The Mel Robbins Podcast
The Mel Robbins Podcast

How to Become the Most Confident Version of Yourself & Step Into Your Power

June 20, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

“I got pregnant at 13 years old. I had my son at 14 years old.” With that staggering sentence, Sarah Jakes Roberts opens the door to a conversation with Mel Robbins about how to stop punishing yourself and start using everything you have—including your worst mistakes—to build a life that matters. Roberts, a bestselling author and pastor, speaks from a place of hard-won wisdom, not abstraction. She became pregnant as a child in the midst of purity culture, the daughter of a prominent megachurch pastor, and spent a decade trying on different identities before she learned how to sit with herself.

The Cabinet Metaphor: Stop Hiding Your Ingredients

Roberts offers a powerful and practical framework: think of your life as a kitchen cabinet. Inside are all your ingredients—your talents, your dreams, but also your shame, your regrets, your past mistakes, your trauma. Most people keep the cabinet door firmly shut. They pretend the messy ingredients aren’t there, or they try to reinvent themselves using ingredients they don’t actually have.

Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.

Read Full Summary →

Free • No credit card required

Listen to Audio Summary Open in App

What you'll learn

  • 1 (00:08) **Mel’s Introduction: Who She Turns To** - Mel introduces the episode’s purpose: sharing the voice she listens to when life gets hard.
  • 2 (04:26) **Sarah’s Core Promise & Origin Story** - Sarah states the goal for listeners: to learn to rest in the truth of who they are. Mel then prompts her to share her past.
  • 3 (08:55) **The 10-Year Journey of Trying On Identities** - Sarah describes a decade of trying to be like other people to find herself.
  • 4 (11:44) **The Key Insight: You Cannot Heal While Punishing Yourself** - Sarah explains the critical difference between sitting with yourself and punishing yourself.
  • 5 (14:33) **The "But Also" Framework** - Sarah introduces a tool for integrating your past without being defined by it.
  • 6 (18:57) **The Root Problem: Underestimating Your Own Necessity** - Sarah shares a core belief: most people underestimate how necessary their existence is.
  • 7 (20:58) **The "Discounting Yourself" Trap** - Sarah dissects the concept of putting yourself on sale to the "lowest bidder."

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Mel Robbins

Show Notes

Today, you’re going to hear one of the most emotional and inspiring episodes that has ever been on The Mel Robbins Podcast. 

When the world feels overwhelming… 

When you’re discouraged… 

When you feel beaten up by life… 

When you’re tired of carrying the past around… 

This is the episode to press play on. 

In this powerful episode, Mel revisits her conversation with Sarah Jakes Roberts, with a brand-new introduction and new insights for right now. 

This is a conversation Mel personally returns to when she needs hope, motivation, optimism, and a reminder that change is possible.

Sarah Jakes Roberts is a New York Times bestselling author, pastor, and speaker. Pregnant at 13, married by 19, divorced by 22, and all while under the intense scrutiny as the daughter of a famous mega-church pastor, Sarah knows what it’s like to be knocked down. But more importantly, she shares what it takes to get back up. 

In this conversation, she is going to show you how to stop letting one mistake, one season, one heartbreak, or one painful scene become your entire identity.

Sarah teaches you what it truly means to be powerful, how to reclaim your confidence, and how to create a new version of yourself. 

If you or someone you love needs hope, forgiveness, and a way forward, this is the exact episode to listen to today.

You are so much more powerful than you know. And Sarah Jakes Roberts will convince you of that.

For more resources related to today’s episode, click here for the podcast episode page.  

If you liked the episode, check out this one next: How to Eliminate Self-Doubt Forever & Build Unshakeable Confidence

Connect with Mel: