The Confident Woman Podcast

Rachel Brooks
  • 4.9 (70)
  • Christianity
  • Updated Weekly

Welcome to The Confident Woman Podcast — the show for faith-fueled, purpose-driven women ready to reclaim their identity, rebuild their confidence, and create a life they truly love. Hosted by Rachel Brooks — award-winning author of Chasing Perfection, entrepreneur, and founder of The Confident Woman® — each episode is a raw, real, and relatable conversation about faith, identity, purpose, and freedom. We’ll talk about what matters most: overcoming self-doubt, healing from the past, navigating transitions, building healthy relationships, and creating a life and business aligned with your God-given calling. Through powerful stories, practical strategies, and faith-filled encouragement, you’ll gain the clarity, courage, and confidence to live boldly, love deeply, and walk in the fullness of who you were created to be. Follow the show and join a global community of women redefining success with faith, freedom, and purpose.

  1. 2d ago

    How to Find Yourself Again When You’ve Lost Yourself with Chelsea Ann O’Brien

    Have you spent so long being the woman everyone depends on that you don’t know who you are outside of what you do for them? You can be capable, independent, and successful while realizing the life you’ve built no longer reflects what matters to you. In this episode of The Confident Woman Podcast, Rachel Brooks joins mother, author, and board-certified family nurse practitioner Chelsea Ann O’Brien to explore identity, inherited expectations, and redefining success. Chelsea shares how divorce and motherhood challenged her priorities, drawing from her books, The Feminine Effect and The Feminine Frequency, to discuss feminine nature and receiving support. Rachel shares how grief challenged her identity, why she walked away from a working relationship, and how faith helped her open the heart she’d closed to protect herself. What we get into How family beliefs shape who you think you have to beWhy independence can be both a strength and a form of protectionChelsea’s perspective on reconnecting with feminine natureDefining your values and setting boundaries without proving your worthRachel’s “just because I could doesn’t mean I should” realizationFeeling safe, seen, and secure while learning to receive supportIf you heard yourself in this Asking, “Who am I without all the roles I know how to perform?” The Becoming… Identity Planner & Journal gives you somewhere to separate who you are from what you do and get honest about what still belongs in this season. Begin The Becoming… Identity Planner & Journal Create Your Own Story Rachel continues exploring faith, identity, and the cost of proving your worth in Create Your Own Story. Subscribe for her writing on questioning the life you’ve built and deciding what comes next. Subscribe to Create Your Own Story New here? Start here Connect with Chelsea Ann O’Brien Explore The Feminine Effect, The Feminine Frequency, and Chelsea’s work: Website | Books and resources | Instagram Connect with Rachel Brooks Instagram

  2. Sep 30

    Midlife Wellness: When What Used to Work No Longer Does with Meridan Zerner

    The nutrition or exercise routine that worked years ago may not feel right in midlife. How do you take care of your health when your energy, body, and everyday responsibilities have changed? In this episode of The Confident Woman Podcast, Rachel Brooks sits down with Meridan Zerner, an award-winning registered dietitian nutritionist and wellness professional with more than 30 years of experience in preventive health. Meridan shares her approach to midlife wellness and explains why she believes a sustainable health routine should fit the person and the life she’s actually living. Rachel and Meridan talk about how hormonal changes can affect women’s midlife experience, the place of sleep, nutrition, movement, stress management, and connection in overall wellness, and why learning what to do is only part of making a lasting change. When Rachel asks how a woman can create her own recipe for health, Meridan begins with a surprisingly practical question: What is already going well? IN THIS CONVERSATION How to reassess your habits when what used to work no longer fits Why Meridan recommends starting with the supportive habits you already have How one or two small changes can be tested and adjusted within an ordinary week Why rest, social connection, and asking for support belong in a fuller conversation about health What Meridan’s The Thoughtful 30 offers as a framework for considering new wellness habits How to advocate for yourself, ask questions, and collaborate with qualified health professionalsYOUR NEXT STEP Notice one thing you’re already doing that supports your health, then consider one small change you can realistically try this week. Give yourself room to see whether it fits before adding more. THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY BENEVE Beneve is a wellness brand Rachel uses as part of taking care of her health, energy, strength, and body in midlife. See what Rachel is using → BENEVE ABOUT OUR GUEST Meridan Zerner, MS, RDN, CSSD, LD, CHWC, is a registered dietitian nutritionist, wellness coach, speaker, and creator of The Thoughtful 30: 30-Day Reset for Midlife and Beyond. Learn more about Meridan and find her free Thoughtful 30 get-started resources: https://www.meridanzernernutrition.com CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION This conversation doesn’t end with the episode. Rachel’s companion Create Your Own Story feature explores what happens when the way you’ve been taking care of yourself no longer fits the woman or the life you’re living now. Subscribe and read the latest edition: https://iamrachelbrooks.substack.com New here and not sure where to begin? START HERE → Hosted by Rachel Brooks, author of Chasing Perfection and host of The Confident Woman Podcast. Follow Rachel at @iamrachelbrooks: https://iamrachelbrooks.com/instagram This episode is a general educational conversation and is not individualized healthcare guidance. Discuss personal symptoms or changes to treatment with your own qualified healthcare professional.

