Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:03] You're listening to the Poised Powerhouse Podcast. My name is Dr. Sita Hood, and I'm obsessed with empowering women like you with practical life strategies to live authentically without compromising your wellness. I used to be caught up in the hustle hard mentality until I learned that my quirky little traits I thought weren't that important actually turned out to be the secret sauce I. I needed to step boldly into my purpose and create impact not only in my life, but so many amazing women around me. Organizing your schedule, launching impactful programs, redefining leadership without code switching or compromise, and stepping boldly into your God given assignment are all topics we'll discuss here. Think of this podcast as that simple Sunday brunch with your girls that feels so therapeutic you can't wait to get to it. But let's clarify, this is not a substitute for a relationship with a licensed therapist. All right, grab your notebook and your coffee or your tea. We don't discriminate over here. And let's start the show.
[00:01:22] Welcome back for another episode of the Poise Powerhouse Podcast. My name is Dr. Zita Hood, vision architect and licensed therapist. Hey, Boo Boo kitty. What are you sipping on? Today I have my brunch club. Isn't she cute?
[00:01:42] We have a simple caramel coffee today, of course, from Nespresso, because Nespresso is bae period Poo. Today I am feeling very reflective, but also ready. And I think this is a sacred kind of clarity. The kind of clarity when you finally have made peace with the way your life has gone and you're ready to admit this pace is no longer holy. Right? This pace is no longer sustainable. I have to switch some things up, which is totally appropriate because I kind of had somewhat of a chaotic morning, and I had to remind myself that it's okay to pause, to show up softly, to move with intentionality instead of anxiety. Take a deep breath with me for a second here, because welcome back for sips and stillness and just be in this moment with me. You have time to watch or listen to this podcast episode. What do you need to release before receiving today? Boo. I want you to really ask yourself that. Maybe you need to release yourself from the belief that slowing down means falling behind. I know I can get caught up in that belief system, and I have to remind myself that it's not really true. Maybe it's the pressure to always have it together. Whatever it is, breathe it out with me. Okay? Inhale, Grace.
[00:03:18] And exhale. Grind.
[00:03:24] Yes, yes, yes, yes. Did you feel that shift, girl? This episode is specifically for the woman who is tired of pretending she ain't tired.
[00:03:38] If you have ever felt guilty for taking a break, even when your body is begging for it. If you've ever cried in the car after giving your all to everybody else and not enough to yourself. If you've ever wondered why your success is amazing, but it still feels really heavy even though it looks good on paper. If you've ever silently and maybe even subconsciously said to yourself, why does rest feel unsafe? This episode is for you. Okay, you're gonna walk away with the permission to pause. Not that you didn't already have it, but you're going to walk away with the permission to pause before your body forces you to. You're going to hear my story on how hustle can become an identity and how even sacred moments can get swallowed up by urgency. And why peace starts with one decision, and that decision is to rest on purpose. In today's episode, I'm going to share the moment that I was in icu. Yes, Intensive care unit, and I still couldn't let myself rest. Girl, it's like initially when I thought about sharing that story, it's like the shame, the shame, the shame. But there's no shame over here. And that's the truth of where I was. And that divine whisper from the Holy Spirit that says, you can't continue to do this, that became the Hustle rehab. So if you already know, girl, you need to slow down. I want to invite you first and foremost to just grab the aligned ambition bundle because it's the first gentle step towards a life of peace, purpose, and alignment. And it is totally free. I'm going to leave the link below, but let's get into this episode. You ready? Boo? All right, girl, you waited long enough. Let's get to the team. I was in the ICU after giving birth to my son. Machines humming, monitors beeping, my body completely out of control. I remember specifically when they brought me into the icu, this vivid memory of, like hearing the nurses read off my belongings. And that was a little bit crazy to me because I saw my name on the board, them reading off my belongings. And for those that don't know, my dad, when he passed away, he was in the icu. And I remember those specific things. His name up there, the blue breathing machine next to him. All of those kinds of elements that you never forget in life changing moments. And that was happening. And I remember thinking like, oh my God, they're listing off the things I came in with in case I die and I was sitting there listening to all of that, but I was still trying to hold it all together in my head. Like I wasn't thinking about healing. I wasn't praying for rest. I was actually calculating how much money it was going to cost me to stay in the hospital for so long. I was calculating client schedules. I was thinking about payroll. I was asking myself, where am I going to be able to make this income up? And the wildest part about it is, even though those things were happening simultaneously, it didn't feel strange to think like that. Like, it sounds wild to say that out loud, but it felt completely normal. Like what a responsible woman does. But what that moment ended up revealing to me, clear as day, is that hustle wasn't something I was doing. Hustle had become who I believed I had to be. I had to be this woman that hustled to get there. You know? And the truth is that maybe, Boo, you. You've been there too. You might find yourself there. Maybe it wasn't a hospital bed, but maybe you were sitting in your car and you were crying between meetings. Maybe you were still checking your emails during your lunch break and you knew you hadn't eaten yet and you needed to eat. Maybe it was you saying, I'm fine, when your body was screaming at you that you need to rest. Have you ever caught yourself thinking like, man, if I stop now, then everything is going to fall apart, Even me sitting in the icu. That's what I was thinking whole time, baby girl, it's already falling apart.
[00:08:24] It's already falling apart. Like, oh my gosh, you know, Or a worse thought, if I rest, I'll be replaced. Because that's the truth, right? Especially in this economy as like a therapist or any sort of one on one services. It's very easy to get caught up in that. And I see you and I've lived that thought process. And I want you to know that you're not lazy for feeling tired. You're not weak for wanting ease. And you're not broken because your body is asking you for something different. You are just overdue for alignment. And I want you to know that you're in the right place. So you hear that? You hear how I was thinking? And I know it's like, dang, girl, you wild for that.
