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Choose Courage Over Comfort: Make 2026 a No-Regrets Year · The Nadia Chapman Show

• 0:06
  And welcome back to the Nadia Chapman Show. I'm saying good morning because it's 6 a.m. right now.
• 0:11
  And last night I recorded three podcasts to kick off 2026, finally.
• 0:17
  After feeling a little under the weather at the beginning of the year.
• 0:21
  And I was so excited to sit down behind the microphone and record some really fun topics for you,
• 0:27
  only to realize once I started to edit that the microphone pick up the cricket
• 0:35
  sounds last night right next to my office.
• 0:39
  If you don't know, I live on a farm and there's a lot of wildlife,
• 0:43
  including beautiful sounds of crickets at night, but they were so loud last
• 0:47
  night that you could literally hear them in the podcast.
• 0:51
  So I erased everything and here I am with a comeback this morning with my coffee
• 0:57
  in an empty house. The boys are camping.
• 1:00
  My daughter is still sleeping, and I decided to press the record button again.
• 1:07
  I want to talk about the new year and living a life of no regrets.
• 1:13
  I want this year to be a year that you're going to be proud of.
• 1:17
  There comes a moment in every season of life when you realize that waiting has
• 1:22
  quietly become a habit, and maybe you recognize yourself in this.
• 1:26
  Not because you're lazy or you're incapable of doing things.
• 1:30
  It's just because somewhere along the way, you learn that hesitation felt a
• 1:34
  little bit safer than movement, than action, and second-guessing felt more maybe
• 1:40
  responsible than choosing.
• 1:43
  As human, we all tell ourselves that, oh, I'm just being careful and being calculated
• 1:48
  and that we're just, you know, waiting for that perfect moment.
• 1:51
  We're gathering information.
• 1:54
  But often what we're doing is we're postponing our own lives.
• 1:58
  And regret doesn't arrive dramatically. It's always very quiet.
• 2:02
  It doesn't announce itself. It just kind of settles slowly inside of us,
• 2:06
  disguised in logic and patience. but showing up years later in the form of questions
• 2:12
  you can't answer anymore. So
• 2:14
  what if I had tried this? What if I had said yes? What if I trusted myself instead
• 2:20
  of waiting for permission?
• 2:21
  And those questions are heavy, not because you fail, but because you never allowed yourself to begin.
• 2:27
  And I'm going to tell you, I know you know that, but we are mortal.
• 2:32
  We are all going to die. Our time here on earth is limited.
• 2:36
  So today is an invitation, an invitation not to rush, not to force, but to move.
• 2:42
  Even when things are messy, even when your confidence hasn't caught up with
• 2:45
  you yet, and even when the outcome is not guaranteed, okay?
• 2:49
  Today, I want to invite you to step fully into your life this year.
• 2:53
  I'm going to tell you your truth bomb today.
• 2:56
  Most people don't regret the things they did.
• 2:59
  They regret the moments they talked themselves out of something because fear
• 3:04
  sounded more convincing and delay felt justified.
• 3:08
  And most of us believe that clarity comes before action and that once everything
• 3:12
  is figured out, everything makes sense, oh, the path feels solid,
• 3:17
  then we'll go ahead and we'll take that first step.
• 3:19
  But real clarity almost always come once you took action, once there's movement there.
• 3:26
  It's built in the doing, in the trying, in the willingness to show up again
• 3:30
  and again without knowing exactly how things are going to unfold.
• 3:34
  So waiting for clarity, if you're waiting for clarity before you take action
• 3:38
  this year, if you recognize yourself, it's like waiting for strength before
• 3:44
  lifting a weight. Are you following me?
• 3:47
  The strength is created by the effort itself, you see.
• 3:51
  I'm sure there's conversations that you're meaning to have or calls that you've
• 3:55
  rehearsed in your head. I'm sure there's some things you want to do.
• 3:58
  I'm sure there's some risk you want to take this year. I'm sure there's a plan
• 4:01
  or there's a conversation or there's a relationship, something that you want
• 4:05
  that you haven't done anything about it yet.
• 4:09
  Now, maybe you're pausing, not because you don't care, but because you care
• 4:13
  so deeply about getting it wrong. And that feels unbearable.
