Purpose And Creativity In The Depths Of Anxiety With Liv Arnold

Nick McGowan (00:10.489)

Hello and welcome to the Mindset Self-Mastery Show. I’m your host, Nick McGowan, and today on the show I have Liv Arnold. Liv, how are you doing?

Liv Arnold (00:27.682)

Good, thank you. Thank you so much for having me, Nick.

Nick McGowan (00:30.597)

Absolutely. I’m excited for you to be on. I know we’ve had a little bit of a conversation back and forth to be able to get into this. And there’s a lot that we’re going to be able to talk about. I’m really excited for us to get into something that a lot of people don’t like to tell that they have other people, but most all of us, I think, do anxiety. And anxiety can sometimes, if not often, lead to depression and they can kind of go back and forth. So

I’m excited for us to get into that. But Liv, why don’t you start us off? Tell us what you do for a living. And what’s one thing that most people don’t know about you that’s maybe a little odd or bizarre.

Liv Arnold (01:06.162)

So I’m an author, a romance author. So I have three books out. And so since we are talking about anxiety, I write relatable characters with real life issues like anxiety so that people might be able to relate to and maybe think that other people are going through similar things so that it’s not only them going through it. And I guess something that people don’t know about me straight away.

Oh, well, two things actually. So first one, it’s an adulting fail, but I’ve never worked out how to put a key on the key chain.

Hehehe

Nick McGowan (01:47.588)

Fair enough. I appreciate the honesty with that. That is one of those things that if people don’t really ever talk about it, I think everybody struggled at some point. Like how do you just put the damn thing on here?

Liv Arnold (01:55.006)

Yeah, I still can’t work it out. If I need to do it, I just hand it to someone to do it for me. And another thing, since it sounds like a big adulting fail, but only a few months ago, I learned how to turn on the washing machine. And it’s only because I started doing Brazilian jujitsu about five, six months ago, and I do classes in the gay.

Nick McGowan (02:02.449)

Fair enough.

Liv Arnold (02:22.106)

And since it’s very heavy, heavily body contact with someone else, you’re getting your sweat on the gay, you’re getting other people’s sweat on the gay. I had to do a lot of washing and that’s the only reason why I learned how to turn on the washing machine.

Nick McGowan (02:26.298)

Hmm.

Nick McGowan (02:36.057)

So did you have somebody do your wash for like the past however long you’ve been alive?

Liv Arnold (02:39.858)

Yeah, yeah, either my parents or partners. So they always just did it. So all I previously all I had to do was put my dirty clothes in the washing machine and it magically gets done. But now since I have to do it so often, I can’t wait until someone does it.

Nick McGowan (02:55.371)

What the…

Nick McGowan (03:01.001)

What a real human moment. Like, did you just sit there and look at the washer and be like, how the fuck do I do this? There are lots of buttons and dials.

Liv Arnold (03:08.202)

Yeah, yes, I didn’t understand it at all. I’m thinking, what does all this do? And then like when I was talking to my mom, she’s like, this isn’t hard. You just press the on button and just set the time limit and time.

Nick McGowan (03:18.417)

Yeah.

Nick McGowan (03:23.789)

So do you feel you got it now? Are you good? You’re like, I can wash clothes. That’s a, I’m really glad that you bring that up because that is one of those things where, it’s simple things that sometimes we don’t really think about until you have to do it. And like, it makes me think of systems and growing up and being in school, like in school, they don’t.

Liv Arnold (03:27.813)

I’ve got it. So I can do it unsupervised.

Liv Arnold (03:47.927)

Yeah.

Nick McGowan (03:48.581)

teach you how to do stuff like that. They don’t teach how to balance a checkbook. Like most people don’t have to balance a checkbook these days, but they don’t teach you about credit, or really anything like that. It’s like here, here’s just the world go out there and do things. And then you find yourself as an adult, you know, in your 30s. And you’re like, hell, how do I wash this? What do I do?

Liv Arnold (03:54.067)

Mm.

