Hello, beautiful people! Welcome back to Eye Am, the show where we choose to become who we want to be. I am your host, Chelsea Langerud, and today, I will be talking about change. In this episode, I will be discussing the reality of change, as well as how to implement this in our everyday lives.

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Now, before we begin, I wanted to give a very quick thank you to all of my listeners. From the very first episode, you all have been so supportive and words cannot honestly begin to even describe how grateful I am for each and every one of you. Just receiving your feedback and your comments and just your support is really what keeps me going to continue to want to make episodes and drives my passion for this even more. And I started this on a whim, yet I was met with such amazing feedback and was truly not expecting the response that I've received so far. So, thank you, and thank you for sticking with me here as well. , this past semester of my school has been very time-consuming and  I have been having to shift most of my focus towards that, so I have not been able to get around to creating episodes as often as I would want. , but I am on break right now and I saw that as a perfect opportunity to catch up and make as many episodes as I can. I'm trying to get back into the rhythm of my podcast and making more of a balance for it, cuz I really do enjoy it and I love being able to connect with the community that it's created and continue to expand the message that I'm really trying to give across. So thank you for that.

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  I also am so excited because this is my first episode using my very new mic that my boyfriend gifted me a few months back. I've not been able to use it until now, but I'm so excited it makes me feel so professional being able to, Use a mic that allows me to make podcasts and advance the platform and  I really do enjoy it. Making these episodes, editing them, marketing them, and of course, the people that I meet and the way that these episodes and the heart behind them, the way that they're able to reach people, that's what it's all about, and that's what keeps me going each and every week. So I'm so excited to be using this.

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So the reason why this episode is entitled, change ultimately refers to how change can be depicted throughout different seasons of our life. I experienced a variety of change throughout this past semester that has taught me lessons that I was unaware I needed to even learn. It brought me the knowledge I didn't believe was beneficial or critical to my education and my everyday life, and it served as a means of building my foundation for my personal academic, and. Educational life, ,  in more than one way. 

Change is a funny thing in that it comes when we least expect it and it disguises itself in ways we don't realize is change. Oftentimes we are put through a multitude of challenges and circumstances that we don't realize are changing us for the better, and it's possible that if we knew the reason as to why things were happening and why the change was occurring. Then we would not be able to receive the highest amount of benefit in return had, we know what was causing this change and what was to come from this change as well. for me this past semester changed a lot. I experienced a lot of change in the way I think about things.  The way that I pursue different obstacles, and different situations, encounter different people, and go through different circumstances. In a way where I am able to hold on to the positives, hold on to the light in the darkest of rooms and the darkest of situations. It was a very challenging semester for me because I'm almost done with my school and my undergraduate degree, my classes are at the highest level,  which means a higher demand of workload and complex, , course material and,   alongside this challenging course load. I wholeheartedly do not think I have enjoyed school as much as I have this semester. And while I definitely reached a few weeks where I was not feeling it and needed to give myself space and a break to refresh I was able to return with an abundant amount of energy, an increased amount of productivity, which in turn caused me to efficiently and proactively approach my schoolwork in a timely manner.  , which gave me room to actually enjoy what I was learning.  

Now that was a big shift for me. That was a big change, and I had not ever experienced and encountered my education in this manner before. I always viewed education as a chore, , as a means of crossing things off, as doing X, Y, and Z to get things done just as everybody else had told me and just as everybody else was doing around me. But once I approached my individual assignments and my projects, I found that I was enjoying the material. I was enjoying the challenge. I consciously chose to push myself to make decisions, to step out of my comfort zone in order to fully experience what my education has to offer me. And so that is just one glimpse and one piece of the puzzle of what I am trying to portray for the concept of change, . Change can be beautiful. It can be terrifying. It could be exciting and thrilling, and it could be sad and disappointing change presents itself in a multitude of ways in order to mold us and shape us and develop us in ways that we would not be able to do ourselves . .   . 

