Linda Beard: Welcome, welcome, welcome. It's Linda Beard, your host of, uh, Bold Enough, and the book Bold Enough, which will be out, um, by the way, of, uh, February Valentine's Day. Why Valentine's Day caused it's all about loving yourself. First of all, I want to say happy New Year. I hope that it's off to a very, very good start. I want to thank you very much for those of you that chose to join me in the challenge to check on two people daily. And some of you maybe couldn't do it daily, but you did do it, so thank you very much. I actually wanted to do some research to determine what is the amount of stress and depression that and anxiety that people have during the holidays. And when I did that, according to the Americans Psychological, um, association, it says that there's an increase of anxiety, depression, and just overall stress at 38% during the holiday season. And many of you, including myself, probably thought that suicide is at its highest during the holidays. But research has told me that it's not higher during the holidays, but it is ongoing where individuals are attempting to commit suicide. And that's why it's so important that we get to the point where we are being bold enough to live that authentic life and to be able to talk and to share. So in my research, what I found is that suicide remains to be the top 10th reason for death, and that 36,000 people take their lives every year. Now, those that attempt suicide, there's around 374,000 individuals that end up in emergency rooms for self inflicted injuries. So this is why I wanted you to join me in the Bold Enough challenge to check on two people during the holidays. I wanted us to be angels of light, angels of hope for those individuals. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you very, very much. You do not have to stop checking in on people. It is so vitally important that we take time out and check on people that we know, not just family, but friends that perhaps we haven't spoken to in a while, but even check in on a co worker who you may seem to think that something may be going on with them. I've even gone as far as when I see people in my everyday task of grocery shopping, et cetera. If I see a long face, I'm giving them a word of encouragement or just a smile. It's important that people know that we care. So I wanted to start out just saying thank you. It is hugely important that we continue to support one another by just showing that we care. So what are you going to do this New Year? Many of us make a lot of New Year resolutions, and so I want to spend time today to just talk about, it's a new year. But it's a new year for you to be bold enough to be authentically you. When are you going to focus on you? Many times we will hear individuals say, it's not all about you. Well, I'm sharing with you. This is the year. It is all about you. It is time for you to love yourself first. It's time for you to heal, which means to forgive, to grieve those things that have been holding you back and provide those, um, necessary reconciliations where it's necessary. It is your time. It is your year. You can make a whole host of New Year's resolutions. I want to lose weight or I want to make six figures this year, I want to get a new job, I want to get married this year. And your list may go on and on. I'm asking you to do one thing. That one thing is to focus on you. As I'm on social media, and, um, I'm giving words of encouragement out to you on a regular basis. I'm also scanning to look at what other individuals are posting as well. Many of you have been posting, this is my year, I am going to, um, set boundaries and I'm not going to let people get me off course. Well, it's all good to see those things, but it is very deep and you have to be focused and consistent to set boundaries. What I have found in my bold enough journey, before I could set the boundaries, before I could meet some of those other goals, I had to first focus on me. So the bold enough journey and, uh, my encouragement is all about sharing with you what I have learned so that you can learn from it. So until I focused on loving me first, going through the complete healing process and once again that's grieving, that's forgiving and reconciliation and really making that conscious decision that I am going to be bold enough to be me authentically and doing those necessary actions at the right time on a daily basis. It was only at that point that I could start meeting other goals. So it is all about you. It's all about you. Today, I have turned on the live chat so that you can put in your comments, and I will respond to as many of those comments as possible during the show because I want us to communicate back and forth and I want to hear from the audience what is getting in your way of being bold enough? Are you afraid that you're going to lose something that is of, uh, value to you, but may not be in your best interest when you think about it? I don't know the answer to that, but you do. So I want to keep saying through this podcast today, yes, it's a new year, but it's a new bold enough you that needs to transpire this year. Don't put off being bold enough to be authentically you. That is the foundation for you to achieve all of those other things that may be on your list, including losing weight. Remember, I shared in previous podcasts, I had to get rid of almost, like, £25 of mental baggage before I could get to the point where I was focusing