Liv Arnold (04:09.691)

Yeah, I know. Like, yeah, like it seems so silly now. But I like deep down throughout my life, I knew I could have learned this if I really wanted to, but it was never high on my priority list, especially if someone just kept doing it.

Nick McGowan (04:27.249)

Sure, yeah, if it just magically got done. Now, do you think you really actually wanted to do it or were you in that moment like, fuck, is there somebody else around that can do this that can just hit the magic buttons to turn this thing on?

Liv Arnold (04:41.03)

Yeah, well, so since I go to jujitsu classes about five days a week, and I wear the game maybe half the times, there wasn’t always someone around that I could just do it for me.

Nick McGowan (04:58.617)

Well, again, I appreciate you bringing that up. You mentioned in the start of this that you’re an author and you write novels that are romance-based but also have real characters in the sense that they’re going through real things. What led you to not only become an author but to be able to have something that’s not fantastical and more real in real life?

Liv Arnold (05:04.808)

Mm.

Liv Arnold (05:09.088)

Yeah.

Liv Arnold (05:21.918)

Yeah, so I’ve always enjoyed writing since I was in school, but I thought it was a far away dream that people can ever make a living through writing. And so throughout school, I would love to make up stories. But then when I finished university, so I did arts and commerce at uni, I straight away went to a Big Four bank in Australia. And it’s…

So that was like really boring, dull, risk and compliance type roles. And so, but then it was like a role that wasn’t very fulfilling. And my mum mentioned to me that since I’ve always enjoyed writing, why don’t I just do a short creative writing course that’s outside of work hours? And so I was doing that. I was working full time and doing this course, writing course. And it was really cool to connect with like minded people. That’s goal is to get a book published.

but not only that, to speak to the teacher who won so many awards and she did say it was possible to get that book publishing contract. And when she started doing the short writing courses at the same place that I was doing it, she said the people that did get publishing contracts, they’re the people that kept going. So the people that took on feedback and tried again with every rejection. So.

Nick McGowan (06:40.164)

Yeah.

Liv Arnold (06:46.418)

Yeah, so and I found that advice that really rang true because that happened with me as well. So I think out of the class I was one of the few that did get that book publishing contract because I kept persisting and kept writing. Well, I think a lot of the other students they sort of gave up very quickly or they’ll just make a lot of excuses saying I don’t have time to write or yeah.

Nick McGowan (07:00.439)

Hmm.

Nick McGowan (07:07.438)

Yeah.

Liv Arnold (07:12.054)

because everyone makes an excuse saying, life is so busy, I just don’t have time to do this. When in reality, if say you even put aside 15 minutes a day to write, at the end of the year, you’ve almost got a novel. So I think people that say they have zero time to do something, it’s probably making an excuse to make themselves feel a bit better. And the reason why I wanted to write relatable characters is since I…

Nick McGowan (07:36.369)

Hmm.

Liv Arnold (07:41.642)

always had anxiety. So I’ve had anxiety since I was young, but I didn’t know it was anxiety at the time. But I used to stay awake until all hours of the night worrying about things that would never happen. Really silly things that most kids won’t even worry about. And it got to the point where I’ll be awake until the alarm went off and I had to go to school and I had to just go to school with zero sleep and it’ll be

over really silly reasons like, oh, like, I think this girl looked at me the wrong way, or something like that, and that would set me off. And so, yes, I wanted to write more relatable characters because there is that stereotype that romance books, it’s all fluff and very stereotyped and cheesy. And that is true to some extent. And even though

Nick McGowan (08:30.541)

Hmm.

Liv Arnold (08:37.018)

romance book still needs to have that swept up in the moment type feeling in books, but I also wanted to have that other side of it of relatable characters. So my main male character in my novel Stepping Stone, he has PTSD from being the war in Afghanistan and I knew someone that had been through similar experiences and when I spoke to him he said pretty much everyone that’s been through that war

everyone comes back with some form of PTSD. And he told me like some of the symptoms or signs to look out for like being very startled by a very loud noise because it might remind them of a gun firing or a bomb going off or something like that. And a lot of people that come back, they’re very strict on safety and security. Yeah, because that’s just what they’re used to. And even though I’ve

Nick McGowan (09:28.965)

Yeah.

