Episode 3: Embracing Change

Have you ever wondered why people don’t like change? Change is one of life’s greatest challenges, yet it’s also the key to growth and opportunity. In an inspiring episode of Message for My Kids, the host explores the courage it takes to step outside of comfort zones and embrace new possibilities. While this heartfelt message is meant for their children, its for any podcast listener seeking motivation, self-improvement, and personal transformation.

The Challenge of Change

Fear of the unknown holds many people back from reaching their full potential. In this episode, the host reflects on personal experiences where embracing change led to growth, even when it felt uncertain. They encourage listeners to see change not as something to fear, but as an opportunity for learning and improvement.

By sharing real-life lessons, the podcast episode emphasizes that stepping into the unfamiliar can lead into rewarding experiences. Simply shifting one's mindset to make a small change can be helpful.

Key Takeaways from the Episode

Listeners will walk away with valuable insights, including:

• Breaking Free from Comfort Zones: How staying in the familiar can limit personal growth.

• Facing Change Confidence: Practical ways to turn small ideas into new opportunities.

• Balancing Change with Purpose: How to make smart decisions when embracing change.

Through compelling storytelling and relatable examples, the host provides guidance for navigating changes with strength and optimism.

Parents and Everyone Else

Though this episode was created as a message for the host’s children, the lesson is for anyone looking to grow. Parents will find wisdom to share with their own kids, while those on a self-improvement journey will gain the motivation to take bold steps forward.

Change is not something to avoid, it’s a path to new possibilities. Ready to embrace it? Listen to this episode of Message for My Kids from the player above!

Or Read the Transcript Below:

Welcome to another episode. Today I want to talk about adapting to new ideas, and I noticed that new ideas come and go. As I am growing up, I'm noticing that sometimes the ideas work and sometimes they don't. Social media platforms such as MySpace was a new idea, and then Facebook came around.

There are other ideas that did work for us as a family. Going from cash to debit, I remember the new idea was about 2015–2016, and we started using debit. We were actually kind of the first ones around Oshkosh to use debit. Everybody was doing cash, and some places were like, "Well, how do you do that?" and, "What do you have to do?" I'm sure that the bigger cities and bigger states were already doing debit.

When I talk about adapting to new ideas, I noticed a couple of the kids don't really like doing new ideas. They like to stay in their own world. I get it. It's new. It's different. "Don't eat that, it's new." So, it's an inside joke for that phrase I just did.

But I really want to stress it out to you kids, like try new things. You know, if it's something that you really don't want to do, rock climbing or parachute jumping, I believe it's called parachute jumping, right? You jump out of a plane with a parachute. You know, if it's stuff that you don't want to do, don't do it. I don't want to peer pressure you guys and be like, "Oh, this is new, we gotta try it."

What I'm saying is: try new things. Sometimes they work. Sometimes they make things more... more better. I wouldn’t run off a hundred percent convenience though. You know, just because something's convenient, more than not, just—don't base off your stuff off of convenience. I’ll tell you that.

Can't run on a treadmill or crawl on a treadmill when you're trying to work out. Sometimes just running on the road is just as better, if not better.

So I noticed a couple of you were like really stuck in your ways, and I'm kind of, I'm afraid that when new opportunities, new investments, new ideas come, you're gonna miss your window of good opportunities. For instance, investing. I never invested before. I was scared to invest. I didn’t even know what I was doing, and I went to invest into a couple stocks, and I’m glad I did. It was a new idea. It was weird. It was confusing at first. Still is.

They use big words that I don't even know, and when I try to look them up, it just makes it more confusing. But trying, adapting to new ideas, sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. I wouldn’t stay isolated.

And growing up, I noticed there was a lot of advice: “If it ain't broken, don’t fix it.” But I would say that’s totally wrong advice. If it’s not broken, I think you should make it better.

And that's why we do a lot of things and we change a lot of things around the house. For example, we have a pool. You kids love swimming. I mean love swimming. I don’t even know where you get swimming from. You must have got that from your mom because I personally hate swimming. I hate swimming. I don’t like swimming. I don’t, I never did as a kid. I never did.

But I see you guys loving swimming, and I see the swimming pool, so I’m like, “Okay, how can we make it better? New ideas.” Let’s put on some music. So we purchased speakers, and it works. It made the new idea better.

So then now it's like, “Okay, we should put some lights on,” and I see you guys enjoying the different things. So it’s like adapting to new ideas. I wouldn’t isolate yourself. If it works, make it better.

Okay, so when we watch movies together, we used to just slap on any movie, watch it. But then we started creating an idea like, Okay, we'll do Christmas-themed movies on Christmas time. We’ll do birthday movies for somebody's birthday throughout the month and then they can pick movies. And so it was just adapting to new ideas.

If I can give you my advice, my advice is: if it works, grow on it. Adapt new ideas to it. If there’s new things that you can do, if there’s new things like if you like exercising, maybe just don’t run on the treadmill. Go outside and run. Just grow to new ideas.

If you like communicating and talking and... maybe, maybe in-person is something great. But also use social media. Also use social media. Grow from that, but understand that, you know, there’s limitations. You can’t just put out there what you would probably put out in person.

I don't know, for example, if you're at school and you're swearing. I don’t know if you swear. I hope you don’t swear. But if you’re, I know it's a bad example, but if you're swearing, obviously you’re not going to go to social media and swear. But what I’m saying is: adapt to new ideas. And kind of keep, you know, just keep your, keep your bearing. Keep your bearing and understand what you’re doing.

Because the year right now is 2025. Just started. Just started 2025. And I have learned, between the years of 2023 to 2024, electronics, devices are advancing. And one thing, one thing we’re talking about of doing are cameras. We're talking about placing cameras around the house. And that's a new idea.

And I understand it doesn’t make us comfortable because, like, it's our own privacy. Obviously, it's going to the cloud. Obviously, I'm sure that there’s gonna be somebody looking at it, or it’s viewable. Either they call it marketing or security reasons, whatever it is. But either or, it’s a camera that’s doing its job.

So, getting a camera is uncomfortable. It’s uncomfortable. It really is, because I grew up with no camera and privacy. With cameras in the house, in the kitchen, living room, it’s different. And we're talking about doing it. So, more than likely, we’re gonna place cameras in the house. It’s a new idea. And if it works, we’re just gonna grow on top of that idea.

Maybe there’ll be, like, motion sensor cameras, or put a rag on it. Wipeable. Spray paint. Use the wrong spray paint, get that camera fully, fully covered. I don’t know.

But kids, that’s a new idea. A few of you, I notice a few of you, because there's five of you, but the youngest one doesn’t really understand about adapting to new ideas or not. She’s a four-year-old. She tries everything except for if it doesn’t look good. If it doesn’t look good, she ain't gonna eat it. She’s at that stage. But she’s too young to understand the concept of adapting to new ideas.

But you four little kiddos definitely, definitely understand that adapting to new ideas is something good. It can be good. It can be good. And if it’s something bad, just follow your gut. Follow your gut. Don’t do it. Probably let other people try it. See what they, see what happens.

And I’m not talking like new ideas like you're gonna put three tires on an ATV and see if you can balance it out. No, that’s not what I'm talking about, I'm talking about new ideas that are on the shelf. Things that you can purchase. Even do.

And this is another message for my kids.