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Chatting with DEI Leader, Mother, and Motivational Powerhouse Natasha Nurse
48 Plays1 month ago
Listen in as I chat with Natasha, a DEI professional, coach, author, podcaster, and content creator. She loves creating content addressing various DEI, business, culture, career, media, and mindset topics. And holds a Bachelor of Science in Animal Science from Pennsylvania State University and a Juris Doctorate from New York Law School. Outside her busy schedule, she loves enjoying the Arizona weather with her husband, young son, and dog J.J.
We chat about life, how we get stuck, why we need to get out of our own way, and how to stay inspired! Let us know what you think!
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Transcript
Introduction and Humorous Beginnings
00:00:00
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That was my friend's one piece of advice to me before starting a podcast was don't forget to hit record.
00:00:12
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Yeah, well, fun fact, my brother asked my mom to return me to the hospital when I came home.
00:00:17
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So they might love babies until it's living with them.
00:00:20
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And I realized he didn't mean it.
00:00:23
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Then he loved me.
00:00:23
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He didn't mean it.
00:00:27
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Is that where my trauma comes from?
00:00:30
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Facts, yes.
00:00:32
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You and I always just jumping right in.
Excitement for New Ventures and Virgo Bond
00:00:35
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I am so happy to have you on the podcast with me today.
00:00:39
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Something's brewing.
00:00:40
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It's a new venture for me, having inspiring conversations and trying to fill people's cups.
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And you and I met on a webinar.
00:00:49
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I was hosting a webinar.
00:00:50
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We kind of bonded off of
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I think being Virgos was the first thing that clicked for us.
00:00:56
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It's just like, yeah, right away, just understanding each other.
00:00:59
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And we're like, soul sisters.
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It's meant to be.
00:01:03
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Yeah.
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I'm super excited to have you.
00:01:05
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And if you want to just take a moment to introduce yourself, that would be awesome.
00:01:09
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Thank you, Laura.
Guest's Diverse Roles and Mission
00:01:10
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I am deeply grateful and excited for you as a fellow podcaster.
00:01:14
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Welcome to the world of podcasting.
00:01:16
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I love it already.
00:01:18
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And it's so much fun though.
00:01:20
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And, you know, for me, all the things I do, so in addition to being Virgos, we're also shared Jamaica.
00:01:27
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That is right.
00:01:28
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Truth.
00:01:28
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And as rightfully so, doing a million things at once.
00:01:33
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I am a New York licensed attorney.
00:01:36
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I am a professor.
00:01:37
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I'm a coach.
00:01:38
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I'm a speaker.
00:01:38
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I'm a blogger, a podcaster, content creator, a DEI HR professional, a mother, a
00:01:46
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My lord.
00:01:46
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Black feminist.
00:01:48
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I mean, it's a lot.
00:01:49
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It's amazing.
00:01:50
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It's like, how many hats can you wear?
00:01:52
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As many as my head can hold.
00:01:53
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We're going to keep on, hopefully, adopting pets
Finding Truth and Meaningful Conversations
00:01:59
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soon, right?
00:01:59
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Like, just going to keep on going with it.
00:02:02
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For me, it all is under the umbrella of just wanting to inspire and help other people find their truth, whether that's through their career, through their passion.
00:02:11
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That's why I love doing all the different things that I do, because it allows me to touch on different skill sets.
00:02:15
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And I love what you said in starting out and just having meaningful conversations, filling the cup, because as you grow up, you realize just how tough life is and you cannot have enough resources.
00:02:26
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that make you feel more connected, that make you understand your inner truth, your inner purpose on a deeper level, because there is no guidebook, right?
00:02:34
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You come into this earth and you're just like, okay, play.
00:02:38
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And like, what does that mean?
00:02:41
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And then you lose that sense of play.
00:02:42
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And then it's like, okay, perform and be this person, but be that person.
00:02:47
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Yes, exactly.
00:02:48
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Put on the hat, figure out who you are, stick in the box.
00:02:50
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And it's like, no, life is, life is play.
