Written by Josh Grimm, Fitness and Mindfulness Coach Josh Grimm is an industry-leading fitness and mindfulness coach. He is the founder of FITNUT, based in New York City, offering in-person and online coaching, global wellness retreats, podcasts, and seminars. We have more information about health and fitness than at any other point in history, yet somehow many people feel more confused about their wellness than ever. We track our sleep, steps, heart rate, calories, macros, recovery scores, glucose, stress, supplements, hydration, workouts, and sometimes even the temperature of the room we sleep in. We are constantly being introduced to a new protocol, a better supplement stack, a smarter wearable, or a training method promising to finally unlock the results we have been chasing. Somewhere along the way, wellness stopped being something we practiced and became something we constantly analyzed. I work in fitness and wellness, so I understand the appeal of optimization. I like information. I believe in being intentional about how we train, eat, recover, and take care of ourselves. There is tremendous value in understanding your body and using the tools available to improve your health. But I have also started to recognize something in myself and in the people I coach: there comes a point when trying to optimize everything actually makes it harder to stay consistent with anything. The fundamentals of wellness have not suddenly stopped working. Our attention has simply been pulled away from them. Wellness becomes another source of stress There is a strange contradiction happening in wellness. Many of the tools designed to help us feel healthier can eventually make us feel like we are constantly falling short. Your watch tells you that you did not sleep well enough. Your recovery score tells you that your body is not ready. Your nutrition app tells you that your macros were slightly off. Social media tells you that you should be taking a supplement you had never heard of two weeks ago. Someone else tells you that you are training at the wrong time of day, eating carbohydrates at the wrong time, recovering incorrectly, or missing some critical protocol. Suddenly, taking care of yourself begins to feel like another full-time job. There is a difference between awareness and obsession. You can know that you slept poorly without allowing a wearable to convince you that the entire day is lost. You can understand your nutrition without weighing every ingredient. You can track your workouts without believing every session has to produce a personal record. You can pay attention to recovery by creating habits. The goal of wellness should ultimately be to help you live better, not to make you spend every waking hour thinking about the opportunities in your day. The basics are still the basics After years of coaching, I keep returning to the same conclusion: most people do not need more information. They need stronger execution of the basics. Move your body consistently. Strength train. Walk. Eat mostly nutrient-dense foods. Get enough protein. Drink water. Sleep. Manage your stress. Give your body time to recover. Build relationships that support you. Create routines you can maintain. If something is complicated, customized, tracked, measured, and optimized, we assume it must be more effective. But the most sophisticated program in the world is useless if you cannot maintain it. A simple program performed consistently will almost always take you further than a perfect program you abandon after three weeks. This connects directly to something I talk about often with my clients: systems. Your health should not require you to reinvent your life every Monday morning. A strong wellness system reduces the number of decisions you have to make. You know when you train, you have a general structure for how you eat, and you know what helps you recover. Instead of constantly asking, “What should I do next?” you have a foundation you can return to. Stop changing the program One of the most common patterns I see in fitness is constant program hopping. Someone begins a strength program, but two weeks later, they see a new workout online and start questioning what they are doing. Then they hear about a different training split. Then a friend starts another program and gets results. Soon, they have changed their workouts four times without giving any of them enough time to work. The same thing happens with nutrition. Low carb becomes fasting. Fasting becomes macro tracking. Macro tracking becomes intuitive eating. Then a new supplement enters the picture. The individual is constantly doing something, yet rarely stays with anything long enough to understand whether it actually works for them. There is tremendous value in repetition. Your body does not need to be constantly surprised. It needs consistency over a long enough period of time to adapt. Your wearable does not know you better than you do Wearables can provide useful information about movement, sleep, heart rate, recovery, and other patterns. One of the skills I want my clients to develop is the ability to understand how they actually feel. Are you tired? Are you hungry? Are you sore? Are you stressed? Do you feel strong today? Does your body need movement or recovery? We should be using technology to strengthen our awareness, not letting it dictate our days. Supplements should supplement The supplement industry may be one of the clearest examples of how complicated wellness has become. There is seemingly a powder, capsule, drink, or gummy for everything. Some supplements can certainly have a legitimate place within an individual’s nutrition and health, but the word itself tells us what their role should be: supplemental. A supplement should not replace the daily intake your lifestyle requires. If your sleep is inconsistent, your nutrition lacks structure, you barely move, your stress is unmanaged, and your workouts happen sporadically, adding another supplement is unlikely to solve the larger problem. Before asking what else you can add, ask whether you are consistently doing what already matters. Build a minimum effective wellness system If your current approach to health feels overwhelming, I would encourage you to pare it down. Ask yourself what your minimum wellness system looks like, not what it would look like in a version of your life where you have unlimited time, energy, and motivation. What are the few practices that make you feel strong, grounded, and healthy? For many people, the answer may be surprisingly simple: strength training several times each week, walking every day, eating enough protein, staying hydrated, maintaining a consistent sleep schedule, and creating some space to mentally decompress. Once your foundation is strong, additional tools can become useful. Build a wellness system you can actually sustain If you are tired of starting over, constantly changing programs, or feeling overwhelmed by everything you think you should be doing, simplify the process. A strong fitness and wellness plan should give your life structure without taking it over. Working with a coach can help you identify what actually matters for your goals, remove what does not, and build a training and wellness system you can maintain long enough to see meaningful results. Follow me on Instagram and visit my website for more info! Read more from Josh Grimm Josh Grimm, Fitness and Mindfulness Coach Josh Grimm offers a unique combination of fitness and mindfulness coaching through his brand, FITNUT, which he started in 2014 after spending time in Southeast Asia and then returning home to New York City. His holistic approach curates physical and mental fitness training through one-on-one coaching, an online multi-use platform, podcasts, seminars, and global wellness retreats, bringing together a community that wants to live their ideal mindset through optimal physical and mental health.

Written by David Fisher, Global Public Speaker and Communication Coach David Fisher is an award-winning international speaker, executive communication coach, actor, and author. Named one of Los Angeles (LA) Weekly’s “Top 30 Entrepreneurs to Watch” and a Top 10 Speaking Coach by Yahoo Finance, David brings over two decades of experience helping teams communicate and lead with passion, clarity, and intention. Fully remote workers are more engaged than your office workers. But there’s a cost. That’s not the whole story. There’s another surprise at the end of this article. The engagement rate is 31% for fully remote workers, 23% for hybrid workers, and 19% for on-site workers. The office was supposed to build culture and connection, right? Isn’t that why companies are forcing people back to the office? Why is there an engagement gap opposite to what we thought? When I manage a team in person, I can pass by someone’s desk. I can intuitively feel the energy of the space. I can see micro-expressions and make eye contact as I pass someone in the hall. When I manage a team remotely, I have none of that. So I have to be intentional. I have to schedule check-ins. I have to ask directly. I have to make sure the message is clear. That builds clarity and connection. Remote employees are 21% more likely to receive recognition training and 33% more likely to recommend their managers. Why? Managers have to manage. They can’t “read the room.” Additionally, 64% of remote employees use their time more efficiently, while 61% report less fatigue and burnout. What’s happening when we are forced to go back to the office In 2026, 40% of workers would seek out other job opportunities if required to return to the office full-time. Surprising but not surprising, 8 in 10 companies that implemented return-to-office policies lost talent. That’s 80%! What psychological safety means 67% of employees with flexibility report improved work-life balance. Additionally, 84% report feeling more productive in remote or hybrid models because they have autonomy. They have control. They have trust from their leaders. 70% of managers believe remote work improves team productivity. But somehow, some executive somewhere is still convinced that people need to be “visible” to be productive. Here’s what I know about leading remote teams well You can’t wing it. You have to be intentional. Regular one-on-ones are non-negotiable, as are honest check-ins. Even just 10 minutes a week on video or a quick phone call makes a huge difference. But there’s a huge cost too! Although fully remote workers report higher engagement, they are less likely to be thriving in their lives overall (36%) than hybrid workers (42%) and on-site, remote-capable workers (42%). Fully remote employees are also more likely to report experiencing anger, sadness, and loneliness than hybrid and on-site workers, and more likely to report experiencing a lot of stress (45%) than on-site workers (38%). So it’s not about location, location, location How engaged and trained is your leadership team? Your managers? How are you creating a space where it’s not just okay to speak up, but encouraged and celebrated? How are you creating A Culture of Us™? Whether it’s remote, hybrid, or on-site, you can create a culture where psychological safety, authenticity, and engagement are core values. It takes energy and work. It takes buy-in. It takes a shift in thinking. But it does work. The bottom line Whether your team is in a garage or scattered around the world, a new way of creating company culture, even if it’s just a tweak here and there, is paramount for success and safety. (Bibliography and endnotes available on my website or upon request) Follow me on LinkedIn and visit my website for more info! Read more from David Fisher David Fisher, Global Public Speaker and Communication Coach Through A Culture of Us™, David Fisher teaches companies, institutions, and everyday leaders how to work with passion, communicate with clarity, and lead with intention, all toward strengthening their connections to create positive change, while having fun along the way. His keynotes, workshops, coaching sessions, and trainings are not just about bettering communication and leadership, they are about genuine transformation. His approach is simple: A Culture of Us™ helps each of us tap into the hero within and use that power to work with others and lead with vulnerability and strength.

