Blonde, 62 Pounds Down, and Two New Sisters

Tracey returns to the podcast after a much-needed break to share updates about her DNA journey, weight loss progress, and the importance of self-care before burnout sets in. She celebrates her 49th birthday with reflections on finding two biological sisters through DNA testing and shares a powerful spiritual reminder about how life's challenges affect us less when we stay close to God.

• Found two biological sisters through an Ancestry DNA test taken on her birthday last year
• Has lost 62 pounds on her "Fit, Fine and Fabulous by 50" journey with a goal of losing 100 pounds
• Decided to take a break from the podcast and coaching when recognizing signs of burnout
• Celebrating her 49th birthday with a solo trip to Myrtle Beach for rejuvenation
• Shares a spiritual message about waves hitting softer when standing closer to the shore (God)
• Got platinum blonde hair in November as part of her personal transformation
• She and her sisters have connected well but are pausing their search for additional siblings

Remember God loves you, I love you, and it ain't nothing you can do about it.

Chapters

• 0:26 Welcome Back After a Break
• 3:40 DNA Journey Update: Finding Sisters
• 7:22 Life Changes and Beach Reflections
• 9:40 Preventing Burnout and Self-Care
• 12:05 Birthday Celebrations and Gratitude

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:26

What's good everybody. Welcome to the Charging Station Podcast. It's your girl, Tracy Massey, of Living my Empowered Life. I know, I know, I know. I know, I know sis, I know child. I know it's been a while. It has been a while I haven't forgotten about you all, but life has been lifing.

Speaker 1: 0:46

Twenty twenty four. Twenty twenty four had some amazing things happen for me, but they were also emotionally challenging and I was being stretched to no end. But God is good, excuse me and I really have no complaints. So I didn't start coughing until I came up on here. Look at here. Anyway, hey y'all, welcome to the shenanigans. I know video is just different. I'm in a different location. Actually, at the time that I am recording this podcast, it is my birthday, I am celebrating 49 years around the sun, and so I say you know what? Let me go on and just update my peeps with this new episode and just tell you all the shenanigans that have been happening and a little bit of the whatnots and all of that. So if I look a little different to you, if you've been following me on social media, you already know this, you already know this.

Speaker 1: 1:51

I am platinum blonde, baby Went, platinum blonde, in November of 2024. I told y'all it was a lot of changes I have. I'm still continuing my Fit, fine and Fabulous by 50 journey, where my goal is to drop a hundred pounds by my 50th birthday, which is next year. This time next year I'll be 50. So far, I have dropped 62 pounds, y'all, first of all. First of all, I'm not wearing any earrings. Hold on I know some people will be upset no, any earrings, hold on. All right, I had to put on some earrings because a lady wears earrings when she's on camera, so let me put these earrings on right quick. Y'all bear with me. Ain't nothing changed? Ain't nothing changed? I know I'm still y'all fam, all right.

Speaker 1: 2:48

So, um, my environment is a little different because I decided to be spontaneous and come down to Myrtle Beach for a few days. I needed a break. I haven't had a solo trip since 2021, and so this was the perfect time for me to get down here. And when I tell you, it has been relaxing, refreshing, rejuvenating, all of that good stuff. The weather has been beautiful. I got beautiful sunlight coming through my room. Right now I'm going to sit on the balcony and watch the sunset and just have a little snack and just continue to enjoy myself, but I head home tomorrow and I'm glad I'm going home because I miss my bed. There's nothing like being in your own bed at home. So, anyway, that's not why you're here. That's not why I'm here. I am here because I need to be updating y'all.

Speaker 1: 3:38

So you remember when I shared my DNA journey. If you have not, you don't know what I'm talking about. And this is your first time joining hey, I'm so rude. Hey, y'all. If this is your first time watching and listening, welcome to the Charging Station podcast. I pray that you are having a great day wherever you are and that you come back and join the shenanigans. Be a part of the power squad. If you are returning, listen to hey Boo. You Know, I from the South. You got to greet people when you come in. So if you are new to the Charging Station, go back and listen to my series called Branches, where I am talking about my DNA journey.

Speaker 1: 4:21

So this time last year, on this day, march 17th 2024, my birthday I decided to do an ancestry DNA test. So I ordered the test on this very day and I started to put my maternal side family tree together and I got the test the actual test about two weeks later, took the test, sent it in, got the results, found a sister that I didn't know existed. So that was a birthday gift to myself. On April 19th I ended up talking to said sister for the first time. We met in June of 2024 on Father's Day weekend and we have formed such a great bond, so go listen to those episodes.

Speaker 1: 5:13

Sister number one is actually on one of the episodes. We did a podcast episode together when she came to visit and since then we have found sister number two. Sister number two has come right on into the group and we also have a great bond. So I have two older sisters. I am still the baby out of the brood, out of the crew, and I could not have asked for better siblings. We are still getting to know each other. I have not met sister number two in person just yet. Hopefully we will all be in the same room in April as we celebrate sister number one's birthday, so I'm hoping that all three of us can get together. And sister number two is a little more private, so I've asked her to be on the podcast. She was like I don't know, so I don't know. Y'all pray, y'all pray. I think she would do fabulous. If I can't get sister number two, I'm gonna get my nephew on here. Like my nephew, I know he'll be down, so just kind of look out for that soon.

