Sarah Maxwell (00:19.438)
Eee!
Sarah Maxwell (00:36.782)
So confession time. I have been finding myself falling back into a sneaky old program, old habit that I've had for a long time since I was a child lately. And it's been reversing my progress a lot. So I was wondering if maybe this was worth talking about. And I want to see if you are maybe going through the same thing.
Are you rewarding yourself with things that are actually reversing the progress that you're making? So in my scenario, it is chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, binging on so much sugar. It's insane. And I go through phases, right? I go through for months without it. I can then have it, you know, just once a week, just here or there, but it always creeps its way back in and ends up being the prominent.
that I want to eat especially on weekends like I can go the whole week and be really good and then it's Friday it's like ooh Friday and a big part of this the stories that I'm telling myself are well I've you know don't drink alcohol anymore I gave up cigarettes I gave up you know coffee most days I have it very rarely only if I'm working and weed and all sorts of things and so I'm sort of like yeah well you know chocolate's not so bad and blah blah blah truth is chocolate is
Fucking awful. It's so bad. Sugar is one of the biggest killers. It causes so many problems in our bodies. We know this. It's nothing new. If you haven't seen that sugar film, that's actually great. I'm going to watch that again today and just get a re -refresh of the info and just how bad it is. But yeah, basically, I'm just finding that.
I've been going to the gym a lot lately. I've started jujitsu recently and it's really intense on the body. It's a very big workout. And last week I was sick for about four or five days and wasn't quite sick. It was actually really frustrating because it was like, it wasn't quite taking hold. Cause I think, cause I look after my body so well and I take so many beautiful supplements and things that it was kind of like, if I didn't do all those things, I probably would have been really sick. But this was a case of...
Sarah Maxwell (02:56.302)
I was just really drained like by about 12 midday every day. I'd wake up in the morning, I'd be fine, get a lot done. And then by 12, it'd be like, I'd just run a marathon and I just needed to sleep. I needed to lay down. So there was a lot of couch time. And then because I had no energy and I wasn't in my normal routine, I didn't want to go out, you know, get the groceries and do all the good healthy things I usually do. So it was easy to just eat some crappy food. And then...
A week after I had work interstate for a few days. And so again, my routine was completely off and I was just eating whatever I could, whenever I could, you know, when we had breaks in between shoots and ended up eating a lot more sugar in various different forms. So anyway, I wanted you to maybe look.
at your own life and go, am I rewarding myself with things that are actually, you know, going completely against the progress I'm making? Like how hilarious is it that I will work out, I work my ass off all week and then I would have enough chocolate on a Friday night to completely undo all of that work? It's like, eh, and I know these things. This is the thing. It doesn't matter how much you can know, it's a matter of actually putting it into practice. And the one thing that I...
have found that helps me is respect for myself. Instead of really looking at the addiction because I've overcome many addictions in my life, instead of really focusing on that and going I gotta get rid of this. I've said this in a previous episode but basically I see it as like a box and this addiction at the moment it's chocolate is at the bottom of that box and instead of me reaching into that box and pulling out and it's really heavy trying to pull it out of this box.
I am instead going to put so many other positive, beautiful habits, beautiful rituals, beautiful things into my life. And that negative addiction, that pattern is going to fall out the bottom. And I have done this many times before. And it's just this last one is actually the very first addiction I ever had. I have had a sugar, a sweet tooth since I was a child and...
Sarah Maxwell (05:12.366)
Yeah, it's just hilarious that the first actual recorded footage of me in the world in my life was me on Easter morning when I think I was almost two years old and I was reaching for chocolate. I was like, chocolate, chocolate. And yeah, that kind of says it all. So it's obviously it's a tricky one because, you know, even though it is a very negative substance for us, it's.
readily available everywhere. It's the most socially accepted drug you can imagine and it is promoted every birthday, every Christmas, every Valentine's Day, any occasion, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate. So anyway, let's get into the facts here. It's all about the chemicals, right? It's about the dopamine, the serotonin, the oxytocin and the endorphins. And there's probably more. I'm not a scientist. You can Google all this sort of stuff, but from what I understand, those chemicals go...
