Taking One Step Forward with Lisa Foster

Hi everyone, and welcome to Real Life Momz. I'm your host, Lisa Foster, and Real Life Momz is a podcast that's all about connecting moms through real parenting conversations. I believe that moms have so much insight and knowledge, and together we are powerful. On this podcast, we give moms a voice to tell their stories and share their expertise and resources through just real conversations. And this week is Thanksgiving, which I always find is the perfect time to do some thinking and self-internal work.

So today, as we head into the holiday season, I wanted to take a moment to discuss just taking that one step forward, that one step forward, out of our comfort zone toward our dreams. So today I wanted to take a moment because I feel like there's a theme that keeps reoccurring in my life. There are just these little signs that kind of keep, keep showing up or tapping me on the shoulder to say like, Hey, let's stop and just take a look, take a moment.

And I'm a huge fan of universal law and sometimes when things just keep showing up, it's time to pay attention. It's time to pay attention to just what's around us and what is it trying to tell me. So for me, I just keep seeing things that remind me that I need to really go deep and figure out what it is I truly want. And as much as it sounds so easy to say, oh, okay, what do you want?

Yeah, that sounds easy. Like, oh, I want, you know, I want to buy this or have that or do this. It seems easy, but really, but what do you really want? What really matters? That's really hard. And it's interesting because someone asked me, like, what am I passionate about? You know, and once again, it should be an easy answer. But for some reason when people ask me, what are my hobbies?

What am I passionate about? What do I really want? I go into like a cold sweat. I'm like, oh my God, am I like, do I not feel like, am I actually not passionate about something and really decided to sit with this for a while and say, okay, we need to do some work here. I'm obviously passionate about some of the stuff, but what is it? What is it? And not only what is it, but what's holding me back from even knowing what I'm passionate about?

You know, I think as a parent, we just get kind of sucked into this stagnant place where, you know, we're so busy developing our identity around everything else and everyone else that we have to do and take care of that we kind of lose ourself a little bit in who we are and what is really our passion.

And on top of that, what holds us back from doing our passion? So I, I really, I really took this to heart, and I decided to say, okay, you know, really journal what is my passion? But when I really dug deep about, you know, what am I passionate about? It's not something I could just like kind of put a finger on. It's not something like, I am passionate about horses, or I'm passionate about different of gardening and different types of flowers and things like that.

No, I'm actually passionate about life. I am passionate about encouraging others to live their best life. I am passionate about having abundance and and having an abundance mentality. You know, abundance is a concept that, honestly, like is really new to me. I think growing up, I seemed to be around things that were much more competitive. Like, oh, I have to get a higher grade than you.

Or, you know, this person's smarter than you, and this person's better at sports than you. And you know what? Like, why can't we all be good? Why can't we all be smart? There's enough room for everybody. You know, if I'm doing a podcast on parenting, well, there are lots of podcasts on parenting, and you know what? They all can be good. They all can be good. There's enough room for everybody. And for me, that was a huge shift in just everything in my life, knowing that I could help others also be good, and I could help others to also even have a parenting podcast and grow theirs.

Because you know what? There's enough room for all. And helping each other is actually so powerful, and I'm passionate about it. I am passionate about that. It fills me up. I love doing that. So some of my limiting beliefs really came from that.

You know, that person can do it better. That person is smarter than me. That person has the money, that person has the time, that person has all the things that maybe I don't have to be successful. But you know what? It doesn't matter how much money or time or how educated you are; it matters who you are. It matters what you want to do, and it also matters that you are behind you.

You know, I have teenagers, and you know, as they look towards college, they're always like, oh, how am I gonna get into a good college? You know, I don't have the volunteer that you need, or I don't have all those extracurriculars, or I'm not off building houses and Belize, or I'm not as smart as this person. And I turned to them, and I said, you know what? That's okay. It doesn't matter where you start out; it's where you end up.

I went to college to become a physical therapist. I have other friends who have gone to colleges that were Ivy League, but there's still a physical therapist. And guess what? We're doing the same thing. We are doing the same thing. So it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. But what does matter is what you do with what you have; that's what matters. So for me, you know, I had to get rid of those beliefs. I had to stop comparing myself to somebody else because I thought I needed A, B, and C to be successful.

But really, we can be successful just by being you. You know, surrounding yourself with people who build you up, who cheer you on, who support you, who are doing the things that you actually want to do. Those are the people that need to be your people. Those need to be your people because that is how you are going to grow.

I'm going to challenge parents out there to step out of their comfort zone. There are so many common people doing the uncommon, doing the unthinkable. Like, why can't that be you? Why? Why can't that be you? I think one of my favorite quotes is life begins at the edge of our comfort zone. And so many of us want to stay in our comfort zone, but then we're just getting by.

You know, are we really living If we just every day stay in that comfort zone, being a little bit nervous, being a little bit excited, and stepping a little bit on that edge? That's where life begins, and that's where change begins, and that's where you begin to blossom into the thing that you want to become. So my goal is not to live just the length of my life. I want to live my life wide. I want to not look back and say, oh gosh, I wish I could have done this, or I wish I could have done that.

I don't wanna look back and ever feel that I didn't do something because I was afraid. Afraid to take that step forward. I think most of us are afraid, and then we have to say afraid of what, you know, there's always these what if, what if somebody, you know, says something negative about what I'm doing? What if I'm judged? But you know what? What if you're not? And what if what we put out there touches somebody, somebody else?

What if we can live the life that we hope to live, the life that we want to live by just taking that step forward? So that is what I'm challenging all our listeners to do today. Being a parent is the most rewarding job. It is the thing I love the most. It's the thing that brings me joy the most. But there's another part of me.

There's more, you know, there's more that I wanna share. There's more that I want to do. And it just sometimes takes one step forward outta my comfort zone to do those things. And now I'm gonna challenge you to do the same thing. I'm going to challenge you to take that one step forward. So I would like you to think about what is your passion.

What have you been holding back from doing? What would it be like to take that one step forward? And what if it would change your life completely if you just did that? I can't wait to hear all the things you guys come up with. Come share them with me at reallifemomzpodcast@gmail.com. Thank you for listening to this episode and for all your support. I am so grateful for each and every one of you.

Share this episode with someone you love, and don't forget to wait and review the show on your favorite platform. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.