Liv Arnold (09:33.458)

some of the symptoms that he mentions like clenching chest or that racing heartbeat, that are some signs of anxiety and so I use some of my symptoms combined with his experiences to write those characters.

Nick McGowan (09:51.033)

Hmm. What a real thing too. You know, we, so many people are undiagnosed just in general, but I think there’s also a lot of people that are misdiagnosed or overdiagnosed or just dismissed. Um, like they’re like, Oh, well, it’s just, it’s just stress. You’re totally fine. Go back home, basically put dirt on it and just get back in the game where there can be things that can happen underneath that. Now, even if you didn’t have anything, let’s say crazy that happened to you, very traumatic, that kind of

shifted you directly into PTSD, you still felt anxiety, and you still felt stuff that was coming up and keeping you awake. Have you been able to figure out what the root of that was and tie that into any of not only your own personal growth, but your writing?

Liv Arnold (10:26.666)

Mm.

Liv Arnold (10:37.502)

Yeah, so the root of the problem, I think a part of me is a big people pleaser. So I don’t set firm boundaries very well. And that’s something I still need to work on. So I tend to say yes to a lot of things. Even if it’s something that might make me feel a bit uncomfortable. And I worry too much about what other people think, which is something

Nick McGowan (10:44.497)

Hmm.

Nick McGowan (10:59.941)

Hmm.

Liv Arnold (11:04.766)

else that I’m trying to work on as well. And I don’t actually know how I became like this. I was always like this since I remember, since I was a kid, just wanting to just make other people happy. But then it was causing me a lot of anxiety because sometimes I would think maybe I can’t meet those expectations or like, or it was something that was pushing me out of my comfort zone.

pushing my boundaries that I wouldn’t normally be comfortable with. So yeah, that was the root of the problem. And I think that stems down to confidence as well. So my confidence, that’s something that I do really need to work on. And that’s. That’s part of the reason why I started doing jujitsu and Muay Thai to work on that confidence level. So I started both of them about five to six months ago and that.

So I wanted to get that confidence. So I thought like maybe if I could get physically tougher and be and be confident that I know how to throw a good punch or like make someone pass out if need be that if someone’s maybe not being like that nice I have that confidence inside to know that I can take them on if need be. So yeah so that’s part of why I’m doing that and that

Nick McGowan (12:08.134)

Hmm.

Nick McGowan (12:25.487)

the

Liv Arnold (12:31.534)

goes into my writing as well. So that if I can set those boundaries, so what I’ve learned if is that when you’re saying yes to something, you’re saying no to something else. And that often affects my writing because it cuts down my writing time. And so I’ve learned to say no a little bit more, I think.

Nick McGowan (12:43.584)

Mm-hmm.

Nick McGowan (12:52.941)

It can be difficult no matter what even if you’re not a people pleaser, it can just be difficult. I think there are times where you feel like you should say yes to something or you almost can feel obligated. It’s a family member or a good friend or whatever because if like some random person came up to you and was like, Hey, I need you to go do this thing. You’d be like, well, you’re a random person. No.

Liv Arnold (12:57.151)

Yeah.

Nick McGowan (13:14.133)

it’s easier to say no to that random person. In some cases, now I may be stepping over a line in that sense, where maybe you’re like, shit, this person asked me something, now we have to do it. But

Liv Arnold (13:16.693)

Yeah.

Liv Arnold (13:25.284)

I was that bad. Like if a random person asked me, I was that bad at saying no.

Nick McGowan (13:31.537)

And it’s interesting how that stuff can tie into other situations that we have. I’m glad that you were able to take from your friend’s experience and be able to take from your own experience and couple them together to put, put it into a book. Um, and you’re right. I mean, I, I know from my perspective, if somebody says romance novel, I think of like the Fabio looking person with the long hair and just like, it’s all just mushy, but reality isn’t that way. They’re

pieces of reality that can be, but for you to be able to tie in things that people go through, like, especially if you’re starting dating, you have a conversation with somebody and you feel the butterflies or you feel there’s something there, like even being able to figure out the butterflies aren’t actually a good thing. Like, that’s, that’s something that’s like, there’s something to pause here. But being able to figure out when you’re getting swept up or how you’re getting swept up or how you tie into that. Now, with your writing,

Liv Arnold (14:17.375)

Yeah.

