If old dogs can learn new tricks, then why the heck is it so hard for humans to change? That's exactly what we're going to talk about in today's Resilient Faith Online podcast. Change Today to celebrate tomorrow, episode number four. Welcome. I'm Marissa Shatterick, host of the Resilient Faith Online Show. I'm a digital strategist and certified copywriter, but more importantly, a woman of faith. In this podcast, you'll find a biblical perspective to the external and internal challenges we face as online content creators. Join me for some inspiration and practical tips as we let our faith shape our work to create positive change online. To connect with our private Facebook group of faith-based online entrepreneurs, go to MarissaShadrick.com forward slash faith. Hello, hello, and welcome to episode number four. I think I'm getting the hang of this with my broadcaster and pushing buttons and everything else, although I do have to re-record often, so I'll get the hang of it. How is everybody doing? I am Marissa. I'm so glad that you are welcoming me and hearing this podcast. It is truly an honor to come to you with these broadcasts. So today we're going to talk about change and why it's so hard. Yes, it is. I recently read an article that it is total myth that older dogs can't learn new tricks. Actually, older dogs, they're not as easily distracted as puppies are. So they can focus for longer periods of time and they have the ability to concentrate more than little puppies that are so curious and are all over the place. Who would have thought, right? So older dogs can still learn. In fact, the article said that they continue to learn. They love to learn. So I read that and I thought, why is it so hard for us to change? We like to add things, but not undo and relearn things and maybe adopt new beliefs. We kind of get caught in a rut with the way we perceive things. So today I'm going to talk a little bit about that. And I know some of those things where we fall into a rut, I call them pet peeves. I've got my own. I really struggle with two pet peeves that came crashing together a couple of weeks ago. One is I don't like being rushed, and the other is that I don't like being late. And a couple weeks ago, I had a dental appointment, and I was really excited to get to my dental appointment because I was like a couple months overdue and I really love getting my teeth cleaned. I'm one of those weird people. So I told my husband I needed the car the night before. He said, no problem. And so I get ready in the morning and I'm ready to leave plenty early because I knew there would be traffic in Las Vegas. So it was right during the morning rush hour. So I gave myself plenty of time. And I went into my husband's office and I said, I'm leaving for my dental appointment. And he said, Oh, we have to take Audrey to school. Audrey is our granddaughter. Our daughter and granddaughter live with us. And I said, What? And I said, I haven't a dental appointment. I'm going to be late. And he goes, Well, we have to take her to school today. And I thought, okay, you know, it was one of those things. What can you do? Right. And but I could feel myself getting upset because I had already had this all planned out. And this change came about with my plan. And so, you know, I put her in the car and everything, and we took off to school. And in the school, it just is a traffic jam because they have a new process to dropping them off because of the pandemic. And so there I was in line behind this other car. And we were eking our way little by little. And I'm sitting there and I'm stewing, thinking I'm really going to be late. And then I realized I forgot to grab a mask. And we had run out of masks in the little box we kept in the car. So I knew I would have to go back home. So I was really stewing, wanting to hurry up, hurry up the cars so that I could drop her off and try to give her a smile as she got out and went to school. Bye, have a nice day. And inside I was stewing. So I rush home, I grab a mask, and I make sure to let my husband know that I didn't have a mask and there were no masks in the car, no mercy, right? I'm terrible. And so I race to the dental appointment and I'm in the car driving like a mad woman. And suddenly I realize, what am I doing? I mean, seriously, how often do we go to a dental appointment or a doctor's appointment and we get there on time or we get there early and we sit and we wait and we wait and we wait. They're never on time. And so there I am stooding thinking, okay, at the most I'm going to be five minutes late. What's going to happen? Is it worth driving like a mad woman, getting in an accident, possibly injuring somebody else just because I don't like being late and I was feeling rushed. The two pet peeves came crashing. And so I knew at that moment I had to change my attitude. I had a prayer to Jesus moment, right? And adjusted my attitude and realized, you know what, it's going to be fine. There are worse things in life than being five minutes late to a dental appointment. But change is hard for us. And as things are opening up now, things are different and we're still experiencing change. We're waiting for the world to change with fewer complications. And frankly, my friend, that just ain't gonna happen. We have to be the ones to change from within and see the silver lining and be able to ride the waves right now, the way things are going. And as entrepreneurs, our success depends more on our mental state than our hard skills. We need to course correct all the time. I mean, seriously, daily, if not hourly. We need to course correct all the time. You've heard of the pivot. Many people are pivoting. It is creating change, right? Doing things differently. And so we have to embrace that. And I believe that intentional change helps us maintain focus and purpose. And I really think it minimizes distraction because when we have focus and purpose, we're less distracted. So sometimes we welcome those distractions to avoid change. Yes, sometimes I welcome distractions to avoid change or something that I need to do that I don't want to do, or to try something new that I've never done before and I don't know the outcome. It becomes a momentary absence