And now, As we kind of shift towards this week's episode, , I wanted to include that a few months ago I had the amazing opportunity to speak in a conference that  was specialized for people with visual impairments or with prosthetic eyes. now within my specific talk, I found a variety of concepts that I wanted to share with my podcast. And, I'll be touching on a few different topics, but one of the overarching ideas is the concept of responses. Something that I have become aware of  is how critical addressing things is for our growth and wellbeing. Now. Addressing things does not necessarily mean verbally. It does not mean to physically, verbally give a response to someone or voice our stance within a certain situation, but rather to address something correctly is to identify what we can do that will allow us to move on personally for ourselves. because ultimately however we dress a situation is nobody's business but our own. Nobody else needs to understand the responses that we give to others outside of ourselves We do not have to respond a certain way that we believe will make it right for the other person, or if we respond, that's what the other person needs to hear. Ultimately, we respond  in a way that feels right to us and  in a way that allows for us to move on .  For example, sometimes I encounter a difficult situation or a person that makes me uncomfortable or upset, and in one instance, I might choose to say something and respond.  and other times I choose to put my shoulders back, hold my chin up as best as I can, and keep walking and whatever the case,  may be, I aim to feel the situation out, acknowledge how I'm feeling at the moment, and then address it from there because addressing something does not have to look. Identical every single time, every single situation, every single encounter and experience. And rather, I think that in order to appropriately and wholeheartedly feel as though we address something for ourselves and for us to move on, it has to look different every time.  We are not robots. We are not on autopilot. Even though I may feel like that at times. In order to receive  the best response within ourselves, and to feel the best about a certain situation, we must analyze the specific  circumstance, and address it from there. In other times, receiving a comment or addressing a situation can be viewed as an opportunity for us to share our story.. If someone may not understand us or our appearance or why we may look or , are doing something a certain way  that gives us the door and the perfect opportunity . To be able to share our story and to provide education for someone who may not know, who may lack the understanding and the education around something that is vital to society. It is an essential part of the progression of our world  to better understand everybody who encompasses it. And that doesn't mean that you have to share your story to every stranger in every which way. And if that  works for you, then that is beautiful and I encourage you to pursue that. , but what I'm trying to get at is that sometimes difficult circumstances . Are just what we need to provide education. It's just what we need to share our story. It's just the right outlet to share what is going on within our lives.  See, oftentimes a multitude of factors have everything to do with how we respond, from the specific situation we encounter who it might be coming from how we're feeling about ourselves that day, various circumstances will likely lead us to handle things differently, all in a way that feels right to us and only us and I think the greatest thing about responses is , how individualized they are to the person and the situation. 

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Now the second point that I want to discuss is the concept of stories. I think one of the most beautiful things about humankind is that each and every individual who encompasses it has their own unique story. . There is only one version of us who has the opportunity to carry and hold our own individualized story, and this story is for us and only us, and the power within this is how we are continuously the writers of it. We have the power to rewrite our story when things may feel off track, and we have the ability to share this story and the curves and the turns and the unexpectedness of it, with the world like no one else is able to share. And another concept within this is the idea that nobody fully knows your story in its entirety except for you. Yes, there may be people who get a glimpse of your life from an outside perspective, from the things we post, the things we share with friends and family. But when it comes down to it, nobody knows all of the highs and the lows, the depths of our circumstances, the thoughts, feelings, the challenges , that we may experience on an everyday basis. More times than not, society, our friends, even our family, they only see a glimpse of what we go through on a daily basis. And so again, this brings me back to the matter that we are the writer of our own story. , we have the ability to rewrite what others may be trying to change within our stories. We have the ability to rewrite what we ourselves may not be liking about our own stories. The beautiful thing is that stories are never ending. They're constantly changing. They're , constantly developing and evolving, and so with that, We're able to be the narrator of how we want our lives to look like. We are able to take the steering wheel, get outta the passenger seat, and drive and navigate how we want our lives to look like.

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So , before we close, I want to circle back to the beginning of the episode where we talked about change and how essential change is within our everyday lives within every year   we go through every situation we encounter. Change is vital in order for us to continue to grow through each and every season of our lives. And so I wanna give the mic to you guys. I want to turn the conversation to you and ask you to think about.  how this past year has brought change throughout your life. It could be positive change, it could be negative change. , no matter how good or bad this change we may be talking about, I want you to reflect how things have changed within your life and how you as a person have changed as well. So before we go into the new year, it's critical to have these conversations and reflections within ourselves in order to step into an entire new year with entirely new opportunities and room for growth, room for change. And I want you to be able to have an understanding and a  deeper sense of the change you've experienced and endured this year in order to better approach new upcoming situations and people and opportunities within the new year. And so I really encourage you to just take a few moments to reflect, sit back. Maybe physically write down a list on paper or on your phone and try to think about this concept of change. What does change mean to you and how has  change evolved in its shape and form? throughout the years of your life. What does it look like now versus a few years ago, and  how do you want to change in the new year? What things in your life do you want to change and improve and evolve in the new year? . I'd love to know, and I'd love to have a conversation about this, so  feel free to reflect about this and connect if you are interested in continuing this conversation.

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 As we're closing out today's episode, I wanna say thank you so much for taking the time and choosing to listen to I Am Podcast. Make sure to leave a review. Subscribe and share this podcast with a friend to help this platform reach as many people as possible. I encourage you to stay tuned for the next episode where I will be talking about passions.

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Remember to have a beautiful week and to choose love because at the end of the day, we have the power to choose, believe, and become who we want to be. Stay kind.