Momentum Over More: How To Trust What You Know with Dr. Sam

What if the next level isn’t another course but the courage to use what you already know? I’m sharing a raw New Year reflection on choosing momentum over accumulation—how a year defined by adventure and guided by discernment exposed my money patterns in grief, and why implementation is my north star for 2026. This is a story about sobriety beyond substances, the spiritual whack-a-mole that follows healing, and the quiet strength it takes to sit with fear instead of outsourcing decisions to the loudest promise.

I name the work I’m claiming: holistic, trauma-informed physical therapist, bestselling author, and keynote speaker. Those pillars shape my plan to keep serving, speak until speaking pays, and open a brick-and-mortar wellness sanctuary built for mind, body, and spirit—scaled with intention, not urgency. When scarcity urges me to buy the shortcut, I’m pausing, praying, and letting my intuition lead. Momentum here is not speed; it’s consistent action in one direction, compounded by trust.

We walk through practical questions for discernment—why invest, what will I implement, what can I release—and how to build a personal flywheel: clear offers, dependable delivery, clean boundaries, and courageous follow-up. I share the griefs that derailed me—betrayal, motherhood’s intensity, miscarriage, losing my father and sister—and the faith that steadies me now. If you’ve been caught between healing and hustling, if you’ve ever tried to buy relief instead of feeling what hurts, this conversation is your invitation to breathe, choose the next honest step, and let momentum carry you. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review with your word for 2026—we’ll read our favorites on the show.

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Chapters

• 0:10 A Solo New Year Reflection
• 1:16 Adventure And Discernment Defined
• 2:38 Grief, Money, And Coping Patterns
• 4:25 Choosing Investments With Care
• 5:55 From Learning To Implementing
• 6:59 Sobriety And Spiritual Whack-A-Mole
• 8:20 Derailments: Marriage, Motherhood, Loss
• 10:50 Reclaiming Identity And Craft
• 12:05 Service Over Seeking More
• 12:47 Declaring The Word: Momentum
• 14:06 Building A Scalable Sanctuary
• 15:12 Resisting Instant Fixes
• 16:18 Trusting Intuition Over Courses
• 17:22 Keep Going And Let It Spin
• 18:07 Choose Trust, Not Second-Guessing
• 19:04 Hold On: Love Awaits Ahead

