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The nutrition or exercise routine that worked years ago may not feel right in midlife. How do you take care of your health when your energy, body, and everyday responsibilities have changed? In this episode of The Confident Woman Podcast, Rachel Brooks sits down with Meridan Zerner, an award-winning registered dietitian nutritionist and wellness professional with more than 30 years of experience in preventive health. Meridan shares her approach to midlife wellness and explains why she believes a sustainable health routine should fit the person and the life she’s actually living. Rachel and Meridan talk about how hormonal changes can affect women’s midlife experience, the place of sleep, nutrition, movement, stress management, and connection in overall wellness, and why learning what to do is only part of making a lasting change. When Rachel asks how a woman can create her own recipe for health, Meridan begins with a surprisingly practical question: What is already going well? IN THIS CONVERSATION How to reassess your habits when what used to work no longer fits Why Meridan recommends starting with the supportive habits you already have How one or two small changes can be tested and adjusted within an ordinary week Why rest, social connection, and asking for support belong in a fuller conversation about health What Meridan’s The Thoughtful 30 offers as a framework for considering new wellness habits How to advocate for yourself, ask questions, and collaborate with qualified health professionalsYOUR NEXT STEP Notice one thing you’re already doing that supports your health, then consider one small change you can realistically try this week. Give yourself room to see whether it fits before adding more. THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY BENEVE Beneve is a wellness brand Rachel uses as part of taking care of her health, energy, strength, and body in midlife. See what Rachel is using → BENEVE ABOUT OUR GUEST Meridan Zerner, MS, RDN, CSSD, LD, CHWC, is a registered dietitian nutritionist, wellness coach, speaker, and creator of The Thoughtful 30: 30-Day Reset for Midlife and Beyond. Learn more about Meridan and find her free Thoughtful 30 get-started resources: https://www.meridanzernernutrition.com CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION This conversation doesn’t end with the episode. Rachel’s companion Create Your Own Story feature explores what happens when the way you’ve been taking care of yourself no longer fits the woman or the life you’re living now. Subscribe and read the latest edition: https://iamrachelbrooks.substack.com New here and not sure where to begin? START HERE → Hosted by Rachel Brooks, author of Chasing Perfection and host of The Confident Woman Podcast. Follow Rachel at @iamrachelbrooks: https://iamrachelbrooks.com/instagram This episode is a general educational conversation and is not individualized healthcare guidance. Discuss personal symptoms or changes to treatment with your own qualified healthcare professional.

Are you paying the price to prove your worth? Have you spent years working toward success, trying to meet everyone's expectations, or proving how much you can handle, only to realize that the life you're working so hard to create is costing you the very things that matter most? Maybe you're building a career or business to create more freedom, but you barely have time to enjoy the people you love. Maybe you've become the person everyone depends on, and you're exhausted from carrying responsibilities you never consciously chose. Or perhaps you're navigating a season of change, trying to figure out who you are when your life no longer looks the way you thought it would. In this episode of The Confident Woman Podcast, Rachel Brooks invites you into a conversation about knowing your worth, finding your voice, and what happens when you begin making decisions from the belief that your value isn't determined by what you accomplish, how much money you make, or how much you're willing to sacrifice for others. Together, we're exploring how the pursuit of success can become tied to our identity, the difference between making necessary sacrifices and compromising ourselves in the process, and why becoming the woman God created you to be doesn't require spending another chapter of your life trying to prove you're worthy. Inside This Conversation: Why knowing your worth and actually living from that belief are two different things.How success, productivity, and being needed can become tied to your identity and self-worth.Recognizing when your responsibilities and ambitions are costing you the freedom, peace, and relationships you were working so hard to create.The difference between making necessary sacrifices and compromising your dignity or self-respect.How to begin reconsidering what you're carrying and what you want to make room for in this season of becoming.What Colossians 3:23 reminds us about working wholeheartedly without allowing our work or someone else's approval to determine our worth.This conversation isn't about giving up on your dreams, walking away from your responsibilities, or pretending that difficult circumstances don't exist. It's about getting honest with yourself about what you're pursuing, why you're pursuing it, and whether the way you're living actually reflects what matters most to you. As you navigate your own messy middle of becoming, consider the question Rachel leaves you with this week: Are you paying the price to prove your worth? And when you look at what it's actually costing you, is that a price you still want to keep paying? Continue the Conversation Read the companion essay, Are You Paying the Price to Prove Your Worth?, and join Rachel inside Create Your Own Story for weekly conversations about faith, identity, grief, ambition, and finding your way back to who God created you to be. Read & subscribe to Create Your Own Story → New here? Discover the writing, podcast, and where to begin. START HERE → Scripture referenced: Colossians 3:23–24