Embracing Change and Women's Adaptability
00:02:53
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but you've got to figure out how big your sandbox is, where your sandboxes are.
00:02:57
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And then what are you going to do with that play?
00:02:58
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What are you going to make out of that play?
00:03:00
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Oh my God.
00:03:01
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I love it.
00:03:01
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I feel like everything you just said is just like snap, snap, snap.
00:03:05
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Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
00:03:07
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And the way that you talk, you just exuberate such energy and so inspiring right from the jump.
00:03:12
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And I'm so like, yes, Jamaica.
00:03:15
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Yes, Virgo.
00:03:16
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Really?
00:03:17
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It's like, yes, fill your cup.
00:03:19
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Yes, inspire.
00:03:20
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Yes, find your inner truth.
00:03:21
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And that's like a journey that I'm just...
00:03:24
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I feel like just starting, I feel like it starts to morph into, you define it differently through every chapter of your life.
00:03:30
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Right.
00:03:31
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And I was like, wait, I know myself.
00:03:34
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And it's like, psych.
00:03:34
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Yeah.
00:03:35
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Universe is like, no, you don't dude.
00:03:38
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Like here, I'm knocking at your door.
00:03:39
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This is again with the same message.
00:03:41
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Do you want to listen this time?
00:03:43
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You know?
00:03:44
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And what's interesting is actually, I do think we know ourselves, but it changes, right?
00:03:48
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Like who we are at six is different than 16 and 26 and 36, right?
00:03:51
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Like
00:03:53
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And the beauty of womanhood is I think we typically embrace and lean into that change and evolution and changing from the cocoon to whatever we're going to be more so than our male counterparts.
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And so that's why I love being a woman, we welcome it.
00:04:07
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And then, and we try to define the path a little bit more.
00:04:11
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And that's what it's about.
00:04:13
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It's about understanding where you are today, but then also welcoming who you are 10 years from now, right?
Identity and External Expectations
00:04:19
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And then the next 10.
00:04:20
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Yeah.
00:04:20
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So something that comes to mind when you say that is also as women, though, I think we do also then care about what other people think of us a little bit more.
00:04:28
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So we can also, which for me is definitely relevant.
00:04:32
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And I think I fought that morphing into my own person so hard.
00:04:37
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That's where I cause internal friction.
00:04:40
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And I know obviously in like the DEI space that must come up a lot as well.
00:04:44
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So how do you kind of, you know, speak to that idea?
00:04:47
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Yeah, absolutely.
00:04:47
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So
00:04:48
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Unfortunately, it's life is very much challenging in that you're you're trying to navigate your journey within the context and boxes that you exist within.
00:04:57
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So whether that's your career, and that's a more corporate space, or non traditional space, and you're trying to figure out how to be your best you in all the different versions.
00:05:06
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And so
00:05:07
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more honesty with yourself about what you need, what are boundaries.
00:05:11
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And again, we don't teach our children enough about boundaries, about like, it's okay to say no.
00:05:16
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It's okay to also say, yes, I need this.
00:05:19
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I need this accommodation.
00:05:21
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And then also what are the learnings, right?
00:05:23
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Within diversity, equity, and inclusion, the key to that is true ongoing learning and teaching and then allowing for that play to, to, to,
00:05:33
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see and understand what does it mean to see and experience a microaggression or what does it mean and see to develop career pathing for people of color, for diverse people.
00:05:43
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So it's like you have to, I think the answer to it is just honesty, saying no when you need to, and then your tribe, finding your tribe and community where in the different spaces you exist in, because it's a lot harder to have psychological safety, to feel like you can grow, that you're welcome if you don't have people championing you in all the different spaces that you exist within.
00:06:04
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Wow.
00:06:04
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Yeah, no, that's so true.
00:06:06
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And I think honesty with yourself is and self-awareness is the first step to even trying to be honest with yourself because there's so many there's so many fears that
Accepting the Self and Shadow Work
00:06:16
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then pop up.
00:06:16
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Right.
00:06:17
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And that comes from either your childhood or different.
00:06:20
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There's parts of you that you bring forth with you.
