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Do you ever feel like you're doing everything right but yet you still feel behind me too? This is a real live conversation on self sabotage, slow growth, and staying grounded when the ROI isn't instant. Hey friend, welcome back to Call Her Creator Powered by your all in One Creator Store Stan Stan is the easiest way for you to make money online. All of your courses, digital products and bookings are hosted within your link in Bio. If you're ready to start your free trial, visit my show notes and click my affiliate link to get started today. Okay, so today's episode is a little different from my more empowering episodes that I give you. It's still gonna be a great empowering message, but I'm gonna get super duper vulnerable with you guys about my week. So I almost didn't even record this and honestly, if I didn't have this mic in front of me, I'd probably still be sitting in my own spiral because that's what this week has just been super weird for me. Not in a dramatic way, but in a way that's quiet, in a heavy way that comes when you're showing up every day, you're doing the work, you're pouring yourself into your business and still wondering why it's not clicking the way you hoped. So if you're in a season where everything feels like you're doing everything right, but you're still not getting the return you expected, then this is for you. I'm not here to tie this up with a motivational bow. I'm here to talk about the in between, the messy middle and how I keep going and how you're going to keep going. Before we get started, I want to shout out our Money Walker of the Week Life with Ria. Ria is a UGC creator and coach and shares relatable content on food, travel, lifestyle. And even though it was raining today for her, she managed to get in a money walk. She posted it on her story she tagged Call her creator and I just wanted to shout her out for doing the dang thing. I want you to get out there too and go on your money walk. I'm Hosting a free 5 day money walk challenge right now and all you have to do is plug in to call her creator podcast for the next five days and walk. I'm going to be teaching you how to monetize your passions and make money from Instagram. I'll link the challenge in today's show Notes you can easily access. But let's do the dang thing guys. There is a money Walk movement going on. Y' all have been tagging me on Instagram, and it is lighting up my heart. So let's keep going. Let's keep going on those money walks and learn how to make money from your Instagram page. All right, so let's get a little serious. I'm gonna paint the picture for you. You're posting consistently, you're launching things, you're being strategic. You're listening to all the right advice. You're even doing the mindset work, but yet you still feel behind. Behind the people you see growing faster, behind where you thought you'd be by now, behind in your own mind's version of success. That's where I've been this, guys. I've been living there, and it sucks, and it's sad, and I don't want to be a pity me. So I will turn this episode around by the end of it, But I have to really pull you guys down into where I was this week. So I don't want to pretend ever that I have it all figured out, because I do not. But I want to name it when it feels heavy, because I know how lonely it can feel to be in this space. It's the space where you start asking yourself questions like, is it just me? Am I missing something? Am I actually as good at this as I thought I was? And then those questions just start swirling. It gets really easy to fall into the next part, which is self sabotage. Once you fall into that loop of self sabotage, it's like fighting tooth and nail to get back out, to just feel normal again. So let's talk about self sabotage for a second. Because when the external results don't match the internal effort, our brains love to protect us by just shutting everything down. Thanks, brain. We start shrinking without even noticing. Maybe you delayed your launch that you were offering, or you stopped showing your face on stories, or you didn't even show up on stories at all. Or you scroll too long instead of creating. You basically convince yourself that no one's really watching anyway. This week, I saw myself doing that. I saw myself slipping. And I caught myself hesitating to promote something, because I was like, oh, well, the last reel I did on this barely got 1500 views. That's self sabotage. Which is really crazy because someone mentioned this today. If you're walking down the road and 1500 people walked up to you right now and said, hey, I see you and you're changing my life, wouldn't that mean something? But yet, when we're on Instagram and we get 1500 views. It's. Oh, that one flopped. But it didn't. The worst part about all of this is it feels like self protection, but it's really just fear dressed up in strategy. The self sabotage, that's. That's what it is. It's your fear dressed up. So here's what I did to kind of bring myself back to Earth. I paused, I walked, I put on an episode of my own podcast, ironically. And I reminded myself that the numbers don't define the worth that I'm building. So I actually want to shout out the episode that I went back and listened to because I don't typically listen to myself. Once I've recorded these, they pretty much go out and I don't listen again because it's weird listening to your own voice. But it was episode 66. No more playing Small how to Take Up Space, show up and Scale Online. It was a 20 minute episode and it just kind of got me back into the groove of first off, why I'm doing this. Second off, you can do this. Third off, look what you've done so far. And it's not so much about looking at the finish line. It's more so just looking at the gains that you've made since you've started. And that kind of is what brought me back down to Earth. So let's talk about the science behind self sabotage. And what, what even is it? So sel sabotage. It's actually protection. When