Negative experiences in our lives come with emotional scars, baggage, and other burdens. How can we unpack these things and overcome the emotional consequences of what we’ve faced? How do we bring a bit more confidence and bravery into our daily lives? How do we know when a fear is serious and needs to be addressed?

On this episode, founder of In-Courage Living and professional encourager, Sarah Humes, shares how she’s healed from the tragedies in her life and how she’s empowering people to live in freedom, confidence, and bravery every day.

We form an opinion about what we assume will happen because of past events. -Dana Malstaff

3 Things We Learned From This Episode

Fear comes in many different packages (09:24 – 09:48)

We all experience different shades of fear, whether it’s lack of confidence or more severe emotional obstacles. There’s a big difference between a bit of nervousness and the kind of paralyzing, debilitating fear that makes it impossible for us to do what we need to do. Depending on the type and severity of fears, there are different ways of addressing them.

Childhood experiences affect us more than we care to admit (11:35 -14:46)

People try to pretend that we’re not affected by the things that happen to us when we’re growing up, but our childhood undoubtedly impacts how we see the world or what we expect out of life’s events. As an adult, it’s important to try to unpack early life experiences that may be negatively affecting us today.

Use compliments as affirmations (24:11 – 24:43 )

Affirmations work well, but sometimes we need something different to really give us encouragement. When our friends and loved ones give us compliments, we can actually start writing them down and using them as affirmations.

When fear stops us from doing everyday things like making dinner for our families or going after our goals, it’s time to look inward and perhaps talk to someone who can help us unpack all this. We all have fears, insecurities, and negative experiences that have shaped us, but we can also overcome them and start living brave and confident lives. Bravery isn’t about not being afraid— it’s about pushing through it. Confidence is security in who we are, and it doesn’t have to be based on what we look like or sound like. It’s just about what we believe our value is—and we are all valuable. Tapping into that makes us happier, helps with what we contribute to the world, and it heals us.

Guest Bio

Sarah is a professional encourager and the founder of In-Courage Living.  After struggling with anxiety and fear, In-Courage Living was born out of the desire to share her experiences with others to help them realize they are strong. Over the past 5 years, she has taught small audiences and groups many different life skills to deal with life’s little problems.

Go to sarahrosehumes.com or find her on Facebook facebook.com/incourageliving.com or on Instagram @HumesSarah for more information.