🎙️ Podcast Title:
The Secret to a Well-Lived Life (Hint: It’s Not the Beach)
________________
Podcast Intro:
Hi friend, and welcome back to Running to Myself. I’m your host, Trisha Stanton—life and mindset coach for women, marathon runner, and someone who’s spent a lot of time reflecting on what it means to build a life that actually feels like your own.
Not just a life that looks good on paper.
Not just a life that meets everyone else’s expectations.
But a life that feels deeply true—one that’s grounded in peace, purpose, and personal alignment.
Today’s episode is a tender one.
Because I want to talk about something that’s come up again and again—not just in my coaching work, but in my own life:
🌀 The myth of the well-lived life.
What we think it looks like.
What we’ve been taught it should look like.
And what it actually takes to feel grounded and alive in your everyday, ordinary moments.
Let’s dive in.
________________
Main Content:
You’ve seen the image before.
It’s the screensaver dream: a pristine tropical beach, turquoise water, palm trees swaying gently, and not a single email or laundry pile in sight.
And listen—I am not here to knock the beach.
I love the beach. I love ocean air and salty skin and the way time slows down.
I fully support your beach vacation dreams. 🏖️
But here’s the truth I’ve come to believe, through years of real-life experience and working with so many incredible women:
👉 A well-lived life isn’t created through escape.
It’s created through alignment.
Let me explain what I mean by that.
In my coaching conversations, I often hear the same quiet ache beneath the surface of busy schedules and full calendars.
Women say things like:
💬 “I don’t even know what I want anymore.”
💬 “I should feel happy… but something’s off.”
💬 “I’m always doing… but I never feel done.”
These aren’t women who are failing at life.
They’re women who are deeply committed—to their families, their work, their faith, their communities.
They’re showing up. They’re giving their best.
But still… something doesn’t feel right.
And that’s where we uncover the root issue:
They’re living out of alignment.
Their outer life—the schedule, the obligations, the choices—is no longer reflecting their inner values.
And when those two don’t match, peace becomes hard to find.
You might be living out of alignment if you’re:
* Saying “yes” out of guilt or fear instead of desire or clarity
* Staying in rhythms or roles that used to work—but don’t anymore
* Holding onto goals you set years ago, for a version of you that no longer exists
* Constantly striving, pushing, proving—and still feeling behind or unsatisfied
Sound familiar?
Here’s the thing:
When your outer life contradicts your inner truth, your soul knows.
It starts sending you signals: fatigue, irritability, anxiety, restlessness.
And our culture’s response to that discomfort? “Take a vacation.”
But what if you didn’t need to run away?
What if what you really needed… was permission to come back to yourself?
________________
Realignment Starts Small
Now I know—“alignment” can sound like a big, abstract word.
So let’s bring it down to ground level with a few simple questions you can ask yourself right now:
đź’ˇ What do I truly value in this season of my life?
💡 Where am I living in ways that don’t reflect those values?
💡 What’s one small shift I could make this week to move closer to alignment?
It doesn’t have to be a complete overhaul.
Sometimes alignment starts with a single choice:
✨ Going to bed 30 minutes earlier.
✨ Saying no to something that feels like a “should.”
✨ Taking five minutes to breathe and check in with yourself before you dive into the day.
✨ Turning off the noise long enough to hear your own thoughts again.
This is how you start to build a life that feels like home.
A life you don’t need to escape from.
A life that nourishes you—not just for a weekend, but for the long haul.
________________
Closing Encouragement:
Friend, let me be clear:
A well-lived life isn’t about perfection.
It’s not about having the most productive schedule, the cleanest kitchen, or the most Instagram-worthy vacation.
A well-lived life is honest.
It’s aligned.
It’s built on the quiet courage of listening to your life, honoring your values, and making small, intentional choices—one day at a time.
You don’t need to burn it all down and start over.
You just need to get honest.
Listen to what’s stirring inside you.
And then take one aligned step.
And if you’re not sure where to begin—if you’re feeling the ache of misalignment but need a guide to help you sort through it—I’d be honored to walk with you.
You can book a free coaching consultation anytime at trishastanton.com, or just click the link in the show notes.
Let’s talk about where you are, where you want to go, and how coaching can support your next aligned step.
Thank you so much for spending this time with me today.
If this episode spoke to you, I’d love for you to share it with a friend or leave a review—it helps this message reach more women who need it.
Until next time—keep listening, keep aligning, and always remember:
Mindset Matters.
