This is the one everything has been building toward, bestie.

All season we've been sitting with fear — where it lives in the body, where it started, how it shapes the way we love, create, and heal. Today we're asking the question that started it all: what if it all works out? Not as a cute affirmation. Not as toxic positivity. As a real, deliberate, daily practice of choosing possibility even when fear is still in the room.

In this episode we're talking about why your brain is wired to expect the worst — and how some of that isn't just personal, it's generational. We're pulling from Ta-Nehisi Coates's The Water Dancer and Dr. Mariel Buqué's Break the Cycle to talk about inherited narratives, ancestral hypervigilance, and what it actually means to heal not just for yourself — but for everyone who came before you and everyone who comes after.

We're also getting into what possibility thinking feels like in the body, how to hold fear and hope at the same time without dismissing either, and five things to sit with as you start living like it could all work out.

This episode is warm. It's expansive. And it's yours.

If this episode found you at the right time, follow the show and leave a review — it means more than you know and it helps this conversation find the people who need it most.

Let’s Connect!

Website: www.adjustingpod.com

Social Media: @adjustingpod on Instagram | Facebook | Youtube | TikTok

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/adjusting-podcast/id1748188929

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Guest/Topic submissions: adjustingpod@gmail.com

Disclaimer: Adjusting Podcast is NOT a substitute for professional diagnosis or treatment.

Let's be honest, avoidance rarely looks like hiding under the covers. Most of the time it looks like staying busy, saying "I'm not ready yet," keeping your distance in relationships, not having the conversation, and never quite letting yourself explore what else might be possible for your life. And here's the thing nobody says out loud: avoidance isn't the opposite of settling. It is settling. Just with more sophisticated excuses.

In this episode, we're getting into all of it: what avoidance actually is, how it shows up in your relationships, creative work, community, and daily life, and why the cost of staying frozen is so much higher than we want to admit. We're also talking about what it means to live a purposeful life and why you genuinely cannot afford to let fear be in charge of how you use your time and your gifts.

In this episode:

• What avoidance actually is — and why it's not laziness or weakness
• How fear keeps you frozen and what that really looks like in everyday life
• Why avoidance of conversations, community, and new possibilities is avoidance of hope
• How avoidance quietly becomes settling — and what that's costing you
• Why you have one life and your gifts were never just for you
• The difference between courage and confidence (and why you don't need to feel ready)
• What your nervous system needs before you can take the next step
• Six things to consider as you start moving toward the scary thing — one small step at a time

You don't need a big breakthrough. You don't need to feel ready. You just need to be willing. This episode is going to feel like a diary entry — and that's completely on purpose.

🎧 New episodes every Monday! Follow so you never miss one.

Let’s Connect!

Website: www.adjustingpod.com

Social Media: @adjustingpod on Instagram | Facebook | Youtube | TikTok

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/adjusting-podcast/id1748188929

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Lyu594jw5luH1rujNcTZZ?si=386a7e7728f5461b

Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7863b34c-b85c-4f67-8044-10dd08cfb660/adjusting-podcast

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AdjustingPodcast

Substack Channel: https://justingnelson.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips

Guest/Topic submissions: adjustingpod@gmail.com

Disclaimer: Adjusting Podcast is NOT a substitute for professional diagnosis or treatment.

What if the most powerful thing you could do when fear shows up… is just get curious?

In this episode, we're trading "what if it goes wrong" for "I wonder what this will teach me" — and exploring why that shift is so much harder than it sounds. Curiosity isn't toxic positivity. It's a deliberate, nervous-system-level practice that can change the way you move through fear, relationships, creative work, and healing.

We're getting into:

• Why fear closes us down and curiosity opens us up — and what that actually looks like in your daily life
• How shame — especially around sexuality and desire — shuts curiosity down at the root
• The body-based difference between anxiety and curiosity (polyvagal theory, but make it relatable)
• How to shift from what if to I wonder in real time
• The connection between curiosity and self-compassion — including insights from Dr. Thema Bryant's Homecoming
• What it means to get curious about yourself after religious trauma or spiritual deconstruction

This one is going to feel like your journal entry come to life, bestie. Settle in.

Adjusting is a podcast for creatives, everyday people, and those healing from trauma and relationships who are learning to live with less fear and more freedom.

Season 3, Part 2 Series: From Fear to Freedom — What If It All Works Out?

Let’s Connect!

Website: www.adjustingpod.com

Social Media: @adjustingpod on Instagram | Facebook | Youtube | TikTok

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/adjusting-podcast/id1748188929

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Lyu594jw5luH1rujNcTZZ?si=386a7e7728f5461b

Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7863b34c-b85c-4f67-8044-10dd08cfb660/adjusting-podcast

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AdjustingPodcast

Substack Channel: https://justingnelson.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips

Guest/Topic submissions: adjustingpod@gmail.com

Disclaimer: Adjusting Podcast is NOT a substitute for professional diagnosis or treatment.