The People, Process, & Progress Podcast - Shake It Off and Step Up When Life Pressures Hit

Episode Date: November 28, 2025

Pressure shows up without warning. Some days you shake it off, other days it sits heavy. This episode is about what you do next.Today I’m talking about what it means to step up when life hits you harder than you planned for. I’ll share a moment where I felt worn down, what helped me regroup, and the simple steps you can take to steady your mind and move forward. We’ll look at this through people, process, and purpose so you can respond with clarity instead of frustration. By the end, you’ll have one action you can use today to get back on track.

Some weeks, it feels like life is throwing dirt straight onto our backs. Stress, pressure, loss, grief, fear, and the quiet battles nobody else sees. I've been there and I know many of you have too. The real question becomes whether that dirt buries us or becomes the ground we rise from. Welcome to this Faith in Action Friday. Shake it off and step up. Today we'll walk through a simple parable that I just heard that carries a lot of weight and was very impactful to me.

and the chair how it connects to seasons in my own life, maybe yours, wouldn't feel stuck or buried, and how faith plus a few real tools can help us climb out. So I'm going to go over the parable again. There's an old story. It's about a donkey that falls into a well. The farmer can't figure out how to get it out of there. I can't pull him out. So he decides to bury the problem.

Right, he starts shoveling dirt into the hole. At first, the donkey panics, right? Imagine being in a hole in dirt. Oh, claustrophobia, right? So the donkey cries out, he struggles, and does what a lot of us would do when life hits hard, right? But after a few shovelful, something changes. Every time the dirt hits his back, he shakes it off, then he steps up a little bit. Shake it off, step up again and again.

Eventually, the farmer looks down and sees the donkey standing higher and higher on the dirt that was meant to bury him. And finally, the donkey climbs right out of the well. He wasn't rescued. He didn't escape by luck. he rose because he kept shaking off what landed on his back and used it to take the first step. Man, when I first heard this, I'd love to say that I was like, oh yeah, I've always handled hardship like that donkey. But truthfully, I didn't. I haven't.

I still don't. There were times I didn't shake things off, times I didn't climb, I didn't have strong faith, I didn't look inward, I didn't own my part. I blamed people. I blamed circumstances. I blamed God. I didn't know the value of ownership and mindfulness and movement and boundaries and connection and sleep and faith. Those seven pillars I've talked about and that are in the stability equation book I shared. A lot of the time I didn't know what to do.

I just kept living. Some things I eventually let go, right? Some things are still on the highlight reel in my head. I lived through seasons of losing patience, caring for the dying, both young and old, injuries, losing loved ones, shifts in midlife, raising kids, marriage. over decades, constant self-evaluation, and all that dirt felt heavy. The last four or five years changed me. I learned tools that actually help. I can see when I'm being selfish, when emotions are steering my response, when I'm not moving

enough, when my boundaries collapse, when I avoid people and my sleep habit slip, and I know how to reset it. The biggest shift, though, is faith. Faith that this world isn't random, that the people in it aren't random, that our paths aren't random. Faith has helped me handle the new dirt that hits my back, and I hope it does the same for you. We all get dirty in this life, and we all have a next step waiting for us. Faith doesn't guarantee a clean climb.

Faith gives us the belief that dirt meant to bury us can become the ground we rise from. Faith steadying us when the world is throwing shovelfuls at any of us, no one is exempt, but none of us are unsupported either. So we talk about three pillars of the seven, faith, right? Faith and trusting that each step matters, even though it's small. Boundaries choosing what sticks and what doesn't. As humans, we have that free will to do. In connection, letting the right people remind us we're not alone.

So now I'm going to share some anchor actions that I have found helpful that I believe you will and I hope you do too. First is look back, but don't live back. Pick one thing from your past you've been caring. Decide if it's something to release or something to learn from. Two, own one thing today. Find one place where you've been blaming or avoiding and take responsibility for your part. Three, move your body.

I've said it many times here and you've heard it all over the place probably movement as medicine. Even a short walk or a stretch gets you out of your own head. 4. Set one boundary before noon. Say no once. Protect your space. This can build some confidence for yourself. Five, reach out to someone. Connection shakes that dirt off faster than silence ever well. Six, check your sleep tonight. Right. A rested mind helps us climb more cleanly, helps us get out of that hole, helps us recover in every way possible. Seven, anchor in faith. Say, short pair, sit in silence, read a psalm even just a moment to yourself makes a huge different and eight the most

important to me is take the next step not all the steps just the next one so as a look back we're going to look back but not live back we're going to own one thing today we're going to move our body we're going to set one boundary we're going to reach out to someone we're going to check our sleep we're going to anchor in faith and then we're going to take the next step i've learned that hardship is shaped me more than comfort ever could. Some of it self-imposed, like there's cold plunges. Some of it happens upon us through unexpected medical diagnosis or news that hits. Like we have the 24-7 cycle that's just constantly bombarding us, right? When that, that dirt seemed overwhelming, right? But it can become solid ground we can stand on later. Right. I didn't always

see it and you probably haven't always seen it. But let's see it now. Let's think about our weeks. right what's something that's landed on us and what step we can take to climb out of it out from under it shake that dirt off right if this show encourage you if this helps you shake the dirt off it helps you give ideas share it with somebody else right we're on apple spotify all the podcast platforms you can go to people process progress dot com connect with me by the book stability equation I dive deeper into these tools also the people process and progress of project management we're going to learn practical tips to plan things to help you climb out of wherever you need to, whether it's at work or at home, each of those will help you out.

Thank you for helping me by listening to this podcast, encourage me giving your feedback. And remember, take the time and put in the work to own your mind, move your body, and anchor your spirit. Godspeed, y'all.