Episode 1439: Interview with Janice McWilliams about the REAL way to do Self-Care

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining us on episode 1, 439 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:00:07] Janice McWilliams: I'm Janice McWilliams. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence, and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to recognize that self care doesn't have to be a big challenge is key.

[00:00:25] And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this.

[00:00:43] I hope I have helped people figure out how to live better so that they feel better as they're pursuing their call, that they're, they know how to take care of themselves. No matter how [00:01:00] stressful a life situation may be.

[00:01:02] Scott Maderer: Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling.

[00:01:17] In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others, and develop your influence.

[00:01:35] In today's podcast episode, I interview Janice McWilliams. I ask her about why the way we do self care is so wrong. I also ask her about how we can make it right instead by paying attention to the hormone soup. And she also shares her journey to discovering this different way to view self care. Bye. I've got a new book coming out called Inspired Living.

[00:01:58] Assembling the puzzle of [00:02:00] your call by mastering your time, your talent, and your treasures. You can find out more about it and sign up for getting more information over@inspiredstewardship.com. Inspired Living. That's inspired stewardship.com Inspired living. Janice McWilliams is a psychotherapist in private practice, a certified spiritual director, A speaker and the author of Restore My Soul, Reimagining Self Care for a Sustainable Life.

[00:02:30] Janice completed her Master's of Divinity at Howard University and her counseling degree at Loyola University in Maryland. Janice's love of the depths and intrigue of the human experience is matched by her desire to find her place in God's work of restoring and revitalizing souls everywhere. Her blog promotes spiritual, relational, and psychological transformation.

[00:02:54] Welcome to the show, Janice. Thank you. It's really good to be here. Absolutely. So [00:03:00] I talked a little bit in the intro about some of the work you do and your book Restore My Soul and various things, but I always laugh. I always tell people that I feel like intros are like Instagram photos in that we always frame.

[00:03:15] the highlights, right? We leave out some of the stuff. And yet our journeys are usually a lot messier than that. Can you share a little bit about your journey and what brought you to the point of focusing on this and sharing this message in the world?

[00:03:32] Janice McWilliams: Yeah, absolutely. I come from a background in campus ministry with the inner varsity.

[00:03:40] And so I and particularly I, in, in that experience, I learned through, failures and some wins just about how do you pace your life, so most of my young adult and in my thirties, I was doing this ministry. There was always more you could do. [00:04:00] I I was ambitious and felt like I'll do anything for the gospel.

[00:04:06] And so there were ways in which I was just, stretching and working really hard. And I had some good rhythms in my life as far as over overall self care and things, but there were definitely some holes. And later on in my life, as I was becoming a therapist and spiritual director, I was moving more into training and I was training young campus ministers.

[00:04:31] And in that space, I realized they were coming they needed to learn ministry skills. But they also just needed to know how to pace their life so that they didn't completely burn out at some point. And and this really stuck with me. It became it became something that was pretty essential to the training that I was helping them learn how to pace their lives.

[00:04:56] Then the pandemic hit. [00:05:00] And while I'm thinking about this increasingly, and I'm, but I'm also working as a therapist and a spiritual director, and often I'm having people who are overwhelmed and fatigued and burned out come to therapy, and I'm even thinking about, like, how do people. Learn to take care of themselves so they can follow their call for the long haul and just this fundamental belief.

[00:05:22] I really don't think Jesus wants people to burn out. What can we do about this? So then the pandemic hit and as in the beginning of the pandemic, everybody goes online and including all the therapists. And that was really draining and stressful for everyone. But 1 thing that was really.

[00:05:39] Increasingly that was also really difficult for me and for therapists was that people in the beginning of the pandemic, there were all these gosh, is this going to last another month? Is it going to last another until the summer? And did you see the CDC report and all this? And so people were really processing a lot of anxiety about the same things I was anxious about, which [00:06:00] is.

[00:06:01] Pretty different counseling than usual. Every once in a while you might have one person in a day that you really relate to like that, but like for every person after person to be talking about the same thing that is stressing me out was like, Oh, that was hard. We had a meeting of.