of purpose. And so we have to really embrace change. And there's so much benefit to change, even though we don't like it. There's benefit to it. There's a scripture in Romans 12, too. This is the New Living Translation. It says, literally, it says, Don't copy the behaviors and customs of the world. So if the world is griping, don't gripe with them, right? It says, Don't copy the behaviors and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by, and there's a word, changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Wow. There's wisdom that comes with change. What a concept, right? There's wisdom that comes with change. And literally that word change in that verse means renewing mind in the Greek. Literally, renewing mind. And when we think of renewed or something that's renewed, we think of restored to a fresh state, regenerated, revived, rebuilt, replacing an old thought with a new one, something that's going to serve us well. So where is the problem? We see all this benefit from change. And I'm there with you. It's hard to change, but why is it hard to change? Well, here's some thoughts off the top of my head. One, maybe we're trying to change too much too soon. This is a case where less is more. And we take one thing at a time and try to change one thing first. So maybe we're trying to change too much. Number two, we don't know where to the heck to begin. We don't know where to begin and what to change first. So we're we're stuck. We're we're not knowing where to begin because we're so overwhelmed and there's so many things going on. Where do we begin? Number three, we try to change behaviors or actions rather than our thoughts. And it's so important to change the thoughts first. Change will help us maintain the focus and purpose and minimize distractions, but it it really starts with the thoughts. And so, how do we do this? I know for me, I'm gonna give you a suggestion and maybe it'll help you and maybe it'll inspire some other thoughts for you. But the way I have done it for all the changes I've had to make in my life, and I've had to make a lot of them, I had it really unknot a lot of knots in my mental state. But there were five areas that I really wanted to focus on. And one was my faith. I wanted to change any wrong beliefs and align them to God. Knowledge, I wanted to continue to learn, and you can learn through podcasts and books and courses. I mean, you're there's so much information out there right now that if you want to learn, you can grow in knowledge in just about anything. I wanted to uh change things for the better in wellness. That meant changing less sleep for more sleep, changing activity, changing the food that I eat. And I wanted to change in the area of joy. I wanted more joy in order to do that. I adopted more of a gratitude mindset and finding gratitude or the silver lining in every situation, counting my blessings, appreciating every benefit that life has to offer. So I wanted to change in that area of joy and see more joy through the things that I was doing, including work, finding joy in the work I was doing and also vision. I wanted to really protect and continue to change attitudes that would interfere with my vision of what I wanted to accomplish. So you need to decide what it is that you want. What is it that is important to you? And how are you going to achieve what matters most to you? And that takes being very intentional to activate change in those five areas, which were faith, knowledge, wellness, joy, and vision. So how did I do this? Because you're probably thinking, Marissa, that's a whole heck of a lot of stuff to change. But again, don't try to change too much in the beginning. What I did was I created questions for my journal. I have a digital journal. I use a day one journal, and I created a template with questions that address these different areas of my life that matter to me and are important to me, and areas that I wanted to cultivate and areas that I wanted to change my thinking, especially if there was negative thinking. So there are very intentional questions that I ask myself as far as faith and knowledge and wellness and joy and vision that makes me accountable to myself and it helps me change attitudes. And I do this daily, and it's very, very helpful. I find that journaling it allows you time to reflect and reflection gives your soul permission to speak. It really does. And you have to be in the quiet of the morning or the night, whenever it's convenient for you, to give your soul permission to speak and be brutally honest with yourself and find those areas where you can course adjust a little bit. You can just adjust a little bit and change a little bit of your mindset in various areas of your life. So I want you to know that change is possible, regardless of what people say. Change is possible. Even those little pet peeves. I'm trying with those two that really bug me. I don't know. I'm working on it. I'm a work in progress, right? And you're probably a work in progress, but change is possible. And I know it's possible as uh believers in Christ, as people that love Jesus. We are a new creation. We are his workmanship. He calls us a holy nation, he calls us a child of God, he calls us beloved, he calls us chosen, he calls us friend of Jesus, he calls us redeemed, forgiven, blameless, blameless. Fellow heirs with Christ, a royal priesthood, citizens of heaven, made complete in Christ. We can change. All these things, all this that Christ calls us, gives us the stability to change because we serve an unchanging God. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We can change today to become the people God intended tomorrow. And we can cultivate resilient faith online and create positive change in the world. I hope this blessed you today. So as you continue to work, remember that change is good and change is possible. If you found this podcast helpful, then subscribe from wherever you're listening today so you never miss an episode. Every subscription, review, or rating means so much to me. So keep them coming and share this with a friend. For more free content, go to marissahrick.com and remember keep cultivating resilient faith online to create positive change in the world.