The Mel Robbins Podcast

3 Lessons From One of the Hardest Years of My Life | The Mel Robbins Podcast

Order your copy of The Let Them Theory 👉 https://melrob.co/let-them-theory 👈 The #1 Best Selling Book of 2025 🔥 Discover how much power you truly have. It all begins with two simple words. Let Them. — In this episode, I will teach you how to deal with life when it punches you in the face. I think we all know that the greatest lessons in life come from the most challenging things that you face. And while it’s true, it’s not easy when you are in the middle of it. This past year taught me 3 invaluable lessons, and today I’m sharing them with you. My hope is that by sharing what I struggled through and what I learned from, it will save you the headache and heartache that this year put me through. Xo Mel In this episode, you'll learn: - The gory details from the hardest year of my life - 3 lessons I learned from the hardest year of my life - The journal prompt that gave me a wake up call - How to identify the friction in your life and a major warning if you don’t pay attention - How this podcast almost never came to be - The epiphany our son Oakley had - If you’re tired of your excuses… try THIS - The mental health crisis I experienced this year and what it taught me In this episode: 00:00 Intro 03:15 The gory details from the hardest year of my life 08:20 Lesson #1 from this year 10:01 The journal prompt that gave me a wake up call 13:30 How to identify the friction in your life and a major warning if you don’t pay attention 17:25 Lesson #2 from this year 19:40 How this podcast almost never came to be 28:20 The epiphany our son Oakley had 34:30 If you’re tired of your excuses… try THIS 38:49 Lesson #3 from this year — Follow Mel: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melrobbins/ TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@melrobbins Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melrobbins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melrobbins Website: http://melrobbins.com — Sign up for Mel’s newsletter: https://melrob.co/sign-up-newsletter A note from Mel to you, twice a week, sharing simple, practical ways to build the life you want. — Subscribe to Mel’s channel here: https://www.youtube.com/melrobbins?sub_confirmation=1 — Listen to The Mel Robbins Podcast 🎧 New episodes drop every Monday & Thursday! https://melrob.co/spotify https://melrob.co/applepodcasts https://melrob.co/amazonmusic — Looking for Mel’s books on Amazon? Find them here: The Let Them Theory: https://amzn.to/3IQ21Oe The Let Them Theory Audiobook: https://amzn.to/413SObp The High 5 Habit: https://amzn.to/3fMvfPQ The 5 Second Rule: https://amzn.to/4l54fah

Mel Robbinshost

Dec 26, 202254mWatch on YouTube ↗

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Mel Robbins Turns Her Hardest Year Into Three Life-Changing Lessons

Mel Robbins reflects on what she calls a “97 out of 10” hard year, marked by burnout, family separation, betrayal at work, loneliness, and a mental health crisis. From that experience, she distills three core lessons: life is always trying to teach you something (especially through friction), your excuses are just fear in disguise, and meaningful change is hard but absolutely worth it. She shares a practical two-column exercise—listing what you “hate” versus what you “love”—to identify misalignment and begin removing sources of friction. Throughout, she uses personal stories about her marriage, career, podcast, and her son’s struggles to show how small, courageous actions can realign your life with what truly makes you come alive.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Treat friction as a signal, not a life sentence.

Any area that feels heavy, frustrating, or constantly hard—whether your body, job, relationships, or finances—is life highlighting a broken process, misaligned situation, or unhealthy dynamic that needs your attention.

Do a written ‘friction audit’ of your life.

Draw a line down a page and list on one side everything you hate or that creates friction, and on the other what you love; this makes vague discomfort concrete and reveals exactly where lessons and changes are needed.

Assume your excuses are fear in disguise.

Thoughts like “I’m too late,” “there’s already too many people doing this,” or “I’ll disappoint others” are not truths but fear-based stories that keep you from pursuing what you actually want.

Use action as the antidote to fear and excuses.

You don’t eliminate fear by thinking; you diminish it by taking small, consistent steps—like launching a podcast, going back to the gym, or streaming to zero viewers—until the behavior becomes normal.

Expect change to be emotionally hard—and do it anyway.

Reorganizing work, addressing betrayal, going to therapy, selling a longtime home, or changing relationship patterns will stir grief and discomfort, but accepting that difficulty up front makes you more likely to persist.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

Your life is always trying to teach you something.

— Mel Robbins

Wherever you have friction, there is either a broken process or a broken set of relationships, or there is something that is no longer aligned with you.

— Mel Robbins

Your excuses are bullshit. All those excuses you got, they're just fear.

— Mel Robbins

Change isn't easy, but it's worth it, and you're capable of it.

— Mel Robbins

You may not be responsible for creating the friction, but you have a responsibility to remove it, and you deserve that.

— Mel Robbins

Mel Robbins’ personal experience of burnout, betrayal, and mental health struggleLesson 1: Viewing life as a school and friction as a teacherLesson 2: Recognizing excuses as fear and pushing past themLesson 3: Accepting that change is difficult but possible and worthwhileThe two-column “friction audit” exercise (things I hate vs. things I love)Realigning work, relationships, and habits to reduce frictionUsing small, consistent actions to build self-trust and momentum

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