[00:06:17] Of therapist a group supervision time early on in the pandemic to talk about, like, how are we doing and how do we take care of ourselves? And I made this decision that in between every session, I was going to do a set of stretches do a sun salutation and do a breath prayer between every session.

[00:06:37] So the breath prayer on the inhale Lord Jesus Christ said of David, and on the exhale, have mercy on me as sinner. That just happens to be my favorite breath prayer. But I was inhale and exhale doing a breath prayer. Moving my body in this series of stress stretches in between every session.

[00:06:53] So it means I did it like five times in a day. That intervention [00:07:00] alone made a completely different, it made a huge difference in the way my body felt and my spirit felt at the end of the day of counseling. And I realized, all together, that only took me like 6 or 7 minutes to do. And it really like, Oh my goodness.

[00:07:19] What does this mean? It, it cranked me into this thinking like, wow, self care does not necessarily have to be so difficult and overwhelming. So many of us just think of it as another big thing to add that just feels impossible when life feels impossible and that all those things that built in me.

[00:07:42] And then at that punctuation point for me, I realized there's a message here. That self care really meaningful self care that can really impact us for the good does not have to be so difficult.

[00:07:58] Scott Maderer: That's

[00:07:58] Janice McWilliams: a, that's a [00:08:00] bit of my,

[00:08:01] Scott Maderer: You talked about being involved with youth ministry and all of that.

[00:08:06] And one of the things I like to highlight for people is how our faith journey and our life journey intersects. And you shared some of that just now, but let's talk a little bit more about that. How do you feel like this message around self care and restoring ourselves. has affected your faith journey.

[00:08:26] And then how has your faith journey affected where you've ended up in terms of thinking about self care?

[00:08:34] Janice McWilliams: That thing I said that Jesus doesn't want you to burn out. I feel like that. Was something I came to through my own years in ministry, just being in the scriptures and learning more about the character of God.

[00:08:55] And then I think that belief has informed [00:09:00] my faith as well, to see the care that God has. For his people that the metaphor that's been so rich for me is that of the shepherd and sheep. And there's so many there's so many ways to fill out that metaphor, but the shepherd cares for the sheep.

[00:09:23] The shepherd knows each little sheep's quirks and tendencies and the ways they might wander away or get lost and knows how to care for them. The shepherd leads the sheep into the space of green pastures so that they can be fed and restored and they can find a place of rest. And if they, if those little sheep don't have that place of rest, Then they're going to be more vulnerable to sickness.

[00:09:53] They're going to be, they're not going to be able to produce their wall like they are intended to. [00:10:00] And so there's so much about my growing to shift really from an orientation of it's up to me. To do the things that God needs me to do in the kingdom, I put air quotes around that and into a place of realizing what I am, but a sheep being led by the shepherd.

[00:10:28] It is really not up to me for the kingdom work to be accomplished. And I think some of that is like a natural progression that comes through. And understanding our space in the kingdom of God and how wonderful and fulfilling it is to be a part of God's kingdom, but to know that God ultimately doesn't depend on us [00:11:00] to accomplish what needs to happen, but it's a gift.

[00:11:04] And so I feel and the, at the end of the day I can still slide into a mentality of it's all up to me. And whenever I do what I feel drawn back to is I've got you, I see you, I care for you. And then I I can be in that space of feeling held and nurtured and to trust that, that Jesus actually wants to show me the way to the green pastures.

[00:11:42] So that I can come and go freely from the great pasture. And that makes me love Jesus all the more.

[00:11:50] Scott Maderer: How has that changed your view of the work you do and that part of it? In other words, [00:12:00] I think a lot of times, Where I think we struggle on that is in the you're a therapist.

[00:12:07] You do spiritual care you are taking care of other people in a way you're there for them. How has that view affected the work you do if that makes sense, that idea of it's not all on you, but yet. Here you are doing a role that in some ways it is all on you in air quotes again kind of thing.