Written by Joana Esteves, RTT Practitioner, Clinical Medical Assistant & Hypnotist Founder of Holistic Transformation Center and host of the Mind Untangling Podcast, Joana Esteves is an International Rapid Transformational Therapy practitioner and Health Coach who helps high achievers reach the next level through the power of hypnosis. You take the holiday. You sleep more. You reduce your workload. For a while, you begin to feel like yourself again. But months later, the exhaustion slowly returns. If rest is supposed to help us recover from burnout, why do some people repeatedly find themselves back in the same place? What is burnout? Burnout is more than feeling tired after a demanding week. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines burnout as an occupational phenomenon resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterised by exhaustion, increased mental distance or negativity towards work, and reduced professional effectiveness. Although burnout is specifically defined by the WHO in an occupational context, workplace mental health can be affected by a range of psychosocial risks, while prolonged stress and emotional depletion can affect people living under many different kinds of pressure. When we begin to feel depleted, the advice often sounds reassuringly simple, slow down, get more sleep, take some time off, practice self-care, and create a better work-life balance. All of these things matter. When your mind and body have been under prolonged pressure, restoration is essential. But there is a question we don’t ask nearly enough, "What happens when you rest, and eventually end up burnt out again?" Why rest helps some people recover from burnout Sometimes the answer really is that life has simply asked too much of us for too long. A new baby waking throughout the night, caring for an aging parent, supporting someone through illness, grief, financial pressure, or a particularly demanding period at work can all take their toll. Even a healthy, resilient person can become depleted when life’s demands repeatedly exceed their available physical and emotional resources. When those circumstances change and genuine recovery becomes possible, reducing demands and allowing the nervous system time to restore itself can make an enormous difference. Energy gradually returns, sleep improves, emotional resilience begins to rebuild, and life starts feeling manageable again. But throughout my work, I’ve noticed another pattern, the circumstances change, but the burnout returns. A person changes jobs, yet eventually becomes overwhelmed again. Their children become more independent, yet they somehow fill the newly available space with more responsibility. Their business becomes successful, yet instead of relaxing, they move the goalposts and work even harder. They take a holiday, feel better for a while, and return home only to resume exactly the same pace that exhausted them in the first place. Different circumstances. The same pattern. When this happens, perhaps we need to look at more than the amount of rest we’re getting. What keeps recreating the burnout cycle? Some of the people most vulnerable to recurring burnout are not people who lack motivation or resilience. Quite the opposite. They’re often caring, capable, conscientious, and reliable. They’re the people everyone else depends on. They struggle to say no. They hold themselves to extremely high standards. They take responsibility when nobody else will. They keep going long after they’re running on empty, and even when they finally stop, they may feel guilty for doing so. These qualities can be tremendous strengths. They can make wonderful leaders, parents, caregivers, professionals, friends and business owners. The problem begins when responsibility quietly becomes self-abandonment. Because if the behaviour that contributed to burnout is being driven by something deeper, removing the external pressure may provide relief without necessarily changing the pattern that created the pressure in the first place. What if your worth has become connected to what you do? Many people experiencing recurring burnout don’t consciously struggle with low self-worth. They may appear confident, accomplished, and successful. Yet subconscious beliefs don’t always announce themselves through obvious insecurity. Sometimes they appear through behaviour. Perhaps you find it difficult to rest unless you believe you’ve earned it. Perhaps saying no makes you feel guilty. Perhaps you continually raise your standards after every achievement. Perhaps you find it easier to give support than receive it. Perhaps disappointing someone feels almost intolerable. Perhaps being needed makes you feel valuable. Or perhaps achievement has gradually become more than something you enjoy. It has become evidence that you’re enough. That creates an exhausting equation, because there is never a final achievement capable of permanently proving your worth. There is always another goal, another client, another promotion, another qualification, another person who needs you, and another reason to keep going. Your body may be asking you to stop while something much deeper inside you is insisting that stopping isn’t safe. Why can resting make you feel guilty? This is one of the most revealing questions we can ask about burnout. What happens inside you when you do nothing? Not when you’re meditating productively, exercising because it’s good for you, or taking a carefully scheduled break so you’ll perform better afterwards. What happens when you simply rest because you’re allowed to? For some people, rest creates relief. For others, it creates discomfort. Their body may be sitting still while their mind produces an endless list of everything they should be doing instead. Rest feels lazy, unproductive, selfish, or unearned. This is where burnout recovery can become complicated. You can consciously understand that you need rest while subconsciously carrying beliefs that make rest emotionally uncomfortable. You can know you need boundaries while feeling guilty every time you establish one. You can understand that you cannot be responsible for everybody while continuing to behave as though you are. You can know perfectly well that your worth isn’t determined by productivity while still feeling better about yourself on the days when you’ve achieved more. That gap between what we consciously know and what we automatically feel is important. Where do these patterns come from? Many of our deepest beliefs begin forming long before we’re old enough to consciously question them. As children, we naturally make meaning from our experiences. Over time, these beliefs can also influence the way we speak to ourselves, shaping an inner dialogue that reinforces how we see ourselves and what we believe is possible for us. Perhaps achievement brought approval. Perhaps being helpful brought connection. Perhaps being easy-going prevented conflict. Perhaps perfection reduced criticism. Perhaps being the responsible one made life feel safer. Perhaps you became the strong one, the peacemaker, the brilliant one, or the child who didn’t cause problems. These weren’t flaws. They were intelligent adaptations to the world as you experienced it. The difficulty is that strategies that helped us feel safe, loved, accepted, or significant as children can continue operating automatically in adulthood, even when they are no longer serving us. The helpful child may become the adult who cannot say no. The high achiever may become the adult who never feels they’ve done enough. The responsible child may become the adult who carries everyone else’s problems. The child who received approval through accomplishment may become the adult who struggles to separate achievement from self-worth. Because these patterns feel familiar, we often don’t recognise them as patterns at all. We simply say, “That’s just the way I am.” Why knowing better doesn’t always mean doing differently One of the most frustrating experiences in personal growth is knowing exactly what you should change and continuing to do the opposite. You know you need stronger boundaries. You know you should stop saying yes when you mean no. You know you need to ask for help. You know you don’t have to do everything perfectly. You know rest shouldn’t need to be earned. Yet, you still say yes. You still overgive. You still push. You still feel guilty when you stop. This isn’t necessarily a lack of knowledge. It may be that the behaviour is connected to beliefs and emotional associations operating outside your conscious awareness. This is where self-sabotaging patterns can become particularly frustrating. You consciously understand what needs to change, yet find yourself repeating behaviours you know are no longer serving you. If some part of you has learned that being productive keeps you safe, that being needed makes you valuable, or that pleasing others protects your relationships, simply telling yourself to behave differently may not be enough to create lasting change. This is why awareness is incredibly important, but awareness is often the beginning of transformation rather than the end of it. What does lasting burnout recovery look like? If burnout is primarily the result of extraordinary circumstances, restoration and reducing those pressures may be exactly what your mind and body need. But when burnout keeps returning, I believe it is worth becoming curious about the pattern beneath the exhaustion. I explore the connection between recurring burnout, subconscious beliefs, and self-worth in greater depth in my article, Healing Burnout at the Root. Instead of asking only, “What is happening around me?” we can also begin asking, “What keeps happening within me?” What makes saying no difficult? What do I fear would happen if I stopped achieving? Why does receiving help feel harder than giving it? Why do I continue taking responsibility for things that aren’t mine? What does rest mean to me? Perhaps the most revealing question of all is, "What do my patterns suggest I believe I must do in order to feel enough?" These questions are not invitations to blame yourself for burnout. External pressures are real. Difficult workplaces are real. Financial pressures, caregiving responsibilities, grief, illness, and overwhelming life circumstances are real. Looking inward doesn’t make those circumstances less significant. It simply allows us to recognise that recovery may sometimes require two things at once, changing what is happening around us and changing the patterns operating within us. Burnout recovery is about more than getting your energy back The goal of recovering from burnout shouldn’t simply be to become rested enough to return to the same way of living that depleted you. There is an opportunity for something much deeper, to recognise your needs before reaching breaking point, set boundaries without interpreting them as selfishness, care deeply for other people without abandoning yourself, pursue meaningful goals without requiring those goals to prove your worth, rest without guilt, and allow achievement to be something you enjoy rather than something you depend upon to feel enough. You don’t have to become less caring. You don’t have to become less ambitious. You don’t have to stop striving for meaningful things. You simply stop sacrificing yourself in the process. Perhaps that is why, for some people, rest isn’t enough. Rest can restore your energy. But lasting transformation may also require us to understand why we became so comfortable overriding our own needs in the first place. Because recovering from burnout isn’t only about finding your way back to who you were before you became exhausted. Sometimes it’s an opportunity to create a way of living in which you no longer need burnout to remind you that you matter. Ready to explore what’s beneath the burnout? If you recognise yourself in these patterns and would like to explore the subconscious beliefs that may be contributing to chronic stress, overachievement, people-pleasing, perfectionism, or recurring burnout, I work with clients to identify and transform the deeper patterns that may be keeping them stuck. You can learn more about my work with subconscious transformation and Rapid Transformational Therapy®, or book a complimentary consultation through Holistic Transformation Center. This article is intended for educational purposes and is not a substitute for personalised medical or mental health advice. If you’re concerned about your mental or physical health, please seek direct support from a qualified professional. Follow me on Instagram, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Joana Esteves Joana Esteves, RTT Practitioner, Clinical Medical Assistant & Hypnotist Joana Esteves helps people from all walks of life with issues like stress, anxiety, weight loss, insomnia, addiction, wealth, relationships, confidence, self-esteem, phobias, sports performance, procrastination, and any undesirable patterns that may be keeping them from living at their highest potential. Using the phenomenal RTT method, Joana taps into individuals' subconscious minds to get to the root cause of the issue, removing old beliefs and reprogramming the mind to achieve the desired goals. Further reading and resources: YouTube video on burnout and recovery Employers Need to Focus on Workplace Burnout Here’s Why – American Psychological Association Job Burnout How to Spot It and Take Action – Mayo Clinic Stress Management Enhance Your Well Being by Reducing Stress and Building Resilience – Harvard Health

