How do we escape the patterns that hold us back?

Have you ever found yourself trapped in a cycle of behavior you desperately want to break? This raw and personal episode explores the challenging journey of breaking free from unhealthy patterns that hold us back from living our fullest lives.

The conversation takes an unexpected turn as I share vulnerable details about my childhood experiences with abuse and the profound impact they've had on my development. Drawing from my own healing journey through therapy and self-help resources, I offer reflections on what it takes to truly break chains that have been forged through years or even generations of unhealthy behaviors.

We explore the paralyzing effects of living in fear and social anxiety—conditions that many listeners might recognize in their own lives. Rather than presenting easy answers, this episode asks powerful questions: How do we move forward when we don't know how? What strategies help us overcome deeply ingrained patterns? What does breaking the cycle look like for you personally?

This shorter but impactful episode serves as both a personal testimony and an invitation for community dialogue. I genuinely want to hear from you about your experiences breaking unhealthy cycles and overcoming fear-based living. Your stories and questions not only help me create more relevant content but also build a supportive community where we can all grow together.

Join our growing community by subscribing, sharing your thoughts in the comments, and becoming part of a movement dedicated to personal growth, authentic connection, and breaking the chains that hold us back. Your engagement matters—not just for the algorithm, but for creating meaningful conversations that can change lives.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Elkivate Your Life
• 2:38 Shout-Outs to Loyal Subscribers
• 6:51 Dating Talk Follow-Up
• 8:47 Breaking Cycles and Unhealthy Habits
• 11:32 Call for Engagement and Questions
• 13:55 Episode Closing and Next Steps

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Wow, chicka, wow, wow, what's up? Party people, thank you for tuning in to another episode of Elkivate your life. I am your hostess with the mostess. L is in the letter L. We are in the spare room studio this evening because it is hot as H-E-E double hockey sticks. Is that the saying? I don't know, I never use it, so I don't know it, and you can kind of see my co-star in the background. Maybe she'll migrate this way.

Speaker 1: 0:50

Anyway, how was everyone's weekend? What did everyone do? It was a nice weekend. It was sunny, warm, not too hot, not too cold. Any sun goddesses or sun gods out there like myself, me personally, I love to go and lay out in the sun with protection, of course, spf, always SPF 30, plus on certain parts. Anyway, yeah, friday was a chill night.

Speaker 1: 1:23

Didn't make it to my friend's concert in the park, unfortunately, and I had front row seats, which really was a bummer. But anyway, I didn't end up making it because I just was too tired from the work week. It's week two of school and I was exhausted. I'm not going to, and I was exhausted, I'm not going to lie, I was exhausted. So to all you people that can go out there and do all that stuff and party every night and go to concert in the park and all of those things. Good on you, because this girl is struggling even now. Sorry about that, is struggling even now. Sorry about that. Yeah, was up late last night because, as a lot of you know, I took on a new endeavor and basically another avenue of helping people and if you know, you know and if you don't, we should talk. It's a way for me to assist you. And so that's the most I'm going to tell you in this Before I forget.

Speaker 1: 2:36

I want to make sure that I give a shout out to my loyal subscribers and sponsors. Loyal subscribers and sponsors, starting with Dr Ryan Swen Pinnacle Wellness Center, located in Pleasanton, on West Las Positas and Hop Yard, and, as I've told you before, they offer the hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatment, which I need to get back in there and get another treatment. It's been too long. But also I'm due for an adjustment. And he has a very different alternative approach to his chiropractic care. Chiropractic care that's a tongue twister. Say that five times fast. And yeah, he's just awesome. He and his staff are awesome. Thank you to Rhonda who introduced me to him. But Ryan Swinn Pinnacle Wellness Center, located in Pleasanton on the corner. It's basically on the corner of West Hospice, cedars and Hop Yard and, sorry guys, I always forget the address. I want to say 5994 West Las Positas Drive, suite 207. Don't quote me on that. Look it up, or you can just go to the link that is in my podcast and check them out and make sure you use hashtag Elkivate when you go to him so that he knows I said to you Moving right along to my loyal subscribers what's up?

Speaker 1: 4:15

What's up? To Lisa Roberts Curvello, who has been too busy to even call me. See me have coffee, anything, anything. She's working like a dog and, yeah, hasn't had a lot of free time. But thank you, lisa, for supporting and subscribing and being a loyal subscriber.

Speaker 1: 4:39

Thank you to Kara at lovemyartistetsycom. I tell all of you she always has deals on her website, from music videos, anniversary celebration, various different types of videos that she creates, videos that she creates anniversary birthdays, um proposal, asking someone to be made of honor, just a variety of things, and her artwork is amazing. So go check out kara at lovemyartistetsycom and be sure to tell her. Elkie sent you moving right along. Uh, kyle, few.

