78. Breaking Through Self-Doubt: Embracing the Messy Middle- Your Waiting Season Isn't Wasted

Obedience Without Clarity — Trusting Divine Timing in the Messy Middle

Have you ever followed a spiritual nudge, only to find yourself standing in stillness, wondering if you got it wrong?

Welcome to the messy middle — that sacred space between obedience and visible outcomes.
It’s quiet here. Uncomfortable. Often misinterpreted as failure.
But what if this pause isn’t punishment... it’s preparation?

In this episode of It’s the Human Experience, we’re talking about what no one tells you:
That you don’t reap what you sow in the same season.
That shame will try to silence you right before your purpose breaks through.
And that divine timing isn’t late — it’s strategic.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Why obedience without clarity is one of the most misunderstood parts of growth
• How to release shame, which attacks identity — not behavior — and keeps you stuck
• The truth about fear spirals, and why fear often shows up right before breakthrough
• The importance of letting go of societal timelines and being seen “in process”
• A powerful reminder: You are not behind. You are being positioned.

📊 Did you know over 60% of women entrepreneurs say self-doubt is their #1 barrier?
Let’s talk about why trusting your unseen progress is part of unlocking your next level.

✨ Share this if…

• You’ve been in a season of obedience with no results — and it’s messing with your confidence
• You’re tired of shame making you question your worth or readiness
• You’re building, stretching, healing — and just need to know you’re not alone

🔜 What’s next?

Starting next episode, we’re bringing on transformational guests who live what we talk about:
 Faith. Fear. Obedience. Identity. And purpose that changes lives.

So stay tuned, stay grounded, and stay subscribed.
 This next chapter? It’s going to stretch you… in all the right ways.

🎙️ Press play and meet yourself in the messy middle. You’re not lost. You’re being led.

Chapters

• 0:00 Podcast Introduction
• 1:31 The Messy Middle of Growth
• 4:11 Breaking Through Entrepreneurial Self-Doubt
• 8:52 Overcoming Shame During Delay
• 11:20 Moving Forward Despite Uncertainty
• 13:04 Future Episodes and Closing Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to. It's the Human Experience Podcast Hosted by Hazel Brown, a healthcare leader, wife, mom and career coach. If you're big on authenticity, personal development, perseverance and transparency, you're in the right place. Get ready to be uplifted, inspired and empowered as you become fearless in pursuit of the life you desire and deserve. Our goal is to help you level up by creating a safe space to learn and reflect, while listening to transparent stories from our host or successful professionals and business owners who've agreed to share the parts of success that typically gets X'd out on social media, because that's the part you need to see and hear the process. Go ahead and subscribe. You don't want to miss out on these transparent stories and discussions that reveal highs, lows, aha moments and nuggets that'll help you to grow and glow.

Speaker 2: 1:13

Hey, hey, hey, you are now tuned in to the it's the Human Experience podcast. I'm your host, hazel Brown. Thanks for tuning into the podcast. If it's your first time tuning in, hey, hey. Go ahead and hit that follow button or subscribe if you're tuning in from Apple. If you're a returned listener, hey, hey, go ahead and hit that follow button or subscribe if you're tuning in from Apple. If you're a returned listener, hey, hey. Thanks for tuning back into the podcast. You already know the vibe Today.

Speaker 2: 1:31

I wanted us to talk about some things. I wanted us to get real. Real. I wanted us to make sure we are tapping in to the middle, the mess, the pieces in our process. That really helps us to stretch, strengthens us and helps us to become the person we know we're destined to be.