Liv Arnold (14:21.655)

Yeah.

Nick McGowan (14:29.505)

Uh, like you’d pointed out, being able to spend the 15 minutes to be able to do it. I want to kind of talk about that a little bit, cause you’d said there are people that did the course as well. They didn’t get the publishing, uh, like you did. They also just didn’t do the work like you did. And that can be no matter what you’re doing. Like if somebody starts a new hobby or anything, they’re going to go through that. But you’ve got to have that motivation inside of you to be able to do it. And what was it for you that you found that you’re like, why I want to keep doing this.

Liv Arnold (14:44.291)

Yeah. That’s.

Nick McGowan (14:59.473)

that wasn’t just a thing you just told people. Like what, it sounds like it’s more of a calling for you than it is just a, well, I was bored and I could write, so why the fuck not?

Liv Arnold (15:08.889)

Yeah, well, first of all, I find it so annoying when like, so every second person, I always tells me, I’ve always wanted to write a book, but this is stopping me or I’m going to write a book but they never do it. So that’s

Nick McGowan (15:24.194)

Mm-hmm.

Liv Arnold (15:28.19)

always annoyed me because I always think don’t talk unless you’re putting your action into it. And I didn’t want to be one of those people. So I usually don’t say much about things I’m doing unless I’m actually striving towards that thing. And I saw these courses that they’re not cheap doing writing courses, and I was investing time into doing it. So it was exhausting going to class after work. Sometimes like

Nick McGowan (15:43.825)

Hmm.

Liv Arnold (15:57.194)

So the class would go until 9 p.m. because it was after work hours. And I thought, so I paid for this course. I sat through this course for 10 weeks doing this. And it was so exhausting doing it. And I may as well just keep doing it. And my job at the time, it wasn’t that fulfilling or anything like that. So so with that course, it was really good to be able to get those creative juices flowing and to be able to go through.

to do that but I in another side I found writing was a lot better than therapy because I was thinking about fictional characters in the fictional world of made up stuff so it brought me back to the present of focusing on something else rather than what my anxiety is doing and part of me like I’ve always wanted to achieve something in my life that’s outside the norm because I think a lot of people they just want to just go through that daily grind of.

Nick McGowan (16:32.558)

Hmm.

Liv Arnold (16:56.49)

well not exactly want to, but they go through that daily grind of working and then getting that property, maybe having kids afterwards. And I never thought that was for me, just going through that daily grind.

Nick McGowan (16:56.503)

Hmm.

Nick McGowan (17:12.309)

Yeah, and I’m glad that you changed what you’re saying, because I don’t think I’m right there with you. I don’t think people necessarily want to do that, but they find themselves stuck and they’ll make up excuses. Like you’d pointed out a little earlier, I think a lot of that is like a justification. We’re like, oh, well, you know, I’ve got my kids and I’ve got this and that. Like they expect the other person to be like, oh yeah, that makes total fucking sense. Like, that’s cool. Just put your dreams to the side.

Liv Arnold (17:21.122)

Yeah.

Liv Arnold (17:39.566)

I agree with them because if I try to give maybe pointers or challenge them they get annoyed so…

Nick McGowan (17:45.281)

Yeah, they’re not in the right state of mind to be able to do that. Because they’re justifying right then and there. They’re like, No, no, this is my excuse. Like, okay, glad you’ve got that, I guess.

Liv Arnold (17:55.174)

Yeah, because I remember a friend said to me that he always wanted to start this business and he said, but he’s got a very demanding job and then I said just do 15 minutes a day. I was just trying to like just say, well, I do 15 minutes a day. So it all builds up. But then he went to the patronizing side say, Oh, but your job isn’t as demanding as me and my business is more important than your writing. So

I think people get that level of defensive sometimes.

