StoryMakers- Discover Identity, Purpose, and Belonging

59-What To Do When You Have Nothing Left

EMPTY, TIRED, AND STILL SHOWING UP- There are moments where you feel empty, tired, and unsure what you even have to offer. Instead of pushing through or pretending you’re fine, this episode walks through how to recognize what’s actually happening inside of you, shift the pressure you’re putting on yourself, and take simple steps to come back to a place of clarity and steadiness without forcing it.
Key Takeaways• Feeling empty is not failure, it is information about your current capacity and what needs attention• Depletion usually has a source, and identifying what is draining you brings clarity and relief• You don’t need to perform your way out of a slump, you can lead from honesty and take small steps to rebuild energy
Action GuideTake a moment to pause and ask yourself what you are actually feeling right now and where it is coming from. Then ask one simple question, what do I need in the next couple of hours to feel a little bit better. Choose one small action that supports your body, your mind, or your emotions, and let that be enough for today.
The Next Thing
Join the StoryMakers Lab! Check out the women's coaching library here.
Share this episode! Know a woman who needs encouragement in her journey? Send her this episode!
Connect with me! Follow me on Instagram @coachlauramalone and DM me your biggest takeaway!
Step into your calling! Learn more about my coaching and resources at Sterling & Stone Coaching.
✨ You are a StoryMaker. You are powerful, chosen, and capable. Step into your calling today. ✨
Music by https://uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day. License code: 6RD7Q6IO81E7MI2S.

58-Making Decisions for Future You

TODAY'S ACTIONS SUPPORT THE LIFE YOU WANT TOMORROW- Sometimes the best decisions are not the ones that feel easiest in the moment. They are the ones that help the version of you who will exist tomorrow, next month, or next year. In this episode we talk about a simple mental shift that can change daily choices. Ask yourself, “What would help the future version of me?” That question often changes how you approach your time, your health, your relationships, and your responsibilities. It is not about pressure or perfection. It is about small choices that make life easier and more aligned later. Supporting the future version of you is an act of wisdom and self leadership.
Key Takeaways• Small decisions today shape the experience of your future self.• Thinking about the future version of you creates clarity in everyday choices.• Supporting your future self is an act of responsibility, not selfishness.
Action GuideThink about something simple you can do today that would make tomorrow easier. It might be preparing something in advance, finishing a task, or choosing rest instead of distraction. Take one action that supports the future version of you.
The Next Thing
Join the StoryMakers Lab! Check out the women's coaching library here.
Share this episode! Know a woman who needs encouragement in her journey? Send her this episode!
Connect with me! Follow me on Instagram @coachlauramalone and DM me your biggest takeaway!
Step into your calling! Learn more about my coaching and resources at Sterling & Stone Coaching.
✨ You are a StoryMaker. You are powerful, chosen, and capable. Step into your calling today. ✨
Music by https://uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day. License code: 6RD7Q6IO81E7MI2S.

57-Stop Multitasking and Get More Done

DOING ONE THING AT A TIME IS MORE PRODUCTIVE- We live in a culture with a constant sense of mental noise. There are multiple conversations, responsibilities, and decisions happening at the same time. Phones buzz, tabs stay open, and our minds try to track everything at once. It feels productive, but the truth is that multitasking often leaves us scattered, anxious, and exhausted. In this episode we talk about why focusing on one thing at a time actually brings more peace and better results. Your brain was not designed to hold ten streams of attention at once. When you slow down and give your attention to a single task, your nervous system settles and your mind becomes clearer. One focused action often accomplishes more than an hour of divided attention.
Key Takeaways• Multitasking divides attention and increases mental stress.• Focusing on one task allows your brain to work with clarity and calm.• Peace and productivity often come from simplifying your attention, not increasing your effort.
Action GuideChoose one task tomorrow that you will do with full attention. Put the phone down, close extra tabs, and stay with that task until it is finished. Notice how it feels to give your mind one clear place to land.
The Next Thing
Join the StoryMakers Lab! Check out the women's coaching library here.
Share this episode! Know a woman who needs encouragement in her journey? Send her this episode!
Connect with me! Follow me on Instagram @coachlauramalone and DM me your biggest takeaway!
Step into your calling! Learn more about my coaching and resources at Sterling & Stone Coaching.
✨ You are a StoryMaker. You are powerful, chosen, and capable. Step into your calling today. ✨
Music by https://uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day. License code: 6RD7Q6IO81E7MI2S.

