Saddle Up Segment: Healing, Faith & Overcoming Imposter Syndrome | Lessons from Andi Bull

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Hey friends.

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Welcome back to Doing Life Difference

saddle up segment where we take a

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pause after each episode to pull

out the key takeaways and talk

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about how we can actually live

them out in our everyday lives.

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So.

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This week on Tuesday, I did the first,

uh, part of a two-part series, and

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the conversation was one of the most

moving ones I've had in a long time.

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I sat down with my friend Andy

Bull, and she's the author

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of When Your Protectors Dent.

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Her book is powerful.

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It's raw and honest and full of hope.

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And even if you've never experienced

abuse like Andy did, her story carries

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lessons that touch every single one of us.

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So I just wanted to slow down a little bit

today and share a few things that stuck

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with me because I think these are things

you can carry into your own life now.

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So take away number one.

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Healing is for all of us.

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And so when I first read Andy's

book, I could not put it down.

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I found myself like underlying

sentences and nodding along, and at

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times even getting kind of teary eyed.

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And here's the thing, I haven't been

abused, but I saw myself in her story.

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She talked about people pleasing and

perfectionism and the belief that you

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have to perform in order to be loved.

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And I thought, you know, that's me too.

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So maybe you've never been through

what Andy went through, or maybe you

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have, but if you have ever felt like

you had to earn love by being perfect,

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or if you've carried anxiety around.

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Or you know, that you can't explain, you

will understand what she's talking about.

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And healing isn't limited

to one kind of pain.

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We all carry wounds.

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And you know, the good thing

is God can heal all of them.

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So take away number two is.

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The Bible looks different when you read

it through the lens of healing, and one

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of my favorite parts of our conversation

was when Andy shared how her book helped

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her and now me see like familiar Bible

stories in a brand new like, like she

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talked about the parable of the prodigal

son, and I've always identified with

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the the son who stayed behind, the one

who tried to be good and worked really

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hard, who did all the right things.

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But Andy showed me something that

I missed all these years, and

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it was at the father's love and

humility extended to that son too.

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He wasn't overlooked or unloved,

and I kind of felt like he was

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when I read through it before.

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So that shifted something for me

and it reminded me that God doesn't

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love me because I perform well

or because I check all the boxes.

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He loves me because I'm his daughter.

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Period.

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And you know.

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I just think that's a good

reminder for all of us.

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Takeaway number three was what you thought

was normal, might not be normal at all,

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and that was another big moment for me.

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Andy talked about growing up in

dysfunction and only realizing later

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in college that it wasn't the way all.

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Families lived and that hit me

hard because I think so many of us

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normalize like unhealthy patterns.

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Maybe it's anxiety, like with me,

maybe it's chaos in a relationship.

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Maybe it's unrealistic expectations

that we bring with us from childhood.

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We call it normal, but it's not.

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And I had my own eye-opening

moment after my diagnosis.

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And I remember talking to my mom about

how anxious I felt, and she said, well,

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I think anyone would feel that way.

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And something in me said,

Nope, that's not true.

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My husband doesn't spin out the way I do.

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Not everyone walks around carrying the

high level anxiety of anxiety that I do.

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And that realization was

so huge to me because.

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It was my own version of seeing

that my normal really wasn't normal.

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And once you see it, you can

start to heal and change it.

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Take away number four, imposter

syndrome shows up for everyone.

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I was talking to Andy about how after

I read her book and you know, I'm

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working on mine, I was like, Ooh.

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I don't think I can do this.

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And Andy admitted that she fought

that same imposter syndrome the

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entire time she was writing her book.

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Every keystroke, she wondered if she

was good enough, if her words mattered.

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And when I read her book, part of me

thought, Ugh, I can't write like this.

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That voice that says you're

not enough is really loud.

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But Andy reminded me that our

identity doesn't come from

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what we pro, what we produce.

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It comes from God.

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And we are already enough

because we are his.

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And that is a truth

that's so worth repeating.

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Takeaway number five, and this is

the last one for today's quick little

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segment, is sharing your story matters.

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And Andy and I both agreed that

telling our stories, whether in a

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book, a podcast, or you know, sitting

across from a friend at coffee.

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On a walk is one of the most powerful

ways that we can help each other heal.

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I mean, don't you think

stories connect us?

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And I learned that from Bob Goff too.

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They let other women

know they're not alone.

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And often when we're brave enough

to be authentic and share our story,

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it's exactly what someone else needs

to kind of begin their own healing.

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So I'm just gonna ask you,

I'm gonna leave you with this.

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What's the story you've been afraid to

share and what part of your journey maybe

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could actually be a gift to someone else?

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And, you know, maybe it's just time

for all of us to trust that our story

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matters more than, than we think.

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So anyway, friends, I hope these takeaways

give you encouragement and I am telling

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you go back and listen to the full

op episode because Andy is wonderful.

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She's a great storyteller teller.

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She's great to listen to and tune in next

Tuesday because we're gonna do part two.

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So these are just, I'm gonna repeat

those key takeaways real quick.

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Healing is for all of us, God's word

is alive and full of fresh meaning.

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Dysfunction isn't normal, even if we

think it is, and imposter syndrome

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doesn't define you, and your story

can bring healing to someone else.

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All right my friends, until next

week, you take good care and just

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like take these lessons and live them

out with courage, faith, and hope.

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Thanks for being here.