  3. Sep 23

    How to Stop Proving Your Worth and Start Living From Who You Are

    Are you paying the price to prove your worth? Have you spent years working toward success, trying to meet everyone's expectations, or proving how much you can handle, only to realize that the life you're working so hard to create is costing you the very things that matter most? Maybe you're building a career or business to create more freedom, but you barely have time to enjoy the people you love. Maybe you've become the person everyone depends on, and you're exhausted from carrying responsibilities you never consciously chose. Or perhaps you're navigating a season of change, trying to figure out who you are when your life no longer looks the way you thought it would. In this episode of The Confident Woman Podcast, Rachel Brooks invites you into a conversation about knowing your worth, finding your voice, and what happens when you begin making decisions from the belief that your value isn't determined by what you accomplish, how much money you make, or how much you're willing to sacrifice for others. Together, we're exploring how the pursuit of success can become tied to our identity, the difference between making necessary sacrifices and compromising ourselves in the process, and why becoming the woman God created you to be doesn't require spending another chapter of your life trying to prove you're worthy. Inside This Conversation: Why knowing your worth and actually living from that belief are two different things.How success, productivity, and being needed can become tied to your identity and self-worth.Recognizing when your responsibilities and ambitions are costing you the freedom, peace, and relationships you were working so hard to create.The difference between making necessary sacrifices and compromising your dignity or self-respect.How to begin reconsidering what you're carrying and what you want to make room for in this season of becoming.What Colossians 3:23 reminds us about working wholeheartedly without allowing our work or someone else's approval to determine our worth.This conversation isn't about giving up on your dreams, walking away from your responsibilities, or pretending that difficult circumstances don't exist. It's about getting honest with yourself about what you're pursuing, why you're pursuing it, and whether the way you're living actually reflects what matters most to you. As you navigate your own messy middle of becoming, consider the question Rachel leaves you with this week: Are you paying the price to prove your worth? And when you look at what it's actually costing you, is that a price you still want to keep paying? Continue the Conversation Read the companion essay, Are You Paying the Price to Prove Your Worth?, and join Rachel inside Create Your Own Story for weekly conversations about faith, identity, grief, ambition, and finding your way back to who God created you to be. Read & subscribe to Create Your Own Story → New here? Discover the writing, podcast, and where to begin. START HERE → Scripture referenced: Colossians 3:23–24

  4. Sep 16

    How to Know What’s Yours to Carry (and What Isn’t)