into a frenzy when you know I'm using chocolate as the example but you can use any addiction any any substance that's bringing you into that state of like pure bliss and all these chemicals are going off in our brains right so we're then given this like imprint this memory of that occasion whether it's sitting on the couch eating chocolate whether it's having a cigarette on a lunch break whether it's having a drink with a friend whatever it is we're then
left with the memory of how good that felt. So when we think back to that occasion, all of those chemicals start flooding back in the memory of it. And we think, we've got to do that again to recreate that feeling. It's all about the feeling. That's literally all we're chasing is a full wholeness, a beautiful feeling. And it's funny because I've just done a couple of weeks ago, I did an episode on self love and this is actually the answer to all of it.
having that complete self -love, that wholeness, so you don't crave anything external. You are your own supply, basically. But I have noticed that this little sneaky addiction has come back. We're all human, right? No one is perfect, especially me. And this is the one thing that I'm working on right now. So let's look at why these chemicals are so important, the benefits of them. So they reduce pain.
Sarah Maxwell (07:30.798)
This is, we're talking about dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and endorphins. They reduce pain. They enhance your immune system. They regulate your appetite. They reduce anxiety and depression. They create a sense of higher self -esteem and so many other things. They give you a sense of comfort and they make you feel good. Right? So maybe have a look at your reality. Is there anything that you're doing in your life?
where you're rewarding yourself on a regular basis and it's actually reversing all of the progress that you're making. Obviously there's the example like I'm giving of you know are you working out at the gym all week and then eating crappy food on the weekend or maybe even every night and it's completely reversing all the hard work you're doing. Are you rewarding yourself with alcohol at the end of every day or after a big week you know just killing off all those brain cells you've been working on all week. Are you hanging out with negative people.
Each week after you've been spending all of your days trying to be in a more positive headspace, these are all things that we tell ourselves are our reward. But actually, are they a reward for us? Are they benefiting us and are they bringing us to our next level or are they actually holding us back or even reversing our progress? So...
Let's look at, once you look at what these things offer, right? These chemicals, all of those beautiful things that they give us, we can start to look at other ways that we can get those same effects because that is all we're seeking. We're just seeking the feeling. We're seeking joy. That's literally all we're after every day is joy. To feel good. Everything that you want, that you're craving, you're thinking, I want this, I want this, I want this. Why do you want them? You want them because you think that when you get them, you're going to feel good.
So these are really quick hits that we take every day to feel good, to get a really quick hit into that feeling good. But we can get that same feeling doing healthier things, right? So endorphins and serotonin, for example, exercise creates those same chemicals, massage, healthy foods, sex, oxytocin, for example, that's the known as the love chemical or the love hormone, I believe.
Sarah Maxwell (09:48.174)
playing with pets, you know, that's a huge one that creates oxytocin in your system. It's time with family, with kids, playing with kids, your nieces, your nephews, your sons and daughters, hugs. Hugs are amazing to create oxytocin. Get in on that. Go have more hugs with people and go ahead and Google for way more ideas. There's, you know, plethora of info about all of these different chemicals and what you can do to create those effects in you. But just remember that
You'll always be chasing that high if you go down the path of addiction. And addiction is a really quick fix, right? It's the quick way to feel good, but it's a phantom. It makes you feel good for a little bit, but you can't grasp it. You can't hold onto it. It disappears really quickly again, as quickly as it came. And then you're left feeling stripped, feeling shameful, feeling guilty. Whereas if you receive these chemical hits doing other things,
that are more beneficial to you, you get that chemical hit plus you get the result of that action that's usually long lasting. For example, if you're working out to get those chemicals, then you get the hit, but you're also healthier and you're stronger. If you work on a creative project, you get to keep that creation at the end of it. You know, you get the hit, the chemical hit, and then you also have the art or the dance or the song or whatever it is that you've been working on.
If you try and get those chemicals through meditation, you become more connected with yourself, leading to wholeness and a calm demeanor and the ability to handle more stress with ease. So there are definitely other ways to do it. And for me personally, I am very aware that sugar and my desire to have sugar is very much attached to TV, watching TV. And to be honest,
I don't even like anything that's on TV. I went a really long time without watching it at all. And it's just sort of crept its way in slowly but surely. And like I said, the last few weeks where I've been sick and then I've been out of town, it's just sort of become this, yeah, I'll just watch TV every night. And I can see the difference instantly. And sometimes it's fantastic to regress, right? If you're doing really well on your path, don't beat yourself up if you fall backwards a few steps, because sometimes it's great to remind yourself of why you do all this inner work and why you have come as far as you've come and why you continue.