What do you do when being able to handle something has made you forget to ask whether it still belongs to you? There comes a point when being the person who can figure it out, step in, solve the problem, or keep things moving starts to feel less like a strength you choose to use and more like a responsibility you automatically carry. You know you can do it, so somewhere along the way, “I can” starts sounding a lot like “I should.” In this episode of The Confident Woman, Rachel Brooks opens up a conversation about overcommitting, self-worth, usefulness, and the difference between being able to do something and knowing whether it is actually yours to carry. The conversation grew out of something Rachel noticed in herself after seeing a gap she knew how to fill and almost immediately making herself responsible for it. No one had assigned it to her. She simply knew she could help. That moment raised a bigger question about how often we confuse ability with assignment, especially when being useful, dependable, strong, or needed has become part of how we measure our value. In this episode: How “I can” quietly becomes “I should”Why being good at something does not automatically make it yours to carryWhy work that comes naturally to you is still real work and still carries a costHow usefulness and being needed can become tangled up with self-worthWhy naming what something costs does not erase the love, meaning, or value inside itThe difference between asking “Can I do this?” and asking “Is this mine?”What 1 Corinthians 10:23 reveals about the difference between what is possible and what is actually beneficialHow Philippians 4:7 and 2 Corinthians 10:5 connect peace, discernment, and the stories we keep telling ourselvesThis isn’t about becoming less generous, refusing to help people, or treating every hard responsibility like something you should walk away from. Some things are worth the cost. Some seasons ask more of us because we love someone, believe in something, or know the responsibility is ours. The shift is noticing this: ability and assignment are not the same thing. “Can I do this?” tells you what is possible. “Is this mine?” asks you to discern whether it actually belongs to you in this season. The question to sit with this week is: What are you still saying yes to simply because you know you can, and what is that yes costing you? Continue the Conversation: Follow Rachel at @iamrachelbrooks: https://iamrachelbrooks.com/instagram Read the companion essay on Create Your Own Story and subscribe to continue the weekly conversation: https://iamrachelbrooks.com/substack Scripture referenced: 1 Corinthians 10:23, Philippians 4:7, 2 Corinthians 10:5

What do you do when the life you’re living looks nothing like the one you thought you would have by now? There comes a point when you can look around and realize that some of the things you thought would be settled aren’t, certain plans didn’t unfold the way you expected, and parts of the life you spent years building don’t feel the same anymore. It can leave you trying to make sense of the distance between where you thought you would be and where you actually are. In this episode of The Confident Woman, Rachel Brooks opens up a conversation about unexpected life changes, midlife transitions, feeling stuck, and what happens when you don’t know exactly what comes next but you’re beginning to believe there could still be another way. The conversation grew out of something Rachel noticed while walking and thinking through the transitions women around her have been talking about: divorce, empty nesting, grief, changing careers, changing bodies, relationships, identity, burnout, isolation, purpose and fulfillment. The circumstances may be different, but the question underneath so many of them is familiar: What do I do when this isn’t the life I thought I would be living? In this episode: Why unmet expectations can carry their own form of griefWhat happens when today’s circumstances start feeling permanentWhy not knowing how something will change doesn’t mean it never canThe difference between solving your entire future and allowing yourself to imagine one againHow women can lose sight of possibility during long seasons of survival and uncertaintyWhat Proverbs 16:9 reminds us about making plans while trusting God with the steps we cannot see yetThis isn’t about blowing up your life or pretending starting over is easy. Sometimes the circumstances keeping us where we are are very real, and there may not be an immediate answer. The shift Rachel is noticing is much smaller: she is beginning to see options again, and right now, options are hope. The question to sit with this week is: What have you stopped allowing yourself to imagine because somewhere along the way you started believing this is simply how your life is going to be? Continue the Conversation: Follow Rachel at @iamrachelbrooks: https://iamrachelbrooks.com/instagram Read the companion essay on Create Your Own Story and subscribe to continue the weekly conversation. https://iamrachelbrooks.com/substack Scripture referenced: Proverbs 16:9

