Inspirational Nuggets: Guests Share Their Life Shift Reflections

I'm Matt Gilhooly, and this is the Life Shift Candid conversations about the pivotal moments that have changed lives forever. Hello, my friends. I'm Matt Gilhooly, and I am the host of the Life Shift podcast. And I am the lucky one. I.

I am the person that gets the opportunity to speak to all these amazing guests. And I'm forever humbled that everyone that's been on the show has trusted me with their story. And a lot of these stories are deeply personal.

A lot of them are tragic or have tragic moments in them.

And I think, you know, what I love about the Life Shift podcast is, sure, some of these events are really hard to hear and experience, but I do find that every episode ends in some kind of inspirational way of hope and what we've learned as humans through the experiences that we go through.

If you are a regular listener of the Life Shift podcast or if you've never listened, what I like to do at the end of the story is kind of ask my guests if they could go back to that person right before their Life Shift moment, what would they say? And for some people, I ask for advice for people that are going through something similar.

And sometimes I ask just a random question that's in the similar vein.

And so this is one way that I get to hear what someone would say to that person, knowing full well it's not possible with the intention of anyone listening that might be going through something similar or a similar experience, they have the opportunity to hear maybe some inspirational words or something that resonates with them so that they feel a little bit less alone in their experiences. I just want to say thank you to those of you that have been listening. So I hope you leave this episode feeling inspired.

So thank you, and I hope you enjoy listening to this recap episode of the responses to. If you could go back to that person right before your Life Shift moment, what would you say?

Now, whether or not he'd listen is a different question, Matt. Right.

But what I would say, knowing what I know now, and I've never been asked this particular one, so it's really good question is say, dude, enough's enough. Go in and be honest, tell the truth, the New Year's resolution or not, whatever it is, you got to figure this out and just say enough is enough.

Because my parents actually, you know, they don't live in a bubble. They're very aware of what happens in the world, and the kids do stupid things. They were kids at one point.

They've always been very realistic with that, and I appreciated and respected that with them as I was growing up. And if I just went in and was honest, said, we screwed up, I promise I'm done with this, they would have received that.

They would have been a little upset, but they would have received that because they know I wouldn't have said that. Being dishonest, there's no point. So I would have just said, dude, enough's enough. Stop wearing the mask. You're exhausted. You used that word too.

Such that's a word, people. Again, you get a lot of this stuff. It's really nice talking to you. Yeah, I was exhausted because putting on a mask every day is exhausting.

Living a fake life is exhausting. Said, you're tired, dude. Go home, you're safe, you're good.

Your parents will be a little upset, but now they know at least why you guys are being weird or she's being weird, whatever. And let's figure this out tomorrow. So again, I.

Maybe it could have been something more profound, but what came to my head initially is just, enough's enough. I needed, enough is enough. Do not date and for years. Do not date for years. You are not ready. This is a harsh environment. Definitely that.

Second, don't worry so much what people think of you. You'll be fine. Third, you're very naive. Most men will not. Do not want to be just friends. Very rare.

And fourth, stop dyeing your hair red every four weeks. It's a major hassle and it's not worth the upkeep. I think I'd still tell myself now is just have more compassion for yourself.

I think people that are ambitious and want to pursue goals, and whether that's helping other people or make more money or whatever, it can be really easy to be hard on yourself and just like always be in a constant state of pursuing to figure out your identity and. Or whatever that is. I think just have more compassion for yourself.

I was going through a lot and I didn't recognize, like I would always think of through the lens of, yeah, this is bad, but other people have it way worse than me, so why does my problems matter?

But I think when you learn through therapy or whatever you go through, they continue to reinforce that doesn't matter what you're going through, that your problems are valid, just as someone else's problems are valid. But I didn't really give myself the time of day, just that it's going to be all right. You don't have to draw it out.

And you're going to take these lessons because it really is about the lessons, and you're going to go forward. And I would definitely want to say you're going to be a mother. You're going to have a lot of love in your life.

This is not the only love in your life. It's. It may feel like that, but you're going to have so many other kinds of love. Just keep it going. Just keep, keep going. Do the best you can.

Rest, I think. Trust. Trust your gut. Like, I almost feel like there's nothing to add to that, but I want to, because that's me not being concise. Trust your gut.

Whether that's your spiritual self inside you or your soul or whatever that North Star, that anchor. No matter what happens, no matter how bad it feels, trust your gut. And I would tell her, don't give up before the miracle. Hold, hold on.

Just trust me. Don't give up before the miracle. I would want him to know that his value does not come from any external stuff.

It doesn't come from anybody else's opinion, doesn't come from things like, his value is on the inside, and he is amazing no matter what happens. Yeah, well, you got here. You got here. You know that.

That little boy version of you got here and had to go through a whole mess of things, but you are here, and it sounds like you're doing the things for you right now, but also you're. I mean, because of what you've learned now, you're helping the people that work for you. And I mean, it ends up being a beautiful story.

Despite some of the bumps along the way. I think I would probably say whatever happens, you are going to be okay. Because that was really the first thing that hit me is like, my life's over.

I'm going to. I'm not going to be a singer. I'm not going to like. And I think that really was the first moment of freak out.

And so I think that's what I would say is sort of like, whatever happens, it's going to be okay. Yeah, just keep pressing on the gas. You know, I really. I wouldn't change a thing.

I think the resistance taught me so much, and it served a great purpose in hindsight. And I don't know if I would be here where I'm at if I had a different perspective back then. It's a great question. I've never thought about it.

And thinking about it right now, part of me says somehow I probably would have still ended up here because everything is now so aligned that, like, I probably would have gotten here Just some other way, but I have no way of knowing, you know, but, like, I don't know. Who knows? It's always interesting to me.

I mean, if you've ever seen that Gwyneth Paltrow movie, Sliding Doors, which she, like, missed the train and then got on the train, and you see how different life is. But then by the end, there was, like, similarities and things that. That played out and, you know. Yeah.

So I would want to say that you don't need to feel like you need to stay where you are and tolerate the things that you've tolerated in terms of the abuse from these relationships and really just say that, you know, will be in a place that you've never thought you would. You will find love, happiness, fulfillment. You're on that path. It's going to still be hard. It's going to still be challenging.

But I want you to know that your life does have value. Your story does have value, and you are going to see that. And I'm going to continuously show up every day for you, so you can see that along the way.

For more information, please visit www.thelifeshiftpodcast.com.