[00:12:30] How do you think that's affected that relationship?

[00:12:33] Janice McWilliams: I'm grateful for that kind of foundation of belief and Foundation of experiential reality that it is not up to me that I can get into, but that doesn't mean I don't struggle with it when I'm in a therapy session, it's going sideways or somebody doesn't seem to be being progressing and treatment.

[00:12:57] My. My automatic [00:13:00] response to that is what I do wrong? Like how do I fix this? What do I need to do? This is all on me. But the invitation I feel is one of pivoting towards a dependent posture myself Lord what is happening here? What's happening for this person.

[00:13:19] I think that it when I'm at my best in that mindset, Then I'm much more relaxed and curious about what's happening and less stressed and anxious and worried about my own performance. When I'm in that better place, I'm probably, I'm more likely to sit in to go slower with a client to bring them into the presence of God.

[00:13:52] And see what might happen. So it's a wonderful corrective for me in my work that I imagine a lot of people, no [00:14:00] matter what their vocation can relate to.

[00:14:02] Scott Maderer: And when you were talking earlier about self care you mentioned doing the small thing of air quotes around small thing of the breath, prayer and the stretching and a few moments of.

[00:14:14] physical movement and spiritual recentering and how big of an effect that had on you for the whole day. I'm a big believer in tiny habits and compounding behavior is what I call it. We all talk about compound interest, but it's no compounding behavior do the little things over and over again.

[00:14:32] And it adds up to a lot. How do you view. Self care what do you think people misunderstand about it or get wrong when they're thinking about self care and what's the reframe that you like to put them through?

[00:14:50] Janice McWilliams: Oh, yeah let me start with a little anecdote. I was writing I was working on writing this book about self care and my friend texted me and she said, Oh my [00:15:00] gosh, Janice there's a line of self care Barbies.

[00:15:06] And I was like, what? And I looked it up right away. And sure enough, there's a breathe with me Barbie and there's a spa day Barbie. There's a line of them, which of course I purchased all of them because they were so hilarious. But I, but what I realized is that particularly the spa day Barbie.

[00:15:27] Is what makes me so frustrated about how people conceptualize self care, because having a spa day is perfectly wonderful thing to do. I don't have anything against doing a spa day, but what it cements in people's minds is that self care is something I do when my life is not working and I'm exhausted and fatigued and burning the candle at both ends, and I stop what I'm doing and I do the spa day, which is really expensive, probably requires many hours of childcare.

[00:15:56] And I do the thing and then it's great. And you feel [00:16:00] great. It probably represents some kind of a bit of recovery and then you resume the unsustainable life again on Monday, immediately following the spotty. So it doesn't have a real lasting impact. Things like that spa day to me are best when they're replenishment for people and not just.

[00:16:19] Recovery, helping them barely survive and hang on. And so what I like people to do is shift from Barbie style self care mindset to an integrated that self care should be both daily and doable that it's woven into their days. So I love to teach my clients about this idea I call hormone soup.

[00:16:47] So this came from a time when I was, I had one of my housemates made tortilla soup and I had a bite of this tortilla soup and I was like, oh, wow, this has got a, like a big [00:17:00] kick by two or three, I'm becoming uncomfortable like the 4th bite. I'm like, I don't think I can eat this soup.

[00:17:08] And my friend who made the soup said something's wrong with the soup. And we checked the recipe and sure enough, she had put a tablespoon of cayenne in the recipe and it didn't call for a teaspoon something I think all of us have done. A lot of people would love that soup.

[00:17:23] But for me, it was like, I wasn't used to it. It was burning my mouth up. But people who cook know, you don't necessarily have to throw out that vat of soup just because it has too much spice in it. You might be able to add brown sugar or yogurt or potatoes or something to mellow out the flavor and make it really palatable again.

[00:17:41] And so this was like a little. Huh. For me, when thinking about our bodies and what does self care really mean? Because if you think of your body as a vat of soup, you're cooking every day and you start the day with stock and your ingredients are just loosely [00:18:00] stress hormone and happy hormone and that you're making deposits of stress and happy hormone and to make this soup palatable, what.

