Hey girlfriends, it's your girl here, Dawn Damon Braveheart, coach, and listen, I gotta tell you, this is my number 200th episode of the Brave Hearted Woman. I wanna share with you a few things that I've learned. In fact, I really wanna share with you 200 lessons that I've learned from 200 episodes of The BraveHearted Woman Podcast.

But the first thing that I've learned is that I don't have time for 200 things, so I'm not gonna give you 200 things, but I really could, and I'd like to because there's so much wisdom that can be gained from just doing something brand new. Do you know when you embark on a new journey, whatever it is, the brain kind of freaks out because it really doesn't like change. It likes familiarity, and it deems something new and different as a threat. And your brain's number one job is to keep you safe. And that means if I think this is threatening and scary to us, I'm gonna talk you out of it. So very often we do that. We allow ourselves to talk ourselves out of our visions and our dreams and things that are in our heart to do, and we begin to rationalize.

Before we know it, we're stuck. We're doing the same thing that we've done over and over and over again. Well, I have 200 episodes under my belt, and I'm gonna share that. 200 episodes ago, I pressed record with not as much confidence as I did, maybe with obedience. I had more desire to answer the call and to really follow through with what I felt God was asking me to do, and I had confidence that it would be successful.

I didn't have a master plan necessarily. I had a vision. I didn't know how long I would do it. I didn't know that I would turn it into an interview program now and again, but I know that I had a message. I had a deep belief that playing safe and playing small is never the option that I wanna choose. I hope it's not the option that you wanna choose.

And so here we are 200 episodes later, which, if you do 50 episodes a year, do do the math. That's four years. But I didn't even always do 52 episodes because sometimes I would run shorts. Little blogs that go with it, and you know, you take time and vacation, so we're probably at the five-year mark. So it's been 200 conversations about courage. It's been 200 conversations about bold, brave women, 200 conversations and reminders that midlife is not the beginning of the end. But it definitely is the beginning of alignment. It is a season of transition. A lot of things change, and you can move into greater purpose, or you can diminish, and it's your choice.

I learned that through talking to countless, numerous women in these interviews. I have 200 opportunities with you to navigate your new body as you are in this midlife transition. Your new mind, how it works, your skin, weight, and menopause. 200 invitations for women to stop waiting. Stop shrinking. Stop diminishing yourself. Stop negotiating with fear and just live your life bold, brilliant, and brave.

So here are 200 things I've learned, minus 197, which will be shared at a later date. So, first thing, I have already mentioned it, but playing small always costs you more than being brave. So when we play it safe, or we play small, or we diminish ourselves in the long run, it's costly. It does. I mean, how much time do you wanna lose? Kicking the can down the street and putting off what you know God has called you to do, whatever it is, whether it's that exercise program or writing that book, or starting that business, or dreaming that dream, dancing, that dance, singing that song, whatever it is that the longer you put it off, the more you become sad, disconnected from your dreams, disconnected from your true self inside that knows that you are created for more. It costs you clarity because when you prolong, and you don't dive in, and you're playing small, you start to really date. Self-doubt. You have a friendship with it. You talk about it, you court it, and before you know it, you could be married to self-doubt and not believe in yourself, not believe in your dreams. It costs you momentum. You get stalled.

How many women have I talked to? I feel stuck. I feel paralyzed. I don't know where to start. I don't know what to do. And so eventually they'll say I've lost myself. I don't know who I am anymore. I know I began to go down that road in my late forties before I hit 50, before I met this amazing man that I married, named Paul Damon, before he proposed to me, which seemed like he was taking forever. I digress.

Alright, so playing small always costs more than just being brave and taking steps of action. And you'll never be happy being unproductive 'cause God didn't create us that way. You have to produce to really feel fulfilled, content, and happy.

And number two. The second thing that I've learned while doing this for 200 episodes is that, as much as I just said what I said, playing small always costs you. Many women decide to play small. They still feel safer, but when they finally decide to stop people pleasing. When they stop hiding behind the cultural norms that say, women can only do this, and you can't do any more, then midlife women, man, I'll tell you what, they come alive. They say, I don't need your permission. I don't need to please you. I need to be obedient to God. I need to step out in faith, they become more resolved and more determined with more resilience to do what's inside of 'em with less excuses, more willingness to be misunderstood, 'cause you know, for a while there, when we're younger, we want everybody to like us.

We want everybody to think we're the perfect whatever, mom, wife, friend, sister, daughter, leader. But then we get to a place where we're like, I'm tired of exchanging. My alignment with my vision, my purpose, and my calling, with whether I'm making you happy or not, and I'm tired of diminishing myself. I don't wanna edit my voice anymore. I don't wanna try to make you comfortable while inside, I feel like I just disowned my truth, and I'm not walking in my convictions. I am done with shrinking language, small vision, and small desire.