Written by Martin Hargrove, Artist Mentor & Entrepreneur Martin Hargrove is the Producer/Artist behind the Fitstylesss website. He is a leader and teacher who perceives reality outside of the box and thinks and operates on a higher consciousness level. In a world saturated with cardio classes and trendy workouts, weight training often takes a backseat. However, don’t underestimate its significance, lifting weights isn’t just for bodybuilders, it’s a transformative practice that benefits everyone. This straightforward yet effective exercise regimen builds strength, resilience, and long-term health. Whether you’re a sedentary office worker or an active parent, incorporating weights into your routine 2-3 times a week can yield substantial advantages. Here’s why it’s crucial, presented in a clear and concise manner. 1. Builds and preserves muscle mass As we age, we naturally lose muscle mass, a process known as sarcopenia, which begins as early as our 30s. Weight training counteracts this by stimulating muscle growth through resistance. Stronger muscles contribute to better posture, making daily tasks like carrying groceries easier, and achieving a toned physique. Studies indicate that consistent lifters maintain 20-30% more muscle than non-lifters, ensuring their functionality and independence for years to come. 2. Fires up your metabolism Unlike cardio, which burns calories during the workout, weight training generates an “afterburn” effect. This means your body continues to burn fat for hours (or even days) after the workout as it repairs the muscles. Additionally, weight training increases your resting metabolic rate by up to 7%, making it easier to lose fat and maintain weight. For those struggling with stubborn pounds, weight training provides a metabolic boost without the need for endless treadmill time. 3. Strengthens bones and joints Weight-bearing exercises, such as squats and deadlifts, put stress on bones, causing them to become denser and stronger. This helps combat osteoporosis, reducing the risk of fractures by 20-40% in regular practitioners. Additionally, these exercises stabilize joints, decreasing the likelihood of injuries during sports or slips, crucial for longevity and maintaining an active, pain-free lifestyle. 4. Sharpens mental health and focus Lifting isn’t just a physical activity; it also has a profound impact on your brain. It floods your brain with endorphins and BDNF (a protein that supports neuron growth), which can help alleviate anxiety, depression, and stress. Research has shown that weight training is linked to improved sleep quality, enhanced cognitive function, and even a reduced risk of dementia. The post-lift confidence you feel is not just a placebo effect; weight training builds mental toughness alongside physical strength. 5. Enhances overall longevity and disease prevention Stronger bodies are better equipped to manage chronic conditions. They reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by improving insulin sensitivity, lower the risk of heart disease by better controlling blood pressure, and even lower the risk of certain cancers. In fact, lifters often live longer, with data showing a 40-50% reduced mortality risk compared to sedentary individuals. Weight training: The bottom line Weight training is accessible. Begin with bodyweight exercises or light dumbbells, gradually progress, and seek professional guidance if necessary. Aim for full-body sessions twice a week, prioritizing proper form over ego-lifting. The goal is not to gain immense size but to enhance your overall health, strength, and vitality. Integrate weight training into your routine and witness a positive transformation in your life. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Martin Hargrove Martin Hargrove, Artist Mentor & Entrepreneur I’m a hardworking individual who loves creating fashion, fitness, print, acting, and voice-over style content. I’m someone you can rely on to give 100% and I’m very efficient with time management. I let my work speak for itself, and I want to take my passions global/international while also still being coachable and reliable. This is what I’m passionate about, and I want to take this to the highest level. Also seeking representation.

Written by Lena Maria Braun, Holistic Nutrition Coach & Personal Trainer Lena Maria Braun is a Holistic Nutrition Coach, Personal Trainer, and Natural Bodybuilding athlete. She combines holistic nutrition, training, and mindset for sustainable physical and mental development. Most people think freedom means doing whatever they want, whenever they want. No rules. No structure. No pressure. No discipline. But in reality, this kind of “freedom” often leads to the opposite: feeling stuck, overwhelmed, inconsistent, and disconnected from the goals we truly want to achieve. Discipline is not a cage, it is a bridge A bridge between who you are now and who you want to become. A bridge between your current habits and your future freedom. A bridge between dreaming about a better life and actually creating one. Many people see discipline as something strict, limiting, or even punishing. They imagine it as forcing themselves into a lifestyle they do not enjoy. But true discipline is not about living against yourself. It is about living in alignment with the version of yourself you say you want to become. It is the ability to act based on your values rather than only your emotions. Research on health behavior change supports this idea. In a 2020 meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials, Sheeran et al. found that interventions based on self-determination theory had a significant, although relatively small, effect on health-related behaviors, including physical activity and diet. Autonomous motivation and perceived competence also helped explain these changes. In simple terms, meaningful behavior change becomes more likely when people act for reasons they genuinely identify with and feel capable of following through on, rather than relying primarily on external pressure, guilt, or short-term motivation. Many people do not start their health journey from a place of autonomy. They start from pressure: pressure to look a certain way, meet expectations, fix something they dislike about themselves, or finally feel good enough. While pressure can create short-term action, it rarely creates a peaceful and sustainable lifestyle. Why motivation alone is not enough Motivation comes and goes. Some days, you feel inspired, focused, and ready to do everything it takes. Other days, you feel tired, emotional, distracted, or simply not in the mood. This is often when people start questioning their willpower, their goals, and themselves. But what if not always wanting to do the work is not the problem? What if accepting this is actually part of the solution? The moment you understand that you will not always feel like doing it, you stop being surprised by resistance. Self-leadership begins when resistance shows up When you know resistance is part of the process, you can prepare for it. You can decide in advance who you want to be when things get uncomfortable instead of making every decision based on your current mood. In daily life, this looks like going to the gym when your mind is looking for excuses, preparing your meals when ordering food would be easier, or choosing sleep over distraction. It is showing up for your health, your work, your relationships, and your future, even when comfort feels more appealing. Why self-trust creates freedom Every time you do what supports your goal, even when you do not feel like it, you build trust in yourself. Self-trust creates freedom. You stop doing things from a place of self-rejection and start doing them because you respect yourself enough to keep your own promises. In my work as a coach, I see this very often. Many clients do not struggle because they are lazy, undisciplined, or do not care enough. In many cases, certain beliefs, emotional associations, or outdated information have made change much harder than it needs to be. Some people come to coaching convinced that losing weight must mean suffering. Others believe that eating less is always better, that carbohydrates are the enemy, that rest is a sign of weakness, or that they have failed if they cannot follow a plan perfectly. Many have spent years forcing themselves into routines that were never truly adapted to their lifestyle, their body, their history, or their psychological patterns. The plan is not always the problem Behind goals such as weight loss, building muscle, improving health, or creating new habits, there is often a person who has been in a silent fight with themselves for years. They fight guilt, confusion, frustration, shame, old rules, family beliefs, cultural expectations, and the feeling of never doing enough. Of course, structure matters. Knowledge matters. Training and nutrition matter. But if the deeper beliefs behind a person’s behavior are never addressed, they may keep repeating the same cycle: starting motivated, becoming overwhelmed, feeling guilty, stopping, and blaming themselves again. A training or nutrition plan can tell someone what to do. But it does not always explain why they struggle to do it. Your beliefs shape your behavior A person who learned that food is a reward may later use it for comfort after stress or to feel that they have “earned” relaxation. Someone who grew up hearing constant comments about weight or appearance may begin to connect their body with their value. A person who learned that discipline means pressure may struggle to build healthy routines without becoming extreme. The goal is not to blame the past, family, or society. It is to recognize which beliefs are still shaping present behavior and replace them with beliefs that support health, confidence, joy, and freedom. Stop fighting yourself and start working with yourself This is why I believe coaching should not only focus on the plan, but also on the person behind the plan. When we work at the right level, discipline starts to feel different. It becomes less about punishment and more about support. Less about fighting yourself and more about finally working with yourself. Maybe discipline is not about forcing yourself to do things you hate. Maybe it is the decision to keep choosing what matters to you, even when you do not feel like it in the moment. Every time you do that, you prove to yourself that your emotions do not have to control your direction. You build self-trust. You build confidence. Over time, the choices that once required effort become part of who you are. The takeaway: Discipline creates freedom That is where discipline stops feeling like restriction. That is where it starts creating freedom. Follow me on Facebook and Instagram for more info! Read more from Lena Maria Braun Lena Maria Braun, Holistic Nutrition Coach & Personal Trainer Lena Maria Braun is a Holistic Nutrition Coach, Personal Trainer, and Natural Bodybuilding athlete in the Wellness category. With over ten years of experience, she combines holistic nutrition, training, and behavioral psychology. Her work focuses on sustainable health, mindset development, and long-term performance. In 2025, she founded her own company to support people in reaching their physical and mental goals. Reference: Sheeran, P., Wright, C. E., Avishai, A., Villegas, M. E., Lindemans, J. W., Klein, W. M. P., Rothman, A. J., Miles, E., & Ntoumanis, N. (2020). Self-determination theory interventions for health behavior change: Meta-analysis and meta-analytic structural equation modeling of randomized controlled trials. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 88(8), 726-737.