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:10

Welcome back everybody to the truth about addiction. Today's episode is just me. In fact, for the next one to two weeks, a lot of the podcast episodes are going to be just me. And I'm going to be sharing the energy of what's on my heart spiritually. And I think because it is the beginning of 2026, I want to share what's come up for me, what I learned in 2025, what I am taking with me into this year, and also what I'm leaving behind. I just made a post about this today, and it is Monday, January 5th. So my children literally just went back to school after a two-week break today. So mommy is getting a lot of things done and reflecting. And you know, it's interesting. In 2025, I went in with the word of the year being adventure. I think I really lived by that word. I traveled more than I ever have. Although adventure doesn't necessarily mean going to an adventurous place, it can also mean an emotional adventure, something that stretches you beyond your spiritual or mental comfort zone. And I really think I did quite a bit of that through 2025. The other word that I kept at the forefront and didn't always stay conscious about it is the word discernment. Discernment. Let's just say a hallelujah to that. I also wrote a book. Really big deal. What I didn't do well was handle my relationship with money, which, like so many of us, is riddled with old stories that aren't mine and conditioned beliefs and limitations. And I used money in some ways to cope with my grief. So in between bouts of hysterically sobbing, writing the hardest stories of my life, sharing that with others, I would go and play. And sometimes play was spend, and sometimes spend was spending without discernment. And I say all that because I went into 2025, really becoming more discerning about how I spend my money, what I spend it on, who I spend it on. Right? What am I investing in as a grown woman? If I'm hiring a coach, why? Who are they? How expensive is it? If I'm buying a course, why? What don't I already know that I feel I need to know? Am I actually going to implement this material? I did a much better job in 2025 than in the years prior. However, there is a feeling now going into 2026 of done-ness. I am done buying another course at least right now. I am done hiring another coach. At least right now. I'm done making a new product. At least right now. I've bought all the courses. I've been to the seminars. I've hired the coaches. I've created the things. I'm so good at doing that. At investing in myself. At some point I have to stop and implement. I have to take what I've learned and also get rid of what I learned that doesn't work for me. And I have to integrate it into my business, into how I'm mother, into my relationship with money, into my relationship with God, into my friendships. I'm not sure until now, I've been ready. It's one thing to get sober when you have a substance abuse problem. It's monumental to put that down. But then for a really long time, at least in my experience, you're still playing spiritual whack-a-mole. One thing gets healed, and another part of your wounding shows up. And if you're not ready to face it, you act out on that. So maybe you're not abusing alcohol or cocaine, but you're abusing money. You're abusing food. You're over-exercising, you're overworking. It feels like for over a decade, while I've stayed physically abstinent, there's been some spiritual crisis that has otherwise derailed me from being able to live a fully integrated life and therefore really seeing my full potential. You know, and if I if I had to understand it without judging it, you know, I think to ten years ago and finding out about my husband's extramarital affair after years of wondering what was going on and being in a state of rage and being without God and having absolute perfectionism and anxiety just running my life. Such a derailment to thriving in all these different areas of my life. It took my full attention to navigate that, to just get through the day. And then I became a mom. And that is its own exquisite type of derailment. Totally worth it. But holy shit! Chemically, physically, emotionally, and in between having babies and raising babies and trying to get pregnant and miscarrying and having another baby, you know, I lost my dad. Total derailment. Not prepared for that. And three years later, I lost my sister. Now I am not making excuses, I am not here having a pity party. I am just reflecting on what has made it so unbelievably difficult to not be so vulnerable to thinking I needed another course or another coach to tell me what to do with my life. I am three and a half years out from the loss of my sister. A year and a half out of the release of my book. And after all the courses and all the coaching and all the not knowing of what I'm doing with my life and who I actually am, here's what I do know. I'm still a physical therapist. I'm just a holistic trauma-informed physical therapist, and I lead with that because that differentiates me. And it's true, and it captures the essence of what I do when I work with people. I'm also a best-selling author, and I'm also a keynote speaker. God, those three things feel so resonant. And I have a coaching program, and I have a group coaching program, and I have fitness programs, and I have spiritual courses and stress management courses and time management courses. I have products and services. I understand how to build an online brand. There's nothing left for me to pay you to figure out right now. I just have to go out and serve. And serve you. And build my business up again. And keep speaking and sharing my story and shining a light in the darkest places so people know they are not alone. I already know that I am a miracle. I already know that what I do and what I have to offer can save lives. So I just have to keep doing it. There's nothing someone else can say or do to shake my knowing. And I'm so relieved about that. Because I get to go into this year with a new word. And the word is momentum. Last year I spoke on a lot of stages, haven't gotten paid for a single one of them yet. But I will. Last year I finally started to see clients again. And I have a bunch of them on my caseload. And I'm gonna have more. And then I'm gonna get so busy, I'll have a waiting list. And I'm opening a brick and mortar space again. A wellness sanctuary for the mind, body, and spirit in my neighborhood. Like what I had in Santa Monica that I shut down when I lost my sister. Except this time, I'm gonna scale it. And I'm in it for the long game. So when it isn't happening right away, and I'm in fear, and I want to hire the coach and buy the course, I'm gonna pause and I'm gonna wait. And I'm gonna honor the feeling of lack and worry that's coming up inside of me, and I'm gonna look at it as a spiritual test. I can go and do those things I've always done, which is really just a yearning for instant gratification. You sound like you can help me. You sound like you can fix my problem. You sound like you have the answer. Oh, it's so tempting, isn't it? But what if I have the answer? What if I sit with myself long enough to hear what God has to say? What my God-given intuition thinks I should do. This year is about momentum. I don't need to make any new things. I just need to stay the course and keep doing what I've been doing. Keep speaking until I get paid to speak and then speak more. Keep coaching. Keep helping people heal. Keep sharing how I got through my hardest things. I just need to keep going. And let that flywheel spin. I hope this year if nothing else happens that you just practice trusting yourself. Trusting your God-given talents, trusting this messy windy road called life. And that you don't second guess who you are and why you're here. It will be revealed. And you don't need to hire somebody to figure it out. Everything you're looking for everything is inside of you. There's just some stuff covering it up. So I cannot wait to see what actually happens in this place. With all that I have to offer, with this level of self-assurance, who I'm gonna help, who I'm gonna meet. And just remember we have not yet met all of the people who we are going to love and are who who are going to love us. That's really powerful. So even on the worst day, the worst, worst day, there's gonna be another one that we can't see or know or imagine just yet. That's gonna be baked in love and joy and connection. So just hang on. Be still. Take a breath. God's got you. And I'm here if you want to talk. I love you guys. Cheers to a brand new year.

SPEAKER_00: 20:00

So we make it Gotta gotta bring it. Come on! Woo!

SPEAKER_01: 20:10

I am right, so make a change. I am bigger than my pig. There's a no deep son. I got the the thing. I am ray, some bigger change. I am bigger than my pay. There's a no deep so I got the the time.