📍 You can work your whole life for a single moment that you will think should sound just like an applause, and then you can find out its silence. That's what today's episode is about, the quiet after the victory, the unspoken weight that comes when you realize success is heavier than you ever imagined.

Welcome back to no silver spoons.  I am Sarah Beth Herman, and this is week seven of 12. In our Keep Going series, we've talked about betrayal. We've talked about rebuilding, letting go, and walking in faith through disappointment. But this week we are talking about the other side of answered prayers. When the blessing arrives and the world around you doesn't know how to hold it,  success can look really shiny, but it often feels very lonely.

It's the space between I did it and can I sustain it?  And that's where I found myself  standing barefoot on the brick pavers of my backyard, realizing everything I had dreamed of, everything had finally happened. And instead of this rush of relief, I felt a rush of responsibility.  So let's talk about what it means to keep going when the victory feels too heavy to carry.

It was one of those perfect Arizona mornings, warm still  sun dripping through the trees in my backyard. I hadn't even put on shoes yet. I was glued to the computer already refreshing the numbers again and again until I saw it.  $80,000. That was my dream number of monthly revenue for my business, the benchmark I had chased since my days of growing dental practices for other people.

I ran outside the brick pavers a little bit warm under my feet, and I burst through the door of my husband's casita. He looked up eyes soft, and before I could say a word, I blurted out, I did it. We hit 80,000. He smiled and tears formed in his eyes. He gets emotional about things, but usually only with me.

He said, wow, that is amazing. There was no screaming. There was no champagne. There was no round of applause sound that you could hear. It was just gratitude and silence, and then the immediate thought came to me. Now I need to get to a hundred thousand.  that moment taught me something that I'll never forget.

 Ambition doesn't end at arrival. It evolves. The same fire that drives you to start also drives you to sustain. When I hit that very first milestone, I realized the dream wasn't a finish line. It was an invitation to grow deeper, build stronger, lead better.

I didn't feel pride, which is exactly what I thought I'd feel. Instead, I felt responsibility,  and if I'm being honest.  Wanted to prove that I could keep going. That the woman who started with nothing but faith in a laptop could hold the weight of abundance without breaking. You see, it's easy to chase success.

It's harder to stay grounded when it finally finds you. Not long after that milestone, I began to feel the subtle shift that happens when you outgrow people's comfort zones. I didn't talk about numbers and I rarely do, but people sensed growth in me. Growth in my business, growth in my world.

Conversations changed, compliments carried an undertone of curiosity. I've heard many people say the line, it must be nice, and the words clung to me all the time. I would always recite those in my mind until one day I came across something that someone had posted online that said, when people say, it must be nice.

Yeah, it really is. It's nice to be rewarded for the effort, the energy, the sacrifice that I put into making this possible. The truth is most people don't resent your success. They resent what it reveals about their own unhealed potential, but that doesn't make it hurt any less.

I've watched relationships fade. That I've had for years. I've watched friends just go dark, family ignore me, family, not believe that I'm successful. People I once leaned on, just stopped showing up the room that used to cheer, it went quiet. I've learned a lot of things along the way, but success doesn't change who you are.

It exposes who's really for you. It's not your job to shrink so that others feel comfortable. It's your job to stay honorable and kind while continuing to rise. There were nights that I sat outside replaying conversations, wondering if I should stop sharing my wins.  One time I went to go get my nails done and I had a brand new car.

And the gal that I saw all the time, she said, Sarah Beth, did you get a new car? I said, yeah, but I didn't wanna post anything online about it. There was another gal in the salon at the same time, it was a small in-home salon, and she said, girl, why don't you share it? You share everything about your life.

Don't you dare hide? And actually, I recall that conversation so many times. Now I go back to that day. That realization that it's okay to share,  every time I share something really special that still small voice whispers, you didn't build this to hide it, so be okay with it. You're okay to share it.

I've learned to stop apologizing for growth and start thanking God for discernment. The pruning has been painful. But the pruning always precedes fruit. That season forced me to rebuild my mindset from the ground up. I had to learn that humility doesn't mean silence, it means stewardship.

People thinking that I should give them my success meant that because I was successful, they deserved part of it. It was around that time that I began studying neuroplasticity, and now I'm kind of obsessed with it. I've talked about it in many episodes, but if you haven't heard anything about it before, it's the science of how the brain reshapes itself through thought, repetition.

If thoughts, carve pathways, then gratitude could repave them. Every morning I learn to repeat this affirmation until my body believed it. My name is Sarah Beth Herman. Only good things happen to me. I am successful. I am a money magnet. I am a business builder. I can do this.

