Tag: change

A Recap of the Mantra Series

2.2.

Over the past few months, I’ve shared my Top 10 Mantras — simple, powerful phrases meant to steady you in a world that often feels chaotic and unpredictable. My goal was to give you something you could return to any moment, something that helps you breathe, refocus, and remember your own strength.

It’s been incredibly meaningful to hear from so many of you who found the mantra you needed most. Thank you for reading, reflecting, and sharing your stories with me.

As we close out this series, here’s a quick recap of each mantra. You can find the full articles at ritaburgettmartell.com.

Your 10 Mantras — A Quick Review

1. What’s Important Now: A grounding question that keeps your choices aligned with the phase  of life you’re actually living.

2. Now Is Not Forever: A reminder that everything changes — the joy and the struggle. This mantra helps you hold both  the good times and the bad with perspective.

3. SW SW SW N — Some Will. Some Won’t. So What? Next! A reset for rejection. Someone else’s opinion isn’t your worth, and your next “yes” is still ahead. Move on!

4. I Am Creating a Beautiful Life: Even in the face of uncertainty or loss, you have the power to build something new and meaningful.

5. I Trust Myself to Make the Best Decision for Me. Your inner wisdom is your best guide. This mantra strengthens your courage to choose what’s right for your life.

6. I Let Go of What I Cannot Control: Letting go isn’t weakness — it’s wisdom. Release what drains you and focus on what’s truly yours to control.

7. I Choose to Focus on What’s Good: A shift in perspective. It doesn’t deny reality; it reframes it. What you focus on expands.

8. My Faith Is Stronger Than My Fear Faith doesn’t erase fear — it keeps fear from taking over. It gives you courage to move forward even when the path is unclear.

9. I Embrace Change and Look Forward to New Beginnings. A companion for transition. It helps you shift from what’s ending to what’s possible.

10. I Am Confident. Confidence grows with use. This mantra interrupts the voice that keeps you small and strengthens the one that lifts you up.

A Closing Thought

As you carry these mantras into your daily life, I hope they continue to steady you, strengthen you, and remind you of your own resilience. Life will keep shifting, stretching, and surprising you — but you already have everything you need to navigate whatever comes next.

One mantra, one moment, one courageous step at a time, you are growing into the next version of yourself.

Mantra #10: I Am Confident

A mantra for moments when your confidence needs a boost

This final mantra in our series may be the most important one of all. Confidence influences everything — how we show up, what we say yes to, what we walk away from, and the life we ultimately create.

And here’s the truth: even the strongest people lose their confidence sometimes. I definitely have. There have been moments in my life when I felt capable and grounded one day, and the next day I questioned everything about myself. Confidence isn’t a permanent state; it’s something we rebuild again and again.

Maybe you’ve felt that too.

You get offered a bigger role, and instead of excitement, you hear that familiar voice inside your head: “You can’t do that.” You want a loving, meaningful relationship, but you hear another voice: “No one would choose you.” Or maybe something happened — a failure, a loss, a betrayal— and your confidence didn’t just dip, it cracked. Suddenly, that inner voice says, “You’re not enough,” and part of you believes it.

I’ve been there. Most of us have.

That’s why this mantra matters. “I am confident” isn’t about pretending you’re fearless. It’s about gently interrupting the voice that keeps you small and replacing it with one that lifts you up.

You can adapt it to whatever you’re facing: “I am confident I will succeed in this new role.” “I am confident I can lead this project.” “I am confident I can build healthy relationships.” “I am confident I will find people who will support my dreams instead of those who tell me I can’t do it..”

Research confirms this — repeating mantras and practicing positive self-talk can truly change your mindset. But I’ve also seen it in my own life and in the lives of clients: confidence grows when you act as if you already have it.

When you project confidence — even if you’re still shaky inside — people respond differently. They see you as capable, and that view boosts your self-belief. Acting confident helps you actually feel confident.

Think about someone you admire. Someone who seems grounded and self‑assured. Notice how they dress, how they speak, how they use their words. Confidence isn’t loud or flashy. It’s clear. It’s calm. It’s intentional.