56-Consume Wisely Today to Produce Good Fruit Tomorrow

CONSUME WITH INTENTION - What you allow into your mind today is shaping who you are becoming tomorrow. Every show, every podcast, every conversation, every scroll is forming thoughts. Those thoughts become beliefs. Those beliefs influence emotions. Emotions drive actions. Actions produce results. And over time, those results build a legacy. If you do not choose what you consume, it will choose you. This episode is about becoming mindful of what you watch, listen to, and rehearse in your mind so that your inner world produces good fruit. Setting your mind on things above is not denial of reality. It is alignment with truth. What you pour in is what you will pour out.
Key TakeawaysWhat you consistently consume shapes your paradigms, and paradigms shape your life.Setting your mind on things above is an intentional mental posture, not passive optimism.Your future fruit is directly connected to today’s inputs.
Action GuideAudit your inputs this week. Notice what you are watching, listening to, and thinking about on repeat. Ask yourself if it is producing fear, comparison, resentment, and distraction, or faith, clarity, peace, and strength. Remove one input that is not serving you and replace it with something that aligns with who you are becoming.
The Next Thing
Join the StoryMakers Lab! Check out the women's coaching library here.
Share this episode! Know a woman who needs encouragement in her journey? Send her this episode!
Connect with me! Follow me on Instagram @coachlauramalone and DM me your biggest takeaway!
Step into your calling! Learn more about my coaching and resources at Sterling & Stone Coaching.
✨ You are a StoryMaker. You are powerful, chosen, and capable. Step into your calling today. ✨
Music by https://uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day. License code: 6RD7Q6IO81E7MI2S.

55-Is Your Storyline Helping or Harming You?

STORYLINES, ROOTS, AND TRUE FREEDOM - Most of us are living from a story that was formed before we had language to explain it. As children, we interpreted pain, unmet needs, and confusion through immature filters, and those interpretations became roots. Even after coming to faith, those roots can still shape our thoughts, reactions, and relationships. In this episode, you are invited to examine the difference between the story formed in survival and the story secured in Christ. Real transformation is not trimming behavior at the surface. It is allowing God to uproot false beliefs, renew your mind, and align your soul with the freedom that is already true in your spirit.
Key Takeaways• Childhood interpretations often become unconscious belief systems that shape adult reactions, even when they are no longer true.• Spiritual rebirth does not automatically rewrite soul patterns - renewal requires intentional belief work and partnership with the Holy Spirit.• You are not required to keep thinking thoughts that produce fear, victimhood, or resentment - you can choose beliefs that align with truth and create different results.
Action GuideIdentify one recurring thought that consistently produces frustration, fear, or spiraling emotion. Ask yourself what belief might be underneath it and whether that belief is rooted in truth or in an old interpretation. This week, consciously choose a different thought that aligns with who you are in Christ and observe how it changes your emotional response and behavior.
The Next Thing
Join the StoryMakers Lab! Check out the women's coaching library here.
Share this episode! Know a woman who needs encouragement in her journey? Send her this episode!
Connect with me! Follow me on Instagram @coachlauramalone and DM me your biggest takeaway!
Step into your calling! Learn more about my coaching and resources at Sterling & Stone Coaching.
✨ You are a StoryMaker. You are powerful, chosen, and capable. Step into your calling today. ✨
Music by https://uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day. License code: 6RD7Q6IO81E7MI2S.