I will succeed because I am already successful. It wasn't about arrogance, it was about rewiring my own self-belief. The National Institute of Mental Health found that affirmations decrease cortisol and boost goal-oriented focus by 32%. That's measurable proof that words create wellness. I paired science with scripture.

Proverbs 16, three, commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. I saw that verse in a dream about 15, maybe 17 years ago. And I've watched it unfold over and over again. Faith and focus became my mental armor protecting me from the noise of envy and fear. And maybe most importantly, I stopped comparing my chapter seven to someone else's highlight reel because comparison is a thief, but gratitude is a guardrail for me.

Many times I've prayed the prayer that, Lord, if this isn't from you, take it away. And he has. Sometimes it was a client I loved working with, but I knew we weren't aligned and sometimes it was an opportunity that glittered but didn't serve me. Every subtraction always hurts just a little bit, but I know that those subtractions lead to protection.

 When I launched my online academy. It was my first step toward duplication. Training others meant that I had to release control and releasing control meant trusting the systems I built. That's hard for a founder whose fingerprints are on every single detail, but God has reminded me that if I want multiplication, I have to let go of micromanagement.

Faith taught me that growth isn't proof of pride, it's evidence of obedience. He didn't give me this vision to keep it small. He gave it to me to serve, to teach, to expand impact stewardship means holding everything open-handed money, reputation, success, and saying that if you wanna move it, Lord, it's yours.

I've learned to see clients income and milestones as assignments, not achievements. And when you see success as an assignment, the pressure it lifts. Because the outcome is no longer yours to carry. It's just obedience that you've fulfilled the journey. Winning in public. It can feel like walking alone in a crowded room.

People smile, but not everyone claps. Some cheer for you until you pass them, and then they go silent. It's a strange quiet ache. Really. Dr. Julian Boris had a 2022 study in leadership fatigue,  and that study revealed that 68% of top performers feel isolated immediately after a major success.

I learned to protect my peace through private celebration. Some days that looks like lighting a candle, maybe turning on a screensaver on my tv. That reminds me of the time that we're in, whether it's a holiday or a spring or a beach scene.

Sometimes I'm just do not disturb on my phone. Sometimes it's just whispering. Thank you, God, for all of this. And other days it's taking a long drive with my husband because the higher you climb, the more sacred rest becomes. And so oftentimes people say, your life just looks so perfect, but I'm so intentional to create perfect moments.

I romanticize everything I can, even if that means that I just have jazz music playing sometimes in my kitchen, or a beautiful scenery on my tv, or a fun picture that I take, or getting up extra early to watch the sunrise. I've learned to remind myself that peace is a promise, not a luxury. I don't owe anyone an explanation for my joy, and I don't owe the internet my exhaustion to prove that I am still humble.

I tell myself, I can celebrate without guilt. I can rest without fear. I can win without apology. That is not ego. That is healing. 📍 

 According to Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center, people who journal gratitude three times a week experience a 25% increase in long-term happiness and a 30% drop in anxiety. Science confirms what Scripture declared thousands of years ago. A thankful heart changes everything. If you've been following along through each of the weeks here in the Keep Going series, I want you to revisit week three.

There is a digital download. You can still snag it from my site. It's called the Mindset Rebuild Worksheet. I want you to go download it and remember that before you can manage the weight of winning, you have to remember the foundation that taught you to keep going when things were heavy for other reasons.

This worksheet is your anchor and it reminds you who you are before anyone claps, before any milestone hits, before any check clears. As we close out this episode, I want to bring our, that's good moment. These are things I want you to hold onto from this week's episode. Heavy blessings are still blessings.

The weight you feel is not a warning. It is confirmation that your capacity has grown. You have prayed for this season. You were trusted with it. You are strong enough to steward it. Remember, you don't have to shrink to be accepted. You don't have to hide to stay humble and you don't have to apologize for what God has entrusted you with.

You are to keep going and not because you have something to prove, but because you have something to protect your peace, your purpose, and your praise. Next week we're going to step into week eight, peace over proving how to find calm in the noise, maintain integrity, even when the world expects constant motion and rest without guilt.

You can listen to the episode first and then head to the link in the show notes to download that digital download. Take a few minutes this week to celebrate yourself. You truly have earned this. You are still building, you are still becoming, and you are still called to keep going.

If you find this series helpful, please share it with a friend. I would also love for you to rate, subscribe, and review this podcast. It helps us grow in our rankings, and we want to reach more of the world to teach business owners that this is what it's about.

 Learning to reframe our mind, celebrate our wins, and not feel bad for doing so. I am Sarah Beth Herman, and this is No Silver Spoons. I'll catch 📍 you on the next episode.