we put time, energy and emotion into something, like launching an offer, starting a podcast, showing up on rails, going to a meeting, getting a no, maybe those results don't come as fast as we hoped. Our brain triggers a threat response. So this is what's happening. Your omdecala A M Y G D A L A You know that little brain, that part in your brain that detects danger? We all know what it is. We've learned about it in science class. I just can't say it. It sees basically the lack of result as rejection or failure, which then activates your fight, flight or freeze system. Even though there's really no physical danger, your nervous system can't tell the difference. Especially for people like me, who are just nervous nellies all the time anyways. It just amplifies that nervousness. So to protect you from the pain of potential failure, your brain just quietly says things like, just stop trying so hard. Hey, just procrastinate a little bit more. Hey, let's just scroll instead of posting. Let's just sit back and not do. But that's self sabotage. In action, your brain choosing short term safety over long term reward. Scientifically speaking, Instagram can actually make your self sabotage worse. And we all know this, yet we love this app. Instagram wasn't designed for your nervous system, y'. All. It was designed to keep you hooked. And when you're in a vulnerable season, it can truly amplify everything, all those feelings. So dopamine spikes and withdrawals. First off, every like comment or view gives you a dopamine hit. But when engagement drops, you feel a crash similar to a withdrawal. Over time, your self worth actually becomes subconscious, consciously tied to performance metrics. And the result of all of this is that you'll feel like you're failing. Even when you're building something powerful just because the numbers are lower than usual, you're a failure in your own eyes. Then comes comparison. Comparison triggers cortisol. So seeing others win while you're in a dry season triggers that cortisol, your stress hormone. So studies show that even 10 minutes of Instagram scrolling can increase your anxiety, especially in high achieving women. So like I said, especially for me, I am a high achiever. I am anxiety ridden. Instagram is probably the worst place that I could be living on. Yet my entire brand comes from Instagram. But the result of all of this is you go from feeling inspired to just feeling completely inadequate. And then lastly, there's that highlight reel illusion. So you're seeing the final product of someone's tenth launch, or their twentieth post, or their five year journey. And you're only on day two or three of your journey. And so you're, you're, you're seeing that highlight and you're feeling bad about yourself. Your brain forgets that and it compares your real time process to their edited success. Let me state this again. Your brain forgets that and compares your real time process to their editing edited success. The result of that is you start to believe you're behind, which leads to more doubt, less action. And yep, you named it more self sabotage. This causes a loop. You post something, it doesn't perform. You scroll. Someone else's content is thriving. You internalize it. I must not be good enough. You hesitate to post again. Momentum slows. You feel stuck. Your brain says just quit. It's not failure, guys. It's just your brain trying to protect you. But we can interrupt this loop and we don't need to overhaul our entire life or delete Instagram to do that. We just need to create a pause between the trigger and the spiral. So here's how to break the Self sabotage loop when you feel stuck, discouraged, or maybe you're just really deep in comparison. Number one is you have to interrupt the pattern. So move your body, change the input, go for a walk. This is why I encourage money walks all the time. One thing that was really interesting that I learned about walking is that it unlocks like 60% more creativity when you walk. So go for your walk. Interrupt that pattern. Listen to a podcast that fills your mind with strategies, stories, inspiration. Not just noise, not just gossip. Think of something that's going to empower you. Shift your physical environment. Doing that can reset your nervous system and change your emotional state within minutes. I don't know if y' all have ever heard this before. I've heard this through therapy all my life. But your body holds on to emotion and energy. So with that, your body's gonna hold the energy of your burnout. So walk it out before you act on it. Number two, micro win momentum. Do one small, clear, action oriented thing right now that will just help you. Like you're doing an action. You're. You're doing something, you're checking it off a list. Schedule a post, reply to someone in your DMs. Map out your next offer. Record a 30 second reel. Action builds confidence and clarity. Comes from motion, not from overthinking. Number three, audit your scroll. Ask yourself, does this account make me feel inspired or inadequate? Mute them, unfollow them. Take a 24 hour break from Instagram. Give your brain space to remember who you are, not who you are not. Number four, anchor back to your truth. Remind yourself this, I am building something real. Not seeing fast results does not mean I'm behind. I've come back from hard days before. I will do it again. Write those, say those out loud. Make it your phone background if you have to, but these are your truths that you want to keep coming back to and repeating to yourself. I'm building something real. Not seeing fast results. That doesn't mean I'm behind. I've come back from hard days before. I'll do it again. Just saying those while talking on this podcast like already makes me feel better. So pause. Pause this episode. Say it to yourself. Number five. Reconnect to why you started. Watch your own growth. That's where I was talking about those gains from where you started. Don't look at the finish line. Think about. Okay, Caitlin, you started here. Let