[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
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 boss 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 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.
Hey. Hey. Welcome back for another episode of the Poise Powerhouse Podcast. I am your host, Dr. Ceta Hood, vision architect, licensed therapist and executive leadership consultant. What is in your mug? What's in your mug? Boo. Welcome back for another sips and stillness. I am feeling very steady, stirred, and so clear about the truth that I'm sharing with you today. And what's in my mug or my glass is caramel coffee, iced, please and thank you.
Let me tell you something, girl. For years, I believe the lie that my worth was tied to how many plates I could keep spinning. Y'all know, if you think about, like, waitressing or whatever, it's like, oh, got this, got this. How many can I hold on my arm? I made being busy mean being valuable. That rest was only for people who had earned it. You know, those people with the seven figure salaries and stuff have.
If you've ever felt guilty about sitting down, if you've ever felt like you've had to justify your rest, your boundaries, or your capacity. You, my love, have been sold the exact same lie. And in today's episode, here's what I'm unpacking. How hustle culture equates busyness with value. Why trauma makes stillness feel unsafe, and how to start reclaiming your worth even when you're doing less. This is a come home to yourself kind of episode, okay? So grab a cozy seat and let's get into it. Boo. Boo, let's go. If your ambition has been fueled by anxiety, it's time to reset. Grab my Free aligned ambition bundle. A simple soulful reset to help you realign your goals with grace, not grind. Inside, you're going to find a clarity check in a soft reset ritual and an aligned action plan so you can stop proving and start flowing. Download it now at learn.themillioncollective.com align or tap the link in the show notes or below this video to get started. Aye, boo. Let's start the show. Let's talk about the performance loop. So many of us were taught, whether directly or by example, that love had to be earned. Be the good girl. I mean, y'all know I'm about to start singing Elsa, right? Be the good girl. You always have to be concealed. Don't feel. Don't let them know.
Well, now they know.
Let it go. Let it go. Okay, for real, for real, for real. Let me stop playing, but for real. Be the good girl. Be the high achiever. Be the helper. Be the strong one who doesn't need help herself. And slowly our value got tangled up in our output. Somewhere between the gold stars and the approval that we crave because we're human, we learned to tie our worth to how much we could do. We thought that if we weren't busy, we felt like we were falling behind, like we was slipping, like we didn't matter. But let me look you in the eyes. Boom. And I want to say this with love. Your worth is not up for negotiation. Okay, I'm gonna say it again for the girlies in the back. Your worth is not up for negotiation. You are not your inbox. You are are not your to do list. You are not a walking calendar invite. Okay? I know how good it feels to be the one that everybody relies on. And I know how comforting it is to check things off your to do list. Because, baby, I ain't going to hold you. It does make you feel really productive. You get that high. But the peace that you're looking for, that doesn't come from being needed. Peace comes from knowing who you are when you're doing nothing and at all, girl. It was a time when I didn't feel valuable unless I was running on fumes and still saying yes. You know, I wore busy like a badge of honor, baby. But deep down inside, I was tired. I was resentful of the people who didn't show up for me like I showed up for them. And I was so disconnected from myself. That was not peace. That was performance. And if you haven't watched my episode, performative self acceptance. Baby girl, you need to go Watch that episode. Because that episode, oh, that's going to snatch your edges, baby. It's going to snatch them, but it's going to snatch them with a good cause. It's going to snatch them with some good intent, right? But it wasn't peace. It was performance. It wasn't purpose. It was over functioning in unhealed trauma. If we keeping it a hundo, right? And baby, that's not legacy. That's survival mode, honey, that's survivor mode. Who wants to be in survivor mode all the time but a cute little planner and an outfit girl, stop. Let's call it what it is. And then once we've called it what it is, let's choose something that is softer, wiser, and far more sustainable. You know, when they first came out with the whole soft life movement? It's not that I despise the soft life. I just think somewhere along the hustle and the grind and the soft life, both ends are completely unrealistic. The truth is, both ends are caught up in performance of some sort. The best thing is to meet in the middle. Okay, but I know why we don't want to go to the middle. Because stillness feels unsafe. And let's go deeper. Let's go deeper. The reason that many of us struggle to rest, because stillness forces us to feel when the doing stops, the truth gets really loud. The grief that we buried under the work, the rejection we dressed up in perfectionism, the fear that we're not enough if we're not achieving. And that's heavy. And so we keep moving, we keep serving, we keep producing. Because the silence, baby, the silence is risky. The stillness doesn't just feel unfamiliar, it feels unsafe. It's not just about being productive. It's about knowing how to be with ourselves without performing, proving or pretending. That's trauma's trick. It whispers, keep going, Stay distracted. Don't stop. It's dangerous to feel too much. But listen, love, the truth is, stillness is not the danger. Stillness is actually where your healing starts. Stillness is sacred. Stillness is where God speaks. And the moment that I gave myself permission to slow down, I started to hear him again. I started to hear me again. So let's take a moment right now and do a mini reset to together for when the stillness feels unsafe. I want you to use this anytime you get anxious. So bookmark this episode, because when you get anxious and you're trying to rest, come back here for this mini reset. You ready? Close your eyes. If you're able.