• 4:18
  And today I'm here to remind you that that silence has a cost and your avoidance
• 4:24
  doesn't protect you from discomfort. It simply delays it.
• 4:27
  Clarity, even when it's uncomfortable, is always lighter to carry. OK, so take a risk.
• 4:34
  You know, taking a risk isn't about being reckless or being impulsive.
• 4:38
  It's about recognizing that staying still is also a choice and often a riskier choice.
• 4:43
  When you don't move, you slowly disconnect from that version of yourself.
• 4:48
  And groat doesn't mean that you see the entire path ahead of you with,
• 4:54
  you know, with headlights on and everything is clear.
• 4:56
  It only asks that you take the next step instead of waiting for a guarantee
• 5:01
  that doesn't exist. I've said it before that second-guessing is often disguised as intelligence.
• 5:07
  It convinces you that, oh, if I keep thinking a little longer,
• 5:12
  somehow it will protect me from discomfort, when in reality,
• 5:16
  it keeps you circling around in the same direction,
• 5:20
  draining your energy and draining your confidence over time.
• 5:23
  So there comes a point in your life where more thinking doesn't create more
• 5:28
  clarity. okay? Stop pushing on the brake.
• 5:31
  Hesitating erodes trust, and trust in yourself is built by acting,
• 5:37
  not by endlessly reviewing and waiting what might go wrong.
• 5:41
  All right. You don't become ready before you begin.
• 5:45
  It never works like that. Readiness isn't a prerequisite for growth.
• 5:49
  It's a byproduct of it. So every meaningful transition in your life,
• 5:54
  growth, love, leadership, change likely happen before you felt fully prepared.
• 6:00
  If you think about that for a second, you've got to step forward when your hands
• 6:04
  are still shaking. All right.
• 6:06
  And you figure out things along the way. And this moment is no different,
• 6:10
  even if your mind tells you not to do it.
• 6:13
  All right. So 2026 and start today. Make that phone call today.
• 6:18
  Take that risk today. Launch that business today. All right.
• 6:21
  Make this year a year that you're proud of. And it doesn't mean that things
• 6:26
  have to be perfect right now.
• 6:28
  I want you to look back and say, oh, my God, you know what? I show up honestly.
• 6:33
  I didn't hide in the moment. when I was asked to choose my courage over comfort.
• 6:38
  And I want you to learn to trust yourself, trust yourself enough to move even
• 6:43
  when the outcome isn't clear.
• 6:46
  That's my biggest wish for you this year is to step boldly into your life.
• 6:52
  All right. So put your little pride aside for a second.
• 6:56
  Pride doesn't come from being flawless and doing things perfectly or external
• 7:00
  validation from others.
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  It comes from your own alignment, from knowing that your actions reflect your
• 7:05
  values and your effort matches your intention and that your choices are deeply
• 7:10
  rooted in that truth rather than your fear.
• 7:13
  So even the path that didn't work out shaped you in some form if you think about that.
• 7:18
  You know, it taught you something. It straightened you. And that counts so much
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  more than staying safe in your little bubble of comfort.
• 7:26
  So you are allowed to want more this year.
• 7:29
  You are allowed to want more than what feels familiar and what has been feeling
• 7:33
  familiar. You're allowed to outgrow.
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  You can outgrow your old goals, the old version of yourself and even your old
• 7:40
  definition of success. So wanting more doesn't make you ungrateful.
• 7:44
  It makes you honest. And honesty is the foundation of growth.
• 7:48
  So if there's something that you've been holding back from, a conversation,
• 7:53
  a decision, a leap in a new direction, a beginning, anything that you've been
• 7:59
  hesitating to do, consider this your permission to move.
• 8:03
  All right. Not perfectly, not fearlessly, but intentionally.
• 8:06
  And let this be the year that you stop waiting for certainty and just start choosing courage.
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  And just knowing in the back of your mind that the willingness to try is what
• 8:17
  keeps regrets from taking roots. You don't want to live with regrets. All right.
• 8:21
  And one day you'll look back, you'll look back at January, 2026.
• 8:25
  You'll look back at this season of your life and what will matter the most won't
• 8:29
  be how safe you played. Oh God, can you imagine?
• 8:32
  So go ahead, make 2026 your year, choose yourself again and again.
• 8:38
  You already know what to do. All right. You've got this. Thanks for listening.