[00:18:11] What will happen is like a lot in a lot of periods of our lives, we're going to have a lot of stress from them in our soup, just your stock at the beginning of the day might be already overspiced, but we don't have to throw out that. Soup like a lot of times people will get the message from their doctor, eliminate your stressors and so you'll feel better.

[00:18:32] And I'm like sometimes you can't really eliminate your stressors now, can you? But

[00:18:36] Scott Maderer: If I do that, I'll go to prison. Or

[00:18:39] Janice McWilliams: what if your stressor is your teenage child or your like I

[00:18:45] Scott Maderer: said, if I eliminate my stressors, I'll go to prison. Exactly.

[00:18:49] Janice McWilliams: Exactly. So yeah, sometimes you, you can't do that.

[00:18:53] So you're going to have stress hormone, but I want people to know how to put more deposits of happy [00:19:00] hormone or soothing hormone into their days to balance out that soup. So that is actually palatable and even tasty throughout the day. And that's what something like the moving the body and saying breath prayer does is it adds a deposit into the body of soothing and happy hormones in the midst.

[00:19:20] of what may be a very stressful part of life. So that, that thinking about that hormone soup and making a recipe that makes your soup taste good in morning, midday and evening, that's what I like to help people conceptualize. Cause I feel like it is, it makes it really doable to think about what are the things I could sprinkle throughout my day that represent.

[00:19:48] The hap the deposits of happy hormone that are going to help me feel better.

[00:19:54] Scott Maderer: What are some of those things that people can add to the rhythm of their day? [00:20:00] That you found that, that help what are some of the quote low hanging fruit for lack of a better word in terms of most of us could probably do this kind of thing.

[00:20:12] Janice McWilliams: Yeah. I love just talking to people about a better break. Like a lot of people when I ask them do you take a break during your day at all? And most people do take some kind of break and some people take fabulous breaks, but most of us, when they take a break most of us pick up our phones.

[00:20:32] Now, our phones may give us happy news and may, but it may also give us stressful news headlines. We may check our work email, which is usually represents a deposit of stress hormone. There may be. ads in your social media feed that make you question whether you're too fat, wrinkled old, whatever, like that, that, that gives you stress hormone as well.

[00:20:58] So I just like to [00:21:00] coach people around two or three times a day. What if you take a better break and a better break just means anything that puts. happy hormone into your body. And so for me, that might be just really stopping and sipping a cup of tea. It can mean stepping outside, walking around the block.

[00:21:22] It could mean playing playful or just soothing music. That helps me. So I love challenging people to a better break, at least once or twice a day. So totally accessible and you can be creative and do it in any way you like. The other thing I like to suggest is a swap out. And a swap out is basically, is there something you do every day that's pretty stressful that you could just swap out for something that's not so stressful as so not unlike a better break.

[00:21:55] But the way that this often works for me is on my [00:22:00] commute to and from work. My standard practice is to listen to MBR. I listen to the news. That's how I catch up on the news. But when I feel my body is overstressed. Are a little too spicy. I don't do that. I listen to music instead so I swap out lists it doesn't take any more time to do this, but it makes a big difference, it's swapping out news for music that just makes me happy. There a lot of people will do something like over the morning coffee, they'll read the news or they'll check the work email. What if you read a Psalm while you drink your coffee instead?

[00:22:40] So those things would be. swap outs. So I, I love to challenge people right off the bat. Can you plan a better break? Can you plan a swap out? At least one of each and just see what the impact is.

[00:22:54] Scott Maderer: What have you seen in terms of I [00:23:00] find a lot of times when we're introducing new behavior, new habit, there's an initial pushback for lack of a better word a rebound effect of no, that's not going to work because whatever.

[00:23:15] What have you found that people find challenging when they're trying to shift those rhythms?

[00:23:24] Janice McWilliams: There you're right. There is a lot of skepticism, usually really helping people understand the hormone soup metaphor. is pretty compelling because the way we actually feel in our bodies and emotionally is so directly related to the hormones in our body.