And here’s the part I want you to really take in: Being confident simply feels good. It frees up energy you’ve been wasting on self‑doubt and redirects it toward your goals. It helps you see more choices, make better decisions, and move toward the life you want with steadiness and trust.

Confidence isn’t something you either have or don’t have. It’s something you practice. It’s something you grow. And this mantra is one way to begin.

So, in conclusion, let me ask you:

  1. When was the last time you felt truly confident? What was happening in your life at that moment?
  2. What situations or relationships tend to shake your confidence the most? Why might that be?
  3. If you acted confident today — even just for an hour — what would you do differently?
  4. What part of your life would change the most if you trusted your abilities a little more?
  5. Who in your life models the kind of confidence you admire? What specific behaviors do they show that you could practice?
  6. What is one small action I can take this week that would strengthen my confidence?
  7. What would your life look like a year from now if you practiced this mantra regularly?

I am confident. A simple little mantra that can change your life. Say it until you feel it. Say it until you believe it. Say it until it becomes the truth you live from.

Mantra #9: I Embrace Change and Look Forward to New Beginnings

A Mantra to Guide You as You Move Through Change

When I think about embracing change, I think of my neighbor Holly. Her story is a reminder that even the most unexpected endings can open doors we never imagined.

After 30 years as a record‑breaking sales professional, Holly lost her job when her company was acquired. She didn’t just lose a paycheck — she lost the future she thought she was building. Like many of us, she cycled through anger, fear, and self‑blame. Big change does that. It shakes your identity and clouds your vision.

But getting stuck in grief keeps you from seeing the opportunities that loss can create. Holly chose to focus on what might come next. She set up a small booth at the county fair to test selling her fried green tomatoes. She sold out almost every night. That tiny step revealed something important: people loved her product.

So she took a leap. She used her severance to buy a food truck and launched a business selling fried green tomatoes and other Southern favorites. When customers began asking for her batter and secret sauce, she tested selling those too — another step. In her second year, she launched a retail line.

Then came the leap of all leaps: Shark Tank auditions in Nashville. She showed up, excelled, appeared on the show, and secured a deal with Barbara Corcoran. A second truck followed. Then franchising. Today, 14 years later, Holly has a national product line, franchise opportunities, and two thriving food trucks.

Most of us don’t feel that kind of clarity after a major change. Instead, we feel like we’re standing in thick fog — unable to see what’s ahead or even who we are now. That fog can appear after job loss, retirement, an empty nest, or even after achieving a long‑held goal. A chapter ends, and suddenly your identity shifts. You wonder: What now? Who am I becoming?

After years of guiding clients through transitions — and walking through many of my own — I’ve learned that you have two choices in the fog: stepping or leaping. Both require movement. Both lead you forward.

Stepping

Stepping is choosing the next small, best step — not the whole plan, not the whole future. Just one step. Then reassess and take another.

Movement creates energy. Energy creates momentum. And momentum slowly clears the fog.

You don’t need a five‑year plan. You don’t need to know your destination. You simply keep moving, learning, adjusting, and asking, “What’s the next right step?” Even missteps teach you something that helps you move forward.

If you sit still and wait for clarity, you may stay stuck far longer than you need to. But if you keep stepping, one day the fog lifts — and you realize you’ve walked yourself into a new beginning.

Leaping

Leaping is different. Leaping is what you do when clarity arrives — when you feel that spark of excitement about a future you can almost see.

When that moment comes, don’t talk yourself out of it. Don’t list all the reasons you can’t. Leap. Trust that the net will appear. Trust that you will have what you need when you need it.

Stepping and Leaping Together

Most new beginnings require both. Holly stepped when she tested her tomatoes at the fair. She leaped when she bought the food truck. She stepped when she tried selling her batter. She leaped when she created a national product line and walked onto the Shark Tank stage.

She embraced change — and created a life she never could have planned.

And so can you.

Trust that change is not here to take something from you. It’s here to lead you somewhere new. What new beginning might be waiting for you if you take one small step today?

Embrace change and look forward to new beginnings.