Why does resting feel uncomfortable even when you finally have time to slow down? You can close the laptop, finish what needed to be done, and finally have an open afternoon in front of you, yet still feel like you should be doing something. When so much of life has been measured by what gets finished, fixed, created, earned, or moved forward, rest can start to feel less like freedom and more like time you should be using better. In this episode of The Confident Woman, Rachel Brooks opens up a conversation about rest guilt, productivity, pressure, and what happens when we become so focused on making a living, building a life, and preparing for what comes next that we forget how to experience the life already happening in front of us. The conversation begins with an ordinary Sunday afternoon and a spontaneous trip to the library after Rachel realized she couldn’t remember the last time she had picked up a novel simply because she wanted to read it. What seemed insignificant became a reminder of how easily the things we once enjoyed can disappear beneath responsibility, urgency, and the constant feeling that there is always something else we should be doing. In this episode: Why stopping work doesn’t automatically shut off the mental to-do listHow productivity can become tied to success, progress, and whether time feels “well spent”What happens when creativity, hobbies, and ordinary enjoyment start needing an outcomeWhy advice to “slow down and be present” can feel disconnected from the responsibilities women are actually carryingHow to care about your future without mentally living there all dayWhat Matthew 6:33–34 reminds us about living the day God has actually given usThis isn’t a conversation about dropping your responsibilities or pretending the pressure isn’t real. It’s about noticing when being responsible for your life has quietly turned into never allowing yourself to experience it. Rachel leaves you with one question to sit with this week: What part of your life have you quietly postponed until everything else gets figured out? If this episode has you questioning how you're living, and whether the life you're building still reflects what matters most, The Becoming… Identity Planner & Journal gives you somewhere to slow down and work through it instead of rushing into the next thing simply because you believe you should be doing more. The Becoming… is an undated, year-long identity planner and journal designed to help you look honestly at where you're, reconnect with who you're and whose you're, and make intentional decisions about the life you're actually building. Start The Becoming… Identity Planner & Journal Continue the Conversation: Follow Rachel at @iamrachelbrooks: https://iamrachelbrooks.com/instagram Read the companion essay, “I Think I Forgot How to Just Live,” on Create Your Own Story, and subscribe to continue the weekly conversation. https://iamrachelbrooks.com/substack Listen, subscribe, and share this episode with the woman who feels guilty for resting and has forgotten how to find joy and meaning in the ordinary. SCRIPTURE REFERENCED Matthew 6:33–34

How do you know if you're faithfully stewarding your God-given purpose or simply putting more pressure on yourself to make it bigger? We hear things like “your pain becomes your purpose” and “your mess becomes your message,” and sometimes that is exactly what God does. He redeems parts of our stories we once wished we could erase and uses them to help someone else feel seen, understood, and less alone. The harder question comes later, when the message starts reaching people, opportunities begin opening, and something that began in obedience becomes something you feel responsible for growing. In this episode of The Confident Woman, Rachel Brooks opens up a deeper conversation about God-given purpose, biblical stewardship, ambition, impact, and what can happen when a calling that is genuinely meaningful slowly becomes tangled with pressure to do more with it. Because wanting to reach more people isn't automatically ego. Wanting your work to grow isn't automatically wrong. The calling can be real, the motive can be good, and you can still reach a point where bigger starts feeling like proof that you're stewarding it well. Rachel explores the difference between playing small and living faithfully, why her perspective changed over the years, In this episode: • Why pain-to-purpose and mess-to-message can be true without requiring every part of your story to become bigger, public, or productive • How a real calling can quietly become pressure when growth, reach, visibility, and opportunity become the way you measure whether you're doing enough • The difference between playing small and recognizing that something doesn't have to become enormous to be significant • Why Rachel hears Josh Wilson's Dream Small differently now than she did when she was first learning to stop shrinking herself • What biblical stewardship changes when you stop asking how big you can make something and start asking what God is actually asking you to do with it • How 1 Peter 4:10 and Matthew 6:33 bring purpose back underneath faithfulness, obedience, and relationship with God One question sits underneath the entire conversation: What does faithful stewardship of what God gave me look like in this season? Because maybe the answer isn't automatically more. Maybe the calling doesn't need to become smaller, but your definition of faithfulness may need to become more honest about what God is actually asking of you now. If this episode has you looking at your own purpose, the pressure surrounding it, and whether the life you're building still reflects what matters most, The Becoming… Identity Planner & Journal gives you somewhere to slow down and work through it instead of rushing into the next thing simply because you believe you should be doing more. The Becoming… is an undated, year-long identity planner and journal designed to help you look honestly at where you're, reconnect with who you're and whose you're, and make intentional decisions about the life you're actually building. Start The Becoming… Identity Planner & Journal Continue the Conversation: Follow Rachel at @iamrachelbrooks: https://iamrachelbrooks.com/instagram Join Create Your Own Story on Substack: https://iamrachelbrooks.com/substack Listen, subscribe, and share this episode with the woman who knows she has purpose but may be carrying the pressure to constantly prove, grow, or maximize it.

