Transform Stress into Success: Aging Gracefully with Self-Trust

Imagine being able to transform stress into success - even during the busy holiday season! Discover how you can start aging gracefully with self-trust by listening to this encore interview I did with career and leadership coach Jesseca Tighe. If you’ve been pushing, proving, caregiving, or carrying the weight of “it’s all on me,” this episode is a gentle wake-up call. Jesseca and I talk about why stress isn’t just an inconvenience, it can be information. Together, we explore the real warning signs of burnout, the three different types of burnout, and the small “micro-skills” that help your nervous system come back down to earth, especially when life at home and work both feel like full-time jobs. You’ll also hear a tender reminder that taking care of yourself isn’t selfish. It’s sacred. Transcript Key Takeaways: Recognize stress as a signal, not a character flaw and learn how to stop overriding what your body already knows. Identify the type(s) of burnout you’re experiencing so you can choose support that actually fits. Learn how to use simple breath-based “micro-skills” to calm your nervous system in the middle of real life. Release the belief that “more effort” is the answer, especially when your system is already depleted. Remember that rest is not scrolling, it’s restoring... and you’re allowed to choose what truly refuels you. Why This Episode Matters Now Midlife has a way of turning the volume up. Your priorities shift. Your nervous system gets less interested in performance and more devoted to truth. And in a world that still rewards over-functioning, this conversation offers a kinder path: letting go of what’s draining you, opening to support, valuing what your body is telling you, and remembering you were never meant to earn your worth through exhaustion. If this episode speaks to you and you can feel that quiet inner “yes” to doing life differently, subscribe to the podcast and share this episode with a woman you love who’s been carrying too much. And if you want to stay close as the show steps into its new identity in January 2026, make sure you’re connected to Gloria’s community so you don’t miss what’s coming next. Resources: Join the Soulful Women's Network: https://www.facebook.com/groups/soulfulwomensnetwork Receive daily inspirational email messages: bit.ly/LoveLightNotes Need support? Go to engagewithgloria.com to schedule a call. Connect with Jesseca Website: soulutionsforhealth.com Social Media: @JessecaTighe Connect with Live Love Engage: Send Gloria Grace a message ☕ Support the podcast ❤ Love this episode? Leave us a review and rating LinkedIn: Gloria Grace Rand Facebook: Gloria Grace Rand YouTube: Gloria Grace Rand TRANSCRIPT - Encore Episode: Transform Stress into Success: Aging Gracefully with Self-Trust Introduction: Why We're Revisiting This Conversation About Stress and Burnout Gloria Grace Rand: The holidays are here, a time for joy and laughter and for many people, stress. That's why I thought it would be a perfect time to present an Encore episode of my conversation earlier this year with career and leadership coach Jesseca Tighe about stress, burnout, and why taking care of yourself isn't selfish, it's sacred. So stick around because I also have some exciting news to share before we dive into the interview. I am Gloria Grace Rand, founder of The L.O.V.E. Method and author of the number one Amazon bestseller, Live, Love, Engage, How to Stop Doubting Yourself and Start Being Yourself. In this podcast, we share practical advice from a spiritual perspective on how to live fully, love deeply, and engage authentically so you can create a life and business with more impact, influence, and income. Welcome to Live. Love. Engage. Exciting Podcast News: Live. Love. Engage. Becomes Design Your Life, Your Way Gloria Grace Rand: Namaste. The holidays are here and as Jesseca Tighe taught me earlier this year during our conversation, stress isn't just an annoyance to push through, it's a gift. It's your body's way of saying, hey, I need you to pay attention to me. So that's why I'm taking a break from recording a full episode this week before my body starts to complain. And it's also giving me a chance to prepare for January 2026 when this podcast will return with a fresh new identity. Live, Love, Engage is becoming Design Your Life Your Way, a show dedicated to empowering women over 50 to boldly live life on their terms and on purpose. So pour yourself something warm, find a cozy spot, and let's revisit this conversation about choosing yourself, especially during a season that often asks us to do everything but that. And remember, I'll see you in the new year with Design Your Life Your Way, where we'll continue exploring how to live fully, love deeply, and engage authentically on your terms. So now let's jump into my conversation with Jesseca Tighe. Understanding Stress: Why It's Actually a Gift That Can