Mantra #4: I Am Creating A Beautiful Life

A mantra for rebuilding, reimagining, and reinventing your life—
one choice at a time.

There are times when life falls apart—when the job ends, the relationship is over, and the future you expected fades away. I’ve experienced those moments too, looking at a life that no longer matched the one I had expected.

In those moments, repeating “I am creating a beautiful life” gave me hope. Not because anything felt beautiful, but because I needed to remember that beauty can be rebuilt. That I could begin again. That I could create something new, one choice at a time. And, I did.

This mantra isn’t about pretending everything is fine. It’s about remembering your power to create something meaningful, even in the middle of uncertainty or loss.

A beautiful life rarely arrives fully formed. It’s built—often in the middle of days that feel anything but beautiful. It grows from the choices you make about how you spend your time, who you allow in your life, and what you give your energy to.

When life feels confusing or unsteady, this mantra becomes an anchor. Those moments may feel like endings, but they’re also opportunities to design your life from the inside out.

In those moments you tell yourself: “I am creating a beautiful life. Not someday. Not when everything is perfect. Now.”

What is a beautiful life?

There’s no universal definition. Each of us must decide what beauty means in our own lives. But it helps to begin with the pieces that shape your everyday experience.

1. Your environment

Your surroundings influence how you feel. For me, a beautiful environment is the lake outside my window—water, trees, sky. I need nature. I need color. I need reminders that the world is bigger than whatever I’m worrying about.

Your version may look different:

  • A cozy apartment filled with plants
  • A high-rise view that glows at night
  • A tiny home tucked in the woods
  • A kitchen that smells like coffee and possibility

Ask yourself: What do I want to see when I wake up?  How do I want to feel? What surroundings help me breathe easier? What fills me with gratitude?

If your current environment is anything but beautiful, think about improvements you can make. Just adding plants, a vase of flowers, and a little color can make a big difference.

2. The people you choose to be around

A beautiful life is supported by beautiful relationships—not perfect people, but people who help you grow.

I’ve learned to limit time with chronic complainers, not because I don’t want to help, but because negativity spreads quickly. So does hope. So does courage. So does joy. And those feel so much better.

Consider the people in your life:

  • Who lifts you up?
  • Who drains you?
  • Who believes in your dreams?
  • Who makes you feel small?

A beautiful life is built with people who support your goals—not those who question your sanity when you talk about your dreams.

3. How you spend your time

Time is your most valuable resource . How you use it determines your direction.

An important question to ask yourself is “When was the last time I did something for the first time?”

A beautiful life isn’t lived on autopilot. It’s shaped by curiosity, courage, the willingness to imagine something better for yourself—and to try something new, even if you’re not good at it yet. Especially then.

Trying new things reminds you that you are still growing, still capable, and still becoming. It also allows you to connect with new people who might be better suited to be part of the life you want to create.

A beautiful life begins with one belief

You deserve the best life has to offer. You don’t have to settle. You have the power to shape your future. Don’t hand that power to others by living to please them. You’re the one who lives with the results of your choices—so choose the ones that lead you toward the life you want to create.

A beautiful life isn’t something you find. It’s something you build—with intention, courage, and a deep belief that you deserve more than just surviving.

So when doubt creeps in, or the path feels unclear, return to this mantra. Let it remind you that you’re not waiting for beauty—you’re creating it.

I am creating a beautiful life. And every day, in ways big and small, you already are.

Wake Up Rip Van Winkle

There are moments when I feel like Rip Van Winkle waking up from a long winter’s nap and questioning if COVID really happened or was it only a bad dream?

How could something come along so quickly that threatened our lives and livelihood, caused us to question if we would ever feel safe again, force us to make changes we didn’t choose, and then appear to leave us just as quickly?

Is it true that one minute I was on a cruise ship sailing around Australia, and the next I was scrambling to jump on the last flight out as Australia completely closed down and praying to get home before all US flights were grounded?

Did my husband and I really not go out of our house for months only to contact COVID from our four-year-old granddaughter and survive, when so many our age didn’t?

Continue reading “Wake Up Rip Van Winkle”