You are tapped into the Listening Ears Podcast with me, your host Vernae Bezear. For today's episode, I thought I would do things a little different. I went to my email and I noticed I had a few messages. So I decided for today's episode that I would answer some of the questions that were asked. One of the questions that was asked was how do you find the strength to be who you are now? That's a tough one to answer for me. I mean, I am stronger than I was before. I have an inner strength that wasn't there months ago, but there are definitely, definitely some days that I have to muster it up when I'm having those days. And they're not as frequent as they used to be much, much less. But when I have those days, I go to my past journal entries and I can read them and know the results of the work that has been put in. I can see how living with intentionality really affects everything around me. I can ask myself to what end is this feeling that I'm having, or this post I'm writing or this thought that I'm thinking to what end is it?

I remember my why and my purpose and I move on, but let me say this though. I'm I'm not saying that I don't feel, or that if a negative thought creeps in, I automatically dismiss it and yell from the rooftops Good Vibes Only! When those thoughts or feelings that I have do come in. I have to ask myself, Why is this happening? What's going on around me? What's been happening? I do a quick body check, ask myself, is it hormonal? Did I eat, go to the gym, get enough sleep. So, no, I don't dismiss it, but I do make a conscious decision to see or ask myself why this is happening. And that part takes a lot of work. Some days it's pretty, pretty exhausting. But for me, I look at it as this is the life that I wanted. I know it comes with ups and downs because that's life. I also know that I can only control me and my feelings and actions and thoughts. What is it that I want? I'm hoping that maybe one day I don't have to necessarily find strength and muster it up. That it's just, it's just there. But I also know that that's unrealistic. It's unrealistic to think that every day I'm going to have this strength to just push through and conquer it all. But I also know that a few things that help me are being honest with myself, saving room, to give myself grace and taking care of me first, living with intentionality, understanding that I can only control me. I also know that I'm not alone. I know that nobody's alone. Mental health and wellbeing is becoming the absolute norm. And that is so comforting and being okay with not being okay is a conversation piece. And that's, that's also comforting. Sometimes I also think that strength is also relative. There are some days when I only have enough strength, enough strength to do my morning motivation, but then later on in the day, someone may say to me, thank you. I can't tell you how much I needed that particular quote today. That gives me strength. So I guess to answer the question of how do I find the strength to be, who I am now is every day is not going to be a strong. There may not be a day where everything is all good, but strength can be found anywhere. If anything that I said in this podcast resonated with you, you can send me a message or you can hit me up on any social media platform. Thank you for listening. Strength can be found anywhere. This is me signing off. Bye.