54-Believing You Are Valuable

YOU'RE WORTH THE CONVERSATION- After you rise, there is a quieter question that follows: am I allowed to really look at my life with God? In this episode, we talk about the hesitation many women feel after awakening. The fear of being selfish. The pressure to stay grateful and quiet. The subtle belief that tending to your inner world is indulgent. You’ll hear why God is not intimidated by your questions, why conversation precedes calling, and why examining your story with Him is not rebellion but relationship. You are not a project to fix. You are a daughter invited into relationship.
Key Takeaways• Awakening often surfaces discomfort, and He will help you get through it.• God consistently initiates conversation in Scripture before He assigns responsibility.• Examining your story with Him is partnership.
Action GuideSet aside ten quiet minutes this week and ask God:
“Lord, what is happening in me? What do You say about it?”
“What lies am I believing? What is the truth I can trade the lies for?"
The Next Thing
Join the StoryMakers Lab! Check out the women's coaching library here.
Share this episode! Know a woman who needs encouragement in her journey? Send her this episode!
Connect with me! Follow me on Instagram @coachlauramalone and DM me your biggest takeaway!
Step into your calling! Learn more about my coaching and resources at Sterling & Stone Coaching.
✨ You are a StoryMaker. You are powerful, chosen, and capable. Step into your calling today. ✨
Music by https://uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day. License code: 6RD7Q6IO81E7MI2S.

53-The Power of Wanting What You Have

THE POWER OF WANTING WHAT YOU HAVE - There is a quiet exhaustion that comes from living as if life is always happening to you. When your inner world is shaped by deficit and disappointment, even good things feel fragile. In this episode, we talk about how to want what you have without shrinking your future. This is not about settling or suppressing desire. It is about shifting from resistance to agency. Some desires are meant to be pursued through action. Others require a reframing of how you relate to what is real. When you learn the difference, you stop striving or stagnating and start leading your life with clarity, strength, and discernment.
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Key Takeaways• Living from deficit trains your mind to scan for what is missing, which keeps you reactive and dependent on circumstances for stability.• Some desires require external movement and action, while other realities require an internal shift in meaning and mindset.• Agency grows when you ask what is mine to steward here instead of why is this happening to me.
Action GuideIdentify one area of your life that feels heavy or disappointing. Ask yourself, can I reasonably influence this through my choices or boundaries right now? If yes, name one concrete action you will take. If no, write down a new thought that restores agency and helps you steward this season with strength instead of resistance.
The Next Thing
Join the StoryMakers Lab! Check out the women's coaching library here.
Share this episode! Know a woman who needs encouragement in her journey? Send her this episode!
Connect with me! Follow me on Instagram @coachlauramalone and DM me your biggest takeaway!
Step into your calling! Learn more about my coaching and resources at Sterling & Stone Coaching.
✨ You are a StoryMaker. You are powerful, chosen, and capable. Step into your calling today. ✨
Music by https://uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day. License code: 6RD7Q6IO81E7MI2S.

52-The Gain Shift: How to Change Without Deprivation

LET DESIRE LEAD CHANGE - So many of us try to change our lives by chasing what we want less of - less stress, less chaos, less debt, less weight, less exhaustion. But loss is not a direction. It keeps you managing damage instead of building a life you actually want. In this episode, we flip the coin from loss to gain - and talk about how clarity around what you want creates energy, peace, and forward motion. We’ll unpack why desire is not unbiblical, why suppressed desire leaks out sideways, and how gain based decisions make boundaries, structure, and rest feel like freedom instead of deprivation. You’ll also hear a simple two week example you can copy to start gaining what you really want - without shame, striving, or burnout.
Key TakeawaysLoss based goals keep you reactive - gain based goals give you direction, momentum, and a life you can actually sustain.Desire is not the problem - vague, borrowed, and suppressed desire creates pressure, comparison, resentment, and drift.When you lead with what you want to gain, boundaries, structure, and rest stop feeling like restriction - and start feeling like protection for what you value.
Action GuidePick one area where you’ve been saying “I want less” and rewrite it as a gain. Less stress becomes more peace. Less spending becomes more stability. Less chaos becomes more order. Choose a simple time frame - 7 days or 14 days - and ask: What does this gain need from me this week? Make 2 to 3 decisions that support it, then reassess at the end. Did you gain anything - and did the journey feel freeing enough to keep going?
The Next Thing
Join the StoryMakers Lab! Check out the women's coaching library here.
Share this episode! Know a woman who needs encouragement in her journey? Send her this episode!
Connect with me! Follow me on Instagram @coachlauramalone and DM me your biggest takeaway!
Step into your calling! Learn more about my coaching and resources at Sterling & Stone Coaching.
✨ You are a StoryMaker. You are powerful, chosen, and capable. Step into your calling today. ✨
Music by https://uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day. License code: 6RD7Q6IO81E7MI2S.