Nick McGowan (18:27.437)

Yeah, well, let’s break that down a little bit. We have those conversations internally. Those people aren’t just saying that just to you. Those are the things that are inside of them. And yeah, if you try to ruffle the feathers even by making a suggestion and they’re not ready for it, they could explode or they could be like, no, I wanna get really defensive or whatever. And you’ve seen some of those different times, but those people that go through those things, I feel for them.

Liv Arnold (18:29.279)

Yeah.

Nick McGowan (18:54.905)

but I also want to like push them out of their comfort zone. And I also understand that it can take a lot. Like as of right now with this recording, I have not written a book. However, my company helps people with their channel and what they want to do via a book or podcast or starting a business. And my partner’s written several different books and we have people on the team that have written books. So there’ve been times where I’ve had conversations, even specifically with my partner. I’m like, man.

Liv Arnold (18:57.547)

Yeah.

Nick McGowan (19:23.537)

how much time did it take for you to do this and to go through this? And she’d even said, like, as, as you get through some of it, you start to pick up momentum and you move through things. And I look at that as like, um, uh, kind of a roadmap for whatever you want to do. Like if somebody wants to start playing an instrument or like, I’ve never played guitar before, how do I do that? You have to take those little increments, but you’ve got to be able to be disciplined within that. So you had mentioned about, um, having

having a job that wasn’t really fulfilling at all. And I’m beating around the bush a little bit and I’ll just be direct. That can be really difficult to do anything after a job that just eat your soul because you’re like, fuck, I don’t want to do anything. I have no energy, but you’re still able to spend that time not only going to class, but doing the work. What sort of

Liv Arnold (20:04.078)

Yeah, yeah.

Nick McGowan (20:15.109)

disciplines did you put in place to be able to make sure that you could do that? And what things did you see within yourself that you’re like, I’m going to remove this? Like, did you take your slippers and put them somewhere else? You’re like, I can’t get comfortable, I have to go into class or what did that look like?

Liv Arnold (20:29.958)

Yeah, so I think a lot of people, so a lot of people ask me for book publishing advice, how to get that book out there. But a lot of people that do ask me for advice, I find they don’t want to do the work to

get there. So and that’s what I’m secretly thinking. You just need to like put the work in like that. There’s not really an easy shortcut. So most authors, they take a year to write a novel. Novels are quite usually about 80,000 words. So it does take that timeframe, give or take. And so I wanted to do something so that’s outside of that nine to five grime. And with

Nick McGowan (20:53.926)

Yeah.

Liv Arnold (21:14.962)

my day job at that time. I, since I didn’t, I didn’t want to feel stuck in it. And I felt better knowing that I was working on something else at the side to work my way out of it and towards something else. And that’s what kept me going to keep turning up to that day job, because that’s what paid the bills. But I

Nick McGowan (21:28.665)

Hmm.

Liv Arnold (21:40.494)

I had to do something just for me to make me feel like personally and professionally, I’m going forward in another direction. And what I did to keep myself motivated and to keep that momentum going is I think a lot of people they do procrastinate and I’m guilty of that a lot of the times as well. And I tend to get distracted when I’m on my laptop, especially with social media. So I would set 25 minute timers.

of non-stop writing and I think people would be surprised of what they can get done if they’re trying to race against the timer to get everything out there within 25 minutes and then break and then 25 minutes again. And I would just non-stop write and not go back and fix anything during that time. Otherwise I would get too stuck in my head wanting to go back and make things perfect and I would get too stuck into it.

Nick McGowan (22:33.648)

Yeah.

Liv Arnold (22:38.742)

to the point where I won’t be able to finish that novel. And I think it’s better to be able to get to right up until the end and then fix it later. So once I hit the end. So that’s what I wanted to do to hit that momentum. And I think that method might work for other people as well, no matter what they’re trying to achieve. Just set that timer. And if 25 minutes feels overwhelming for them, just start off with 10 minutes.

