On today's More Than Enough Podcast, we are going to be talking about expanding and how when you are expanding or growing in your life, you just cannot stay in the same place. So stay tuned. I'm excited about this podcast, and I know you're going to get something very useful out of it.

Intro:

Do you ever feel like all of your efforts and everything you do is simply just not good enough? Well, join me, your host, Coco O'Connor where I share insights and inspirations to let you know that you are in fact more than enough. So if you're looking for a little faith and a little grace, this podcast is for you.

Begin Episode:

I am excited to talk to you about expanding today. How when we are expanding in any area of our life, we are going to be moved to a place that can hold us growing or expanding in a better way. And it's not always in our best interest to fight and try to stay in the same place where we're at, because our expansion, our bigness of life at the particular place we're at, it can't hold us anymore.

So I was talking on the previous episode about how I was kind of having this mini identity crisis and not really feeling like I had... I was just feeling like there was more, and it was interesting because I thought to myself, I was like, well, creatively, I'm rehearsing with the band. I got a show coming up. I've been writing songs a lot even during this whole crazy time of the world that has shifted. And I've been doing... The creativity has kept up, but I've still felt like there was something going on. So I was thinking, oh, well maybe it's this identity crisis I was talking about. But I realized that I don't think that's it at all.

I think I'm just expanding, like for instance, doing this podcast, this has been something that I've had in the back of my mind for a very long time. And not only that, I actually used to, I have cassette tapes of me as a kid recording me being a DJ. So I used to play songs. I used to record myself acting like a DJ. And it's kind of crazy to me that I did not jump into this podcast thing earlier, but I think the reason I didn't, and there's a perfect timing for everything, I probably wasn't ready. I probably really didn't have anything to say and I didn't have even the song. I had to write the More Than Enough song because that's the theme song and that's the whole theme of the podcast, right?

So I'm glad that didn't happen. And also, I had to get out of my head that I had to do this big production and everything had to be perfect. It's interesting. Sometimes we think things that are big, like for instance, a big production, I have to make a bedroom into my house into a studio to get this done or whatever, the lighting has to be perfect. The sound has to be perfect, the whatever. I think we sometimes think in human terms of that's the bigness and really we miss the whole point of, that's not the bigness, the whole production, the bigness is the message. It's the content, it's what you're putting out.

So I was able to understand by listening to mentors and studying other people and how they did their podcasts, like, hey, this doesn't have to be that hard. Okay? It doesn't. I'm usually just sitting here talking into my iPhone and you can tell because sometimes I'm in the mountains and sometimes you hear birds chirping, and sometimes you probably hear my computer pinging when I forget to turn it off as far as the emails go, but it's just that kind of thing. We so in our minds, we think so differently than what the creator thinks. And I think the creator is thinking so much bigger of course, than we are and we get focused on those details.

So I was having this, as I said, the mini identity crisis or so I thought, and then I realized, you know what, no, I'm recognizing this as just, I'm expanding, I'm growing. I'm doing this podcast. I'm not only rehearsing for a show or writing songs, or collaborating, or making partnerships with people who are launching brands, which I'm very excited about, by the way, that's going to be coming up where I'm going to hopefully have a coffee that I'm going to be putting out, which is really exciting, I'm really excited about that. There is expansion going on. So when there's expansion, I think that that becomes uncomfortable. Not necessarily because of me, but because I'm expanding and where I'm at mentally, maybe physically, sometimes physically or spiritually even, I can't be contained anymore.

And that's so beautiful because it just means that I am expanding into who God really created me to be. I'm drawing near to him. I'm focusing on good things and letting things happen as they should, and not getting so wrapped up, like I said, in my own little mind thinking, oh, I need this to be doing this or that to be doing this. Or I have to have this in a particular manner or what not. It's just, I'm becoming more certain about where I'm at and what I'm doing and what I feel like I'm being contained or I'm being expanded, or I'm growing out of where I'm at. It's kind of like, I guess you could think about it when your kids are growing. Right?