What happens when you know you’ve changed, the life that used to fit you doesn’t anymore, and you don’t know where this version of you belongs? It can be hard to explain because nothing necessarily had to go wrong. The things that once lit you up may not anymore. Conversations feel different. Relationships change. Dreams you once worked toward can suddenly feel exhausting, and you find yourself somewhere between missing what was and not knowing what comes next. In this episode of The Confident Woman, Rachel Brooks opens up a deeper conversation about identity, grief, belonging, faith, and the loneliness of becoming somebody different when there isn’t one obvious ending you can point to and say, “That’s what happened.” Because sometimes grief isn’t only about losing a person. You can grieve the relationship, the role you played, the life you knew, the future you expected, and even the version of yourself who existed when all of it still felt familiar. But there’s another layer to this when you realize: I know who I am, but I don’t know what I do anymore. In this episode: Why becoming someone different can feel incredibly lonely even when nothing obviously “ended”How grief can change your relationship with yourself, your identity, and the life you once knewWhy the things you once wanted may stop feeling like they belong to youWhat happens when you know who you are but no longer know how to answer, “What do you do?”Why some relationships survive change while others depended on the role you were playing inside themWhat it means when your soul starts longing for home, safety, belonging, rest, and something softerWhy being weary changed the way Rachel understands Matthew 11:28What trusting God can look like when you don’t know what comes nextOne question sits underneath the entire conversation: What do you do when the old life doesn’t feel like home anymore, but the new one hasn’t fully taken shape yet? Because maybe you don’t need to force yourself back into a version of your life that no longer fits just because it’s familiar. Maybe part of becoming is getting honest about what has changed, what you’re longing for now, and who you are becoming in the middle of it. If this episode helps you recognize that you’re somewhere in that in-between, The Becoming… Identity Planner & Journal gives you somewhere to keep working through it instead of having another realization that gets buried underneath everything else tomorrow. It’s an undated, year-long identity planner and journal designed to help you get honest about where you are, what no longer fits, what matters to you now, and who you’re becoming as you decide what comes next. Start with The Becoming… Identity Planner & Journal Continue the Conversation: Follow Rachel at @iamrachelbrooks and join us inside Create Your Own Story on Substack for deeper personal essays, honest conversations, and the stories behind the work. Listen, subscribe, and share this episode with the woman who may be looking around at her life wondering why the things that used to feel like home don’t fit her anymore. Scripture referenced: Matthew 11:28

How do you trust yourself again when part of the reason you don’t trust yourself is because of your own track record? It’s easy to say, “trust yourself,” until you start thinking about the decisions you regret, the promises you didn’t keep, the times you knew better, or how often somebody else’s certainty started feeling safer than your own judgment. In this episode of The Confident Woman, Rachel Brooks opens up a deeper conversation about self-trust, confidence, faith, and what happens when your past starts becoming evidence against who you are now. Because after enough mistakes, disappointments, broken promises, and second-guessing, it’s easy to start wondering if your “picker is off,” if somebody else probably knows better, or if you can really trust yourself to make the next decision. But for a woman of faith, there’s another layer to this: if our ultimate trust belongs to God, what does healthy self-trust actually look like? Rachel explores the tension between seeking wisdom and outsourcing your authority, the difference between learning from a mistake and turning it into an identity, and why confidence doesn’t have to mean knowing you’ll always get it right. Sometimes the deeper work is learning how to make the best decision you can with what you know today while trusting God with what you cannot see. In this episode: How broken promises and second-guessing slowly erode self-trustWhy somebody else’s certainty can start feeling safer than your own judgmentThe difference between receiving wisdom and surrendering your authorityWhat Proverbs 3:5–6 changes about trust, discernment, and confidenceHow guilt and shame can turn “I got that wrong” into “I can’t trust myself”Why your track record isn’t finishedOne question sits underneath the entire conversation: Do I become what I’ve done, or do I become who He says I am because of what He did? Because maybe the answer isn’t proving that you’ll never make another wrong decision. Maybe it’s learning how to stop using your past as a permanent verdict on the woman you are becoming. If this episode helps you recognize where you’ve stopped trusting yourself, Becoming The Confident Woman gives you somewhere to keep going with the work instead of having another realization that disappears tomorrow. It’s an eight-week private audio mentorship with Rachel in your ear and a companion workbook to help you see what’s been shaping you, question what no longer fits, and begin making different choices from here. Start Becoming The Confident Woman Continue the Conversation: Follow Rachel at @iamrachelbrooks and join us inside Create Your Own Story on Substack for deeper personal essays, honest conversations, and the stories behind the work. Listen, subscribe, and share this episode with the woman who may be questioning herself because her past has convinced her she can’t trust who she is becoming. Scripture referenced: Proverbs 3:5–6

