Greetings and welcome. Welcome fam. Welcome back to the Sweet Spot. I'm Dr. Derek Sweet. We've been having an amazing week here as we've been tackling the seven questions that can change our lives. Wow. And it's been revealing. We didn't just go for answers, we went after the questions. I'm so excited that you actually kept with me and stuck with this because the more we ask ourselves the right question, the closer we become to the kinds of answers that we really want to hear. So, what if the thing draining your strength isn't the work you're doing, but the thing you're running from? And that's what we're dealing with here on Finish Strong Friday. Look, these seven questions aren't meant to make anybody feel uncomfortable. That's not what this is about. On Monday, we got honest because we said that honesty is what sets the table for these questions. Remember? We said that you have to ask, Where am I? Where are you on this? And on Tuesday, we said, what's holding us back? We have to get honest about that because something is often holding us back. And on Wednesday, we dug deeper to ask ourselves, what do I really want? Because without that clarity, we can be going in circles. Worse, we can be locked up in somebody else's drama when we don't even know what we want. We're just doing what they want. On Thursday, we took a really brave step, a deep step, because we wanted to know what's the next little thing, the smallest thing ever, that I could try, something that might scare me that I can try. And here we are. We find ourselves on Finish Strong Friday, the day that decides whether all the inner work turns into real lasting change. Because you can't finish strong, my friends, if we're being quietly drained by something we've been avoiding. And only you know what you've been avoiding, what you've been putting off, what you've been procrastinating on. So the question today is a tender one. What am I avoiding? Let me tell you something I've learned over the years, working with high performance leaders and everyday people with big hearts. Avoidance doesn't mean you're weak. It doesn't even make you weak. Avoidance makes you human. That's right. We all have something: a conversation, a decision, a truth, a responsibility. There's something that we walk around instead of walking towards. Something that we'd rather do later. The thing that we put off while we're doing this other thing that's so important. We all have it. And it requires a lot of strength and a lot of courage to figure out what we've been avoiding and to begin to tackle it. The Bible, the ancient wisdom in Joshua puts it this way as a reminder. Be strong and courageous, for the Lord your God is with you. Notice something here. God didn't say, Don't be afraid, don't feel fear. He said, I am with you while you face it. Courage isn't the absence of fear, right? Courage is moving with God in the middle of fear. That's what we're gonna do today. That's how we finish strong. Finishing strong doesn't mean we've got to do it all. God knows I've tried, I fall into that trap all the time of wanting to do it all myself. And sometimes comfort is the other thing too. It's not just about uh grinding through, it's sometimes being too comfortable. Denzel Washington's put it this way: that easy street, and I'm paraphrasing ease and comfort, that's the greatest threat to progress, even more so than hardship. Sometimes the obstacle to fight the challenge we're facing, it's what's making us strong and developing new skills for us. So the things we avoid for comfort often cost us more than the things we have to face with our courage. So, look, you know the amygdala is your threat center in the brain. And if you let that thing out the cage and you do not have a way of thinking through this and beginning to be more courageous and remembering what is it that you want, and asking yourself, what is the next step I'm gonna take, and to ask yourself, hey, what am I avoiding here? That amygdala is going to create so many stories for you, it'll compound. It's gonna compound like bad interest. So you've definitely got to take a breath, definitely center yourself, and this finish strong Friday, ask yourself, what am I avoiding? And when you do that, your prefrontal cortex, the CEO of the brain, the other side, the part of the brain that handles clarity, planning, and courage, it switches back on for you automatically. You don't have to do anything, you just have to ask the right question. And the weight starts to lift. What am I avoiding? Is it going to the doctor? What am I avoiding? Is it writing my book? What am I avoiding? Is it having a tough conversation? What am I avoiding? Is it about changing jobs? What is it? What am I avoiding? The minute you ask the question, the weight starts to lift. That's how it works in psychiatry and psychology. Your energy starts to come back and your spirit, it shifts subtly. That's why the question matters. Because if you're not asking the question, you're not gonna get the answer, you're not gonna step to it. So here's your check-in today. Your statement. The thing I've been avoiding is say it gently, with no judgment, no shame, and just the truth. This is what I'm avoiding. And here's the encouragement I want to leave you with as you close out this week on Finish Strong Friday. Whatever you've been avoiding, my friend, you're not facing that alone. And you ain't the first person that has avoided something. Every one of us does. You're not too late, you're not too broken, you're not too far behind, you can still do it. God meets you exactly where you are, wherever your fear or your hesitation or your avoidance is, that's where God is too. And once you look at the thing you've been avoiding, it's power breaks. You get your strength back, you get your focus back, and you get your life back. That's how you finish strong. Not by overpowering everything, but by refusing to run from the one thing that needs your honesty. Love and blessings, I'm Dr. Derek Sweet. This is the sweet spot. Tomorrow is self-care Saturday, where we'll ask a healing, grounding question. And that is, who can help me? Because even the strongest of us need support. See you tomorrow.