Help You Heal Gloria Grace Rand: You said that stress is actually a gift that can help us heal. So that may sound counterintuitive to a lot of people. So I'm wondering if you could explain what you mean by that. The Science Behind Stress: Your Body's Built-In Warning System Jesseca Tighe: Yeah, yeah. So stress is really a low-grade fear response. It's a low-grade survival response. So when we talk about or when we think about our ancient ancestors, cavemen running from the saber-toothed tiger, and they had this fear response because that told them, hey, this saber-toothed tiger is after you. This is affecting your life. You need to fight or flee or freeze. That's another one. But you need to do something in order to save your life. Stress is actually a low-grade fear response. So it's telling your body and it's telling you that something's not right. That something's not right. You can't live like this. You can't do this anymore. You're way too stressed out. But we ignore it. And instead of thinking, okay, something doesn't feel right. Something is wrong here. I'm really under too much stress. We think of it as something to overcome. We think of it as something to just ignore. And it's something that's annoying. And it's this existential threat out there. But really, stress, it causes a toll on the body, on your health, on your mental health, and we really need to take it seriously. And so that's what I help people do. Stress as a Wake-Up Call: The Annoying Cousin in Your Basement Gloria Grace Rand: So it's really sort of, I guess, a wake-up call to start paying attention, it sounds like. Jesseca Tighe: It is. It is. Yeah. It's the annoying cousin in your basement that comes up every once in a while and knocks on your door going, hey, I'm still here. This isn't good for us. This isn't good for you. You have to do something different. And we say, no, whatever. I can get over it. It's fine. And then years down the road, we end up with stress-related conditions and we end up with mental health conditions. We end up with substance abuse conditions. It wreaks havoc on our body internally, which is completely invisible and we don't see it. And because it's not the saber-toothed tiger right there in front of our face, it's this essential threat out there. It's really coming up and saying, hey, in 15 to 25 years, you may or may not have a heart-related condition. And we're like, whatever. I got work to do. And we need to take these things seriously because we have a lot of research now on what stress is, what it does to the body, and why it's so important that we manage it. And we are still stuck, most of us are still stuck in a work culture that doesn't provide those resources or even worse, actively tries to destroy our health and well-being. From Healthcare Burnout to Coaching: A Personal Story of Transformation Gloria Grace Rand: Yeah. Now, I know that your background is in healthcare. So were you, because it sounded like I'm trying to remember now from reading your bio, you certainly were seeing how other employees were affected by stress, but was that something you were going through as well? And is that kind of what led you to make this transition? Working Yourself Into Illness: When Burnout Becomes a Health Crisis Jesseca Tighe: Yeah. Yeah, it was. So my path, my story is, it's not a linear path, like most people. So I have a PhD in psychology. I practiced as a mental health therapist for about 10 years, and then got an opportunity to work in administrative positions in healthcare and mostly in senior living, which was great. I really loved it at first, but living through COVID, living through just the industry changing into more of a corporate structure, it really, really affected me. And I got burnt out, you know, when, especially in healthcare, it's always do more with less. It's always work harder, faster, longer. There are no holidays. There are no breaks. It's 24-7, 365. You're getting calls on vacation. And I just, I was not doing well. I really worked myself into illness where I got COVID and E. coli poisoning at the same time, and I could not get well. It was really terrible. And I just, I knew that I had to make a change and I had to do something. Turning Crisis Into Opportunity: Starting a New Business From the Couch So while I was laid up on the couch for two months, I decided, well, I might as well use this time productively. And so I'd always wanted to work with people again individually. I always knew I was going to go back to that. So I thought, well, why not now? So I decided to hang out a shingle as my dad would say, and start my own business. And here I am, and I'm loving it. And I'm so glad that I made the switch. But while I was working in healthcare, I did have some tips and tricks and techniques that I did with my team to reduce turnover, reduce stress, to build resilience, build a cohesive team so that we all had time back in our day so that we could manage it