me tell y' all where I started. I started with freelancing back in 2013 and my name of my so called freelancing business was Social Charisma. How embarrassing was that? But we go back to that. And if I go back to that moment and look where I am now, I was like, holy crap. I've built this really beautiful brand, this beautiful offering, this amazing team. That's a huge gain from where I was with Social Charisma. I've got to share. I'm going to find the logo because y' all are going to probably pee your pants. I'm going to post on my stories and only we will know what we're talking about because you guys listen to the podcast and nobody else is going to know. They're going to be like, why is Caitlin posting that ugly logo to her store? Makes me laugh. Okay, getting back to it all, here's what I'm reminding myself right now as I get out of this self sabotage loop that I was in for the week. I'm. Cause I am getting out of it. Here's what I'm reminding myself right now. And maybe you need this too. You can be doing everything right and still feel stuck. And that's okay. It doesn't mean you're not on the right path. Sometimes the ROI is delayed, but that doesn't mean the work is wasted. One big thing is that I have something that I'm working on right now that I'm not seeing the ROI on. And I keep saying, like, well, this is just a waste of my time. But maybe it's not. Maybe I've planted a seed. Maybe my roots are growing. Got to remember that when you do plant these seeds, there are roots that are taken up right now and you can't see them on the surface because they're underground. Number three in all of this. Your worth isn't in your analytics. It's in the way you show up with your integrity, with your service, with your heart, your. Even when it's really hard to do. So when you're in the headspace, it's easy to wanna burn everything down or build something new just to feel in control. But what if the best thing you could do, honestly, was just stay consistent? No pivot, no pause, no disappearing, just maintain, Keep going. A really great friend of mine in the entrepreneurial space, she always tells me, like, you know, you don't always have to be scaling. It's really amazing when you can just maintain. And that has stuck with me a while because I. There is something in me that is driving me. I want to build something so big. And what I want to build is not attainable in a week. But sometimes I forget that so then I get really down on myself. But I have to remember that what I've built so far, if I can just at least maintain what I've built so far, I'm doing really well, and I. I gotta be grateful and thankful for that and stop kicking myself so hard. Five anchors I came back to when I felt this way this week, and I want to share these with you, and I'm going to leave these with you when you're in that weird in between space. I hope it can help you. The first thing I ask myself is what's true right now, Caitlin. Not what I fear is true or what comparison is telling me, but what do I know? I know I've built something valuable. I know people are listening even if they're not commenting. Those 10 of you that. That shouted me out on stories this week for a money walk. Thank you so much. You have no idea how much it means to me when you guys show up for me. Because then I don't feel like I'm just shouting out into the void. But remember, even when people don't tag you, they're still watching. There are so many leads that we've had that are like, I don't think we're following you, but we. We've been watching your stuff. And I've never reached out to you before, but now I am. Just remember that they're there. There are people that are lurking, that are enjoying your content, but might not be making any moves. Number two, detach from the vanity metrics. Reconnect to your mission. Ask yourself, if I knew this would work eventually, would I still show up today? Because the mission doesn't disappear just because the likes dipped. Number three, mute, Unfollow, Unplug. I just said this earlier. If you are constantly being reminded of what everyone else is doing, you're gonna lose sight of your own lane. So give your spell yourself the space to hear your own voice. Again, mute, Unfollow, Unplug. Number four, get out there and move. Change your energy. Move your body. Go on your money walk. That's exactly why I started my money walk in the first place, because walking and listening resets my brain. It's quiet momentum. It's clarity in motion. That's where I start when I'm. When I'm feeling like this. Number five, do one bold thing today. Even when you feel super small, bold doesn't have to be loud. It can be publishing an episode, posting a reel, sending a pitch, saying what you actually want to say. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is just to keep showing up in spite of that doubt that you have. If you've been in this headspace, just know that you're not alone. This is part of the process. No one talks about the part where you're doing the work, but the results feel super slow, where you're building something good but wondering if it's enough. It is. You are. I promise. If you need something to shift the energy this week, please come join me on the Money Walk Challenge. It's free, it's powerful. As soon as you sign up, it starts the next day. It's gonna help you reconnect to your vision one step. Literally one step, one episode at a time. I'll put the link to join in the show notes or you can head over to my Instagram, call her creator and comment walk on my latest Instagram post and I'll send you the full playlist for the Money Walk Challenge. We're going to walk through this together. We're going to get through this together. But I hope this episode helped you. If you are in that spiral self sabotage season, mine comes and goes, ebbs and flows of owning a business and putting yourself out there. It just, it is what it is. But I hope this episode helped you and I hope you will join me on a walk. And until next time, this is call her creator.