Speaker 1: 6:27

But it has been a wild ride. We have collectively decided to kind of put a pause in the search for other siblings, and we do have information on who our father was. He is deceased, but we know who he is. Don't know much about him because we haven't been able to locate anyone who had a close relationship with him. And we haven't been able to locate any of the other siblings. We do have nieces and nephews out there. So we're planning on just kind of going in together and touching base, trying to reach out to the nieces and nephews that we have.

Speaker 1: 7:08

So y'all keep us in prayer because this journey I've described it as an emotional tornado and that's exactly what it is, and so I'm glad that we all agreed that we just kind of take a break because it has been a lot on top of life going on. So other than that, things have been good. I've had some changes in my nine to five which has been stressful, but I'm just trusting God in this entire process. You know, sometimes you just have to let go and allow God to do what he does. And one thing that I do know and have come to be settled with in my spirit and in my heart, is knowing that God is in control and he's never left me, never forsaken me. He's never left me out here stranded or un bad airs or anything like that. So we're just kind of going with the flow.

Speaker 1: 7:56

And while I'm here at the beach, it reminds me of a sermon that I preached a long time ago. Maybe I'm not even going to try to figure out how long it's been, but it was a long time ago and I was walking on the beach in Hawaii a long time ago. And I was walking on the beach in Hawaii. This was after my daughter passed away and I went to Hawaii to escape everything. And I was walking on the beach and God was telling me to look at the waves. So I just stood there and I remember looking at the waves and how beautiful they are. So if I'm looking away now, if you're watching this, I'm looking at the waves right now and I just remembered this message.

Speaker 1: 8:38

God had me look at the waves and he showed me how all of the waves are different, so they're coming in at different times. Some of them are larger than others. They're crashing at the shores at different times. But one thing God showed me was the closer that you are on the shore no-transcript, and he had to remind me the closer that you get to him those waves don't hit you as hard. So thank you, lord, for that reminder and I hope that encouraged you just to know and remember the closer you get to God, the waves of life will not hit you as hard. Not saying they're not going to hit, not saying that you're not going to feel them. It's like no weapon formed shall prosper. Never said the weapon're not going to hit. Not saying that you're not going to feel them. It's like no weapon formed shall prosper. Never said the weapon wasn't going to form. Never said the waves weren't going to crash. But the closer you get to God, it won't affect you as much as it would if you were just standing out there all by yourself.

Speaker 1: 9:39

Anyway, I don't know how long this episode is going to be. I really just want to come on and update you all because I owe you this, and thank you all for all of you who follow me on the socials. You can find me on Instagram, facebook, tiktok threads and YouTube under Living my Empowered Life. You guys are the truth. You come into my DMs like, hey girl, what's going on with the podcast? What's going on with the podcast? What's going on with the episode? But you all know that I've been out here living. If you follow me on Instagram and if you're on my mailing list, you kind of have updates and everything too.

Speaker 1: 10:14

But I knew that I was on the verge of burnout. I knew that I was on the verge of burnout so I had to pause some things. I had to say okay, step away from living my empire life and coaching. I had to step away from the podcast because I had nothing to give and you know how much I fuss at y'all about trying to serve from an empty cup. Serve from your saucer. Shout out to Maddie James for that. That has stuck with me. Serve from your saucer, because if you're serving from your saucer, that means that it's overflow. There's an overflow coming out of your cup. I had no overflow y'all, so I had to sit my happy tail down somewhere and I'm not ashamed to say that, because I can come back now full. I can come back now full and I can come back rejuvenated and with more clarity and that way I can serve my peeps and I'm proud of myself for doing that. You know, give yourself kudos for doing the hard things, because a lot of times people tell you especially for us Black women they say push through, be strong, push through, no, no, because if I'm pushing against something, I have to have strength to push that thing back. I had no strength to do that, so I took a break before I broke.

Speaker 1: 11:39

Anyway, y'all, I am not going to be before you long. I just wanted to send an update, let you know that we will be getting back to the charging station back on schedule. New episodes will drop on Tuesday. Okay, tuesday is our day. New episodes will drop on Tuesdays. I think I'm going to keep doing this video thing. Y'all may get makeup, you may not.

Speaker 1: 12:02

I felt good today because it's my birthday. I am the queen for the day. It's Tracy's day, no matter what the calendar says. The calendar says it's St Patrick's day. No, it's Tracy's day, it's Trey day, t day. So if you are following my social media, thank you for all of the birthday wishes, the birthday shout outs.

Speaker 1: 12:22

I feel so loved. I feel loved anyway, but today I feel extra loved and one of the most amazing things about today is being able to talk to my sisters and have getting birthday cards from my sisters. That's never happened before. So grateful. I'm gonna get off here before I start crying. I've been an emotional ball of of flames today, but thank you again for tuning in, thank you for rocking with me, thank you for sticking with me. I appreciate you all so very much. My phone is blowing up, so let me get off here and answer these phones, this phone and these text messages, cause it's just all the birthday wishes y'all. I feel. I feel I feel blessed and I got to go work out. Yeah, I'm working out today, but, as always, before we close out, remember God loves you, I love you. It ain't nothing you can do about it. I will see you on the next episode. Bye.