. “So strategy alone is never going to work. It’s never going to bring you the life and the joy that you really are desiring. And most business professionals just attack performance problems without looking at it through the lens of the emotional component, the nervous system safety component. Instead, just piling on more goals, better systems, work harder, and that’s not going to get us the nervous system state that allows us to feel safe enough to challenge some of our beliefs and our patterns to make the kind of changes necessary that bring about better business results and do it in a way that doesn’t tank us in the process.
[00:29:12] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Just a little bit of nervous system science that you can take with you today. Again, your brain produces a thought, makes a decision just by the basis of sensing what’s our nervous system state and what do we believe about this? Boom, it’s already made a decision and then it has to defend that decision and that starts to become the pattern. So most of us are following patterns that we didn’t actually choose consciously, but those are taking us places that we don’t really want to go. And so in order to change the direction of our lives, we need to be able to get below the level of consciousness to understand how to create A better nervous system state for ourselves to get more regulated through stillness. And then once we’re in a regulated state, only then can we actually look at our beliefs through kind and loving eyes and saying, “What’s causing this?
[00:30:16] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: That I’m choosing these things for myself, that’s giving me this life that I don’t really want? “ And once we can look at those beliefs, then we can swap them out for something that is far more powerful and far more joyful, far more connected, if you will. And the way that I do that and the way that I teach my clients who want to add the scriptural element into this is if you trade out your beliefs that were based on your own need to control for what God promises, you can guarantee then that you’re going to be lined up with more truth. And that’s the quickest way that I found to get myself out of the spirals is, well, this is not what God wants for me or promised for me. And that’s exactly the way that Michelle was able to fall back to her upbringing and her faith and say, “Wait a minute, this is actually a gift.” Being chosen as Ms. Congeniality is the way I was taught in my upbringing to serve.
[00:31:22] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: It was this full circle moment for her that I am so grateful to have been a small part of and so grateful that she was courageous to stand on a stage in front of hundreds of people and share that story and allow us to bring it here to you on this episode today. So I hope that you will take the time and the effort to regulate your nervous system in a way that you can start to assess your beliefs because they’re the accumulation of all your past experiences. It’s the story center of your brain that brings all these things together that you’ve experienced and creates these beliefs that are wrapped in a whole lot of emotion that form into this story that you hold onto because at some point that story kept you safe. And the way that it kept Michelle safe was to not go after the leadership, not go after the things that she could excel in because she thought if she stayed small, that she was safe.
[00:32:33] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: And when that happens, it prevented everyone from benefiting from the tremendous leadership abilities and skills that she carries. But once she was able to step out because someone else saw something in her and convinced her to believe it in herself, then she was able to do things differently. And so as a leader, you have that opportunity to hold up the mirror for others and help them see themselves in a way that’s far more true than maybe some of the stories that they’re holding onto. So Michelle’s belief that she was not smart enough, capable enough, confident enough, no one person just handed her that list and said, “This is who you are. “ It was a combination of experiences built slowly over time that got reinforced and that she then reinforced until it became her belief system. And so neuroscience says that when neurons that fire together wire together, and so the belief that you have been living under gets reinforced and it can be spoken over you, you start to rehearse it, and then it starts to become what you might call, “Well, this is just who I am.
[00:33:53] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: This is my personality.” And builds a patterns and a pathway that doesn’t have to be the case. And so we can renew our minds, which is the way scripture describes it, or neuroscience calls it rewiring or neuroplasticity to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We can change those beliefs. And that’s just not inspirational motivation, that’s science. And so the way that we affirm one another in leadership and help people see themselves for the stronger version of themselves that they want to be is a beautiful way that we can serve one another in business to help break off some of the patterns that may have existed through childhood or previous experiences that are limiting us in our life and our work. So those beliefs, when we repeat them, they become patterns. They’re just running the show until somebody holds up the mirror and helps you see it differently, which is the work that I do as a coach and the way that I help this group in particular help one another to see things differently.
[00:35:05] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: And Michelle, as I said, became a really integral part of that for everybody else in this experience because it is such a superpower. But you can’t interrupt a pattern. You got to get underneath it the beliefs that are bringing that pattern about, and that’s what we’re able to help Michelle do. And then she so beautifully helped everybody else. So that’s why a checklist of here’s the things I’m going to do differently to be a different person, those don’t actually work long-term. You may get a little increase. I’m going to get up earlier and have a better morning routine and they’ll work for a minute, they’ll work for a little while, but we really got to get into the belief system and the nervous system state to have long-term sustainable change. The other message that Michelle brought to the stage was stop waiting to be enough before you step into what God has already called you to do.
[00:36:05] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: And every time I heard her say that, as I went back and watched the video, it just gave me chills because it is such a true statement that I have seen play out time and time again in my circle. The clients that I work with, I love when I see someone step into the will of God for their lives because it’s just this blow that is turned on for them that is beautiful. And it’s not just spiritual, it’s not just scripture. It is backed by science. We don’t want to limit ourselves by narrowing our identity, feeling like it needs to be earned. We can free up the nervous system to do its best work in ways that can change your life that are just so good because it’s not just about work. It changes the way you show up in your marriage and your parenting and your friendships.
[00:37:11] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Performance-based things make you feel anxious and close you off. And when you’re stewarding your identity differently in all that is possible, it’s far more peaceful and it shows up in every aspect of your life. So I hope this has been helpful to you to be able to look at your situation and check your nervous system state because that’s number one. Do that on the regular. Set up your day first thing with some daily stillness, at least 10 minutes, get yourself really grounded. And then throughout the day, just little micro breaks to take a breath and step outside and make sure your nervous system stays regulated. And then start to ask yourself, how do I want to appear in this situation? What is it? What do I want to carry with me today? And see what shows up in your beliefs and look at them with kind and loving eyes and ask yourself, is there something that’s driving too much nervous system activation for me that’s a belief system that I want to trade out for something that is far more aligned and peaceful so that you can start building real relationships based on that kind of connection that nervous system regulation allows.
[00:38:35] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: As a leader, with your colleagues, with your friends, it’s just a better way to live. So even though Ms. Congeniality wasn’t the title that she wanted, now she sees that that is exactly who she was created to be, and it is a superpower. And even since that event, she has taken on more leadership responsibility because she’s just so dang good at it. All right, y’all. Until next time. Love you meeting. Thanks for being here. You can follow us on Instagram, BusinessHuman or TikTok, Rebecca Fleetwood Hession. It’s a great way to share some of the clips with your colleagues and friends. All right, make it a great day. Love you mean it.