Nick McGowan (23:05.761)

Yeah. I love. Yeah. And even if they don’t five minutes, a few minutes, like just to be able to start it and do some of that. I really love how you’ve been able to pick these different ways to play games with yourself to be like, all right, well, cool. If you’re not going to do it for an hour, we can do it for 25 minutes. And maybe you didn’t actually say this, but in the back of your mind, like, yeah, I can do it for 25 minutes. Why not? And then once you’re able to start to move into it and start to do it, then it’s a habit.

Liv Arnold (23:07.69)

Everyone’s got 10 minutes.

Liv Arnold (23:12.683)

Thank you.

Liv Arnold (23:21.879)

Yeah.

Liv Arnold (23:25.407)

Yes.

Nick McGowan (23:35.705)

know, it’s interesting how some people, your thing is writing, and writing not only helps you, but it helps you mentally and spiritually and everything else because of that’s what you’re doing. I’ve brought up before on the show how I’ve tried to journal and people are like, you want to actually physically write it out. For the most part, my handwriting is atrocious. I’ve been told that since I was a little kid. And I don’t

Liv Arnold (23:40.162)

Hmm.

Liv Arnold (23:47.115)

Mm.

Liv Arnold (23:58.318)

Me too. Me too. It took me a long time to get my pen licence at school.

Nick McGowan (24:09.207)

Yeah, then

Liv Arnold (24:12.119)

Yeah.

Liv Arnold (24:32.824)

Yeah.

Nick McGowan (24:33.421)

and they make up some fucking excuse. Being able to have something that’s outside of that doesn’t always mean it’s like the hustle. Like it’s not a side hustle. It could even be some sort of hobby that allows you to be able to figure something out and put your creative juices into practice. Some people that’s something simple like, it could be anything. I think of sports cards or memorabilia.

Liv Arnold (24:45.251)

Yeah.

Nick McGowan (25:00.605)

or a sport or something like that and being able to peel that time out. Like if somebody’s like, well, I really love to play basketball, but I don’t have any time to go do it. It’s like, yeah, but if you had 10 minutes to just go shoot for 10 minutes, why not? Then you would find additional time to be able to do that. Did that come to you? Like, were you just like, all right, I’m gonna play this game with myself? Or did you kind of compile that information from somewhere else and say, I’m gonna try that thing?

Liv Arnold (25:26.252)

Well, I saw you writing a quote one time that said, um, if you don’t like where you are right now,

just move, you’re not a tree. And I kept thinking to myself, okay, I’m not a tree. Like, I don’t have to be stuck in the same position all the time. And, um, yeah, and as I mentioned before, I didn’t want to be one of those people that just made excuses. And, and I it’s all really in the mindset sometimes. So everyone’s usually always got a few minutes here and there. And this is something that I’m still not the best at. But

Nick McGowan (25:35.821)

Mm-hmm.

Liv Arnold (26:01.954)

I’m trying to work on more that even if I have Less than five minutes like literally two to three minutes between something I need to just train my mind to just concentrate on that task and just go Through that two to three minutes and that can really add up throughout the day and that’s something I really need to work on More just to train my mind more to if I have even a few minutes to spare just to go Like not hesitate and just start going

Nick McGowan (26:30.541)

Hmm. What, what is kind of a stupidly simple concept of like, don’t overthink it, just start moving and just start doing the thing because you can get lost in that. Um, I made a comment to my partner recently where I was like, there are times where I get angry or not angry, but like really grumpy about something like, oh, it’s cold and I got to do this with the house or I got to do this and got to do that. And I’m like, it has never helped me like ever in my life. It has never actually helped me. What has helped me is doing the thing and then just

Liv Arnold (26:37.504)

Yeah.

Nick McGowan (26:59.937)

starting to do it. So being able to have that little piece of information within yourself to go like, shut up, just keep moving in a healthy way. Now, how do you determine what’s healthy for you? Like, how do you know, because you had said before that you were a people pleaser, and how do you not get into that rut, but how do you do the thing and not overthink it?

Liv Arnold (27:08.336)

Yeah.