Sarah Maxwell (12:15.15)
to choose yourself and your needs and you listen to your body rather than just giving into a whim of desire and constantly seeking escapism and dopamine hits and all of these things. So for me, I've realized it's very much attached to TV. And again, like I said, I don't even like anything that's on TV. I could spend like an hour just scrolling, trying to find something that's on TV just so I can eat some chocolate and enjoy TV because in my experience in the past, I have associated that with...
with relaxing, with peace. And the truth is, I get none of those things from it. I get a phantom version of that. It's false, it's simulated, and it disappears very quickly and I feel like crap afterwards. But I can get this feeling from making music, creating this podcast, working on different episodes every week. I get it from going for walks in nature. I get it in so many different ways. I feel incredible.
This last little thing has got to go though. So for me, what I'm going to do is I'm actually going to get rid of my TV because I don't need it. I really don't. When I have downtime, which is quite rare, I would rather read, read a book or work on music, practice guitar, practice piano, do some painting. I miss painting. But while I've got that quick, easy option there, when I'm feeling tired, it's especially when I'm feeling tired, you make choices that don't really serve you, right?
And again, it's such a human thing to do. So don't beat yourself up about that. That's just what we do. We're tired. We feel like, Hey, I deserve a reward. And we have convinced ourselves that this thing that's actually working against us is our reward. So I invite you to look at your own situation and see if there are any situations, any examples where you are reverting your own progress and telling yourself it's a reward.
And then maybe looking at other ways that you can receive that same feeling that you're getting from that action that you're doing. Anyway, that's where I'm at right now. And I'm really excited about this. I'm so excited to see how much progress I make and how much more I can learn about myself without having a TV. I think that's just, I'm so excited. Like it's going to be a big shift at the start because I've always had a TV available if I want to watch it. But yeah, I think sometimes.
Sarah Maxwell (14:39.15)
When you feel the call to make a big shift, just go for it. Trust yourself and watch what unfolds. So watch this space. I'm really excited about this one. But let me know how you go with this work. Hit me up on Instagram at Truejectory or at Sarah Louise Maxwell. And yeah, let me know about your situation, about what it is that you're overcoming and the fun stories that you've told yourself about why you deserve to do these things and...
All the ways that we twist negative action into, it's actually a positive, it's fine. All the fun little excuses we tell ourselves that can justify things that actually don't serve us. So anyway, stay true, love you.
Eee!
Sarah Maxwell (00:36.782)
So confession time. I have been finding myself falling back into a sneaky old program, old habit that I've had for a long time since I was a child lately. And it's been reversing my progress a lot. So I was wondering if maybe this was worth talking about. And I want to see if you are maybe going through the same thing.
Are you rewarding yourself with things that are actually reversing the progress that you're making? So in my scenario, it is chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, binging on so much sugar. It's insane. And I go through phases, right? I go through for months without it. I can then have it, you know, just once a week, just here or there, but it always creeps its way back in and ends up being the prominent.
that I want to eat especially on weekends like I can go the whole week and be really good and then it's Friday it's like ooh Friday and a big part of this the stories that I'm telling myself are well I've you know don't drink alcohol anymore I gave up cigarettes I gave up you know coffee most days I have it very rarely only if I'm working and weed and all sorts of things and so I'm sort of like yeah well you know chocolate's not so bad and blah blah blah truth is chocolate is
Fucking awful. It's so bad. Sugar is one of the biggest killers. It causes so many problems in our bodies. We know this. It's nothing new. If you haven't seen that sugar film, that's actually great. I'm going to watch that again today and just get a re -refresh of the info and just how bad it is. But yeah, basically, I'm just finding that.
I've been going to the gym a lot lately. I've started jujitsu recently and it's really intense on the body. It's a very big workout. And last week I was sick for about four or five days and wasn't quite sick. It was actually really frustrating because it was like, it wasn't quite taking hold. Cause I think, cause I look after my body so well and I take so many beautiful supplements and things that it was kind of like, if I didn't do all those things, I probably would have been really sick. But this was a case of...
Sarah Maxwell (02:56.302)
I was just really drained like by about 12 midday every day. I'd wake up in the morning, I'd be fine, get a lot done. And then by 12, it'd be like, I'd just run a marathon and I just needed to sleep. I needed to lay down. So there was a lot of couch time. And then because I had no energy and I wasn't in my normal routine, I didn't want to go out, you know, get the groceries and do all the good healthy things I usually do. So it was easy to just eat some crappy food. And then...
