What lights you up isn’t random — it’s information.

In this deeply personal solo episode, Heather McNally explores why so many of us feel disconnected from joy, purpose, and desire — and how fear quietly convinces us to stay stuck, even when something inside us knows there’s more.

• Blending brain science, nervous system awareness, and her own lived experience, Heather breaks down:
• Why fear feels logical (but isn’t always truthful)How your body senses alignment before your mind understands it
• Why numbness is often protection, not a lack of desire.
• And how choosing what lights you up doesn’t require blowing up your life — just taking the next aligned step

This episode is a compassionate invitation to stop judging yourself for surviving… and start listening to what’s been trying to come back online all along.

Key Themes & Takeaways

• What “lighting up” actually feels like in the body
• Why numbness is a learned survival responseHow fear disguises itself as logic and responsibility
• The brain’s true priority: safety, not happiness
• Fear vs. intuition — how to tell the difference
• Why curiosity is the first sign of alignmentHow identity and internal safety create lasting change
• Why confidence comes after action, not before
• Small aligned steps as nervous-system evidence
• Reclaiming your identity without pressure or force

Heather’s Personal Reflections

• Heather shares her journey from deep self-loathing and unworthiness to becoming a global podcaster, speaker, author, and coach
• Her eight-year period of feeling “lit up” by helping others — yet frozen by fea
• The moment she realized fear wasn’t protecting her anymore — it was keeping her stuck
• How her first business coach helped her see the identity she was already becoming
• The subtle daily practices (gratitude, self-talk, evidence-building) that rewired her belief in herself

Brain Science Breakdown

• The brain’s primary job is survival, not happiness
• Familiarity feels safer than growth to the nervous system
• Fear is often a signal of unfamiliarity, not dangerIntuition speaks quietly through sensation, not logic
• Evidence rewires the brain — not pressure or willpower

Call to Action

If this episode stirred something in you, don’t rush past it.

Sit with it.

Listen to your body.

Notice what lights you up — even in the smallest ways.

And if you’re ready to create internal safety, clarity, and identity alignment from the inside out, Happy, Healthy, Whole is where this work deepens. https://www.heathermcnally.com/happyhealthywhole

Please consider sharing this episode with anybody you feel needs to hear it.

Please like, comment on, share, follow, and subscribe.