[00:09:09] Speaker B: Drop your shoulders.
Take a slow breath in through your nose and release through your mouth.
Now, I want you to say this silently or aloud.
I am safe in this moment.
I do not have to prove anything.
[00:09:43] Speaker A: Anything.
[00:09:44] Speaker B: Right now.
[00:09:47] Speaker A: God is with me.
[00:09:49] Speaker B: In the stillness, place your hand over your heart.
You feel that steady rhythm.
You're still here and you're already enough.
One more breath in and exhale.
And gently open your eyes.
And I want you to let the stillness stay with you and you can return to it anytime.
It's not weakness, it's actually wisdom to pause foreign.
[00:10:42] Speaker A: I hope you enjoyed that mini reset and that you were able to relax yourself. Let me speak life over you for a minute. Let me just give you an affirm up right quick. Those of you that have been listening to the podcast from day one already know what the affirm up is. Affirm up is when we take a second and we truly speak life into ourselves and affirm our character. So I'm going to take a second and do that for you today. You're not behind, you're not broken. You're not failing because you're tired. You've just been building from survival and that's not your fault. But now, now, now, baby girl, now you get to choose something softer. You don't have to hustle in order to matter. You don't need to be everything to everybody in order to be enough. Your value, baby, it's already settled. It's already settled in heaven, okay? Not because of your output, not because of your grind, but who you were created to be. That's why you are fearfully and wonderfully made. You are already a powerhouse, even on your slow days. So now what? We start telling the truth. We start speaking to ourselves from love, not lack. We rest before, are forced to. If you didn't listen to the last week's episode of my story, struggling to rest when I was in the icu, baby, go back and listen to it. Run it back, baby girl, because it's relevant. We create space to be loved in stillness, not just praised in performance. And that's where the aligned Ambition bundle comes in. It's free. It's not just a download. It's your soft, soft start. It's the place you come back to when you're tired of striving. This is the beginning of your new rhythm. One that honors your energy, your calling and your peace. No fluff, no pressure, just sacred clarity and sustainable steps. Download it now. Boo. Because you don't need to prove anything to be powerful. You already are.
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 sure 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, Dr. Cedahood, or dropping a comment underneath this episode. Here we go.
This week's weekly nourishment that I'm going to pour into you. God doesn't need your grind to bless you. Real simple. Let that hit. God doesn't need your grind in order to bless you. He blesses based on alignment, not overgiving. Overdoing over, proving over effort. It's really that simple. He doesn't need your grind to bless you. Today we talked about the trap of equating hustle with worth, why stillness feels uncomfortable but necessary, and how to start redefining success on your own terms. Here's your action step. Pick one moment today to intentionally be still. Put that phone down. No agenda, just be. And then DM me at Hustlerehab and tell me what came up for you. Grab the Aligned ambition
[email protected] align. This is your soft start. Back to yourself if you enjoyed today's episode. Share the love. Share. Share with your mama, Share with your auntie. Share with your best friend. 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.
Well, that's all I have for you. Out.
Okay.
Woo.
All right. Reviews help the podcast to grow.
Car.