Like yesterday, I go to pick up my daughter and she is going to have the same problem that I have and my best girlfriend, Rebecca, we always joke about how we have really long legs. If we buy pants that are big enough for us lengthwise or long enough, then they're too big around the waist. And if we buy them that fit in the waist, then they're too short and we look like we have high waters on and we're ready for a flood. So my little daughter, she's the same way. She's going to have the same problem, I can already tell. So I pick her up and I'm like, "Oh my gosh, your little jumper is so short." I don't know how I can notice it when I pick her up from school and not notice it going to school. It's amazing.

Or maybe she grew during the day, who knows? But she had her little jumper on and it fits perfectly. And she's pretty particular, she likes it to fit really snug. She doesn't like oversized or big stuff. She's kind of particular in that way. But so this fits her to a T everywhere, but her legs are so long that it looks really short and they have, of course, the requirements. So I'm always a little nervous around uniforms in school or whatever. So far so good, nobody said anything, but I was just thinking about that and how she's growing. And she's just outgrowing the jumper she has on. It may fit most of the places, but it's getting way too short. So it's not even going to be something that she can use anymore.

And that's how we are when we start growing as people, when we start... And I don't care what it's doing. If you're learning an instrument or if you're learning to grow a business, or you're growing a business, you have a business, or you have a career, or you're at work, wherever you are. I think it's so important to one, recognize that, hey, this space that I'm in, if I'm constantly drawing near to God, seeking God, because God is expanding all the time. Have you ever noticed that? God just expands all the time. And the grass grows, especially here in Tennessee, it's always growing and it just gets, he's just always expanding. Everything is. Innovation is.

My husband and I have this conversation, because my husband's a car guy. Okay? And he says, "You never think cars can get better. How can they possibly get any better than they are now?" But he's always amazed at somehow, some way, man is always making a car better than the previous version. And it's true. Think about it. If we're able to do that in our little minds and with our hands, and with inventions, and innovation, technology, things like that, what is God capable of doing? And how much bigger is he capable of expanding or making things greater? Because that's what's happening. He is making the world greater. He is making provisions greater. And that's what he's done in my life. I look back on it and I can see how from where we started, my husband and I, when we were first married, where we are now, and now we have a child.

And it's just all this expansion and all this growth that's happened. So I want to encourage you today. If you are feeling, maybe you are feeling like I am or were the previous episode, just know that maybe it's not an identity crisis. Maybe it's actually, you're growing, you're expanding. And the space that you're in can't contain you anymore. And I want to encourage kind of like my daughter's jumper, right? Or her uniform. She is growing and it can't contain her. It can contain her in some areas, right? But in other areas it just doesn't fit anymore. And that may be where you're at today. You may be in a position, you may be in a career. You may be in a business. You may be in a creative situation.

You may be in a parenting situation, or a volunteer situation or something. And you may be feeling like a little uncomfortable, like yeah, it fits in some ways, but it doesn't fit in others. And what I want to do is encourage you to not just leave or just quit. I want to encourage you to really analyze it, take a look at it. Say, "Hey, is this position working for me where I'm at spiritually maybe, emotionally? Is this working for me? And what can I do? How am I outgrowing this in a way that doesn't necessarily push aside or push away other people, but how can you offer expansion to them and possibly take them along? And some people you may not be able to, but if you are conscious and you recognize that, hey, I may be in a situation where I'm growing.

And that's not like if you're in a position, you might just feel like you need to do a little extra work over in an area that is more comfortable for you. And that might be a way for you to expand in that area. And then that will push aside and you will be pushed into a situation, a relationship, a business, a position, whatever it is, you will be pushed into a place that is a perfect fit. And then the cycle will start all over again. You'll be able to spend a season there and then you'll be growing and expanding, and you'll be moved on to better things.

So thank you for listening. I hope you will be blessed by this, and inspired, and encouraged. Thanks again. And I will see you on the next episode.

Thank you for joining me for The More Than Enough Podcast. Listen, if you like the song that we play as our theme song for this podcast, you can get that song plus nine others, by going to http://world.cocooconnor.com, that's http://world.cocooconnor.com. And I will send you a free CD signed by me. I'm just asking that you help out with shipping and handling. So go to http://world.cocooconnor.com and grab your free CD today.