00:06:22
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Right.
00:06:23
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As you change as well.
00:06:25
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So I think honoring those different parts is something that I've also just started to dive into.
00:06:31
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I shout out to the book, The Fragmented Self, if nobody has read it, really, really great book where it's just really honoring
00:06:37
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that all parts of you exist and all of you come through your life with you.
00:06:42
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And as we start to try to, it's like the shadow work, right?
00:06:44
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As we start to like get rid of our shadows, also parts of ourselves that teach us about ourselves.
00:06:51
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So it's not that we want to dim those things.
00:06:53
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We want to honor them and allow them the space to be there.
00:06:56
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And I think that that's something that I definitely took to, because there were so many parts that I was trying to like shell off.
00:07:04
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And that's, that shelled me off from me.
00:07:07
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Mm, that's powerful.
00:07:09
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Wow.
00:07:10
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One thing I've learned as well, and you may share this as well, being of Caribbean background, you know, our community can be really remarkable, but also very stifling when it comes to emotional exploration, right?
00:07:22
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Oh, man, our weakness, right?
00:07:24
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And how dare you cry?
00:07:26
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And if someone makes you cry, why are you crying, right?
00:07:28
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Like no one can make you do or feel and so just not feeling safe to have emotional breath and space.
00:07:34
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And so
00:07:35
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in my career now, trying to be open about like, if I'm not feeling well and I need some time or saying, you know what, this behavior is triggering for me.
00:07:44
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It makes me feel less confident.
00:07:46
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It makes me feel less, right.
00:07:47
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And just being able to share that and speak that has been a wild journey for me in my current career, but I welcome it because it wasn't something I would have even thought I could do like five years ago.
00:07:58
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Yeah, you're speaking my language.
00:07:59
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I think a lot of me lately has been like, how much have I suppressed, right?
00:08:04
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And that can cause so much internal strife, right?
00:08:07
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So I kind of kick it back to you as to how do you encourage people?
00:08:12
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Because I think a lot of what people might be dealing with and friction that might be dealing with either in the DEI space or wellbeing and in general, personal or professional can come from past imprints, right?
00:08:27
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Right.
00:08:27
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That either you don't know exist or you're aware of, but still haven't developed the tools to kind of combat that.
00:08:34
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Because it wasn't until recently where I really realized how much and it was a willingness I had to assume for myself to go back and look at.
00:08:43
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Hmm.
00:08:44
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safe enough?
00:08:45
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Did I feel safe to express things?
00:08:46
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The answer was no, it was suppressed.
00:08:48
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And it was immediately said, I felt that way before and kind of shunted, right.
00:08:53
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Or dismissed.
00:08:55
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Um, or somebody said, no, that's not how you feel.
00:08:59
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Um, we thought about it this way.
00:09:00
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Right.
00:09:01
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And you don't know the impact that that has until I think you unfortunately face like friction and internal struggle.
00:09:09
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Yeah, absolutely.
00:09:10
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So how do you deal with that?
Living in Present and Designing Life
00:09:11
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Yeah.
00:09:11
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Yeah.
00:09:11
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So first we have to just say to ourselves, I'd say this to myself, you know, I'm not a child anymore, right?
00:09:18
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A lot of times we go back and we're trying to experience things and we're like, well, when I grew up, cool, right?
00:09:23
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If that was then, but this is you now, right?
00:09:25
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So what does now you want?
00:09:28
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And it's okay to have these wants.
00:09:29
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If you need to write it out, if you need to speak it out, if you need to confess them, but you have to acknowledge that the past version of you is a part of you, but she or he or they are not all of you.
00:09:41
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And that you have to make space and figure out if you could design your life, which is like, how could I?
00:09:47
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Yes.
00:09:48
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If you could design your life, your career, dot, dot, dot.
00:09:53
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What does that look like?
00:09:54
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How does that feel?
00:09:56
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Why do you want what you want?
00:09:58
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And then what are you willing to do to get that?
Embracing Change and Role Modeling
00:10:01
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Right.