[00:23:45] I think people don't really get it. That's just the way we're made, and sometimes the resistance can be overcome by that, but when, whenever I'm setting up a hormone soup plan with somebody, I'm like, okay, What's it going to look like for you to actually [00:24:00] lean into this experiment? And do you need reminders in your phone?

[00:24:04] Do you need post it notes? What will it take? Or if people are thinking we talk about it and they're like, I'm probably not going to do this and I'm like, okay, let's dial it back to something that's more doable to you than whatever we've just planned, like to dial it into the intervention that the person is asking for.

[00:24:23] really and truly willing to experiment with. And so usually we can get to one. And I, the results, are pretty, pretty great. When folks actually lean into this and do it, they do find like, Oh, it actually is very helpful to do some of these small things and just supporting me while I'm going through this difficult time in life.

[00:24:52] Scott Maderer: So why did you choose to write the book? Restore My Soul, the re imagining self care for a sustainable life, which by the way, I love the [00:25:00] subtitle. But what, why did you choose to put. The message in a book.

[00:25:07] Janice McWilliams: Oh, I think it was just because I was seeing so consistently in my work and therapy and spiritual direction that people were suffering and feeling terrible.

[00:25:18] And there would come a point in our sessions inevitably where I would say, okay, how can you start feeling better tomorrow? We want to do some things that help support you right away. And I realized that not only the interventions like the better break and and the swap out, which are about the rhythms of our days, but I realized that there were these other realms of that.

[00:25:49] I felt like we're mission critical when it came to daily self care, the realm of thoughts, the realm of emotions, and the realm of rhythms, and then the [00:26:00] realm of fulfillment. And so that's what the book covers. It's what does self care look like in the realm of our thoughts?

[00:26:08] What does it look like in the realm of our emotions? What does it look like in the realm of rhythms? And what does it look like in the realm of fulfillment? And fulfillment is like the most neglected. I feel like of the four that people aren't talking about my, I, my anecdotal belief in the work that I'm doing is that if people don't experience a sense of fulfillment in most days.

[00:26:30] They're going to start to feel pretty bad. I also noticed that a lot of people who would come to me would have gone through getting really overwhelmed and life caving in on them and getting really fatigued. And so they would go through this. I'm going to quit everything extra or quit everything I can and then come to therapy and then we get into the therapy work for a while and realize oh, you when you quit everything, you ended up quitting things that were really meaningful [00:27:00] to you that brought you great joy and fulfillment.

[00:27:03] We need to reintroduce some of these things back into your life with this overall. A plan to care for yourself better so that you can experience the fulfillment that volunteering brought or that prayer meeting brought or that, that lunch with a friend brought when they went through the flurry of quitting everything, they put all those things.

[00:27:26] Yeah, I, I feel like. The book just came from the sense of the best practices. That almost everybody. would benefit from considering. And I do think that the book is, it, I think it's best when you consider it to be a manual that you come and go from, that you might revisit at different periods of your life.

[00:27:52] Because it, it has distinct skills in each of the four realms to learn. And at different [00:28:00] points in your life, you might benefit from the skills of, The different areas at one point in your life, you really might be. struggling with the way your thoughts are making you feel you're plagued with worry or with rumination or with despair.

[00:28:15] And then you really might want to tackle the skills that relate to holding on to thoughts in a different way. But at another point in your life, you really might be I need that better break and swap out. I need to think about, I need to think about the rhythms of my day. What are my mornings like?

[00:28:30] What are my evenings like? And tackle that. So it it's a great resource. I hope that people can Revisit over time.

[00:28:41] Scott Maderer: When you think about those areas that you were just talking about, thought, fulfillment and all of that. I think a lot of times where the quitting everything comes from is people confuse busy with productive, right?

[00:28:58] That [00:29:00] it's almost become in our culture that I'm busy is the neat jerk answer to the question of how you're, how are you doing? It used to be, I'm fine. Now it's, I'm busy and it's almost like that's a badge of honor. Thank you.

