Do you experience feelings such as self doubt, fear, anger, anxiety, guilt, shame, or perhaps even regret? Try not to get caught up worrying about worse case scenarios, as they may never happen. We’re all having to come to terms with the fear of what “could” happen next. Now more than ever, on any given day, we all have a moment where we struggle with our fears. If you are always stressing about the future, you will be held to ransom by this overwhelm. You are never going to give yourself the opportunity to experience the joys of the here and the now. You must shift your focus to the present. I promise you that you aren’t going to know yourself.

In this solo episode I focus on the importance of dedicating time for yourself, leveraging stress to our advantage, letting go of our future worries and allowing ourselves to embrace the unknown.

In this episode

1:10 – Do you often feel overwhelmed?

2:36 – Find time for you

3:45 – Leverage stress to your advantage

4:58 – Don’t fear the future

7:03 – Allow yourself to let go and embrace the unknown

NEW CCM BOOK

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith is excited to announce the release of her new book “Singing Contemporary Commercial Music Styles: A Pedagogical Framework” published by Compton Publications UK. Marisa offers this book as a starting point and as CCM markets continue to evolve, she encourages that we, as a voice community, continue to evolve, debate and communally add to this framework.

JOIN MY COMMUNITY

YOUTUBE PLAYBACK

Visit the A Voice and Beyond Youtube channel to watch back the video replay of this guest interview or to see my welcome video.

Episode Transcription

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  00:02

It’s Marisa Lee here and I’m so excited to be sharing today’s solo round episode with you. Whether you’re a member of the voice community, or beyond your voice is your unique gift. And my mission, which has been inspired by my own personal and professional journey is to empower you to share your gift with others. Now is the time for you to discover your voice in life, develop a positive mindset, and become the best and most authentic version of yourself to create greater impact. Ultimately, you can take charge, and you can become the director of your own life. It’s time for you to live your best life. It’s time now, for A Voice and Beyond. So, without further ado, let’s go to today’s episode. 

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  01:10

Do you experience feelings such as self doubt, fear, anger, anxiety, guilt, shame, or perhaps even regret? Do you feel that you’re unable to accomplish the things that you want in life? Or that you simply lack direction? Have you ever asked yourself why this is so? Why do you feel as though everything in your life has become so difficult and you’re just drowning in overwhelm? Well, it’s time for you to take charge and to optimise your life. Overwhelming your life can be caused by external things such as traumatic life experiences, or major relationship breakdowns. However, some of your overwhelm can be coming from things that are absolutely within your control, and you have the power to take charge of, it’s important to understand that we all have a choice to either live the life we dream of, or to go through life with the handbrake on because we engage in behaviours that cause us to be in a constant state of self inflicted overwhelm.

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  02:36

The more you neglect you, the more overwhelmed you can become. That’s just how it is. Unfortunately, every day, you need to spend a few moments of the first hour upon waking, thinking about things that are important to you for that day. Things like what kind of person do I want to be today? What attitude do I want to have towards other people at work today? What do I need to focus on to achieve my goals today? You see your intentions can be a tool to guide you through the day. As you’re faced with all those tasks and all those decisions that you have to make. It can be a reminder of what you want to focus on. Because we all know how hard it can be to focus at the best of times. Perhaps it can be the act of reminding yourself to be present and to stay mindful throughout the whole day.

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  03:45

Life is full of unexpected situations or scenarios that create an unexpected setback. And stress is a normal human reaction that happens to everyone. So don’t be hard on yourselves. managing your stress levels will help you reach your highest performance levels in every area of your life. help you stay focused, be more fulfilled, more excellent and on purpose. Now is the time to take good care of your body each day, eat right exercise and get enough sleep to help your body handle stress far better. It’s important to accept that you can’t control everything. So in those moments when it’s all too much. Stay positive. practice gratitude and acknowledge the good parts of your life. Find ways to let go of worry about things you cannot change.

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  04:58

We’re all having to come to terms with the fear of what is going to happen next. Now more than ever, on any given day, we all have a moment where we struggle with our fears. And this struggle is real. As we come to terms with our new normal, we might be considering a career change, wanting to step up in order to help others in our community, or simply needing to stand up for what’s right when we experience injustice. But then a tiny voice pipes up within us and says, there’s no point or I don’t have the courage to speak up, or it’s all too hard, and this is too much for me. We need to move forward and let go because living a courageous life is one of the best ways to succeed in every aspect of our lives. But if you’re like most people, you probably equate courage with fearlessness. But that’s a faulty interpretation. Courage is that moment and that willingness to step up and speak up despite fear so courage is engaging with and not avoiding fear, whether you want to call it fear, or you want to call it discomfort, life challenges, look, whatever you want to call it, don’t allow fear of what might happen keep you stuck in your life. Once you find your tribe, and those people you connect with life is far better off. Cultivate your network and your relationships. Surround yourself with role models of quietly courageous people work at building those relationships, invest time and energy into others, and they will do the same for you. Your friends can help you stay focused on growth and being your best self.

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  07:03

It is time right now to stop creating overwhelm and start attracting so much more positivity in your life, stop agonising about what may never happen, you can’t predict the future. So it’s no point being overwhelmed about something that hasn’t happened or really may never happen. You absolutely can’t. And COVID-19 has proven that to all of us. When you are in overwhelm about the future, you imagine the worst possible scenario in any situation and convince yourself that it will happen usually without any real facts to back it up. A good example of this would be that you begin to imagine that you are going to be laid off from your job even when there is no concrete evidence that supports your prediction. Even though the worst case scenario rarely ever happens, you act like it’s just a matter of time and you let it dominate your thoughts and your actions causing you to live in overwhelm in your workplace. There are so many things that will happen to us in our lifetime that are completely out of our control. Who could have predicted all the craziness that happened in 2020 and still continues to dominate news headlines to this day. No one had a clue this was all going to happen. And the truth is we never know what the future holds. So there’s no point stressing about things that may never happen and cause you to feel overwhelmed. Focus on what is going on in your life. Right now. You can prepare for the future, but don’t be in overwhelm about it. Focus on becoming your best self in the present moment. So you will be equipped to take on whatever challenges are going to be thrown at you in the future. Be prepared by building yourself up for these challenges. Be sure that no matter what you cherish the present moment because you are never going to get it back. Tomorrow was not guaranteed for any of us And history shows that worst case scenarios seldom come to pass. If you are always stressing about the future, you will be held to ransom by this overwhelm. You are never going to give yourself the opportunity to experience the joys of the here and the now. You must shift your focus to the present. I promise you that you aren’t going to know yourself. So you can start pursuing your own personal greatness without negativity holding you back. When you experience positivity, you will achieve greatness and you will feel more relaxed so you are more alert and centred. You will be more present and focused and your daily outcomes will improve. So every morning before you start the day set the intention to alleviate overwhelm, it is time for you to take back control of your life. 

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  10:16

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of a voice and beyond. I hope you enjoyed it as now is an important time for you to invest in your own self care, personal growth and education. Use every day as an opportunity to learn and to grow so you can show up feeling empowered and ready to live your best life. If you know someone who will also be inspired by this episode, please be sure to copy and paste the link and share it with them. Or share it on social media and use the hashtag a voice and beyond. I promise you I am committed to bringing you more inspiration and conversations just like this one every week. And if you would like to help me please rate and review this podcast and cheer me on by clicking the subscribe button on Apple podcast right now. I would also love to know what it is that you most enjoyed about this episode and what was your biggest takeaway? Please take care and I look forward to your company next time on the next episode have A Voice and Beyond.

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