Motivation is Overrated | SOVEREIGN Magazine® Podcast with Michelle Vande Hey

Trigger Warning: In this episode of the SOVEREIGN Magazine® Podcast, host Nicole George reconnects with Michelle Vande Hey, SOVEREIGN Magazine®’s Love Your Life Columnist, to explore the August Full Moon theme of Hitting Rock Bottom, with a trigger warning for child loss.

Michelle shares how losing her son in October 2018 exposed the limits of motivation and toxic positivity as she faced depression, PTSD, anxiety, and feeling disconnected from herself and motherhood.

She explains how choosing to train for a 10K - rather than relying on surface-level goals - helped her uncover a deeper “five layers” why: wanting to feel like herself again. They discuss identity as habits, sustaining change after the finish-line high through continued support and therapy, and reframing positivity as joy that can coexist with difficult emotions while reclaiming healthy control over one’s choices.

01:06 Meet Michelle Vande Hey

01:53 Motivation vs Decision

03:24 Rock Bottom After Loss

04:32 Training for the 10K

05:59 Five Layers of Why

09:04 After the Finish Line

11:35 Joy Over Positivity

14:32 Reclaiming Control

Connect with Michelle Vande Hey