Episode 23: Why Can’t I …..

January 24, 2023

Where to Listen:

Orange Arrow@4x
Calmer+Conversations with Cecelia Mandryk

23. Why Can’t I…

Episode Summary: 

Your thoughts and feelings drive your action. Once you can really identify and articulate what you’re experiencing, you can unlock all of these different elements of your life that have otherwise felt inaccessible. In this episode, I share different modalities that can be helpful in this process and unpack how this concept works with real-world examples. 

Show Notes:

When we set a goal, we typically use willpower to drive our actions. But, what happens when life gets in the way? I was caught in this loop for so many years where I would feel motivated to exercise every day, eat food that made my body feel good, and avoid drinking alcohol, but then I hit a wall. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t just continue to thrive in all areas of my life. 

What I didn’t realize is that willpower is a limited resource. It works against your brain and nervous system, which eventually leads to burn out. The solution is to start paying attention to your thoughts and feelings instead of relying on discipline. Once you can identify what’s going on in your mind, you can start to shift your perspective and create sustainable changes. 

Your thoughts and feelings drive your action. Once you can really identify and articulate what you’re experiencing, you can unlock all of these different elements of your life that have otherwise felt inaccessible. In this episode, I share different modalities that can be helpful in this process and unpack how this concept works with real-world examples. 

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your favorite podcast platform. 

Topics Covered:

  • My previous experiences with willpower and motivation 

  • Tools to identify and visualize your thoughts and feelings 

  • How to make it easier to take the action that you want 

  • Getting to a place where you feel happy and satisfied with the choices you make

Resources Mentioned: 

Special Offer: 

  • Download my free guide to help change that habit that you just can’t seem to quit

Follow Me:

CMandrykHS

About Your Host

I’m Cecelia, and I am passionate about helping people live the life they want to live and feel how they want to feel in their life. We do this together using mindset tools, nervous system regulation, and curious inquiry. I know that enjoying your life, feeling calm and even joyful is available to you.

If you’re ready to start right now, grab a recent workshop replay here on creating momentum.

Personally, I manifest in many ways- partner, mother, coach, sister, friend, daughter, citizen, feminist. I live with my husband and children way downeast Maine on a little bridge-connected island (after spending my first 35 years in cities). It’s beautiful here with the ocean and the wind.

I help my clients make big and small changes in life one step at a time.

No matter what’s happening in your life right now, I know you can feel different. I know that by working with your brain and nervous system, you can feel calm, content, joyful, AND you can still go after the big and small goals in your life (getting there will just feel different).

This process is simple and approachable.

You’re probably thinking- but it won’t work for me. I’ve tried it all or I was recently diagnosed with ADHD or I’m too old. But I promise, if you’re open to it, this work is not only transformative but suited for so many different kinds of people and brains.

Recent Episodes of Calmer Conversations:

you’re trying to change your behavior. that’s the problem.

March 19, 2026

You’re trying to change your behavior. That’s the problem. Most people approach change backwards. It’s not that our intentions are bad- we want to change. It’s just that we place our attention on the wrong thing.  In order to change behavior, we focus on behavior.  Which seems to make sense. Until you learn a little…

you can’t logic your way into change

March 18, 2026

Tell me if you’ve been here. You know what to do. It makes logical sense in your brain. You know it’s the path to better fitness or deeper connection or fulfilling professional dreams.  But then in the moment you do the opposite.  You do something that makes no logical sense. Your behavior goes against your…

You Are Not Your Behavior

March 17, 2026

Change Happens with Curiosity, Not Shame. The moment you decide your behavior means something bad about you, curiosity disappears. And curiosity is the skill that actually allows behavior to change.  Most of us learned early that bad behavior meant something bad about us. Our caregivers met our worst moments with judgment, punishment, and disconnection. So…

you are not a cat

March 16, 2026

why awareness alone won’t create the change you’re looking for — and what comes next Here’s what most personal development gets wrong. It treats you like a cat. Most of what we ‘know’ about behavior- the habits, the environmental design, the reward and punishment systems, the accountability networks- is built on the same foundation as…

the Post-Insight Plateau

March 12, 2026

You’ve Done the Work. So Why Aren’t You Different Yet? I’ve been where you are. Sitting there with a beautiful new journal and the best of intentions. Hoping, with a side of desperation, that this time it will be different. You are not someone who hasn’t tried. You’ve put in the work. Real work. The…

You’re not broken. You’re between phases.You’re

February 23, 2026

There’s a quiet, disorienting moment that happens in long-term self-development. It’s the moment when you understand yourself. You can name your patterns. You can trace them back to childhood, to relationships, to specific memories. You can explain exactly why you react the way you do. You’ve had the breakthroughs at the retreat. You’ve sat on…

Why I’m Ending Millennial Midlife, and What’s Coming Next

February 5, 2026

What Helped You Survive is Wearing You Out

January 29, 2026

awareness won’t save you (and why that’s ok)

January 27, 2026

I figured something out on a dog walk the other day. Personal awareness is like GPS. GPS is incredibly useful. It knows where you are. It can show you multiple routes. It even warns you about traffic. But GPS isn’t a car.And it can’t drive. You still have to turn the wheel and press the…

Knowing Is Less Than Half The Battle

January 22, 2026