And so many women in transition. What I've learned and what I've experienced from meeting these beautiful, bold, bravehearted women is that they came to a crossroads. They came to a decision point, and I'm probably not interviewing the ones who decided to play small. They're not on the radar. I don't know who they are. I only know the players who have said, I'm going for it. I'm gonna win. I'm going for the gold because those are the women who are out there doing the moving and shaking. That I get to meet because they contact me and say, I have a story. I'd like to be on your podcast.

Number three, I've learned that a lot of women don't really want to be invisible in midlife transition, but they're afraid, and fear stops. Many, many women. So the third thing that I've learned is that fear is it shows up a lot, and women don't wanna make the necessary changes. They're just gonna keep things status quo, and they need to make changes.

They need to look in the mirror and make a hard decision, a difficult decision that says, girl, it's time to be honest with yourself. Yeah, this is what's going on in your life. You're in a toxic relationship, or you've let yourself go, or you have more potential than what you're letting on, or you're working too hard, and you need to pull back. You're not enjoying the life that you're giving up everything to live. Pull back. That's a word for somebody right there.

Sometimes we think about playing small, but sometimes smallness masquerades as success because if I let this go, who will I be? If I stop doing all of this, then what's my identity? But your joy and your happiness are on the other side of that image that you're trying to keep up, that you can't.

Fear doesn't usually shout at us. It whispers. It whispers incessantly in our ear. It whispers. It sounds reasonable. It makes sense. It sounds like the responsible thing to do, sometimes even spiritual, but make no mistake about it. Procrastination, fear, and whispering. Don't do it. No, you'd better. I don't know. Well, wait. Just wait. Just pray. Just think it has a price tag, and many women are paying the cost with their calling because of fear. Because they don't want to rock the boat. Or what if I fail, or what if I'm not enough? Or what if, what if? What if? That's a real enemy, what if it's not age? That's our enemy. It's not the lack of resources or too many resources that we're responsible for. That's not the enemy. The real enemy is fear.

And after the delay over the last 200 episodes, I've learned this. Number four, women can do hard things. I mean, I have met some bad women. I mean, they are tough, resilient women, and what I've learned is that no one will fight for your dream. But you might have a few cheerleaders, but if you are not fighting for your dream, it's not gonna come to pass. But I have met some women. They have been incarcerated, and they have experienced domestic abuse. They've been raped, sexually abused. They've been fired, they've experienced genderism and been reduced, and they have been made small, but they became brave, and they said no more.

And what I've discovered is that courage is not a personality trait. It's not part of your personality. It's something you cultivate. It's a decision that you make. You do it afraid, as Joyce Meyer always taught us, and you make that decision over and over again, especially when it would be easier not to.

There are days when it's easier to fold up. Yeah, there are days, and get, by the way, I give myself permission. I'm not afraid of a day here and there where I don't feel like doing anything. I would be afraid if those days were consecutive, moving into weeks and months. I would reach out and get help and say, Hey, I'm not at capacity. I don't know what's going on with me. I need some help. I've not experienced that, but if I were to, I hope that I would reach out. But I know when people are in pain or in depression or experiencing something, they can be slow. You could be slow to reach out. Maybe you can reach out to me after you listen to this podcast and say, yeah, I'm stuck. And a day here and a day there, where I was giving myself permission to just do nothing, is now a chain link of going on three weeks, whatever.

So if, for everybody else who's just kicking the can down the street, delaying procrastinating because of fear, because I don't know what else to do. I have a dream, but I don't even dare think about it because it seems so outlandish. That's probably a dream from God.

So if you've been waiting for the right time, news flash. Here's something else I've learned after 200 episodes. There is no right time. The Bible even tells us that if we wait in Ecclesiastes, if we wait for the perfect time, it's never gonna come. It's always gonna rain. We're gonna wake up late. It's gonna snow, it's gonna be cold, it's gonna be hot. We're gonna have too much money. Not enough money. Too many people. Not enough people. There's never the right time. And the truth is, that you are minimizing the anointing that you carry. You minimize the impact that you can make in the world. You say, well, others are doing it. Somebody else would. Why would anybody wanna read what I'm writing? Stop that. That's rational lies. Sounds reasonable. It's self-doubt rolled up with a pretty little bow on it to look like something else. But make no mistake, it's fear, it's doubt. And it's the same way that the enemy came to Eve. Hmm. Did God really say? If you are, come on now. If you've been telling yourself, it's too late, my opportunity is gone, my best days are behind me, my prime years are over, then you're also lying to yourself. You're giving yourself permission to fade, to check out, to tap out. No, these words are for you. It's not too late.