What happens when you lose your patience, regret the way you responded, and immediately make yourself the entire problem? It’s easy to replay the worst few seconds, criticize yourself, apologize, and decide you simply need to do better next time without ever asking what had been building long before the words came out. In this episode of The Confident Woman Podcast, Rachel opens an honest conversation about what frustration can reveal when you’ve become the capable, dependable woman everyone expects to handle it. She explores the difference between taking responsibility for your response and turning against yourself, especially when your time, energy, attention, and emotional capacity have been treated as though they’re always available. This isn’t about excusing the reaction or blaming everyone around you. It’s about being willing to look at the whole picture so you can understand what got you there, what you haven’t communicated, and whether the role you’ve been playing still fits the woman you’re becoming. This conversation will help you see: Why one response doesn’t erase the growth God has already done in youHow being capable can slowly become an expectation that you’ll always be availableWhat happens when people mistake your presence for access to your time and energyWhy resentment often builds when you say yes before checking whether you actually have the capacity or desireHow fear of disappointing people can keep you repeating patterns that are wearing you downWhy being needed isn’t always the same as being valuedWhat your body may be telling you before you’ve admitted that something isn’t workingHow becoming more patient may also require becoming more honestTaking responsibility for how you responded doesn’t mean you have to ignore what the response may be revealing. You can care about someone else’s needs, own your part, and still recognize when clearer communication, stronger boundaries, or a different way of handling something is necessary. Ready to Go Deeper? The Becoming Identity Planner & Journal gives you space to step back and look honestly at what’s happening across your responsibilities, relationships, body, joy, worth, boundaries, and decisions. This isn’t about adding more tasks to an already overloaded life. It’s about seeing the patterns beneath the pressure, understanding what your reactions may be connected to, and deciding what the woman you’re becoming needs to do differently, one honest page and one real decision at a time. Begin with The Becoming Identity Planner & Journal Connect with Rachel Brooks: Follow Rachel on Instagram: @iamrachelbrooks Join the weekly written conversation inside Create Your Own Story Explore Rachel’s books, programs, and resources at iamrachelbrooks.com Listen, subscribe, and share this episode with the woman who may be blaming herself for the reaction without understanding what’s been building underneath it. Scripture referenced: James 1:19

What do you reach for when you do not know what to do? When life feels uncertain, something is no longer working, and you cannot see what comes next, it is natural to start searching for an answer. A plan. A process. A person who has already crossed the bridge and can hand you the exact map she followed. But what happens when someone else’s blueprint was never created for you? In this episode of The Confident Woman, Rachel Brooks opens an honest conversation about the ways uncertainty can make us vulnerable to outside promises, world-created identities, and systems that appear to offer certainty. She shares the shadow side of always being the woman who makes things happen, why self-reliance can look like confidence and responsibility, and what begins to happen when we trust someone else’s strategy more than our own discernment and God’s direction. Because when the process does not work, we rarely question the process first. We question ourselves. This conversation explores: Why uncertainty sends us searching for external answersThe shadow side of being an active doer and “making things happen”How the backwards do, have, be script keeps women performingThe difference between receiving support and surrendering your discernmentWhy tools, plans, and strategies can help us but cannot become our sourceHow following the wrong blueprint slowly erodes identity, confidence, and self-trustWhat it means to return to who you are and whose you areThe world will continue packaging a more polished, productive, successful, and acceptable version