When You Think It’s One Thing… But It’s Really Something Else (Relationship Series)

We’re opening the Relationship Series by exploring the truth that we are always in relationship - whether we realize it or not. Beyond intimate relationships or friendships, we live in relationship with our thoughts, our body, food, money, coping patterns, Spirit, our career, and the parts of ourselves we avoid or overlook.

This episode lays the foundation for the weeks ahead and includes a Magic of What If™ card pull and reflection questions to help you identify which relationships in your life are asking for your attention right now.

Reflection Questions:

1. What relationship in my life feels the most supportive right now - and why?
2. What relationship feels strained, avoided, or confusing?
3. Where does my energy feel most drained, and what relationship might be connected to that?
4. When I'm stressed, which relationships do I turn toward - and which do I avoid?
5. Which relationship - self, body, money, food, Spirit, career, habits, or people - is quietly asking for my attention?

Chapters

• 1:57 Opening And Series Launch
• 2:56 Expanding The Meaning Of Relationship
• 4:17 Hidden Dynamics Behind Our Patterns
• 6:21 Listener Note And Gratitude
• 7:41 Card Pull: Challenges As Opportunities
• 9:23 Holidays As Relationship Amplifiers
• 10:31 Preview Of Topics In The Series
• 12:22 Reflection Practice And Closing

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:59

Welcome back to the Pure Possibilities Podcast. I'm your host, Shannon, and today we are diving into something that has been on my heart and on my mind for quite some time. And it's been showing up in conversations, in coaching, and honestly, in my own life. We are starting a new series on relationships. And this isn't just the usual conversations about dating, marriage, friendships. What I really want to explore goes a lot deeper than that. Because honestly, we are always in relationship. And this has come up for me actually a lot over the course of last year because I hadn't really like connected all of that, that everything is a relationship, whether we're aware of it or not. Because we live inside a web of relationships. We are in relationship with our thoughts and beliefs, because a belief is just a thought that we keep having, with food, with money, with comfort and with discomfort, with distraction and avoidance, with our career, how aligned, fulfilled, or disconnected we feel, with spirit or your higher power, with substances, scrolling, numbing, habits, and coping patterns, with our dreams, our desires, our fears, and the parts of ourselves that we rarely look at, with our nervous system, with our emotions, with our body, and how it tries to communicate with us. And every single one of these relationships influences how grounded, connected, and fulfilled we feel in our daily lives. What I've noticed in myself and so many people is that we tend to hyperfocus on one or two of these relationships, usually the external ones, and completely ignore the internal ones. We pour everything into a partnership, but we neglect our own body. We work on our health, but ignore our relationship with money. We focus on food without exploring what's truly underneath the patterns. We set boundaries with other people, but never consider the boundaries we need with ourselves. We fix what's visible while avoiding what feels tender and important to us. And then something feels off or a familiar pattern comes back, or we feel disconnected, resentful, anxious, or stuck. And most of the time we assume that it's one thing when often it's something completely different. We think it's the relationship, but really it's our lack of emotional connection with our partner. We think it's the food, but it's really our unacknowledged loneliness. We think it's the money, but it's really safety. We think that we're overwhelmed, but it's really a boundary that we never set. We think it's the person, but it's really the version of ourself that we've abandoned. And this series is meant to open and expand that lens because these relationships, the internal, external, physical, emotional, spiritual, are all connected. We are energetic beings having a human experience and they are all energetically weaved together. They mirror each other, they reveal each other, and they show us where attention, care, truth, and compassion are needed. Before we go any deeper, I want to pause for a moment and thank one of our listeners who reached out recently. They shared a situation that they were navigating through and asked if I would be open to talking about it on the podcast. And their message was honest and vulnerable. And I so appreciate that they took the time to share their story with me. And it actually nudged this series into to happen a little sooner than I had planned. And I'm very grateful for that. So thank you very much. I truly thank you. And for everyone listening, you are always welcome to reach out. Your lived experiences shape these conversations. We have more than you know. And whatever you're experiencing, if I'm able to address the overall concept here, it may be helpful to another person. I know that obviously my particular lived experience is very different, but I share stories to help you to maybe be able to relate a little bit because although we are on our own separate journeys, we have very similar lived experiences in an overall sense. And because this series was sparked by that message, it feels fitting to begin with a card pull to see what wants to come through as we open this space. So I'm going to go ahead and pull a card from the Magic of What If Card Deck Volume 2. The decks are available on my website, purepossibilitiespodcast.com under shop. And I've also added a 2026 What If desktop calendar. If you're looking for a calendar for the new year, or if you want to do some holiday shopping, you can use discount code PPP2025 altogether as one word, PPP2025 and get a 15% discount on your full order. All right. So the message for today is what if my challenges are actually opportunities in disguise? That is a beautiful way to open this container. We often perceive relationships as challenges and obstacles, and all of the things, all of the topics that we're diving into here today in regards to relationships, can be perceived as obstacles. And what if they really are opportunities? Because honestly, they are, but it's how you are open to viewing them as whether they're going to be an obstacle or an opportunity for your growth and expansion. So let's hold that message as we continue. I also want to connect this series to something that I released over the weekend. I dropped a bonus episode called The Things That We Don't Talk About During the Holidays. And the holiday season has a way of amplifying our relationships, like all of them. All of our relationships, our relationship with family, with pressures and expectations, with pretending that we're fine with loneliness or comparison, with overeating, over-drinking, overspending, with people pleasing, with trying to create the perfect holiday experience, with the stress of wanting it to all feel magical while feeling overwhelmed deep inside. So beginning this series right now feels incredibly aligned. And over the next several weeks, here are some of the relationships we're likely going to explore, knowing that I don't know the order that it's all going to unroll in as I go with how I'm intuitively guided. But these are some of the topics that have come up that I feel are really important that we dive into your relationship with yourself, which is the foundation of all of your relationships, your voice, your truth, your needs and desires, friendships, validation, losing yourself and staying grounded, your body, its signals and boundaries, money, safety, scarcity, receiving, and worthiness, food, nourishment, cravings, emotional eating, comfort, and numbing, substances, coping, avoidance, the things we don't talk about, family dynamics, expectations, triggers, and boundaries, spirit, trust, intuition, and connection, career, identity, burnout, and connection, and how all of these shape your relationship with your life as a whole. Every one of these relationships influence your nervous system, your identity, your patterns, your boundaries, your emotional world, and the way you feel each and every day. My intention today isn't to dive fully into any particular topic, but to set the foundation to open the conversation, to allow you space to reflect on these relationships that are asking for your attention right now. So as we move through this series together, let's stay curious, compassionate, loving, honest, non-judgmental, and willing to see what is coming up for you as we move through this. But before we wrap up today's intro, here are a few reflection questions to help you begin the series with intention. I invite you to close your eyes if it's safe and comfortable to do so. Place your hand on your heart if that feels good for you, and take a deep breath in. And release. Number five, which relationship, self, body, money, food, spirit, career, habits, or people is quietly asking for my attention. Take another deep breath in and release. And these aren't shifts that happen overnight, but if you truly want what you say that you want, or have desires of creating a different lived experience, then this is where it all begins, is with being honest with ourselves when we ask these questions. And again, this is this is about your relationship with you and being honest with yourself about where you actually are in your life. So allow those to land. The questions will also be in the show description for you to be able to come back to at a later time if you don't have the time and space in this moment to tap into those. But allow those to land. And remember, you don't need to fix anything today. We're just noticing and observing and opening up the container for the future conversation. I hope you have a beautiful, beautiful day and an amazing week. Much love.