In Episode 251: When Change Is the Right Move, I'm diving into a powerful and nuanced conversation about personal growth, missionary mindset, emotional resilience, and how to know when it's time to shift your thinking—or actually change your environment. So often, we hear simple advice like "just change your thoughts" or "just stay busy," but real transformation isn't always that straightforward. In this episode, I walk through the deeper patterns that shape how we think, feel, and show up—especially for preparing missionaries, currently serving missionaries, returned missionaries, and missionary moms navigating transitions, anxiety, discouragement, or identity shifts.

I share a simple but powerful process for creating real change: awareness, education, and removing judgment. When you understand your thought patterns, why your brain is trying to protect you, and learn to offer yourself compassion instead of self-criticism, your beliefs begin to soften naturally. From there, change becomes possible—not forced. This is where emotional well-being, self-awareness, and confidence start to grow from the inside out, giving you tools to navigate the mission, post-mission life, relationships, and personal development with more clarity and agency.

But here's where it gets even more interesting: sometimes growth doesn't come from changing your thoughts—it comes from changing your environment. In Episode 251: When Change Is the Right Move, I explain how to discern whether you're avoiding discomfort or intentionally interrupting a pattern to create new awareness, perspective, and forward movement. Whether you're questioning a relationship, struggling on your mission, or feeling stuck in your current situation, this episode will help you recognize that you are not powerless—you have the ability to choose your next step with confidence and intention.

As always, if you found this episode helpful, I want to invite you to subscribe if you aren't already, share this episode with your friends and missionaries you know, and write a review. I know this work will help LDS missionaries around the world and it would mean so much to me if you did. Until next week my friends.

00:00 Intro
03:35 Why tools matter more than advice on the mission
05:46 The problem with "just change your thoughts"
09:44 Why deep patterns and beliefs are hard to shift
13:02 The 3-step process: awareness, education, removing judgment
16:16 How compassion helps patterns begin to shift
20:06 When changing your environment can create growth
23:24 How to know if you're avoiding or intentionally changing
27:20 Example: when feelings signal it's time to make a change
31:53 Final thoughts and invitation to choose your next step

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5 Ways to Process Any Less-Than Happy Mission Memories Article: HERE

Get the Full Show Notes and Text/PDF Transcripts: HERE

Free PDF Download: Podcast Roadmap

Free PDF Download: Preparing Missionary Cheat Sheet

Free Training for Preparing Missionaries: Change Your Mission with this One Tool

RM Transition Free Video Series: 3 Tools to Help RMs in Their Transition Home

Free Guide: 5 Tips to Help Any Returning Missionary

Schedule a Free Strategy Call: Click Here

In Episode 250: The View From Here, I'm reflecting on turning 50, reaching 250 podcast episodes, and what I've learned about the patterns of life through years of coaching missionaries, returned missionaries, and missionary moms. This episode is deeply personal as I share stories from my life—moments of faith, growth, heartbreak, uncertainty, and purpose—and how they've revealed a powerful truth: life doesn't move in a straight line. Instead, it unfolds in cycles of beginning, growing, unraveling, realigning, and becoming something new.

Throughout this episode, I explore how this pattern shows up everywhere—on your mission, after your mission, and in everyday life. When things feel like they're falling apart, it's easy to believe something has gone wrong. But what if you're just in the "unraveling" phase? I talk about how these moments are actually where deeper faith, clarity, confidence, and transformation begin. Whether you're navigating discouragement, self-doubt, identity shifts, or emotional challenges, this episode will help you see that nothing has gone wrong—you're right on track in your growth.

In Episode 250: The View From Here, I invite you to zoom out and trust the pattern of your life, just like the message of Easter teaches us—there is always renewal after unraveling. You are not behind, you are not broken, and you are not doing it wrong. You are becoming.

As always, if you found this episode helpful, I want to invite you to subscribe if you aren't already, share this episode with your friends and missionaries you know, and write a review. I know this work will help LDS missionaries around the world and it would mean so much to me if you did. Until next week my friends.

00:00 Intro
00:56 Birthday week, 250 episodes, and why this feels meaningful
02:29 The life pattern Jennie keeps seeing
04:29 Life doesn't move in a straight line
07:24 Choosing belief for yourself
10:11 Growth, control, and learning to let go
13:12 When life unravels: Lydia's surgery story
19:59 Unraveling leads to deeper faith and realignment
20:25 Discovering the work with missionaries
26:51 Why missionaries think something is wrong with them
29:33 Easter, renewal, and the cycle beginning again
30:47 Recording episode one and seeing the pattern now
31:58 Final thoughts: you are becoming

Website | Instagram | Facebook

5 Ways to Process Any Less-Than Happy Mission Memories Article: HERE

Get the Full Show Notes and Text/PDF Transcripts: HERE

Free PDF Download: Podcast Roadmap

Free PDF Download: Preparing Missionary Cheat Sheet

Free Training for Preparing Missionaries: Change Your Mission with this One Tool

RM Transition Free Video Series: 3 Tools to Help RMs in Their Transition Home

Free Guide: 5 Tips to Help Any Returning Missionary

Schedule a Free Strategy Call: Click Here

Here on The LDS Mission Podcast, Episode 249 - You Can't Go Back to Your Comfort Zone, we talk about why the "comfort zone" your brain wants to return to doesn't actually exist—and what to do instead. Whether you're a preparing missionary, currently serving, a returned missionary, or a missionary mama, it's so normal to find yourself thinking, "I just want things to feel like they used to." But the truth is, life only moves forward, and the version of you (and your circumstances) from the past have already changed. In this episode, I break down why your brain craves familiarity, how it attaches feelings like safety, belonging, and happiness to people and places, and why that can keep you feeling stuck.

We talk about how those feelings were never actually created by a person, place, or situation—but by your thoughts—and what that means for your ability to create those feelings again moving forward. I share powerful mindset shifts to help you navigate discomfort, identity shifts, breakups, and mission challenges, and how to stop trying to "go back" and instead step into growth. You'll also learn practical tools like giving discomfort a purpose, anchoring confidence in your capability (not outcomes), and untangling your emotions from external circumstances.

Most importantly, I teach you how to become your own comfort zone—so you can feel steady, confident, and grounded no matter where you are or what's happening around you. This is one of the most empowering skills you can develop on your mission and in your post-mission life. If you've been wishing things could go back to how they were, this episode will help you see why that's not the goal—and how moving forward with trust in yourself is where your real power lies. Here on The LDS Mission Podcast, Episode 249 - You Can't Go Back to Your Comfort Zone, we learn how to stop looking backward and start becoming the kind of person who can feel at home anywhere.

As always, if you found this episode helpful, I want to invite you to subscribe if you aren't already, share this episode with your friends and missionaries you know, and write a review. I know this work will help LDS missionaries around the world and it would mean so much to me if you did. Until next week my friends.

Website | Instagram | Facebook

5 Ways to Process Any Less-Than Happy Mission Memories Article: HERE

Get the Full Show Notes and Text/PDF Transcripts: HERE

Free PDF Download: Podcast Roadmap

Free PDF Download: Preparing Missionary Cheat Sheet

Free Training for Preparing Missionaries: Change Your Mission with this One Tool

RM Transition Free Video Series: 3 Tools to Help RMs in Their Transition Home

Free Guide: 5 Tips to Help Any Returning Missionary

Schedule a Free Strategy Call: Click Here