    What do you do when being able to handle something has made you forget to ask whether it still belongs to you? There comes a point when being the person who can figure it out, step in, solve the problem, or keep things moving starts to feel less like a strength you choose to use and more like a responsibility you automatically carry. You know you can do it, so somewhere along the way, “I can” starts sounding a lot like “I should.” In this episode of The Confident Woman, Rachel Brooks opens up a conversation about overcommitting, self-worth, usefulness, and the difference between being able to do something and knowing whether it is actually yours to carry. The conversation grew out of something Rachel noticed in herself after seeing a gap she knew how to fill and almost immediately making herself responsible for it. No one had assigned it to her. She simply knew she could help. That moment raised a bigger question about how often we confuse ability with assignment, especially when being useful, dependable, strong, or needed has become part of how we measure our value. In this episode: How “I can” quietly becomes “I should”Why being good at something does not automatically make it yours to carryWhy work that comes naturally to you is still real work and still carries a costHow usefulness and being needed can become tangled up with self-worthWhy naming what something costs does not erase the love, meaning, or value inside itThe difference between asking “Can I do this?” and asking “Is this mine?”What 1 Corinthians 10:23 reveals about the difference between what is possible and what is actually beneficialHow Philippians 4:7 and 2 Corinthians 10:5 connect peace, discernment, and the stories we keep telling ourselvesThis isn’t about becoming less generous, refusing to help people, or treating every hard responsibility like something you should walk away from. Some things are worth the cost. Some seasons ask more of us because we love someone, believe in something, or know the responsibility is ours. The shift is noticing this: ability and assignment are not the same thing. “Can I do this?” tells you what is possible. “Is this mine?” asks you to discern whether it actually belongs to you in this season. The question to sit with this week is: What are you still saying yes to simply because you know you can, and what is that yes costing you? Continue the Conversation: Follow Rachel at @iamrachelbrooks: https://iamrachelbrooks.com/instagram Read the companion essay on Create Your Own Story and subscribe to continue the weekly conversation: https://iamrachelbrooks.com/substack Scripture referenced: 1 Corinthians 10:23, Philippians 4:7, 2 Corinthians 10:5

  5. Sep 9

    What to Do When Your Life Doesn’t Look Like You Thought It Would

    What do you do when the life you’re living looks nothing like the one you thought you would have by now? There comes a point when you can look around and realize that some of the things you thought would be settled aren’t, certain plans didn’t unfold the way you expected, and parts of the life you spent years building don’t feel the same anymore. It can leave you trying to make sense of the distance between where you thought you would be and where you actually are. In this episode of The Confident Woman, Rachel Brooks opens up a conversation about unexpected life changes, midlife transitions, feeling stuck, and what happens when you don’t know exactly what comes next but you’re beginning to believe there could still be another way. The conversation grew out of something Rachel noticed while walking and thinking through the transitions women around her have been talking about: divorce, empty nesting, grief, changing careers, changing bodies, relationships, identity, burnout, isolation, purpose and fulfillment. The circumstances may be different, but the question underneath so many of them is familiar: What do I do when this isn’t the life I thought I would be living? In this episode: Why unmet expectations can carry their own form of griefWhat happens when today’s circumstances start feeling permanentWhy not knowing how something will change doesn’t mean it never canThe difference between solving your entire future and allowing yourself to imagine one againHow women can lose sight of possibility during long seasons of survival and uncertaintyWhat Proverbs 16:9 reminds us about making plans while trusting God with the steps we cannot see yetThis isn’t about blowing up your life or pretending starting over is easy. Sometimes the circumstances keeping us where we are are very real, and there may not be an immediate answer. The shift Rachel is noticing is much smaller: she is beginning to see options again, and right now, options are hope. The question to sit with this week is: What have you stopped allowing yourself to imagine because somewhere along the way you started believing this is simply how your life is going to be? Continue the Conversation: Follow Rachel at @iamrachelbrooks: https://iamrachelbrooks.com/instagram Read the companion essay on Create Your Own Story and subscribe to continue the weekly conversation. https://iamrachelbrooks.com/substack Scripture referenced: Proverbs 16:9

  6. Sep 2

    Why Do I Feel Guilty When I Rest?