Written by Jordan Baker, PR Agency Founder Jordan Baker is the founder of Fair Public Relations, a journalist-led PR agency supporting founders, experts and growing businesses. A former UK national journalist, he has more than a decade of experience in PR, media relations and earned media strategy. When I worked as a journalist, I could receive several hundred public relations (PR) pitches in a day, so there simply wasn't time to properly read every one of them. Usually, I'd scan the subject line first. If something caught my attention, I'd look at the preview, and if I was still interested after that, I'd open the email and read more. The whole decision could happen in a matter of seconds. I wasn't particularly bothered about who had sent the email. I was much more interested in what they were actually offering me. Was there an expert available? Could I interview someone? Was there a product or service to review? Was somebody offering me a real life story? Was there actually a news story here? I needed to know quickly. I've now spent more than 11 years working in PR, and I think this is something businesses often forget. They spend a lot of time thinking about how to persuade journalists to cover them, when the better question is usually much simpler, why should the journalist care? There are plenty of useful guides to getting media coverage, but before worrying about media lists, press releases and follow ups, it helps to understand what is actually happening at the other end of the email. Journalists do use PR It is easy to talk about journalists and PR professionals as if they are on opposing sides, but that isn't really how it works. Journalists need content. Depending on what they cover, they might need stories, experts, interviews, data, case studies, opinions, products, photographs or interesting people. PR can provide all of those things. Muck Rack's 2026 State of Journalism research found that 86% of journalists say at least some of their published stories start with a PR pitch, so the idea that journalists simply hate PR pitches isn't true. What they tend to dislike are pitches that aren't useful to them. The problem is usually that the thing a business wants to talk about isn't necessarily the thing a journalist wants to write about. Those two things can overlap, of course, but the skill is finding where they overlap and then making that obvious. Here are some of the mistakes I see businesses making most often: 1. The little black book is overrated I've never really bought into the idea that the secret to PR is having a mysterious little black book full of journalists. Relationships help, of course they do. There are journalists I've known for years who I can WhatsApp and say, "We sent you something yesterday. Is it one for you?" Sometimes they'll tell me they haven't seen it and take another look. That is useful, but it only takes you so far. What has never happened, in more than 11 years of doing this, is a journalist writing a story they didn't want to write simply because they were doing me a favour. That is why I think PR is much more content led than relationship led. Knowing a journalist can get your pitch another look, but it cannot make a bad story good. A journalist still has an editor, an audience and their own judgement to think about. If they work online, they may also have traffic and engagement targets. Their job isn't to keep their PR contacts happy. Some PR advice puts a lot of emphasis on networking with journalists before approaching them. There can certainly be value in that, and Brainz has previously published some good advice about pitching businesses to the media. I just wouldn't make the relationship the main event. If you have something genuinely relevant for a journalist, you don't need to spend six months liking their LinkedIn posts before you're allowed to email them. You need something worth sending. 2. Make the subject obvious When somebody is scanning hundreds of emails, clarity matters far more than cleverness. I always wanted to know what I was being pitched, and one of my frustrations was a subject line along the lines of "Exciting opportunity for you!" What does that mean? Is it an interview, an expert, a review, an event or a story? Are you trying to sell me something? If I have to open the email simply to work out what you're offering, you've already made the process harder than it needs to be. Most journalists aren't sitting around hoping somebody will make their inbox more mysterious. Personally, I like very obvious subject lines. If you've got an expert, tell me there's an expert. If somebody is available for interview, say so. If you want me to review something, make that clear. If you have a story, give me enough of the story in the subject line to decide whether I might care. The same applies to the opening of the email. You don't need three paragraphs telling me when the company was founded, what its mission is and how passionate the team are before finally revealing why you've contacted me. If the interesting bit is buried, there's a good chance the journalist will never reach it. 3. Your announcement isn't automatically news PR inboxes are full of "exciting announcements", but quite a lot of them aren't terribly exciting outside the company making them. A new website might have taken your team nine months to build. That doesn't necessarily make it a news story. You've hired somebody. Great, but why would a reader care? Your company has turned ten. That's a lovely milestone for the business, but what is the story for everybody else? This doesn't mean those things can never generate coverage. Sometimes they can, but usually there needs to be something more. Maybe the appointment says something interesting about where an industry is going. Maybe the business has grown from somebody's kitchen table into a multimillion pound company in ten years. Maybe the new product solves a problem everybody is suddenly talking about. Maybe the person behind the business has a much better story than the announcement itself. One of the most useful things you can do in PR is separate "this matters to us" from "this might matter to them". They are different tests, and confusing the two is one of the easiest ways to end up with a pitch nobody wants. 4. Stop pitching everyone I used to receive a lot of pitches that had very little to do with anything I actually wrote about, and it was usually obvious that somebody had found an email address in a database, added it to a large list and pressed send. I don't think there's anything wrong with sending a pitch to a decent number of journalists when the story genuinely warrants it. The problem is relevance. Muck Rack's 2026 research found that 43% of journalists say they seldom receive pitches that match what they cover, while another 4% say they never do. That's quite poor when you think about how basic relevance should be to the process. You don't need to know a journalist's life story before emailing them, and you certainly don't need to reference an article they wrote in 2019 just to prove you've done your research. But you should have a reasonable idea of what they actually cover. Otherwise, not only is that particular email likely to be ignored, but you risk becoming somebody whose emails get ignored automatically. If I receive five irrelevant pitches from the same person, I'm probably not approaching the sixth one with much optimism. I'd rather send a story to 30 journalists who could genuinely use it than 300 who couldn't. 5. Don't make journalists work Some pitches turn something fairly straightforward into hard work. The email is enormous. There's a brochure attached. There are 12 links. There's a link to the homepage, another to the founder's LinkedIn, another to a YouTube video, another to a Dropbox folder and several more to pages you apparently need to read before you'll understand what is going on. Most journalists are not going to do all of that. The email itself should give them enough information to decide whether they are interested. If you want to include one useful link where they can access good images, further details or supporting material, that's fine. In fact, that can be very helpful. The journalist just shouldn't need to conduct an investigation to discover what they're being offered. The same goes for length. Muck Rack found that 69% of journalists prefer pitches to be under 200 words, which doesn't surprise me at all. You don't always need to fit every piece of information into the first pitch. The first job is to get the journalist interested enough to want more. If they then want the research, photographs, full interview, extra statistics or a 900 word biography, you can send it. 6. Speed really matters People underestimate how quickly journalism moves. Let's say a journalist is writing something this afternoon and needs an expert. You happen to know the world's greatest authority on the subject, but they can't answer until tomorrow. I have somebody who's suitably qualified, understands the issue and can give a useful answer in the next 20 minutes. Very often, my person is more useful to the journalist. That's particularly true with expert commentary and reactive PR. Being the best possible expert in theory isn't much help if the article has already been filed by the time you respond. I've seen businesses take several days to approve something that needed to be with a journalist that afternoon. By the time it comes back, it can be beautifully written, carefully approved and completely useless. Journalists have deadlines. Stories move. News changes. Editors decide they want a different angle. Somebody else responds first. If it's a reactive opportunity, you usually need to respond quickly enough for the journalist to still be able to use it. You don't need to drop everything for every media request that comes in, but you do need to recognise when an opportunity has a shelf life measured in hours rather than days. 7. Stop chasing journalists This is probably where I differ most from a lot of standard PR advice. I'm not a huge believer in constantly following up with journalists who haven't replied. When I was a journalist, I received the email. Emailing me again to say, "Just bumping this to the top of your inbox" didn't suddenly make the story more interesting. There are exceptions. If you've got important new information, that's different. If there's a genuine deadline, tell them. If you know the journalist and think they may simply have missed something that's very relevant to them, you might want to check. But repeatedly asking whether somebody has seen an email isn't much of a strategy. I'd usually rather try somebody else, change the angle, find another opportunity or come back to that journalist later with something they might actually want. The goal isn't to wear somebody down until they finally agree to write about you. I'd much rather journalists get used to receiving useful things from me, because then, when my name appears in their inbox, there is at least a decent chance they'll take a look. Relationships still have value None of this means I think relationships are pointless. Quite the opposite. I just think good media relationships tend to come from being useful rather than from trying to manufacture friendships because you want coverage. Years ago, I represented a 90s themed brunch and invited an intern from Cosmopolitan to come and review it. She was very honest with me. She said she couldn't promise any coverage, but if we were still willing to have her, she'd really like to come. We said yes. She came along, had a great time, and later messaged me to say they were going to give the brunch a double page feature. We hadn't made her attendance conditional on coverage. There was no agreement, and I didn't spend the afternoon trying to persuade her to write something. We simply offered her something she wanted to experience, and something positive came from it. That is what I mean when I say relationships can help. Being helpful, fair and easy to deal with can lead to opportunities later. It is very different from believing a journalist owes you editorial coverage because you've taken them for lunch or known them for ten years. Think like the person receiving it If you're struggling to get media coverage, try looking at your pitch without thinking like the business owner for a moment. Imagine you've just opened an inbox with several hundred unread emails. Does the subject line tell you what's being offered? Is it relevant to something you cover? Why would your audience care? Why does it matter now? Can you see the story without digging for it? Could you actually do something useful with what you've been given? If the answer to those questions is yes, you're already in a much stronger position. Small businesses don't necessarily need huge budgets or years of media connections to get coverage either. There are plenty of ways to get published in the media as a small business if you understand what you have to offer. PR isn't about convincing a journalist that your company deserves some publicity. Journalists aren't a free advertising service. It's about finding the point where something your business genuinely has to offer meets something a journalist genuinely needs. To me, that's always been the simplest way to understand media relations. If you'd like help finding the stories, expertise and media opportunities already sitting inside your business, you can find out more at Fair Public Relations. Follow me on LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Jordan Baker Jordan Baker, PR Agency Founder Jordan Baker is the founder of Fair Public Relations, a founder-led, journalist-led PR agency working with founders, experts, professional services firms and growing businesses across the UK, US and Canada. A former UK national journalist, Jordan has more than a decade of experience in public relations, media relations and earned media. He founded the agency in London in 2015 and remains directly involved in client strategy, positioning and campaign direction. His work focuses on helping credible people and businesses turn their expertise, stories and ideas into meaningful media opportunities.