Speaker 2: 1:47

Hear me out have you ever felt like you were doing all the things right but the results still did not match the prayers? Like you're showing up, you're healing, you're obeying the nudge, you're fully surrendered, you're walking by faith, not by sight, and all the things, but still it's quiet, things aren't moving how you expected for them to move. The clarity is not clarifying, it's not refining, it's not what it needs to be, and the momentum feels slow. That's the part that no one prepares you for, like no one's talking about that part of the journey. When you're aligned but it feels like you're uncertain, like you're in full surrender mode and being obedient but the outcomes are not visible yet. When you're not lost but you're also not refined. Ooh, child, wake up. In this, sorry, oh my God, you're not waiting to become anything. You're already in divine timing. You're living what you used to pray for, even if it doesn't look like it yet. So take a deep breath. This season is not punishment, it's positioning, it's preparing for what was already yours. It's preparation for what's already yours, because the most sacred parts of the process often happens in the pause, the stillness, the calm before the storm. And you are the storm, you are the force to be reckoned with, and you don't need proof to know that you're on purpose, to know that you're chosen, to know that everything is divinely happening the way it's supposed to happen. The most misunderstood parts of growth, oh, child, the obedience without clarity. If you've ever felt like you're doing all the things right but the results just don't match the prayers, child, you are not alone. This is a soul check-in. Listen, we're going to talk about the messy middle, the space where the faith gets tested. Your fear gets louder and the purpose still whispers and child, we're going to keep going. We're going to talk about how fear just shows up right before your breakthrough, how obedience sometimes you don't see the results. It's still powerful. Like we're gonna talk about that.

Speaker 2: 4:06

If you're building, shifting or wondering if you're being left behind, this is the podcast episode for you. Let me tell y'all about something that I really haven't shared with anyone. A few months ago, I sat in my car, parked outside, tears dropping down my face, not because something was like overtly wrong, but because everything I had been obedient to it still looked unfinished. It still looked uncertain, and I sat there asking God like did I miss something? Like did I do something wrong? Like did I fail that test? And it's really that I was in the middle of a spiral. Like, did I fail that test? And it's really that I was in the middle of a spiral? I'd heard something deep in my spirit You're not lost, you are being led.

Speaker 2: 4:50

This is the messy middle, where we stop performing, stop chasing and start getting honest about who we are, what we truly want our lives to look like. It's messy. Beautiful, the unseen parts of growth that no one posts about. It's messy, beautiful, the unseen parts of growth that no one posts about. I'm talking obedience, fear and what happens when your vision you're holding really doesn't match the life that you're living. This is for the builder that's ready to quit, the believer who's tired of waiting, the high achiever learning how to surrender, because there's a difference. Those societal checkbox goals, they hit different. When you're on a spiritual journey, that spiritual journey hits different.

Speaker 2: 5:30

I'm truly in a season of obedience. It looks nothing like success, at least not the kind we're taught to chase Like. There's no applause, there's no viral moments, there's no instant reward, just quiet sediments of God saying keep going, even if it doesn't make sense, even if it doesn't look like you expect it to. It's really just knowing you're walking in your purpose. It just doesn't feel like how Instagram makes it look right. While I knew I was walking in purpose, it just didn't feel like how Instagram made it look.

Speaker 2: 6:04

One minute I'm motivated. I'm like, yes, girl, yes, you got this. Oh God, yes, so glad I did this. And the next? I'm battling with doubt, fear, maybe I made the wrong turn. Should I go back and get a nine to five Like what should I do, god? That's the part no one prepares you for. And yet this unshakable knowing in my soul that I'm right, where I need to be is there. It's like the blind spots are teaching me to trust and not see that breakdown, that we're setting the foundation for the breakthroughs. It's all so messy.

Speaker 2: 6:40

I want to talk to my entrepreneurs for a second, because I know what it's like to build something that the world doesn't see yet, to launch, to post, to promote, to pitch and still feel invisible. But hear me out, obedience isn't just spiritual. It's really a strategy as well. You're not just creating content. You're not creating just an avatar or a character. It's not just about building a brand. It's you becoming a vessel for what God is trying to birth through you.

Speaker 2: 7:07

I was reading some stats the other day. You know I love stats, I love the numbers. Over 60% of women entrepreneurs say self-doubt is the number one barrier. Not the resources, not the funding, not even the time, but self-doubt fear the inner voice saying that you're not enough. And that's why today's episode is really focused on really breaking through those glass ceilings that we're creating for ourselves, the personal ones. We're breaking them. We're unlearning the need for perfection and we're relearning how to move with faith, even in the fog. Oh, the fog, the fog will have you feeling like you're behind, like it's not working, like you're not qualified, like it's for someone else. But when you get into those moments, I need you to pause, I need you to breathe. I need to let this truth really settle in God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies to call.

Speaker 2: 8:03

Your waiting season isn't wasted. Your obedience is doing more than what you can see, like it's really happening for you. Things are happening and moving in accordance to his plan. And the fear you're feeling sometimes that's just a sign that you're close to something bigger. And it's that fear wanting you to give up and turn around and protect you from what it doesn't know. And I need you to be your biggest advocate and go, even if you're fearful. Go even if you're scared. Move forward in knowing that what God is preparing for you on the other side is yours, and it's not allowable to let fear stop you from getting what God has prepared for you. And here's something I had to sit with recently you don't reap what you sow in the same season, most of times Like let's talk about that. Just because you're planting with intention, it doesn't mean the results will show up right away, and we're so used to this microwave season of things happening.

Speaker 2: 9:04

Growth has its own rhythm and divine timing doesn't operate on our deadlines. We don't get to say when it should happen and how it should happen. Sometimes we're just so focused on what hasn't happened yet that we miss the evidence that we're already transforming. But if we're honest, the deeper reason why we get discouraged isn't really the delay. It's the shame that creeps in, the shame that that quiet inner voice is saying something is wrong with me. Unlike guilt which says I did something bad, shame attacks your identity. It makes you question your worth, your time and your path. And on the growth journey, shame doesn't always look loud. Sometimes it's soft, the noise is not loud. Sometimes it shows up as over-explaining, hiding your gifts, doubting your own intuition.

Speaker 2: 9:52

And, let's be real, it gets even trickier when people are watching. Even when boundaries are in place, even when you're rooted in what God told you, even when you know you're walking in your purpose, there is still a world that's watching your process and sometimes judging it. People will question your pace, your pivot, your silence, because they don't see the promise God gave you. But here's what I want you to hear you are not behind, you are not broken, you are not late, you're deeply rooted, so the harvest will come. And when it does come, it doesn't break you, it sustains you.

Speaker 2: 10:33

And if fear is spiraling right now, you're not alone. In fact, here I go with my stats again 70% of adults report experiencing significant fear or anxiety about their future, especially during periods of change and transition. So, as fear spirals because it thrives on uncertainty, child, it definitely does. It's like, oh, she's a little bit not sure, let me go ahead and dive in, but faith grounds us in, just really letting us know that, yes, it hasn't happened yet, but it will happen. So keep sowing your seeds, keep tending to your soil, keep showing up in silence and private and in prayer, because even if it doesn't show up in this season, trust and believe it's still on its way.

Speaker 2: 11:20

So here's what I need you to do Don't give up just because it feels unclear. Don't shrink because it feels slow. Move anyway. Make a pitch anyway. Build a relationship anyway. Build the business anyway. Move anyway, move into that role anyway. Trust anyway, do whatever it is you need to do anyway. This is your season to know that you are within divine timing. This is your divine detour and even if you feel unseen, unheard, misunderstood, you're still being led by God. Listen, if this resonates, I need you to leave me a comment. I need you to reach out to me on socials, on Instagram, at Workplace Therapy Experience, dm me, hey, girl. Hey, I want to talk about it. Like, what are you currently breaking through in your current season? If this resonated with you, I need you to go ahead and share the message, share the episode, share it with your go-getter friends who need to be a part of something bigger than them.

Speaker 2: 12:18

This solo journey is making room for the next chapter of the it's Human Experience podcast, because we are starting to bring on guests again in this upcoming season. We're bringing on voices that will stretch you, inspire you and walk this purpose path with you. They're not just guests. They're leaders, healers, truth tellers and everyday people doing extraordinary things with faith, intention and grit. And I'm still here, of course, I'm going to be anchoring this space for heart, honesty and hope. So stay subscribed and stay open, because we're just getting started. You're just getting started. You're not waiting on purpose. You are the purpose you keep becoming. And just remember, he's not making a way, he's making you the way.

Speaker 1: 13:02

And just remember, he's not making a way, he's making you the way to keep up with us. Keep growing and glowing. Catch you on the next episode.