[00:09:17] Can I tell you that it gets worse? I know, I know, I know it sounds completely crazy to hear it like this, but I want to be honest with you, Boo. I wish I could say that the ICU was the breaking point, but it wasn't it wasn't. It wasn't. That was just the first time that I had the thought the breaking point was the fact that even in crisis, I couldn't allow myself to rest. Let's just add everything up. I had just given birth, I was medically unstable, and I still felt guilty, like I was falling behind.
[00:09:56] And maybe you felt that too. Maybe it's not a hospital bed. Maybe it's you answering emails at 3am because you feel like you've fallen behind. Maybe it's scrolling on social media, feeling like everybody else is doing more, and then suddenly you start to feel like your rest is actually irresponsible. Maybe it's being booked and busy on paper, but still feeling empty. In your spirit, have you ever had a moment where you're clearly not okay, but the pressure to keep producing is so strong that you're terrified to stop? Have you ever looked at your full calendar and thought, I can't afford to stop, even if I'm falling apart inside? That's where I was at. And that's when God met me in the whisper and said, it's time to stop hustling and start healing. And I'm gonna keep it a hundred with you. That whisper, it didn't feel soft. It felt loud, like a floodlight on everything that I had been avoiding and the trauma that I had packed neatly underneath my purpose because we do that. All the lies that I had started to believe about my worth being tied to my work. And in that moment, I knew that I was walking the same path of burnout that I had seen my father do. And if I didn't choose differently, I was also going to pass that down and listen, boo, I want more for us. I want more for you. I wish that I could say everything changed overnight, but it didn't. And, you know, we keep it a hundo over here. What changed was the realization that I had to do something.
[00:11:48] And from that sacred realization, I made a choice. I didn't make the choice right away. I didn't even really understand how to start walking differently. But I made the choice to rebuild. Not from pressure, but from God's peace. I made the choice to pursue my purpose not in pieces, but in rhythm, in God's divine alignment. And maybe that's where you are right now, love. Maybe you're staring at your planner and you're wondering how you're supposed to keep showing up for everybody when you haven't checked in with yourself in weeks. Maybe you're crushing it at work, but you're crying in your car on the way home because the pressure never turns off.
[00:12:34] Maybe you have a beautiful life on paper, and yet you feel invisible right in the middle of it. If that's you, girl, I get it. I get it. I get it, I get it. I created the free aligned ambition bundle for that moment because not every woman is ready to flip her whole life upside down in an instant, but every woman deserves a soft start. And if you've been white knuckling your days, girl, if you've been wondering why success, success feels heavy even when it looks good on paper, this is your invitation to breathe. This bundle is going to help you spot where you're out of alignment. It's going to help you make small but powerful shifts, exactly like I did to get where I am today. And it's going to help you reframe your ambition so it feels holy, not heavy, baby. Okay? Because ambition is not a dirty word over here. And it's not a dirty word for Christian women either. And it's not a dirty word for married women. It's okay. You don't have to wait for a crisis to reset. You don't have to earn your way to peace, and you can begin again right here, right now. It just starts with an intentional choice.
[00:14:02] You know those little things that just nourish your heart, mind, and soul. Those little gems dropped in your week that make all the difference in your day, but are seemingly unimportant. Like the person who went out of their way to do something nice for you, or that amazing sermon on YouTube that just hit exactly like you needed it to. Well, I'm sharing my weekly nourishment with you. And if there's something that nourished you this week, I'd love to hear about it. By tagging me on Instagram doctorcidahood or dropping a comment underneath this episode. Here we go.
[00:14:46] I want to pour into you this week for this week's weekly nourishment with the scripture, Matthew 11:28. Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. That's a promise, girl. But the condition of the promise is. Is first that you come, first that you rest, first that you accept the invitation, an affirmation to go along with the scripture. I don't have to hustle for what God has already assigned to me. Let that sink in. You don't have to hustle, babe. Hey, boo. If this episode is hitting a little bit too close to home and you know that you've been running on fumes, I want you to grab? The aligned ambition bundle is free. It's gentle, and it's designed to help you pause without guilt and reset with intention. So here's your invitation. Let this be your exhale moment, a sacred pause to reflect, not perform. I wanna give you a journal prompt. Okay? What moment in your life felt like a divine redirection masked as a breakdown? Maybe it was a layoff, a breakup panic attack that you didn't see coming. Or a perfect life that still felt really heavy? Write it down, revisit it, as painful as it is. And I want you to ask yourself, what was God trying to show you? And for my girlies that want to take it even deeper, I want to offer you another reflection question.
[00:16:24] What am I currently forcing that God might be inviting me to release?
[00:16:30] That responsibility that you picked up that was never yours. That pace that's leaving you absolutely exhausted but validated girl, that badge of strength that's quietly draining your joy, Those are the things God might be inviting you to give up. And this is your moment. Your private moment to be radically honest with yourself. You can tap in. Just take five minutes. Let the pen speak where your mouth has been holding it in. In a sacred space. Let this be your first step towards your own hustle. Rehab. And if you're ready to shift now, grab the aligned Ambition bundle. It's your soft start, your reset, and your reminder that peace is already yours to claim. You're going to get a clarity check in a simple reset ritual and a soft start towards peace without losing momentum. Okay, you're not going to lose momentum if you slow down. Head over to learn.themillion collective.com forward, slash, align or hit the link in the show notes. Because ambition shouldn't cost you your peace. If you enjoyed today's episode, share the love. Share with your mama, share with your auntie, share with your best friend, share with. Then head on over to Apple Podcasts and leave us a five star review. Reviews help the podcast to grow. Well, that's all I have for you this week. I'll see you on these social media streets. Bye.