of you and telling you that she is waiting on the other side of one more thing. But God is not asking you to purchase another identity. He is calling you back into relationship with Him so you can become more of who He already created you to be. Ready to Go Deeper? Becoming The Confident Woman is a private eight-week audio journey with a companion workbook created to help you examine the identities, beliefs, expectations, and patterns that have been directing your life. This is not another blueprint asking you to perform a different version of yourself. It is a guided space to get quiet, tell yourself the truth, reconnect with who you are and whose you are, and begin making your next decisions from identity rather than pressure. Begin Becoming The Confident Woman Continue the Conversation: Follow Rachel at @iamrachelbrooks and join Create Your Own Story on Substack for deeper personal essays, honest conversations, and the stories behind the work. Listen, subscribe, and share this episode with the woman who may be questioning herself because someone else’s blueprint did not fit her life. Scripture referenced: Matthew 14:22–33 and Philippians 4:13

What if the version of yourself you keep trying to get back to is the same version that no longer belongs in the life God is leading you into? In this week’s solo episode of The Confident Woman Podcast, Rachel Brooks explores the identity crisis that can happen when you are no longer fully who you were, but you do not completely recognize who you are becoming yet. This conversation invites you to look honestly at what you are trying to reclaim. Some parts of you may be rooted in faith, freedom, creativity, joy, and truth. Other parts may have been built through fear, pressure, control, survival, and the need to prove that you could handle everything. Becoming does not require you to reject your entire past. It asks you to discern what God may be restoring and transforming within. What You’ll Hear Why the familiar version of yourself can feel safer than the woman you are becomingHow fear can disguise itself as responsibility, consistency, loyalty, or disciplineWhy becoming requires honesty before it gives you clarityHow external blueprints and quick fixes can pull you away from who God created you to beThe difference between reclaiming a true part of yourself and resurrecting a pattern that already exhausted youWhy an identity that helped you survive one season may not be able to lead you into the nextHow to stop asking what the old version of you would do and begin listening to what the woman you are becoming needsWhy becoming can begin with one honest decision instead of a complete plan for your futureScripture for the Soul “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal.” — Philippians 3:13–14 Paul’s words are permission to keep moving forward without continuing to obey identities, patterns, and expectations you have already outgrown. Key Quotes “The past can begin to look like safety and security, but it is not your present.”“You do not have to know exactly who you are becoming before releasing who you are no longer willing to be.”“Not every version of yourself is meant to come with you.”“What part of myself is God bringing back to life, and what part of me has already completed its purpose?”Your Next Step The Becoming… Identity Planner & Journal helps you name the season you are actually in, recognize what you are still carrying, and explore where God may be calling you across your identity, faith, calling, work, body, relationships, joy, and money. Start with The Becoming… Identity Planner & Journal Still unsure where you are in your becoming journey? Start with the free Becoming Quiz Connect with Rachel Brooks Website: iamrachelbrooks.com Podcast: iamrachelbrooks.com/podcast Instagram: instagram.com/iamrachelbrooks Newsletter: iamrachelbrooks.com/subscribe Substack: iamrachelbrooks.com/substack

What do you do when you are no longer who you were, but you are not fully living as who you are becoming yet? In this week's solo episode of The Confident Woman Podcast, Rachel Brooks explores the uncomfortable in-between of becoming—the waiting, the growing pains, and the seasons that feel more like falling apart than moving forward. So often we ask God to remove the hard season, fix the problem, or show us the way out, but what if He is doing something even deeper? What if, instead of removing the struggle, He is increasing your capacity to carry what comes next? What if the transformation you've been praying for is already happening, even if you cannot see it yet? This conversation is an invitation to slow down, stop measuring your progress by how quickly your circumstances change, and begin recognizing the quieter work God may be doing within you. What You'll Hear Why becoming often feels like falling apart while it's happeningWhy we ask God to remove hard seasons instead of increasing our capacity to endure themHow patience may be growing within you before your circumstances ever changeWhy transformation is often impossible to recognize from the insideThe difference between relying on your own strength and relying on ChristWhy the discomfort you're feeling may not mean you're off trackScripture for the Soul "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." — Philippians 4:13 Paul wasn't talking about achieving more, but bout remaining faithful whether life felt abundant or painfully difficult. The strength he describes isn't self-reliance. It's Christ sustaining us when our own strength has reached its limit. "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." — Matthew 19:26 Some seasons remind us that we were never meant to carry the weight of transformation alone. Human effort eventually reaches its limit. God's presence never does. Key Quotes "Most of us keep asking God to get us out of the hard season without asking Him to increase our capacity to live through it." "The in-between is not wasted time. It's where the becoming actually happens." "Sometimes the greatest transformation isn't that our circumstances change. It's that we begin responding to them differently." Your Next Step Becoming The Confident Woman is an eight-week private audio journey with a companion workbook created to help you rebuild your confidence, identity, and faith from the inside out, so you can stop returning to the same patterns every time life feels uncertain. Learn more Still trying to understand where you are in your becoming journey? Start with the free Becoming Quiz Connect with Rachel Brooks: Website: https://iamrachelbrooks.com Podcast: https://iamrachelbrooks.com/podcast Instagram: https://instagram.com/iamrachelbrooks Newsletter: https://iamrachelbrooks.com/subscribe

What if the thing you’ve been holding onto isn't proof that you’re being responsible, but the very thing God is asking you to release? In this solo episode of The Confident Woman Podcast, Rachel Brooks shares the honest story behind the question that would not leave her alone: what is this costing me? After surviving one of the hardest seasons of her life, Rachel found herself looking at the weight she had been carrying, the pressure she kept trying to hold together, and the moment she realized God may have been loosening her grip before something was removed from her hands. This conversation isn't about walking away because something feels hard. It's about the deeper identity work of knowing when something was yours for a season, but somewhere along the way, you started confusing the assignment with alignment, and your peace, clarity, and sense of self began paying the price. Something can help you survive a season and still not be yours to keep carrying. And when God ends the assignment, you do not have to make it mean something about your worth. What You’ll Hear: How to ask, “What is this costing me?” when you’ve been afraid to let goWhy something can serve a purpose and still not be where you are meant to stayThe difference between abandoning responsibility and recognizing when an assignment is completeHow proving, performing, carrying, producing, and fixing can make an ending feel like a verdictWhy relief can sometimes tell you what your mind is still trying to argue withWhen the role changes, the assignment ends, and the thing you were holding onto no longer holds youScripture for the Soul: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” — Proverbs 3:5 “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.” — Proverbs 16:9 Key Quotes: “What is this costing me?” “We can keep showing up, keep carrying the weight, and keep making ourselves fit into places and roles and seasons that technically work, but don’t fully fit anymore.” “Sometimes the thing that’s costing you peace is also giving you something you think you need.” “Something can serve a purpose and still be over and done.” “When you’ve spent so much of your life proving your worth through what you can do, what you can carry, what you can handle, what you can produce, what you can fix, an ending doesn’t always feel like an ending. It feels like a final verdict.” Your Next Step: If you are in that in-between place where something is ending, shifting, or no longer fits, start here: Take the Becoming Quiz If you're ready to reclaim your power and stop performing for your worth, start with The Becoming… Identity Planner & Journal Connect with Rachel Brooks: Website: iamrachelbrooks.com Instagram: instagram.com/iamrachelbrooks LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/iamrachelbrooks Podcast: iamrachelbrooks.com/podcast Subscribe: iamrachelbrooks.com/subscribe

What if the season that feels like starting over is actually the moment you finally start from somewhere true? Most women have been here at least once: standing at the edge of a new season with the uncomfortable awareness that the life they've been building no longer fits who they're becoming. It's not failure, and it's not a sign they got it wrong. It's one of the clearest invitations God gives — to stop forcing what no longer fits and start telling the truth about what does. In this solo episode, Rachel Brooks opens up an honest conversation about what it actually means to begin again. Not the version that requires burning everything down, but the more honest, more grounded kind, where you look at your life, your values, your energy, and your sense of self, and ask what actually belongs in the next chapter. Rachel shares her own experience of standing between the life she built and the one