51-It's Time to Rise Up! Are You Ready?

TIME TO RISE- There are seasons when you don't need a new assignment, more responsibility, or a louder call to action. You need your life and heart restored. In this episode, we talk about Talitha as a call to rise into aliveness again, not performance. Talitha is about awakening from numbness, reclaiming agency and voice, and returning to yourself with honesty and steadiness. Using the moment where Jesus speaks “Talitha koum” in Mark 5:41, we explore why personal awakening is not selfish, delayed, or weak, but necessary formation for any future leadership or influence.
Key Takeaways• Talitha is a call to life, not to responsibility for others• Awakening restores agency, presence, and self leadership before assignment• Rising does not require drama, urgency, or fixing, only honesty and permission
Action GuideAsk yourself where you have been functioning without fully feeling alive. Notice one place where you have gone quiet, numb, or small to keep things stable. This week, practice telling the truth about what you feel without rushing to change it. Let rising begin with awareness, not action.
The Next Thing
Join the StoryMakers Lab! Check out the women's coaching library here.
Share this episode! Know a woman who needs encouragement in her journey? Send her this episode!
Connect with me! Follow me on Instagram @coachlauramalone and DM me your biggest takeaway!
Step into your calling! Learn more about my coaching and resources at Sterling & Stone Coaching.
✨ You are a StoryMaker. You are powerful, chosen, and capable. Step into your calling today. ✨
Music by https://uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day. License code: 6RD7Q6IO81E7MI2S.

50-Reclaiming Identity: LeKesh Pettis on Finding Her Fire Again

RECLAIMING IDENTITY AFTER SURVIVAL - Many women don’t lose themselves all at once. They lose themselves slowly through shape shifting, people pleasing, carrying responsibility, and surviving one season after another. In this episode, my powerful friend LeKesh shares how she reached a breaking point, recognized she was off center, and made an intentional decision to reclaim who she was in Christ. She talks about surrender, rebuilding faith, learning boundaries, and the role of community in moving from endurance into self leadership.
"I don't need to make myself uncomfortable to make others comfortable."
Key Takeaways
Survival can feel responsible and faithful until it quietly costs you your sense of self.
Clear boundaries require honest communication and do not require guilt or justification.
Rebuilding identity often happens through grounding in Scripture, intentional prayer, and finding community that supports wholeness.
Action GuideIf you feel off center or worn down from carrying too much, take time this week to notice where you may be living from survival instead of self leadership. Choose one small step that helps you reconnect with God and with people who remind you that you are not alone.
LeKesh PettisLeKesh is a writer and advocate focused on caring for loved ones, faith grounded healing, women’s leadership, and survivorship. She is a mother and grandmother who draws from lived experience navigating abuse, chronic illness, grief, workplace harm, single motherhood, and rebuilding life and faith after trauma.
Connect with her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lekeshpettis/
Resources MentionedBoundaries by Henry CloudThe Turquoise Table by Kristin Schell
The Next Thing
Join the StoryMakers Lab! Check out the women's coaching library here.
Share this episode! Know a woman who needs encouragement in her journey? Send her this episode!
Connect with me! Follow me on Instagram @coachlauramalone and DM me your biggest takeaway!
Step into your calling! Learn more about my coaching and resources at Sterling & Stone Coaching.
✨ You are a StoryMaker. You are powerful, chosen, and capable. Step into your calling today. ✨
Music by https://uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day. License code: 6RD7Q6IO81E7MI2S.