Liv Arnold (27:21.6)

Yeah, so I think like the people-pleasing aspect, I think deep down I usually know if it’s something I don’t really want to do or it’s not in my best interest because I think most people they have that gut reaction or that uneasy feeling.

And sometimes when someone maybe asked me to do something that’s either inappropriate or something that’s way too much, I did get that uneasy feeling but I chose to ignore it a lot of the times because that people pleasing element just over rode that feeling. But I’m trying to listen to my body’s reaction a bit more. So

if I’m feeling uneasy about a request, that’s when I usually know that’s something I shouldn’t be doing. But if it’s more something to do with my career, that’s sort of when I need to be more strict with myself. So it might not be comfortable to be strict with myself, but it doesn’t give me that same uneasy feeling as like, as a very inappropriate request or something like that.

Nick McGowan (28:34.009)

Yeah, it can be difficult to be able to always just allow yourself to feel that and then move on something. Uh, even if you’re not a total, uh, you know, people pleaser in a sense, if you’re somebody who is the opposite of that, it can sometimes be difficult to be able to figure out how do you balance that and what do you do, but I’m glad that you brought up that there’s that feeling because even if

Liv Arnold (28:41.429)

Yeah.

Nick McGowan (28:58.677)

Even if somebody isn’t a feely type of person, like I know I’m emotional and I’m a very feely type of person, I have to feel things before I think them. Even the logical people and the people that have to think, they also need to feel within their body. Like the semantics of it needs to be a part of what you do. And if it’s not part of the consciousness, it’s still part of the subconsciousness to it. So I’m glad that you pointed that out and we’re able to figure that out for your own.

Liv Arnold (29:19.982)

Mm.

Nick McGowan (29:24.729)

But for the people that are on their path toward self-mastery, what sort of advice would you give to them?

Liv Arnold (29:33.55)

I think it depends on what they’re after, but in general. So what I think about writing, like it does take up a lot of time, but I sort of think to myself, it’s a privilege to be able to write. So a lot of people have genuine reasons for why they might not be able to do something. And just think like it’s, so people might procrastinate. So a lot of-

Like for example, a lot of people in my course, they never kept writing because they would think, oh, I just finished work. I just have no energy to write, but they need to change that mindset that it’s a privilege to be able to do this right now. There’s nothing physically stopping them. And same with, it can go for any different things. Like even with me going to gym, sometimes there’s some days when I’m thinking, oh, I really can’t be bothered doing this. Like.

Nick McGowan (30:28.921)

Hmm.

Liv Arnold (30:29.206)

But then I have to think to myself, it’s a privilege to be able to go because I’m physically capable to be able to do these martial arts. And gyms, they do have membership fees. So like, so I am able to pay for it. So they’re both little things, but it’s a privilege to be able to go because both I’m physically capable to do it, but also financially capable.

and not everyone is in that same circumstance.

Nick McGowan (30:59.733)

Yeah, what a good point. You know, it can be, we can often just jump past that. You go, I don’t want to do this thing. But you know, you wouldn’t be able to go to the gym if you have something wrong with your leg. Or if you were dead, you wouldn’t be able to do any of it. And being able to shift your mindset into that. That’s a great way to be able to put that. Liv, I appreciate you being on today and for sharing everything you’ve shared. Before I let you go, where can people find you and where can they connect with you?

Liv Arnold (31:07.679)

Yeah.

Liv Arnold (31:13.282)

Yeah.

Liv Arnold (31:22.327)

Thank you.

Liv Arnold (31:28.766)

Yes, I love connecting with people. So people can find me on live Arnold.com. So it has more about my books and just any media purpureances that I’ve done and any articles that I’ve written, or they can connect with me on my social. So live Arnold author. So that’s my Facebook or liv underscore au on Instagram or Twitter. I’m still not saying X because that sounds weird.

Nick McGowan (31:58.912)

I get that. Yeah, perfect. And I’ll have all that in the show notes to again, live. I appreciate your time today. Thank you.

Liv Arnold (32:04.874)

Thank you so much, Nick.