on my self care. What is good for me? Loving myself first. And so this new year, this very first broadcast of the year, I am encouraging you this year to be bold enough to be you. So please bring in your comments on chat. I would love to hear what you, um, are saying about being bold enough to be you. What is it going to take to be bold enough to be you? What is it what is it going to take to be bold enough to be you? I'm repeating and repeating and repeating that because I want you to ponder, what is it going to take? I want this to be the best year for you ever. Let me tell you what I did right at the end of the year to make sure that I not only say true to myself, love myself first, but be in a position where I'm having my best bold enough life ever. What did I do? I left corporate America full time. Yes. Because this purpose that I have to encourage it and motivate you is where I'm supposed to be. Now, it doesn't mean I'm not going to dip in corporate America part time, but full time. And giving up a full time, uh, salary to say, hey, it's all about being true to me, being bold enough to do what I was called to do. So what is your purpose? What were you called to do? You will begin to soar when what you do on a daily basis brings you joy. Yes. Brings you joy. Do you know when you are doing what you are supposed to be doing, meaning walking in your purpose, where you are naturally talented and gifted, and you figure out a way to be able to do that as your primary work? It's a great feeling. Now, I'm not telling you to run out everybody and quit your jobs, okay? Sometimes there's preparation that you have to do, and I was in that position to do so, and I'm very grateful. So this year, I'm asking you, what are you going to do to be bold enough? Are you ready to take the necessary steps? Are you going to be brave? Are you going to be courageous? Are you going to love yourself first? I say it often. I say it in print in, uh, my post. I see you. I see your value. I see that you're worth it. But you have to see it. So what are you going to do? What are you going to do? Are you going to try to follow this great big list or three or four things on a list that you may not be able to accomplish? In fact, if you think about the new year's resolutions that you've made year over year over year, how many actually did you achieve? If you achieved all of them, that's great. But most likely, many of you I've been there as well, have had my list, and I accomplished very few. And that's because I didn't take care of me first. I didn't know my value first. I didn't set the boundaries first to keep me focused on that dream on that purpose. What are you going to do this year to make your life different, to have that best life ever? I'm encouraging you to take this new year to be bold enough, to be you. Go onto my website and join the bold enough challenge so that we can support you, provide resources for you in this journey of being bold enough. If you choose not to join the journey, not to take care of yourself first, you will repeat the same thing you did last year and the year before, and the year before that. And if you're trying to expect different results, that's insanity, right? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting something different to happen, it's not going to happen. So log onto the website, join the bold enough challenge. And while you're on the website, take a look at the bold enough store. As you can see, I'm wearing a hat, one of my sweatshirts today. Why is it so important to pick up a, ah, bold enough item? Oh, by the way, I have my bold enough necklace, which I always wear. It's a reminder to me that I made this commitment to be bold enough. But it's also a conversation starter so that I can encourage others to be bold enough to start the conversation about what is bold enough. I was, uh, flying in from New Jersey back to Ohio just last week, and one of the flight attendants asked me, what is bold enough? I shared briefly what it was, but it intrigued that flight attendant so much that when I was getting off the plane, what is that website? Because I know that I need to be bold enough. So boldhyphen enough, that's where you want to go. To learn more, to join the challenge, let us come into your world on a regular basis. Every week I say to you, thank you for allowing me to come into your world, because I know that you have a lot of different options. You do. But make this a priority to keep tuning in. This is a new year. There's a lot of great guests that are going to be coming on, telling their bold enough stories. And I want to encourage you as you are on this journey, if you have a story on my website, there is a place where you can send us an email and we can consider you coming onto the podcast. This is a community of, uh, bonus and expressing our journey. What we have to go through I've been sharing transparently my journey. But we want to hear your journey as well. Because we are encouraging each other. I want to continuously to be couraged as well. New year, new bold enough you. Will you take that challenge in 2023? Or will things remain the same? I don't know. It's your decision. But if you decide to take this bold enough challenge, definitely I want to hear from you. So continue to put your comments in on this live chat. I will answer as many as I can. I will follow up. Have a bold year and be a bold enough you. I will talk to you next week. Be bold enough. HM?