she's still defining, what she learned writing Chasing Perfection, and why the in-between space, as uncomfortable as it feels, is often exactly where clarity begins. She walks through the four pillars she returns to when everything feels unsettled, the questions worth asking when you're ready to stop carrying what belongs to an older version of yourself, and why small, consistent steps matter more than any complete overhaul when you're rebuilding self-trust. This episode is for the woman who is tired of forcing old dreams into a new season and is ready to give herself permission to build a life that's true rather than impressive. What You'll Hear: How to start over without losing the wisdom, experience, and foundation you've already builtHow to tell the difference between something that's genuinely challenging and something that's actually draining youThe four pillars Rachel returns to when life feels unsettled, and why they apply across every area of your lifeWhat to do when clarity feels out of reach and the next step is all you haveThe honest questions worth sitting with when you're ready to stop defending a life that no longer fitsHow faith plays into starting over when God isn't giving you the full map, just the next stepWhy small, consistent decisions rebuild self-trust faster than any complete overhaul ever willScripture for the Soul: "We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps." — Proverbs 16:9 Key Quotes: "Starting over becomes less about throwing everything away and more about telling the truth." "What if this is actually wisdom we're starting from?" "Starting over isn't about rejecting who you are. It's about honoring what brought you here while deciding what no longer needs to come with you." "The goal isn't to become a completely different person overnight. The goal is to become more honest, more present, aligned, and rooted in what truly matters most." "Maybe beginning again isn't proof that you failed. Maybe it's proof that you're still willing, still open, and still listening." Your Next Step: If you've been sitting in that gap between the life you built and the one you're still defining, this is where the real work begins. Becoming The Confident Woman Connect with Rachel Brooks: Website: iamrachelbrooks.com Instagram: instagram.com/iamrachelbrooks LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/iamrachelbrooks Podcast: iamrachelbrooks.com/podcast Subscribe: iamrachelbrooks.com/subscribe

What if the season that feels like it’s breaking you is actually the one God is using to rebuild you? In this episode of The Confident Woman Podcast, Rachel Brooks sits down with Christine Marie, known as the Cortisol Coach. Christine is a Christian entrepreneur, certified biblical mindset coach, bestselling author, podcast host, and leader of a community of more than 420,000 women. After years of fostering 77 children, adopting two, and caring for family members through serious illness, Christine’s body began showing the effects of chronic stress through fibromyalgia, fatigue, hormonal imbalance, and burnout. Together, Rachel and Christine explore the connection between stress, grief, caregiving, faith, and healing. They discuss what happens when you spend years caring for everyone else without stopping to consider what you’re carrying, what it’s costing you, and what God may be asking you to release. Rachel also shares her own experiences with loss, identity shifts, and forgiveness during difficult seasons. This conversation is for the woman who feels overwhelmed, exhausted, and ready to discover a healthier way forward. What You’ll Hear: How caregiving impacted Christine’s health and healing journeyWhy a performance mindset can keep you stuck in burnoutThe connection between cortisol, stress, and emotional burdensWhy grief includes more than death and can involve seasons, roles, and identitiesThe challenge of being a caregiver who never pauses to grieveHow to simplify life and listen for God’s directionScripture for the Soul: “Jesus wept.” — John 11:35 Key Quotes: “Grief isn’t just something traumatic like losing a loved one. Grief is the constant evolution and letting go of what once was so that you can make room to embrace what is still to come.” — Rachel Brooks “For us to grow, we gotta let go.” — Christine Marie “The more is never found externally. The more is gained through our perseverance, our suffering, our losses.” — Christine Marie “Everything we do, there’s a cost. Is it worth it?” — Christine Marie “Who we are and whose we are is not found in what we do, but in who we be.” — Rachel Brooks Your Next Step: Ready to do the deeper work? → I Am… Becoming — rebuild your identity from the inside out: iamrachelbrooks.com/iam-becoming Support your body's stress response, energy, and focus as you do it: → Beneve: iamrachelbrooks.com/beneve Connect with Christine Marie: Instagram: @cortisol_coach Podcast: Cortisol Coach — available on all podcast platforms Podcast: What to Expect While Fostering and Adopting Connect with Rachel Brooks: Website: iamrachelbrooks.com Instagram: instagram.com/iamrachelbrooks LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/iamrachelbrooks Podcast: iamrachelbrooks.com/podcast Subscribe: iamrachelbrooks.com/subscribe