A week after I had work interstate for a few days. And so again, my routine was completely off and I was just eating whatever I could, whenever I could, you know, when we had breaks in between shoots and ended up eating a lot more sugar in various different forms. So anyway, I wanted you to maybe look.
at your own life and go, am I rewarding myself with things that are actually, you know, going completely against the progress I'm making? Like how hilarious is it that I will work out, I work my ass off all week and then I would have enough chocolate on a Friday night to completely undo all of that work? It's like, eh, and I know these things. This is the thing. It doesn't matter how much you can know, it's a matter of actually putting it into practice. And the one thing that I...
have found that helps me is respect for myself. Instead of really looking at the addiction because I've overcome many addictions in my life, instead of really focusing on that and going I gotta get rid of this. I've said this in a previous episode but basically I see it as like a box and this addiction at the moment it's chocolate is at the bottom of that box and instead of me reaching into that box and pulling out and it's really heavy trying to pull it out of this box.
I am instead going to put so many other positive, beautiful habits, beautiful rituals, beautiful things into my life. And that negative addiction, that pattern is going to fall out the bottom. And I have done this many times before. And it's just this last one is actually the very first addiction I ever had. I have had a sugar, a sweet tooth since I was a child and...
Sarah Maxwell (05:12.366)
Yeah, it's just hilarious that the first actual recorded footage of me in the world in my life was me on Easter morning when I think I was almost two years old and I was reaching for chocolate. I was like, chocolate, chocolate. And yeah, that kind of says it all. So it's obviously it's a tricky one because, you know, even though it is a very negative substance for us, it's.
readily available everywhere. It's the most socially accepted drug you can imagine and it is promoted every birthday, every Christmas, every Valentine's Day, any occasion, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate. So anyway, let's get into the facts here. It's all about the chemicals, right? It's about the dopamine, the serotonin, the oxytocin and the endorphins. And there's probably more. I'm not a scientist. You can Google all this sort of stuff, but from what I understand, those chemicals go...
into a frenzy when you know I'm using chocolate as the example but you can use any addiction any any substance that's bringing you into that state of like pure bliss and all these chemicals are going off in our brains right so we're then given this like imprint this memory of that occasion whether it's sitting on the couch eating chocolate whether it's having a cigarette on a lunch break whether it's having a drink with a friend whatever it is we're then
left with the memory of how good that felt. So when we think back to that occasion, all of those chemicals start flooding back in the memory of it. And we think, we've got to do that again to recreate that feeling. It's all about the feeling. That's literally all we're chasing is a full wholeness, a beautiful feeling. And it's funny because I've just done a couple of weeks ago, I did an episode on self love and this is actually the answer to all of it.
having that complete self -love, that wholeness, so you don't crave anything external. You are your own supply, basically. But I have noticed that this little sneaky addiction has come back. We're all human, right? No one is perfect, especially me. And this is the one thing that I'm working on right now. So let's look at why these chemicals are so important, the benefits of them. So they reduce pain.
Sarah Maxwell (07:30.798)
This is, we're talking about dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and endorphins. They reduce pain. They enhance your immune system. They regulate your appetite. They reduce anxiety and depression. They create a sense of higher self -esteem and so many other things. They give you a sense of comfort and they make you feel good. Right? So maybe have a look at your reality. Is there anything that you're doing in your life?
where you're rewarding yourself on a regular basis and it's actually reversing all of the progress that you're making. Obviously there's the example like I'm giving of you know are you working out at the gym all week and then eating crappy food on the weekend or maybe even every night and it's completely reversing all the hard work you're doing. Are you rewarding yourself with alcohol at the end of every day or after a big week you know just killing off all those brain cells you've been working on all week. Are you hanging out with negative people.
Each week after you've been spending all of your days trying to be in a more positive headspace, these are all things that we tell ourselves are our reward. But actually, are they a reward for us? Are they benefiting us and are they bringing us to our next level or are they actually holding us back or even reversing our progress? So...
Let's look at, once you look at what these things offer, right? These chemicals, all of those beautiful things that they give us, we can start to look at other ways that we can get those same effects because that is all we're seeking. We're just seeking the feeling. We're seeking joy. That's literally all we're after every day is joy. To feel good. Everything that you want, that you're craving, you're thinking, I want this, I want this, I want this. Why do you want them? You want them because you think that when you get them, you're going to feel good.
So these are really quick hits that we take every day to feel good, to get a really quick hit into that feeling good. But we can get that same feeling doing healthier things, right? So endorphins and serotonin, for example, exercise creates those same chemicals, massage, healthy foods, sex, oxytocin, for example, that's the known as the love chemical or the love hormone, I believe.