[00:29:14] Janice McWilliams: Yeah. And

[00:29:14] Scott Maderer: yet busy just means my time is filled up.

[00:29:18] That's all that means. It doesn't necessarily mean I'm doing anything fulfilling or anything that is I want to do or anything else. It just means I've filled my calendar. How do you help people begin to differentiate between those things that they're doing because they feel obligated to, because they have to, because and again, there's some things that we have to do just because You're an adult human being and you live in the world and laundry's got to get done nobody really wants to do laundry but those sorts of things.

[00:29:50] What, how do you help folks begin to divide and differentiate between those sorts of activities?

[00:29:58] Janice McWilliams: One of my favorite [00:30:00] things to look at in regards to this great topic is to look at the life of Jesus. In the first chapter of the gospel of Mark, we see Jesus in in a day in his life.

[00:30:16] And so midway through that first chapter of Mark he is teaching in the synagogue and I'm thinking, Oh, great output. You must be exhausted end of your day. No, it's not the end of his day because a demon obsessed person comes and he delivers that person. And then I'm like, job.

[00:30:36] Well done. Now you can relax. Nope. He goes to Simon's house and heals Simon's mother in law. Then I'm thinking, now you're good, right? No, then the whole town comes. After dark that at that house of people who are sick and possessed, and he does all this healing and deliverance. So I, I appreciate this [00:31:00] day in the life of Jesus.

[00:31:01] Because it's a busy, fast productive I call it a fast day. It's a day where a lot was happening. Jesus was open to interruptions. He went from here to there. He had a a, yeah, bring it on mentality about it. And I like it because we can all relate to life being like that sometimes.

[00:31:25] Sometimes it's just fast. There's a lot going on, right? The next morning, it's really interesting because he gets up before it's light. So he possibly didn't even sleep at hours that night. I don't know. He had the late night of doing healing and deliverance ministry. The early morning, he gets up before it's light and goes to pray.

[00:31:45] Now the disciples come to find him and say, Bye. Basically, Hey all the people are waiting for you for day two of this awesome ministry. You started yesterday of healing and deliverance. Won't it be fabulous? Let's keep doing it. [00:32:00] But Jesus says to them, no because I'm going to go to the next towns and preach there also for that is why I came.

[00:32:11] So while we're not privy to that prayer time, it does seem to imply. his actions afterwards seem to imply that in that prayer time, he really got direction about what was his to do. So doing the next day of the healing and deliverance ministry would have been wonderful. Everybody was expecting him to do it.

[00:32:34] Namely the possessed and sick people, but his close disciples expected him to do it. So that's there's a lot of pressure and all of us can relate to feeling the pressure to do the obvious thing. Everyone, absolutely everyone wants you to do. But what Jesus is able to discern is his own mission is different than that, that going to the next towns and preaching there [00:33:00] is what is his to do.

[00:33:01] So I love That prayer is just to ask God, what's mine to do? And a lot of times I think we can find discernment about just the busy things that everyone expects us to do versus the things we in particular are called to do. And it helps us find the ability to say no to some things and to find our yes.

[00:33:29] For the things that we're most aligned with that are most about who we are and who we're gifted to be and why we're on this earth. And I feel like that's like the best kind of stewardship there is to be able to have the kind of relationship with God, where we're able to find our yeses and our nose in the midst of life.

[00:33:52] To be able to have the courage to disappoint some people. in order to be really focused on [00:34:00] what we are really intended to be about.

[00:34:04] Scott Maderer: And a lot of times what I've found is when we have the courage to do that, all of a sudden, those things that we thought would never get done. Because I'm the only one that can do that.

[00:34:15] All of a sudden somebody else steps up and starts doing it. And oftentimes their gifting is aligned with the thing and they do it even better than you did.

[00:34:22] Janice McWilliams: And

[00:34:26] Scott Maderer: often, if anything, I've seen people get mad at. Now the new person is doing it better than me. And it's no, be thankful for that. That is a blessing that does not occur keep your mouth shut and say, how can I support you in your ministry?