I've learned that, and I'm gonna keep going and keep growing, and I hope and pray that you are too. The cost of playing small is too high, and the world is starving for what? Only a bravehearted woman like you can bring. So, 200 episodes for me, I'll share a few things that I've learned or grown in 200 episodes for me, which represents consistency. It represents the fact that I was able to show up. You know what?

Now that I even say that brings a few little tears to my eyes, and I feel proud of myself that I showed up on days when I didn't want to. I didn't wanna put makeup on. I didn't know what I would say. Or maybe I was fighting overwhelm, and I have so many things to do for five years, I've shown up. I've been faithful to the call, and I'm thankful, and I'm proud, and I'm blessed to have the grace from the Holy Spirit that I have for one more show. One more time. One more light. Camera, action. 200 episodes of consistency, I've proven to myself. I can show up for you, for my audience, and for myself. I can show up for the vision. I can show up for the dream. God entrusts me with more. I've been faithful with the little I think I can be faithful with more. Increase my territory. Increase. Expand me, Lord.

What I've learned after 200 episodes is that you can always be working on your craft. So I've refined, I've backed up, I've gone forward, I've invested. I've realized that if I'm gonna do this and do it successfully, it's not free. I have to invest. I've paid lots of money to have this go out into the AirWave so that you can reach it, so that my message can be heard. I'm not afraid to invest. I know God will bring it back to me, pressed down, shaken together, and running over is the promise that I'm gonna receive. It feels good to be obedient. It feels good not to say, yeah, I wish I had done that.

Here's another thing that I've learned. Maybe this is the fifth thing or the sixth thing I've learned. I'm working myself up to 200 now, y'all, I might get there before I let you go. Regret is brutal. That's something else that I've learned today. I interviewed a woman who did seven years in jail in a prison camp for women, seven years because she didn't vet somebody that she went into business with. She has regret. She wishes she had done something different, and yet she says that the seven years were an incredible gift to her. Of what she learned and how she grew and how her gifts came to the fore.

So we never know how God wants to use something, but I do know that the slow ache of knowing that you settled and that you didn't do something you felt you should have done is heavier than the risk of doing something and doing it afraid. This woman, who was in jail for seven years, is sure she has regret for what she didn't do, but she didn't have regret for taking a step. She regrets that the person turned on her. Those are painful things that we can't change in our lives, but today, she is who she is because of all of the courageous actions that she took.

Now, I'm not suggesting that you do something illegal and go to jail so you can learn a lesson. It might sound like that. That's not what we're saying, but just think of life. As an ability to learn and extract the gold from every season. The beauty, the riches, the treasure.

Okay, number six, you don't outgrow your calling. But you do outgrow your container. So there are seasons that you outgrow just straight up. You outgrow it. I've learned that. I've outgrown some seasons. I've done some things, and then it's like, you know what? It's just time. I've moved beyond it. I've outgrown it, and you can't be afraid when that happens. It can be confusing at times. Something you love and you're passionate about can all of a sudden feel tight and restrictive. You feel confused about that, but pretty soon, clarity comes, and midlife brings some clarity. It brings transition. It can bring confusion, all of the things. But once you distill it down, you'll say, I was confused because I wasn't. Paying attention, and I didn't wanna hear it.

But the truth is, is that I've outgrown this container. It's no longer for me. I have to let go. I have to move on. I have to say goodbye. I have to release because new beginnings always require endings, and endings are necessary, and they're an important part of life. And that's something else that I've learned. Endings come to us all, and they're difficult. And they're hard, but they're important.

So as I close this podcast, what have you learned over the last five years about yourself, about your dream, about your vision? Where are you going? Are you further down the road today than you were five years ago? Or are you playing small? Has the delay been costing you? Are you coasting? Are you saying to yourself, someday, someday, someday?

Well, maybe that brave decision is today, maybe it's not someday, maybe it's today, and maybe on the other side of your Yes is a life that you could have only dreamt of, I guess we say dreamed of now. So maybe it's your time, your season to say yes. You don't need to leap, you just need to decide. You don't need to turn your world upside down and make all these drastic changes, but inch by inch. We call it the slight edge, just small things leading you towards the goal that you want. You don't have to be reckless. Brave doesn't mean being reckless. It's a responsibility. It's being responsive to the calling and the heartbeat that you feel. One obedience step changes the trajectory of your life. Just one step, and maybe for you.

This is episode one in a brand new story of your life. This is Dawn Damon, your bravehearted coach, leaving you like I always do. After 200 episodes, is it time for you find your brave and live your dreams?