    Why does resting feel uncomfortable even when you finally have time to slow down? You can close the laptop, finish what needed to be done, and finally have an open afternoon in front of you, yet still feel like you should be doing something. When so much of life has been measured by what gets finished, fixed, created, earned, or moved forward, rest can start to feel less like freedom and more like time you should be using better. In this episode of The Confident Woman, Rachel Brooks opens up a conversation about rest guilt, productivity, pressure, and what happens when we become so focused on making a living, building a life, and preparing for what comes next that we forget how to experience the life already happening in front of us. The conversation begins with an ordinary Sunday afternoon and a spontaneous trip to the library after Rachel realized she couldn’t remember the last time she had picked up a novel simply because she wanted to read it. What seemed insignificant became a reminder of how easily the things we once enjoyed can disappear beneath responsibility, urgency, and the constant feeling that there is always something else we should be doing. In this episode: Why stopping work doesn’t automatically shut off the mental to-do listHow productivity can become tied to success, progress, and whether time feels “well spent”What happens when creativity, hobbies, and ordinary enjoyment start needing an outcomeWhy advice to “slow down and be present” can feel disconnected from the responsibilities women are actually carryingHow to care about your future without mentally living there all dayWhat Matthew 6:33–34 reminds us about living the day God has actually given usThis isn’t a conversation about dropping your responsibilities or pretending the pressure isn’t real. It’s about noticing when being responsible for your life has quietly turned into never allowing yourself to experience it. Rachel leaves you with one question to sit with this week: What part of your life have you quietly postponed until everything else gets figured out? If this episode has you questioning how you're living, and whether the life you're building still reflects what matters most, The Becoming… Identity Planner & Journal gives you somewhere to slow down and work through it instead of rushing into the next thing simply because you believe you should be doing more. The Becoming… is an undated, year-long identity planner and journal designed to help you look honestly at where you're, reconnect with who you're and whose you're, and make intentional decisions about the life you're actually building. Start The Becoming… Identity Planner & Journal Continue the Conversation: Follow Rachel at @iamrachelbrooks: https://iamrachelbrooks.com/instagram Read the companion essay, “I Think I Forgot How to Just Live,” on Create Your Own Story, and subscribe to continue the weekly conversation. https://iamrachelbrooks.com/substack Listen, subscribe, and share this episode with the woman who feels guilty for resting and has forgotten how to find joy and meaning in the ordinary. SCRIPTURE REFERENCED Matthew 6:33–34

  7. Aug 26

    How to Find Your God-Given Purpose Without Burning Yourself Out

    How do you know if you're faithfully stewarding your God-given purpose or simply putting more pressure on yourself to make it bigger? We hear things like “your pain becomes your purpose” and “your mess becomes your message,” and sometimes that is exactly what God does. He redeems parts of our stories we once wished we could erase and uses them to help someone else feel seen, understood, and less alone. The harder question comes later, when the message starts reaching people, opportunities begin opening, and something that began in obedience becomes something you feel responsible for growing. In this episode of The Confident Woman, Rachel Brooks opens up a deeper conversation about God-given purpose, biblical stewardship, ambition, impact, and what can happen when a calling that is genuinely meaningful slowly becomes tangled with pressure to do more with it. Because wanting to reach more people isn't automatically ego. Wanting your work to grow isn't automatically wrong. The calling can be real, the motive can be good, and you can still reach a point where bigger starts feeling like proof that you're stewarding it well. Rachel explores the difference between playing small and living faithfully, why her perspective changed over the years, In this episode: • Why pain-to-purpose and mess-to-message can be true without requiring every part of your story to become bigger, public, or productive • How a real calling can quietly become pressure when growth, reach, visibility, and opportunity become the way you measure whether you're doing enough • The difference between playing small and recognizing that something doesn't have to become enormous to be significant • Why Rachel hears Josh Wilson's Dream Small differently now than she did when she was first learning to stop shrinking herself • What biblical stewardship changes when you stop asking how big you can make something and start asking what God is actually asking you to do with it • How 1 Peter 4:10 and Matthew 6:33 bring purpose back underneath faithfulness, obedience, and relationship with God One question sits underneath the entire conversation: What does faithful stewardship of what God gave me look like in this season? Because maybe the answer isn't automatically more. Maybe the calling doesn't need to become smaller, but your definition of faithfulness may need to become more honest about what God is actually asking of you now. If this episode has you looking at your own purpose, the pressure surrounding it, and whether the life you're building still reflects what matters most, The Becoming… Identity Planner & Journal gives you somewhere to slow down and work through it instead of rushing into the next thing simply because you believe you should be doing more. The Becoming… is an undated, year-long identity planner and journal designed to help you look honestly at where you're, reconnect with who you're and whose you're, and make intentional decisions about the life you're actually building. Start The Becoming… Identity Planner & Journal Continue the Conversation: Follow Rachel at @iamrachelbrooks: https://iamrachelbrooks.com/instagram Join Create Your Own Story on Substack: https://iamrachelbrooks.com/substack Listen, subscribe, and share this episode with the woman who knows she has purpose but may be carrying the pressure to constantly prove, grow, or maximize it.

