🎙️ Podcast Script
Running to Myself
The Art of Elevating the Ordinary
Choosing a Better Experience Without Changing Your Circumstances
________________
Intro
Hey friend.
Welcome back to Running to Myself.
I’m your host, Trisha Stanton.
Today I want to tell you a story that, on the surface, might sound a little silly.
It involves nail polish.
Luxury nail polish.
And a decision that had nothing to do with practicality—and everything to do with how I wanted to experience something ordinary.
And as usual, it led me somewhere deeper than I expected.
________________
The Story: The Nail Polish
A while back, I treated myself to a beautiful red nail polish from Chanel.
And let me be clear—
Nail polish is pretty much the only Chanel item that fits into my budget.
I’m not buying handbags.
I’m not buying shoes.
I’m buying nail polish.
And yes, it was more expensive than the usual brands I grab without thinking—
Sally Hansen,
OPI,
Essie—
all perfectly fine. All very functional.
But this color caught my attention.
And once I noticed it, I couldn’t unnotice it.
So I did what we all do.
I started researching.
I checked the Chanel website.
Then I checked the Ulta website.
And sure enough—I had a choice.
I could get in my car, drive to the store, and buy the exact same nail polish that very day.
Or…
I could wait several days and have it delivered to my door.
Same product.
Same color.
Same formula.
I chose to wait.
________________
Why the Wait?
Why would I wait when I could have instant gratification?
Here’s the thing. I didn’t just want the nail polish.
I wanted the experience.
Ordering through the Chanel website meant something different.
It meant a black and white box logo box.
It meant opening something slowly.
It meant a reusable cotton pouch with that iconic logo
It meant two little sample products tucked inside—perfume and mascara—that I didn’t need, but enjoyed anyway.
The nail polish itself?
Exactly the same.
The experience?
Completely different.
And here’s the key part—
It only mattered because I wanted it to matter.
________________
The Reflection
Does that sound silly?
Maybe.
But I’m really glad I did it.
Because it reminded me of something important:
So much of our experience of life isn’t about what happens—it’s about how we frame it.
________________
People Who Elevate Everything
I have a couple of people in my life who seem to elevate every experience they walk into.
You know the type.
They talk about a normal dinner like it was an event.
A regular conversation like it was meaningful and rich.
An ordinary day like it held something special.
And sometimes, if I’m being honest, I catch myself wondering…
Am I missing something?
Is my life less vivid?
Less colorful?
Less exciting?
But then I pay closer attention.
The experiences they describe?
The relationships they talk about?
They aren’t actually that different from mine.
They’re just choosing to be excited about them.
________________
The Difference Isn’t Circumstance
That’s the part that stopped me.
They aren’t living a dramatically different life.
They aren’t exempt from stress, inconvenience, or disappointment.
They’re choosing a different lens.
They’re excited about the ordinary.
Grateful on purpose.
Actively looking for what’s good instead of passively noticing what’s lacking.
And here’s the important part:
That’s not something they have access to that I don’t.
I have access to those exact same emotions.
And So do you.
________________
Natural Tendencies vs. Intentional Practice
For some people, this kind of framing seems natural.
For others,
And I’d definitely put myself in this category
It takes intention.
My default setting isn’t always enthusiasm.
It isn’t hype.
It isn’t automatically seeing the sparkle in the mundane.
But intention can bridge that gap.
Just like choosing to order nail polish online instead of picking it up in an orange plastic bag, I can choose to elevate moments in my life—not because they need elevating, but because I want to experience them differently.
________________
Expanded Coaching Moment: Thought → Experience (Deeper)
Let’s slow this down for a moment, because this is where the real work happens.
Same circumstance.
Same nail polish.
The only thing that changed was the meaning I assigned to it.
In coaching, we talk a lot about how our thoughts create our experience—but sometimes that sounds abstract. So let’s make it very concrete.
The thought wasn’t:
“This is smarter.”
“This is more efficient.”
“This makes more sense.”
The thought was:
“I want this to feel special.”
That single thought shaped everything that followed.
It created anticipation.
It created presence.
It created enjoyment.
And here’s the part I really want you to hear:
There was no rule saying I had to earn that feeling.
No external validation required.
No life milestone unlocked.
I didn’t change my circumstances to feel differently.
I allowed myself to feel differently within the same circumstances.
That’s agency.
That’s emotional leadership.
And most of us don’t realize how rarely we offer that to ourselves.
________________
Why This Feels Hard for So Many of Us
Now, if you’re listening and thinking,
“That sounds nice, but it doesn’t come naturally to me,”
you’re not broken.
Many of us were taught—explicitly or implicitly—that joy needs to be justified.
That excitement should be reserved for:
Big accomplishments
Special occasions
Milestones that look impressive from the outside
So when something feels ordinary, we unconsciously shrink our emotional response.
We tell ourselves:
“It’s not a big deal.”
“It’s just normal.”
“It doesn’t really count.”
But notice what happens when we do that.
We don’t just downplay the moment—we downplay ourselves.
Our capacity to enjoy.
Our capacity to savor.
Our capacity to feel alive in the middle of real life.
Elevating the ordinary isn’t about pretending life is perfect.
It’s about refusing to outsource your experience to external conditions.
________________
Reframing Permission (This Is Key)
Here’s a subtle shift that matters more than we think:
Instead of asking,
“Is this worth being excited about?”
Try asking,
“Am I willing to let myself enjoy this?”
One question is about judgment.
The other is about choice.
And choice is where freedom lives.
________________
Strengthened Practical Tools
Practical Tool #1: Choose the Experience on Purpose (Expanded)
When you ask,
“How do I want to experience this?”
you’re stepping out of autopilot.
This isn’t about forcing positivity.
It’s about direction.
You’re saying:
“If I’m going to be here anyway, how do I want to be with it?”
Not every moment needs enthusiasm.
Sometimes the elevated experience is calm.
Or grounded.
Or spacious.
Or simply neutral instead of resentful.
You’re not choosing a feeling.
You’re choosing a lens.
And the feeling often follows.
________________
Practical Tool #2: Borrow the Frame (Expanded)
This tool works because it interrupts your default story.
When you borrow someone else’s frame, you’re not invalidating your own—
you’re giving yourself options.
Ask yourself:
“What am I currently focusing on here?”
“What else could be true at the same time?”
This is especially powerful when you’re stuck in:
“This is boring.”
“This is annoying.”
“This is just another thing on my list.”
Borrowing a frame doesn’t deny reality.
It widens it.
________________
Practical Tool #3: Elevate Without Justifying (Expanded)
This one might be the most important.
You don’t have to explain your joy.
You don’t have to earn it.
You don’t have to make it make sense to anyone else.
There is nothing indulgent about presence.
There is nothing selfish about savoring.
There is nothing immature about delight.
If you’ve spent years being responsible, steady, dependable, and practical—
allowing moments to feel special isn’t a flaw.
It’s a recalibration.
________________
Closing Tone Reinforcement (Subtle Enhancement)
The nail polish wasn’t the point.
The choice was.
And the more I practice this,
the more I realize—
life doesn’t become richer all at once.
It becomes richer one small decision at a time.
________________
Closing Reflection
So here’s what I want to leave you with today:
You’re not missing anything.
Your life isn’t less meaningful.
You don’t need different circumstances to feel differently.
You may just need a new frame.
And like me, it might take intention.
It might take practice.
But it’s available to you.
Even in the ordinary.
Especially in the ordinary.
Thanks for being here with me today.
Until next time, keep running to yourself.