Written by Helen Kenworthy, Artistic Director Helen champions the arts as a tool for change. Now, as CEO of RYTC Creatives CIC and Give Get Go Education, she mentors young people, creates pathways for them to thrive in the arts, and helps launch successful careers. Some young people cannot easily explain why a worksheet leaves them cold while a piece of music, movement or drama draws them fully in. It is rarely a lack of ability. More often, it is a mismatch between how understanding is being requested and how a particular young person actually processes, expresses and makes sense of the world around them. A learner may refuse to write three sentences about a character and then spend forty minutes improvising that character's choices, relationships and motives. Another may struggle to explain an idea verbally but communicate it with remarkable clarity through movement, sound or visual composition. The capability was already present. What changed was the form of the invitation. Helen Kenworthy's work through Of Course You Can!™ takes this mismatch seriously, using innovative performing arts not as an enrichment activity bolted onto standard teaching, but as a genuine pedagogy in its own right. For learners who struggle in conventional environments, this creates a route into learning that does not require them to first overcome the format that has been holding them back. Why standard environments do not reach every learner Standard educational environments are built, understandably, around dominant modes of learning, largely verbal, written, and seated. For many students, this works well. For others, particularly those who think and express themselves through movement, sound, image, relationship or embodied experience, the format can shut down engagement before learning has a real chance to happen. This is especially true for many young people in Alternative Provision, whose relationship with standard formats may have been shaped by years of struggle. Repeated experiences of not completing work, misunderstanding instructions, or being unable to demonstrate knowledge in the expected form can lead a young person to conclude that they are simply not a learner. The more accurate conclusion may be that they have not yet met a learning environment built for the way they think. Innovative pedagogy does not lower expectations in response. It widens the doorway through which learners can reach those expectations and expands the ways in which understanding can be built, practised and demonstrated. What innovative performing arts pedagogy really means Using performing arts as pedagogy means treating drama, movement, music, storytelling and creative expression as genuine tools for building knowledge, emotional literacy, communication and confidence, rather than as a break from real learning. A young person exploring a concept through role play or collaborative performance is not avoiding rigour. They are accessing it through a route that may be more meaningful and memorable. Story gives information sequence and purpose. Rehearsal makes repetition expected rather than punitive. Ensemble work requires listening, negotiation and shared responsibility. Improvisation creates a safe place to practise uncertainty. A performance, film, or event can integrate literacy, numeracy, technology, planning, and teamwork into an outcome that matters. This is learning through doing, but it is not unstructured activity. The pedagogy lies in how the practitioner designs the experience, scaffolds participation, connects creative activity to learning outcomes and gradually increases independence. The arts are not disguising education. They are making education purposeful and accessible. Recognising learners who may thrive through creative and embodied approaches Certain patterns can suggest that a young person may respond more strongly to performing arts-based pedagogy than to standard instructional formats: Struggling to sustain attention during long periods of seated or written work Coming alive during music, movement, storytelling or drama activities Expressing ideas more fluently through action, sound, role or image than through writing Showing strong emotional or imaginative responses to music, characters and stories Finding purely verbal or written instructions difficult without demonstration Using gesture or physical examples when trying to explain an idea Contributing confidently when a task has a real audience, purpose or shared outcome These signs do not define a learner or suggest that creative work should replace every other form of education. They offer useful information about where engagement may begin and how a broader range of learning can be built from that starting point. The practitioner's role as a creative guide Within this approach, the practitioner's role moves beyond conventional instruction to become that of a creative guide, someone who designs experiences rather than simply delivering content. This requires genuine artistic skill, a clear educational purpose and the ability to notice what is happening beneath the surface of a session. A creative guide recognises that one learner may be ready to perform, another may contribute through sound or lighting, and another may first need to observe before joining in. They adjust the level of challenge without losing the purpose of the activity and make sure that quieter or less visible contributions remain genuinely valued. This attentiveness separates pedagogy from entertainment. The practitioner is always asking what the activity is building, whether that is understanding of a text, confidence in communication, emotional vocabulary, collaboration, persistence or a specific professional skill. Key qualities of effective innovative pedagogy Performing arts based teaching that genuinely reaches learners tends to combine: Genuine artistic skill, bringing real craft to the work rather than a diluted version of it Psychological safety, creating conditions where creative risk feels possible rather than exposing Adaptability, shaping the route around the learners in the room rather than following a rigid script Purposeful structure, connecting creative activity to a meaningful learning intention Patience with process, allowing understanding to emerge through exploration and rehearsal Belief in expressive intelligence, recognising movement, sound and performance as legitimate forms of understanding Choice and consent, offering valued ways to participate without forcing visibility or personal disclosure Artistic skill without safety can feel exposing, while enjoyment without purpose may create a good session but little transferable learning. Effective innovative pedagogy holds these qualities together so creativity becomes a reliable educational pathway rather than a one-off activity. Why this matters for the brilliantly underestimated Many young people who struggle in standard educational environments are quietly brilliant in ways conventional assessment rarely captures. Their intelligence may show itself in how they move, create, connect, solve practical problems, shape a story or respond to an audience. A curriculum dominated by written and seated tasks may not be designed to notice these strengths, let alone reward them. Innovative performing arts pedagogy gives these young people a chance to be seen more accurately. A successful scene, an original idea, a technical solution or a meaningful contribution to an ensemble becomes evidence that challenges the story of failure a learner may have carried for years. For the brilliantly underestimated, that recognition can begin to restore both confidence and educational identity. 10 ways innovative performing arts pedagogy reaches learners Creative engagement matters for far more than enjoyment. When performing arts are used intentionally, with safety, structure and reflection, they can transform both a learner's access to education and an educator's understanding of what that learner is capable of. The following ten outcomes show how innovative performing arts pedagogy can re-engage learners, reveal strengths that standard formats may miss, and build skills that extend well beyond a single creative project. It offers a genuine route into learning for non-verbal and multimodal thinkers: Movement, sound, image and performance allow young people to build and demonstrate understanding without relying solely on extended written or spoken language. A concept can be represented through character, rhythm or action. These routes do not replace literacy, they provide a meaningful foundation from which language and reflection can grow. It lowers the emotional stakes of trying: Creative formats can reduce the fear of getting something wrong that often accompanies formal academic tasks. A first attempt in rehearsal is expected to be unfinished. When mistakes become part of the process rather than evidence of failure, young people become more willing to take the risks through which learning happens. It builds genuine collaboration and belonging: Performing arts activities require learners to listen, negotiate ideas and work towards a shared outcome. An ensemble becomes a community in which different strengths matter. For a young person who has often felt like the problem in a classroom, discovering that the group genuinely needs their contribution can be deeply significant. It develops resilience through live and unpredictable processes: Performance rarely goes exactly to plan. A cue is missed, an idea changes, or another person responds unexpectedly. With appropriate scaffolding, learners practise noticing what has happened, adapting and continuing. This develops a practical form of resilience that can transfer into other areas of learning and life. It gives struggling learners a genuine experience of success: For students who rarely succeed within standard formats, excelling through creative expression can be transformative. Success may appear in a performance, a solved technical problem, a completed design or a contribution that helped someone else. It becomes real evidence of capability rather than reassurance offered from outside. It strengthens emotional literacy and self-expression: Stories, characters, music and movement create safe forms through which feelings and relationships can be explored. A young person can examine conflict, fear or change through fiction before being expected to speak personally. Over time, this can expand emotional vocabulary, perspective-taking, and communication. It reveals abilities that standard assessment often misses: A learner may understand motive, sequence, social dynamics, or cause and effect far more deeply than a written response suggests. Watching them build a scene, explain a design choice, or direct a peer can reveal analysis, leadership, and problem-solving that conventional testing did not capture. It reconnects young people with the idea that learning can be enjoyable: For students who associate education with correction or shame, creative pedagogy can restore curiosity. Fun is not the opposite of seriousness. It lowers barriers, sustains attention and makes repetition possible. Once learning feels worth returning to, wider re-engagement becomes more achievable. It builds confidence in front of an audience, real or imagined: Performing or presenting can develop courage that transfers into interviews, meetings and self-advocacy. This should always be scaffolded. A learner may begin with a partner, a recorded contribution, a technical role or a small audience. Confidence grows through successful experiences of visibility, not forced exposure. It gives educators a richer picture of what a young person understands: Creative processes make thinking visible in different ways. Practitioners can observe how a learner interprets information, organises a task, collaborates and responds to feedback. Reflection through conversation, portfolios, recordings or skills checklists then connects the experience to explicit learning and more accurate next steps. Safety, choice and inclusion must come first Performing arts can be powerful, but they are not automatically inclusive. Noise, group interaction, eye contact, touch, improvisation and public attention can create barriers for some learners. An innovative approach offers meaningful roles across performance, writing, design, sound, costume, filming, research, technical production and organisation. Creative work should never pressure young people to disclose personal trauma or perform emotional experiences they do not wish to share. Fiction, metaphor and imagined characters can provide safer routes into difficult themes. Inclusion is not achieved by placing every young person at the centre of the stage. It is achieved when every young person can contribute from a position that is safe enough to allow growth. From creative engagement to ambitious futures The strongest performing arts pedagogy does more than re-engage a learner for one session. It opens a pathway. A young person can move from joining a game to shaping a scene, from contributing one idea to leading a rehearsal, or from making a short film to exploring professional roles in production, editing, design or event management. This is where the RYTC, Education Selection Box and Give Get Go Education work as connected parts of a wider Creative Pathway. Creative arts can support confidence and expression. Personalised academic support can strengthen the foundations around a learner's interests. Careers training can translate emerging strengths into real projects, professional expectations and ambitious next steps. Conclusion Innovative pedagogy is not a departure from serious education. It is a recognition that seriousness and rigidity are not the same thing, and that genuine learning can happen through movement, sound, story and performance just as powerfully as it can through conventional formats. For young people who struggle in standard environments, that recognition can be transformative. Helen Kenworthy's work through Of Course You Can!™ uses innovative performing arts not as an alternative to real learning, but as a genuine pathway into it. What begins as a lesson in movement or performance can become a learner's first real evidence that their way of thinking has value and that education, when designed around them properly, can finally feel as though it belongs to them too. When a young person engages through performing arts, creativity has not distracted them from education. It may be the first time education has been offered in a language they can fully enter. That engagement can then become the foundation for deeper learning, growing independence and an ambitious future. To explore more about innovative performing arts pedagogy and the wider work supporting learners through The RYTC, Education Selection Box and Give Get Go Education, visit here. Creative Pathway Methodology, Of Course You Can!™ serving the brilliantly underestimated. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Helen Kenworthy Helen Kenworthy, Artistic Director Helen Kenworthy’s career embodies the transformative power of the arts, from her early roles in the prestigious West End with Bill Kenwright to her impactful work in regional theatre. As manager of the Oxfordshire Youth Arts Partnership, she created pathways for young people to thrive in the arts, with many going on to successful careers. Now at RYTC Creatives CIC and Give Get Go Education, Helen continues to inspire and mentor the next generation of theatre-makers and community leaders, offering invaluable opportunities for growth and professional development.