  8. Aug 19

    What to Do When Your Old Life No Longer Fits

    What happens when you know you’ve changed, the life that used to fit you doesn’t anymore, and you don’t know where this version of you belongs? It can be hard to explain because nothing necessarily had to go wrong. The things that once lit you up may not anymore. Conversations feel different. Relationships change. Dreams you once worked toward can suddenly feel exhausting, and you find yourself somewhere between missing what was and not knowing what comes next. In this episode of The Confident Woman, Rachel Brooks opens up a deeper conversation about identity, grief, belonging, faith, and the loneliness of becoming somebody different when there isn’t one obvious ending you can point to and say, “That’s what happened.” Because sometimes grief isn’t only about losing a person. You can grieve the relationship, the role you played, the life you knew, the future you expected, and even the version of yourself who existed when all of it still felt familiar. But there’s another layer to this when you realize: I know who I am, but I don’t know what I do anymore. In this episode: Why becoming someone different can feel incredibly lonely even when nothing obviously “ended”How grief can change your relationship with yourself, your identity, and the life you once knewWhy the things you once wanted may stop feeling like they belong to youWhat happens when you know who you are but no longer know how to answer, “What do you do?”Why some relationships survive change while others depended on the role you were playing inside themWhat it means when your soul starts longing for home, safety, belonging, rest, and something softerWhy being weary changed the way Rachel understands Matthew 11:28What trusting God can look like when you don’t know what comes nextOne question sits underneath the entire conversation: What do you do when the old life doesn’t feel like home anymore, but the new one hasn’t fully taken shape yet? Because maybe you don’t need to force yourself back into a version of your life that no longer fits just because it’s familiar. Maybe part of becoming is getting honest about what has changed, what you’re longing for now, and who you are becoming in the middle of it. If this episode helps you recognize that you’re somewhere in that in-between, The Becoming… Identity Planner & Journal gives you somewhere to keep working through it instead of having another realization that gets buried underneath everything else tomorrow. It’s an undated, year-long identity planner and journal designed to help you get honest about where you are, what no longer fits, what matters to you now, and who you’re becoming as you decide what comes next. Start with The Becoming… Identity Planner & Journal Continue the Conversation: Follow Rachel at @iamrachelbrooks and join us inside Create Your Own Story on Substack for deeper personal essays, honest conversations, and the stories behind the work. Listen, subscribe, and share this episode with the woman who may be looking around at her life wondering why the things that used to feel like home don’t fit her anymore. Scripture referenced: Matthew 11:28

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About

Welcome to The Confident Woman Podcast — the show for faith-fueled, purpose-driven women ready to reclaim their identity, rebuild their confidence, and create a life they truly love. Hosted by Rachel Brooks — award-winning author of Chasing Perfection, entrepreneur, and founder of The Confident Woman® — each episode is a raw, real, and relatable conversation about faith, identity, purpose, and freedom. We’ll talk about what matters most: overcoming self-doubt, healing from the past, navigating transitions, building healthy relationships, and creating a life and business aligned with your God-given calling. Through powerful stories, practical strategies, and faith-filled encouragement, you’ll gain the clarity, courage, and confidence to live boldly, love deeply, and walk in the fullness of who you were created to be. Follow the show and join a global community of women redefining success with faith, freedom, and purpose.

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