Sarah Maxwell (09:48.174)
playing with pets, you know, that's a huge one that creates oxytocin in your system. It's time with family, with kids, playing with kids, your nieces, your nephews, your sons and daughters, hugs. Hugs are amazing to create oxytocin. Get in on that. Go have more hugs with people and go ahead and Google for way more ideas. There's, you know, plethora of info about all of these different chemicals and what you can do to create those effects in you. But just remember that
You'll always be chasing that high if you go down the path of addiction. And addiction is a really quick fix, right? It's the quick way to feel good, but it's a phantom. It makes you feel good for a little bit, but you can't grasp it. You can't hold onto it. It disappears really quickly again, as quickly as it came. And then you're left feeling stripped, feeling shameful, feeling guilty. Whereas if you receive these chemical hits doing other things,
that are more beneficial to you, you get that chemical hit plus you get the result of that action that's usually long lasting. For example, if you're working out to get those chemicals, then you get the hit, but you're also healthier and you're stronger. If you work on a creative project, you get to keep that creation at the end of it. You know, you get the hit, the chemical hit, and then you also have the art or the dance or the song or whatever it is that you've been working on.
If you try and get those chemicals through meditation, you become more connected with yourself, leading to wholeness and a calm demeanor and the ability to handle more stress with ease. So there are definitely other ways to do it. And for me personally, I am very aware that sugar and my desire to have sugar is very much attached to TV, watching TV. And to be honest,
I don't even like anything that's on TV. I went a really long time without watching it at all. And it's just sort of crept its way in slowly but surely. And like I said, the last few weeks where I've been sick and then I've been out of town, it's just sort of become this, yeah, I'll just watch TV every night. And I can see the difference instantly. And sometimes it's fantastic to regress, right? If you're doing really well on your path, don't beat yourself up if you fall backwards a few steps, because sometimes it's great to remind yourself of why you do all this inner work and why you have come as far as you've come and why you continue.
Sarah Maxwell (12:15.15)
to choose yourself and your needs and you listen to your body rather than just giving into a whim of desire and constantly seeking escapism and dopamine hits and all of these things. So for me, I've realized it's very much attached to TV. And again, like I said, I don't even like anything that's on TV. I could spend like an hour just scrolling, trying to find something that's on TV just so I can eat some chocolate and enjoy TV because in my experience in the past, I have associated that with...
with relaxing, with peace. And the truth is, I get none of those things from it. I get a phantom version of that. It's false, it's simulated, and it disappears very quickly and I feel like crap afterwards. But I can get this feeling from making music, creating this podcast, working on different episodes every week. I get it from going for walks in nature. I get it in so many different ways. I feel incredible.
This last little thing has got to go though. So for me, what I'm going to do is I'm actually going to get rid of my TV because I don't need it. I really don't. When I have downtime, which is quite rare, I would rather read, read a book or work on music, practice guitar, practice piano, do some painting. I miss painting. But while I've got that quick, easy option there, when I'm feeling tired, it's especially when I'm feeling tired, you make choices that don't really serve you, right?
And again, it's such a human thing to do. So don't beat yourself up about that. That's just what we do. We're tired. We feel like, Hey, I deserve a reward. And we have convinced ourselves that this thing that's actually working against us is our reward. So I invite you to look at your own situation and see if there are any situations, any examples where you are reverting your own progress and telling yourself it's a reward.
And then maybe looking at other ways that you can receive that same feeling that you're getting from that action that you're doing. Anyway, that's where I'm at right now. And I'm really excited about this. I'm so excited to see how much progress I make and how much more I can learn about myself without having a TV. I think that's just, I'm so excited. Like it's going to be a big shift at the start because I've always had a TV available if I want to watch it. But yeah, I think sometimes.
Sarah Maxwell (14:39.15)
When you feel the call to make a big shift, just go for it. Trust yourself and watch what unfolds. So watch this space. I'm really excited about this one. But let me know how you go with this work. Hit me up on Instagram at Truejectory or at Sarah Louise Maxwell. And yeah, let me know about your situation, about what it is that you're overcoming and the fun stories that you've told yourself about why you deserve to do these things and...
All the ways that we twist negative action into, it's actually a positive, it's fine. All the fun little excuses we tell ourselves that can justify things that actually don't serve us. So anyway, stay true, love you.