London, UK/Dallas, TX – Natalia Nicholson, Founder of Top 100 Most Powerful Black Women, and Zondra Evans, Founder and CEO of Zondra TV Network, are joining forces through a Strategic Brand Extension that will connect a London-based global movement with an award-winning international media network to expand visibility, authority, and opportunity for Black women in business. Nicholson has spent more than 20 years building businesses and platforms focused on visibility, digital growth, and opportunity. Through Top 100 Most Powerful Black Women, she has created an international community connecting Black women entrepreneurs, executives, experts and emerging leaders across the United States, United Kingdom, Africa and beyond. Evans brings more than 40 years of corporate and entrepreneurial experience and leads Zondra TV Network, an award-winning international media network that helps entrepreneurs, organizations and brands access television, streaming distribution, strategic storytelling and larger audiences. Together, the founders are creating a Brand Extension that moves beyond a traditional partnership by expanding intellectual property, amplifying founder stories, increasing international visibility and creating new pathways to opportunity. “This is about taking a powerful mission and giving it a larger stage,” said Zondra Evans, Founder and CEO of Zondra TV Network. “Natalia has built an extraordinary global movement, and our role is to help extend that vision through strategic media access, storytelling and distribution. When two powerful platforms come together with a shared purpose, the possibilities are significant.” Through the Brand Extension, Zondra TV Network will help expand the Top 100 brand into a broader media ecosystem, creating opportunities for strategic content, audience development, brand authority and ongoing market presence. “Black women do not need to simply be invited into more rooms,” said Natalia Nicholson, Founder of Top 100 Most Powerful Black Women. “We need the visibility, relationships, knowledge and platforms that position us to build, lead and own rooms of our own. Collaborating with Zondra TV Network allows us to take that vision to an even larger global audience.” Nicholson is also the Founder of Women in Digital Business and creator of the Visibility to Revenue™ methodology, helping entrepreneurs and experts transform their knowledge, digital presence and visibility into sustainable business growth. The Brand Extension is expected to begin rolling out in Q4 2026, with opportunities to expand the Top 100 brand through media, streaming, strategic content, founder visibility and international audience engagement. Two powerhouses, one global vision The collaboration reflects a growing need for brands to extend their intellectual property, stories, communities and expertise across multiple platforms and markets. For Top 100 Most Powerful Black Women, the Brand Extension creates a pathway to expand its global mission and increase visibility for the women within its ecosystem. For Zondra TV Network, it advances the company’s work helping founders and organizations transform existing platforms into larger media opportunities. Rather than asking entrepreneurs to start over, Zondra TV Network helps them strategically extend what they have already built. Visibility that leads to opportunity Nicholson and Evans share a common conviction: "Visibility should lead somewhere." It should build credibility, open doors, strengthen authority and create access to opportunities that were previously out of reach. By combining Nicholson’s global community and leadership platform with Evans’ corporate expertise, media experience, and international network, the Brand Extension creates a foundation for expanded influence and long-term growth. Two founders, continents, established powerhouses, and one global vision. About the top 100 most powerful black women Top 100 Most Powerful Black Women is a global platform founded by Natalia Nicholson to increase visibility, connections, and opportunities for Black women in business, entrepreneurship, and leadership. The platform connects entrepreneurs, executives, professionals, experts and changemakers across international markets through education, visibility, relationships and business development. Learn more here. About Zondra TV Network Founded and led by Zondra Evans, Zondra TV Network is an award-winning international media access company and global streaming network. The company helps entrepreneurs, founders, organizations, and brands increase visibility, credibility, and authority through television, streaming distribution, strategic storytelling, media strategy, and Brand Extension initiatives. Media contact Company name: Zondra TV Network Contact person: Zondra Evans Email Phone: 469-854-3554 Country: United States Website

There is a moment every rider knows: the engine settles into a steady hum, the road opens up ahead, and everything else falls away. That moment is not an accident. It is the reason people build their lives around two wheels. The freedom of life on two wheels A car insulates you from the world. A motorcycle puts you inside it. The temperature shifts as you drop into a valley. The smell of rain hits before the clouds do. Every curve in the road asks something of you, and you answer with your whole body. That kind of physical engagement makes even a familiar commute feel like something worth doing. The appeal of open roads and spontaneous trips Motorcycles reward spontaneity in a way that cars rarely do. Passing an unmarked turnoff and deciding to follow it costs nothing. Pulling over to watch the sun set over a ridgeline takes thirty seconds. The bike does not care about the plan, and neither do most riders once they are moving. How motorcycles turn ordinary journeys into experiences The route to the grocery store becomes a different thing entirely on a motorcycle. Distance stops being an obstacle and starts being the point. Riders do not just move through landscapes. They read them, feel them, and remember them in ways that passengers in closed vehicles rarely do. Building a lifestyle around your motorcycle Fitting riding into real life takes some intention, but it is more manageable than most people expect. Weekend mornings are a natural starting point. A two-hour loop before the rest of the household is awake costs nothing but an early alarm. Longer trips, the kind that cross state lines or chase a specific stretch of highway, take more planning but follow the same logic: pick a direction, leave early, and stay flexible. Total motorcycle registrations in the United States reached approximately 9.3 million units in 2024, which tells you something about how many people have already made this calculation and decided riding is worth organizing a life around. Motorcycle-friendly destinations have grown alongside that number. Many hotels now offer covered parking and early checkout for riders who want to beat the heat. Scenic byways across the Southwest, the Appalachians, and the Pacific Coast have entire communities built around serving people on two wheels. The motorcycle community Group rides and riding clubs are where the lifestyle deepens into something social. A solo ride is meditative. A group ride is something else entirely: a shared experience with its own rhythm, its own pace, and its own unspoken agreements. Group rides and riding clubs Most clubs organize regular rides, charity events, and longer overnight trips. Some are brand-specific. Others are open to anyone with a license and a willingness to show up. The barrier to entry is low, and the regulars are almost always willing to bring someone new into the fold. The unwritten etiquette of the road The wave between passing riders is the most visible part of motorcycle culture, but the etiquette runs deeper. You do not leave a rider stranded on the side of the road. You do not pass a slower rider in the group without signaling. You check in at fuel stops and wait for everyone before moving on. These habits are not written down anywhere, but they are understood and respected across every riding community. Meeting people through motorcycle culture Bike nights, swap meets, and manufacturer rallies draw riders together in ways that feel genuinely organic. The conversation starter is always the machine, but the friendships that develop tend to outlast any particular bike or riding season. Gear, bikes, and personal style Choosing a motorcycle is a surprisingly personal decision. Cruisers suit riders who prefer a relaxed posture and long, straight highways. Sport bikes attract riders who want precision and performance. Adventure bikes appeal to people who refuse to choose between pavement and dirt. The bike ends up saying something about the rider before a word is spoken. Protective gear has followed the same trajectory. A decade ago, the choice was between looking protected and looking good. That gap has closed considerably. Modern helmets, jackets, and boots are engineered for serious impact protection while fitting the aesthetic that riders actually want to wear. Gloves with reinforced palms, jackets with CE-rated armor at the shoulders and elbows, and boots with ankle protection have all become standard in serious riding circles without sacrificing style. Customization adds another layer. Tank grips, handlebar risers, aftermarket exhaust systems, and custom paint jobs turn a stock motorcycle into something that reflects its owner. Maintenance keeps that investment running. Regular oil changes, tire pressure checks, chain lubrication, and brake inspections are the unglamorous work that makes the glamorous rides possible. Making every ride more enjoyable The best rides are rarely the most ambitious ones. A rider who plans every stop, calculates every mile, and optimizes every minute tends to finish the day feeling like they managed a project rather than experienced a ride. Leaving room in the itinerary for a detour, a long lunch, or an unplanned conversation with a stranger at a gas station usually produces a better story. Taking breaks matters on a practical level too. Fatigue affects concentration, and concentration is what keeps a rider safe. Stopping every ninety minutes or so, stretching, drinking water, and checking the bike before continuing is not inefficiency. It is good riding. Full stop. When a great ride takes an unexpected turn Most rides end the way they begin: uneventfully, with the bike parked and the rider already thinking about the next one. But the road carries real risk, and riders who acknowledge that tend to handle it better when something goes wrong. Motorcycles make up only 3% of all registered vehicles and 0.6% of all vehicle miles traveled in the United States, yet motorcyclists accounted for 16.2% of all traffic fatalities and 3.6% of all injuries in 2024, according to the National Safety Council. Those numbers reflect the physics of riding: no crumple zones, no airbags, and no steel cage between the rider and whatever hits them. What to do after a collision If a collision happens, the steps matter. Get to safety if possible. Call 911. Document the scene with photos before anything is moved. Collect contact and insurance information from any other drivers involved. And decline to give recorded statements to insurance adjusters before speaking with someone who understands how these claims work. Getting appropriate help Riders injured through someone else's negligence often face pushback from insurers who undervalue motorcycle injury claims or dispute liability outright. A Mesa motorcycle accident attorney can help injured riders in the area understand what their claim is actually worth and work through the process without giving up leverage early. Keeping the motorcycle lifestyle going for years Longevity in riding comes down to a few consistent habits. Riders who take refresher courses every few years stay sharper than those who assume experience alone is enough. Skill erodes without practice, and the roads change. New hazards, new traffic patterns, and new vehicle types all warrant updated awareness. Keeping the bike in good condition is the other half of the equation. A well-maintained motorcycle is more predictable, which makes every ride safer and more enjoyable. Neglected maintenance introduces variables that skilled riding cannot always overcome. The lifestyle also benefits from variety. Exploring new roads, visiting new destinations, and riding with different groups keeps the experience fresh. Riders who stay curious tend to stay engaged. And riders who stay engaged tend to stay safe. The road ahead The riders who stick with this lifestyle for decades are not the ones who treated it as a phase. They are the ones who built it into the structure of their lives, found their community, kept their skills sharp, and never stopped looking for the next road worth riding. That kind of commitment does not require anything dramatic. It just requires showing up, one ride at a time.