Speaker 1: 5:26

Commitment to love. Love is a verb. Thank you, kyle, for being a loyal listener and subscriber. I appreciate you. And, oh, my co-host is trying to escape the room but I can't let you out right now because it will be too noisy. I'm sorry, sorry, not sorry, sorry, guys. Hopefully she'll come back up here and say hello. So thank you. Thank you to you, kyle, for being a loyal listener, supporter and subscriber. I appreciate you. Check out his book Commitment to Love. Love is a Verb.

Speaker 1: 5:59

I actually told several listeners about it, including my friend, roger, which is my other subscriber. Roger Havens, thank you for being a loyal listener and subscriber. I saw your figs that you advertised. I'm not a big fig person Fig Newton's okay, but anyway, I'm still waiting for the peach cobbler or the other delectables that Roger creates. He loves to garden and does a fabulous job of it. So thank you. Thank you, roger, and, of course, mike Kaufman. Thank you for being a loyal listener and subscriber. Appreciate you. Did I get everyone? I think I did.

Speaker 1: 6:53

Well, it is Mindful Monday, august 25th, and I'll be honest, I don't have any Mindful Monday tips for you today, so it's going to be an episode that's rather short and sweet. I am curious. I didn't see any questions from any of the previous episodes, we talked about dating in this era and the various different websites available to ladies and or men, and that chivalry is not dead and that you don't have to go by such a strict, rigid, surface-level list, that it could be better for you to be a little bit more intentional and, as Jeff mentioned in last Wednesday's episode, to go on a date and have fun and not make it an interview the first, second or even third date. So, men, women, send in your questions and or antidotes, if you have any, like what works well for you and or what doesn't work well and what irritates you about ladies today and why they can't just be happy with somebody with a sense of humor that isn't 6'4 and a three-figure earner. I don't know. I'm just trying to go by memory here of the list of things we talked about.

Speaker 1: 8:35

I will tell you something I learned yesterday about Mindful Monday, and that is breaking the chains, breaking the cycle of old habits. So what do you do to break the chain and break the cycle of old habits? Do you read a book? Do you talk to a therapist Self-help? What do you do to break the chain and break old habits? For example, in someone's case that I know that I won't mention any names.

Speaker 1: 9:14

There were some very unhealthy behaviors upbringing and it's like how do you break the cycle? How do you break the chain? What do you do? Well, I can tell you from my own experience being a woman now in my 50s, 57, that I had to go to therapy and read a lot of self-help books how to break the cycle of verbal, physical, mental abuse, you name it. I endured it and it's one of the reasons why I feel like I'm so open to listen to people and ask people. You know, just give them a safe space, somebody to lean on. Probably because I was in such a dark place growing up and constantly in fear, so I was very timid throughout my childhood, junior. I didn't get a little bit better until high school, but even still, it was a struggle and I love you, mom. Yeah, that was a lot to endure.

Speaker 1: 10:34

So I think it's really important for us to be mindful about breaking the cycle, breaking the chain, and what does that look like for you, for those of us who don't adapt well to change and are stuck in living in fear? How do we overcome that? How do we overcome living in fear and social anxiety. What do you, my loyal listeners, what do you do for that? I would love to know, because a lot of us are stuck in that funk of not knowing how to proceed, not knowing how to move on and, yeah, just don't know how. What's the next step, what's the next thing to do? I would love to hear from you, my loyal listeners.

Speaker 1: 11:33

By the way, before I forget, please remember to like, comment and share in the platform the likes. I'm not really understanding how YouTube does this, but it took a really long time for that number to change and I'm seeing that people are liking it, although I have to say, I am seeing more views than likes. So I'm wondering are you just listening and or maybe commenting, but not liking? Just so you know? All of that is in it. It's so important. It helps the algorithm, it helps me, it helps to get my name and my podcast out there. So please remember to like, comment and share, and I'm in all the platforms. I'm just really plugging YouTube right now because that's what I'm focusing on. That's my reason. But if you listen on Spotify and all those, please remember to like and comment and please send in your questions. Your questions help me to grow and cater to you and help you in these series of talking about dating, mindfulness, wellness, all of that. My co-host is really being persistent about me opening this door for her.

Speaker 1: 13:04

So, yeah, I might need to cut this episode short, so I want to make sure I give a shout out to my subscribers and listeners, thank you. Thank you all for being loyal listeners, watchers. I really appreciate you If you have a topic of discussion that you would like me to bring to light. Actually, kyle, I still have yours. I didn't forget about it. I just haven't gotten to that one yet and I could have talked about it today. But I'll be honest, I'm juggling three work type things. This is my passion project, but I have another job that I'm learning, and so I knew tonight was going to be a short one. I just didn't know how short. So thank you all for tuning in for watching. Be sure to like, comment and subscribe and share, and if you want to become a loyal subscriber and or sponsor, please send me a text message. I'm happy to share and thanks for tuning in everyone. Ciao for now.