[00:34:40] That is the right response to that. And yet there is a natural feeling of, Oh, they're doing it better than me. Yeah cause you probably held on to it a little longer than you should have. Maybe it does happen. And again, I get that because I've done that. I understand that fully that's [00:35:00] easy to do.

[00:35:01] So I've got a few questions that I like to ask all of my guests, but before I, I ask you those, is there anything else about the work you do or the book or the, this hormone soup metaphor that you really want the listener to hear?

[00:35:15] Janice McWilliams: Just want everyone to sense the invitation from God, that burnout is not God's desire for you and that meaningful self care does not have to be as hard as you think.

[00:35:34] Scott Maderer: So you mentioned stewardship a minute ago, and that's my brand, Inspired Stewardship, but I run things through that lens of stewardship. And yet that's one of those words that means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. So when you hear the word stewardship, what does that word mean to you?

[00:35:52] Janice McWilliams: I love thinking about stewarding our inner world. [00:36:00] I know you think a lot about stewardship and my kind of in this journey of thinking about self care. I, my focus, I'm initially even the language I was have. The other one that I've been using is self stewardship. Are you stewarding your inner world, your inner experiences in a way that enables you to live well to find the green pastures, to live into your calling and your purpose.

[00:36:28] So I feel like learning to do some of the things that, that we've been talking about today is about stewarding yourself, stewarding your inner world. In a way that keeps you steady and as healthy as possible and this connected to Jesus as possible and as aligned with why you're here on this world on this earth to steward your efforts.

[00:36:56] So yeah, I'm all about it. Stewarding your inner [00:37:00] world is what I love.

[00:37:03] Scott Maderer: So I this is my favorite question that I like to ask everybody. Imagine for a minute that I could invent this magic machine. And with this machine, I could pull you from where you are today, pluck you from the seat and transport you into the future, maybe 150, maybe 250 years.

[00:37:20] But through the power of this machine, you were able to look back and see your entire life I see all of the connections, all of the ripples, all of the impacts you've left behind. What impact do you hope you've left in the world?

[00:37:33] Janice McWilliams: I hope I have helped people figure out how to live better so that they feel better as they're pursuing their call, that they're, they know how to take care of themselves, no matter how stressful they are.

[00:37:51] a life situation may be that, that they know right away how to help themselves in their inner [00:38:00] world, orient towards more steadiness and more peace more focus on God, more turning to God for help small interventions in their day to give them rest and reprieve. So I, I hope that is my impact.

[00:38:23] Scott Maderer: So what's on the roadmap? What's coming next as you continue on this journey?

[00:38:28] Janice McWilliams: I love talking about this topic a lot. I have had some great experiences of really being able to tailor the content of my book to people who are ministry leaders. And so I'm coming soon. We'll have an online course for ministry leaders that, that takes the concepts of from Restore My Soul.

[00:38:53] Really bring some biblical foundation and some anecdotes that are particularly tailored to people who were either [00:39:00] pastors or ministry leaders of some kind. Because I am particularly excited about empowering people who are called to ministry to be able to do it without burning out. And these days, I think that the numbers are about 40 percent of ministry leaders are reporting some level of burnout and that really alarms me.

[00:39:21] I don't want to see people abdicating their sense of call because they can't figure out how to live well into their calls.

[00:39:31] Scott Maderer: You can find out more about Janice McWilliams over at Hormone Soup. resource. com. Of course, I'll have a link to that over in the show notes as well. Janice, is there anything else you'd like to share with the listener?

[00:39:46] Janice McWilliams: That hormone soup resource. com has 50 self care ideas that take five minutes or less. So I encourage you to grab that resource and make your own hormone soup. Plan using some of [00:40:00] those ideas and coming up with some of the, of your own, but I wish you well, and I definitely hope that you will make the daily and doable changes that make you feel better so that you can pursue your kingdom living without overwhelm or burnout.

[00:40:19] Scott Maderer: Thanks for being here.

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