Written by Jessica Hastings-Lesperance, Realtor®, Director of Operations & Co-Owner Fierce and epic all rolled into one, she’s an absolute rockstar. Jessica Hastings-Lesperance was raised with Real Estate™ for her entire life. She is co-owner, Marketing Visionary, Director of Operations, and Realtor® at the Terri Hastings Real Estate Group/Keller Williams Realty Centres, one of the top-producing Keller Williams teams in all of Canada. I thought I was taking my daughter shopping. I was wrong. I was taking her somewhere we could slow down. Last week, I walked into Fierce Deer Jewelry in Sauble Beach with my daughter, expecting we'd spend fifteen minutes looking around before heading to our next stop. Instead, she stopped in her tracks. "Mom, this store is so cool." Her eyes moved from the crystals to the charms, the handmade jewelry, the engraved pieces, and then to the build-your-own jewelry bar. Every corner seemed to tell a different story. What happened next surprised me. We stayed for almost an hour, not because we couldn't make a decision, but because we didn't want to leave. We talked. We laughed. We picked up charms, put them back, changed our minds, and held necklaces up to see which one felt right. She carefully thought about what each charm meant, and I found myself doing the same. For the first time in what felt like a long time, neither of us was in a hurry. No one was checking a phone. No one was thinking about what came next on the calendar. We were simply together. As parents, we often spend so much time trying to create magical moments for our children that we forget they usually happen in the simplest places. A conversation while choosing a charm. A laugh over which bracelet fits best. The excitement of engraving something that suddenly becomes one of a kind. Research has consistently shown that shared experiences create stronger and longer-lasting happiness than simply acquiring more possessions. Looking back, it isn't usually the purchase we remember. It's how we felt while making it. That's exactly what happened that afternoon. The jewelry was beautiful. The crystals were stunning. The engraving quickly became my favourite feature because it transformed a beautiful piece into something deeply personal. But none of those things became the highlight of my day. Watching my daughter light up did. As I drove home, I realized something. Local businesses like Fierce Deer Jewelry don't simply sell products. They create spaces where conversations happen, where traditions begin, and where parents and children slow down long enough to simply enjoy each other's company. In a world that constantly asks us to move faster, answer another notification, and squeeze one more thing into our day, places like this quietly remind us to do the opposite. Slow down. Stay a little longer. Talk a little more. Laugh a little louder. Because one day, our children won't remember every gift we bought them. They'll remember how we made them feel. They'll remember the places where we spent uninterrupted time together. They'll remember the stories behind the necklace they still wear years later. As I watched my daughter carefully choose every detail, it hit me that we weren't really making jewelry. We were making a memory. The necklace wasn't what we brought home that day. Time together was. Maybe that's the real value of supporting local businesses. They don't just become part of our community. They quietly become part of our family's story. The next time you find yourself in Sauble Beach, I encourage you to do more than shop. Take someone you love. Build something together. Engrave a date, a word, or a memory that matters. Years from now, the jewelry may still be there. But I have a feeling the conversation you had while creating it together will be worth even more. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Jessica Hastings Lesperance Jessica Hastings-Lesperance, Realtor®, Director of Operations & Co-Owner Fierce and epic all rolled into one, she’s an absolute rock star. Jessica Hastings-Lesperance was raised with Real Estate™ for her entire life. She is co-owner, Marketing Visionary, Director of Operations, and Realtor® at the Terri Hastings Real Estate Group/Keller Williams Realty Centres, one of the top-producing Keller Williams teams in all of Canada. Jessica is an inspiring entrepreneur, real estate investor, coach, speaker, and published author. She has been featured on major media outlets, including podcasts and real estate TV talk shows, and has been published in various magazines. Recently, she was recognized as one of Canada’s Top Fitness Instructors for 2023 by Impact Magazine.

Written by BE Alink, Founder & CEO of The Alinker Inventions Ltd. BE Alink is a certified Bio-Tuning® Practitioner, a recording soundscape artist/composer of brain entrainment music, a life coach, and creator of ceremonial pieces. BE is a paradigm-shifter-inventor, founder, and CEO of The Alinker walking bike and the Author of her memoir ‘Inventing BE’. When Selma Blair posted a photo of herself on her Alinker in early 2019, our @the_Alinker_world Instagram page exploded. I had to look up who she was, as I am not very familiar with Hollywood stars. I learned that she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) after years of symptoms and doctors not taking her seriously, something many people deal with when dealing with what I call our “sick care” system: great for when you break a leg or need surgery, but the medical system is not meant to deal with chronic illnesses or make you healthy. "I got places to go! Sometimes I can’t do it on my own two feet. Sometimes I have to sit down and roll with the punches. I saw this Alinker at my 'ms' doctor’s office and wanted one. I love being able to move at the speed of sound. Totally here for this innovation." – @selmablair My name is BE Alink, Dutch-born and raised, and a permanent resident of Canada. I am the creator of the Alinker, a three-wheeled, nonmotorized walking bike without pedals. With the comment from my mum in 2011, “Over my dead body will I ever use one of those,” while pointing at electric scooters and rollators, I became aware that mobility devices are designed for a “body with a problem,” but that is not who we 'are'. We 'have' a body with exterior characteristics, but we 'are' whole human beings. Freedom in the absence of language I have always been obsessed with language because there was none for what I experienced growing up. I am a woman assigned at birth, and still am a woman, just without a uterus and breasts, and I am always stared at in public washrooms as an intruder. I fall in love with women but don’t feel like I am a lesbian. There is more going on, but I am also not transgender. Get my drift? No segments describe me. Language is powerful, and growing up without it gave me the freedom to invent myself and BE unapologetically me. Language is powerful Look at all the hyper language we use to identify ourselves so we can fight for the rights of our little underrepresented group, based on what we 'have': external characteristics, skin colour, the way we move, gender. The segmented language only divides us. When we identify with a minority, we oppress ourselves. The vast majority of us have the experience of being dismissed, only because we live in a conditioned construct, a “consensus reality” with an assumed mainstream, a small minority that enriches itself, and it can do so as long as we behave and consume as we were taught. But did you ever consent to living in a world where we are consumers of toxic food that makes us sick, then funnelled into a sick care system that needs sick people to make more revenue, all while food industry practices are killing the very environment that we need to survive? With every purchase we make, we buy into that consensus reality and support the system that destroys us. Until we stop. Stop consuming... Deconstructing language is deconstructing our conditioning. Change is not in what we do, but in who we decide to 'be'. Changing the world is an inside job. A vehicle for change We use our company, The Alinker, as a vehicle for change, but it confuses people. People ask, “Why are you talking about food? I thought you were selling bikes.” Food is related to health; industries are related to environmental damage and rising chronic illnesses; the burning of the Amazon forests is related to the meat industry. We cannot separate our product from how it is produced, from what we eat, and from how that relates to becoming sick. Everything is related, and mobility is not an isolated problem to fix. It needs to be approached in the full context. Back to the “sick care” system. We think we have a healthcare system as long as we refer to it as such. Until someone questions it. See my TEDx talk. Once we rename it, we can recognize that we actually do not have a healthcare system; we have a sick care system that is great if you break a leg or need surgery but is no place for chronic illnesses. Medical professionals are not trained to deal with chronic illnesses other than to medicate. Medications often have adverse effects and are designed to manage symptoms, not to make you healthy. Are you looking forward to becoming dependent on our healthcare system as it is? No one will answer “Yes,” so it is time to build healthcare that supports our wellness. Health means having access For us, health has three components: mobility, community, and food. We can talk about these things, but when people have been driven into poverty by the sick care system, they don’t have access to them. The Alinker’s foundation is built on providing 'access' to: Mobility: A 0% rent-to-own program, staying out of the Medicare circus, and hosting crowdfunding campaigns. Community: Hosting Zoom seminars, maintaining an active Facebook group with 1,200+ active Alinker users, rallying around campaigns, and showing up for isolated people. Food: A partnership with Eat Real to Heal’s Nicolette Richer, reversing chronic illnesses while being in community. The Alinker has been in the market for ten years, and we have done so much, but talking about systemic issues when trying to sell bikes confuses people, so... Our vision is clear Mobility and food are medicine. In community, we are powerful and a threat to the systems. We don’t need to tear the systems down. Collectively, we need to stop supporting them; stop consuming the food and the stories we have been conditioned to consume. Choose who we want to be. If we choose to be kind, then our actions need to be congruent with that choice. It’s not about 'what' we do, but 'who' we choose to be. Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from BE Alink BE Alink, Founder & CEO of The Alinker Inventions Ltd. BE is a thought leader who uses language as an awareness tool to create awareness around our conditioning that made us mass consumers of all that is making us sick and is killing the planet. BE: "Changing the world is an inside job". With her 10 years international work in non-western countries, she brings her unique perspective on our western world. Whether through her invention of the Alinker walking bike or, more recently, the brain-entrainment compositions she created and hosts for groups and online, BE dedicates her time to building communities around the modalities that support the health and life of all of us.

Crissy Fishbane is a keynote speaker, writer, and former psychology educator exploring what it means to build a meaningful life in a world that often tells us who we should be and what we should value. As the cofounder of HER Health Collective and host of the award-winning podcast Mama Needs a Moment, she has spent years building community and has interviewed more than 160 experts across psychology, relationships, health, and personal development. In this interview, Crissy explores worthiness, courage, connection, and the stories that shape how we see ourselves. Drawing from both lived experience and years of conversations with others, she examines how we can become more intentional about where we place our time, attention, and energy, and actively build lives that feel meaningful to us. Crissy Fishbane, Keynote Speaker & Writer What first drew you to explore what actually makes a life feel meaningful? When I was 16, I was electrocuted by 13,000 volts in a car accident that very nearly took my life. I was airlifted to a burn unit, where I spent months in and out of the hospital with surgeries, skin grafts, and an excruciatingly painful recovery process. Prior to the accident, I had been a deeply troubled teenager, questioning not only my worth but whether I deserved to take up space on this planet. After the accident, I felt genuine gratitude for the opportunity to live another day. I realized I did not just want to survive my life. I really wanted to live it. The adventure, the joy, the heartache, the pain. All of it. Because it meant I was still here. I became obsessed with psychology and personal development. I loved studying human behavior and, in particular, learning more about myself. I had a deep desire to make every day count, but I realized my view of “making a day count” was often very different from what society tells us makes a successful day. As I thought about what had mattered most while I was lying in a hospital bed, uncertain of what came next, the answer was incredibly simple. It was the relationships. The people who continued to show up in my life and support and love me, even when I was at my worst. So many of the other things I thought mattered hadn't mattered at all in that hospital room. It entirely shifted my perspective, the feeling I wake up with every morning, and the approach I take to my life. Twenty-five years later, I am still obsessed with what living a “meaningful life” really means and what it actually looks like to live one. Why can achievement become a way of proving our worth rather than pursuing what genuinely matters to us? As we grow up, we are taught that behaving a certain way and accomplishing certain things can elevate our status in the eyes of others. We learn that society will view us more kindly if we prove our worth through good grades, accolades, higher income, nice cars, a pretty home, and a good job. Psychologist Carl Rogers called this idea conditions of worth, the standards we learn we have to meet in order to feel worthy of acceptance or approval. Nobody ever had to sit us down and explicitly say, “This is how you prove your worth.” But it is an idea we absorb through our interactions with the world around us. Achievement itself is not the problem. There is a big difference between “I want to achieve something because it matters to me” and “I need to accomplish this so I can feel like I matter.” The question I continually come back to is this: Who are you if all of the accolades and success metrics are stripped away from you? What are your core values? Who are you at your core, regardless of what room you are walking into or who you are having a conversation with? That is the true guide to knowing what genuinely matters. The vast majority of our accomplishments will not matter in our final days. I’m all for pursuing big dreams, but accomplishment itself cannot tell you what you’re worth. What changes when we stop waiting to feel ready and choose to act while fear is still present? Everything. When we wait to feel ready before we take steps toward a goal, our lives can become stagnant. The truth is, we will never be entirely ready for most of the challenges life throws our way. There will always be unknowns, curveballs, and unforeseen obstacles we could never have prepared for. We can’t prepare for life. We simply have to live, one day at a time and with our whole hearts. Choosing to act while fear still grips us is one of the most courageous ways we can actively participate in our lives. Fear will always have a voice in our lives. It just doesn’t get the microphone. Every time we take one single scary step towards a goal, we are gathering evidence of our abilities. We are collecting proof that we are capable. Over time, we stop seeing fear as a reason not to act and start realizing we can carry it with us. That makes the big, courageous leaps life sometimes requires of us feel much more manageable. What have more than 160 conversations with experts taught you about the ideas people most often misunderstand about wellbeing and personal growth? People often misunderstand exactly what an expert can give them. I have talked to countless experts with deep knowledge in their areas of expertise, and I have learned so much from them. Yet, I have also discovered that the only person who can truly understand your path to wellbeing and personal growth is you. Nobody will know your health journey or understand your goals and dreams the way you do. You are the only person entering the conversation with knowledge of all your life experiences, aspirations, challenges, and the vision you hold for your life. Sometimes we seek out an expert to serve as a hero in our story, someone who will save us. But I have learned that we are better served when we view our relationships with experts as partnerships. That may mean taking perspectives from multiple experts and using our own discernment to decide what deserves to take up space in our lives. When we mistake an expert's expertise for authority over our lives, we give up agency. We are handing over the reins to someone who simply cannot understand all the intricacies of our lives. Humans are complex beings. We will never be able to discern the full scope of someone's life experience from the outside. When it comes to our wellbeing and personal growth, that nuanced understanding matters. What has building a community for mothers taught you about why feeling seen and connected matters so deeply? We are all starved for connection. Our world is becoming more and more centered on transactional and digital interactions, but those interactions cannot always give us the sense of connection we need as humans. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) psychologist Matthew Lieberman’s research shows that our drive for social connection is deeply rooted in our biology and evolution. It’s not simply something that’s nice to have. We have a deep desire to feel seen and to be known. I have watched this play out in real time over seven years of building a community for mothers. A mother walks into a room uncertain of her place and whether she will belong. Then, through genuine interaction and heartfelt conversation, she discovers she isn’t alone in something she is struggling with. You can see the transformation happen. Her smile becomes more genuine, her eyes light up, and her whole body softens. You can almost see her nervous system settle. Our problems feel less overwhelming when shared, our joy is amplified, and we are given more opportunities to know that we matter. Even one or two relationships where we feel genuinely seen can shift how we experience our lives and how we view ourselves. Those connections can transform the meaning of our lives. How can someone recognize when an old story about themselves is quietly shaping the choices they make? I was raised by a single mom and grew up living in a trailer park. One day in elementary school, a girl called me “trailer trash” in front of all the other kids. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that moment became a core part of my identity. It came to mean I wasn’t good enough, I didn’t belong, and I had something to prove. The stories influencing us most are often the hardest to recognize precisely because we no longer experience them as stories. We experience them as identity. I began looking for evidence everywhere that would prove how right that original declaration was. I wasn’t good at math. I learned to ride a bike late. I couldn’t make the soccer team. A high school friend’s mom publicly judged my homecoming dress for being too short. Completely unrelated experiences became evidence that I wasn’t measuring up. Evidence to the contrary never carried the same weight. I held onto validation for a brief moment, then became starved to prove myself again and again. Anything to keep the feeling of not being enough at bay. That story shaped my choices. I overachieved, avoided things I might fail at, sought approval in all the wrong places, and rebelled. I sometimes stayed out of rooms because I feared I didn’t belong. When I got brave enough to step inside, I had already constructed a story about why everyone else belonged more than me. Looking back, what I wish I had understood was that I never had anything to prove. I am and always have been enough. My worth is not dependent on someone else’s interpretation of me. To recognize the old stories shaping your life, pay attention to the conclusions about yourself you keep reaching, regardless of the evidence. Is this actually true, or have I simply gotten very good at finding evidence that it is? When fear has a strong voice, what helps us keep it from making the decision for us? Taking one small, decisive step is how I move past fear every single time. If I feel fear overtaking me, I know it’s time to move. I don’t need to have a five-year plan. I just need to take one step forward. Even if it’s the wrong step, I can reassess and realign my direction. The first step is simply getting myself out of the fear spiral. When fear really makes me feel stuck, I find that moving twice is what gets me through. First, I move my body. Then, I am able to actually move my life. Sometimes that first movement is doing jumping jacks, taking a walk around my neighborhood, or lifting weights for 20 minutes. It sounds almost too simple, but I have found that physical movement can quiet the incessant chatter enough for me to think clearly again. Then I take the meaningful step. Action restores my sense of agency. It stops the hypothetical catastrophizing and gives me evidence that fear can’t keep me rooted in place. I moved. Nothing catastrophic happened. I am capable of figuring out what comes next. Thinking can keep us stuck in a loop of everything that could go wrong. Action introduces us to what actually happens. Once we have something real to respond to, we can reassess, make a plan, and keep moving forward. How have experiences like surviving a life-threatening accident and walking the Camino shaped the way you decide what deserves your time and attention? Surviving a life-threatening accident taught me that my life mattered. I could see, perhaps for the first time, how much one life can leave an imprint on others. It made me recognize that the ripples of my life were valuable and that how I showed up in the world mattered. Interestingly, walking 500 miles across Spain on the Camino de Santiago showed me the other side of the coin. Looking at breathtaking sunsets, meeting people from all over the world, and standing inside centuries-old churches and monasteries, I saw how infinitesimally small I was in this great big world. I found that realization beautiful and empowering. Today, I try to hold both truths at the same time. Because my life matters, I choose to spend more of my time focused on the people I love, giving to causes and missions I deeply care about, and thinking about how my words and actions impact the people around me. I consider the ripples I want to leave in the world. Because my life is also infinitesimally small, I spend less time battling the things I cannot control. I am one tiny human in an enormous world. It is not my place to carry everything. I cannot control how others perceive me, what will happen tomorrow, or the decisions other people make. Some things are simply not mine to hold. What is one question you believe more people should ask themselves when deciding how they want to live? My answer may be a bit of a cheat because I think the question has two parts. First: When you reach the end of your one precious life, what do you most want to have been at the core of your life story? I know my answer will not be the things I accomplished or owned. After decades of thinking about this question and hundreds of conversations on the topic, my answer is the people in my life. How I loved them. How I showed up for them. How I helped others. But I don’t want to prescribe my answer to anyone else. We are all unique, and only by grappling with our own mortality can we begin to uncover what a meaningful life looks like to us. The second part is where the magic lives: Does the way I am living today align with my view of a meaningful life? That doesn’t mean dropping everything to maximize every moment. Meaningful work, striving toward a goal, relationships with colleagues, rest, and even the ordinary responsibilities of life can all be part of a meaningful life. The point is alignment. Once we have determined what matters most to us, we have a roadmap. Then we can look at how we are actually spending our days and ask whether our choices reflect it. A meaningful life isn’t something that just happens to us. We must actively build it through the choices we make every single day. Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Crissy Fishbane