00:10:01
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So whether that's exploration boundaries, whether that's figuring out a new job, whether that's crafting or changing your function in your career now, whether that's looking at your wellness journey and figuring out, wow, like I've been going to the gym, but it hasn't been serving me.
00:10:14
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I feel worse.
00:10:15
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And I'm, you know, binge eating or starving myself because I'm so afraid to have a cupcake.
00:10:21
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What are you doing that's serving you?
00:10:22
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What are you doing that's not serving you?
00:10:24
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Be willing and free enough to say enough and pick a pathway that works and start to continue to read and expose yourself to techniques and tools to help you learn.
00:10:35
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Because a lot of people do want to get better, but they just, they don't know how, and they just sit in that space.
00:10:40
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So instead of just sitting in the space of, I don't know, sit in a space of, I want to know.
00:10:45
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And go out and do it, right?
00:10:47
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Like go out and read and listen to podcasts and take a course.
00:10:51
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I mean, there's a lot of stuff that's free that you can do.
00:10:53
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People use money as an excuse.
00:10:55
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Nope.
00:10:55
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Like, it's out there.
00:10:59
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That's because it introduces the idea of change.
00:11:02
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And no, we don't like change, you know?
00:11:05
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No.
00:11:05
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It's very scary.
00:11:07
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But what's scarier than change is stagnant.
00:11:10
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Stagnant.
00:11:10
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And being your same self for 40 years.
00:11:12
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That terrifies me.
00:11:14
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So I welcome like today being drastically different from yesterday and being drastically different from tomorrow.
00:11:19
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Because if I'm the same me every day, that means I'm essentially dead in the water.
00:11:23
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I haven't grown.
00:11:24
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I haven't evolved.
00:11:25
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And as a parent, for those listening, you know, one of the greatest things you can do is to be a parent or to be a role model, but more importantly, to change the narrative of that next generation.
00:11:37
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If I imbue all of my nonsense,
00:11:39
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and foolishness to my son.
00:11:41
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And I haven't made it and shown him because it's not just what you say.
00:11:44
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It's what you show them.
00:11:47
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They are sponges.
00:11:48
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Yeah.
00:11:49
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Right.
00:11:49
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So I can say anything in a thousand years, but if I don't speak better to myself, I could ever, I can't then expect him to speak wellness over himself because he saw me treat myself like crap.
00:11:58
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Right.
00:11:59
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So how can I be better in my actions?
00:12:02
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in my words, in my lifestyle choices that then allow him to grow up into the man he wants to be and needs to be through the health and the journey and the healing that I'm currently on.
00:12:14
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So even if you can't heal for yourself, if you have children, if you have people paying attention to you, you've got to find a way to heal for them.
00:12:20
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Because if you don't,
00:12:21
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it's another generation of garbage.
00:12:24
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And when you have kids, you start to live your life for them.
00:12:26
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Right.
00:12:27
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And you forget about yourself.
00:12:28
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And so, yeah, so it's that neglect, but how is that neglect showing up for you and for your child or children?
00:12:35
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You know?
Daily Wellness Practices and Positivity
00:12:36
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Yeah.
00:12:36
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Wow.
00:12:37
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Scary.
00:12:37
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It's scary to like, it's, I have a duty people like that.
00:12:40
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How do you do all you do?
00:12:41
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Well, I have a son that's paying attention, right?
00:12:43
Speaker
Like, and if I don't get myself together, then I risk his journey being less
00:12:48
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as bright and as beautiful and bold as it can be.
00:12:50
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And that's not fair.
00:12:51
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He didn't ask for that.
00:12:53
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I brought him here.
00:12:54
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I have an obligation to do the best I can be so he can be the best he can be.
00:12:58
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So what does that necessarily look like for you every day?
00:13:01
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What are you actively doing each day?
00:13:03
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So a lot of that is since on the topic of wellness and healing is actually like dedicating time to walking and to exercising.
00:13:11
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And it's not easy.
00:13:12
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I grew up very, I used to call myself like a sloth.
00:13:14
Speaker
Like I would question why people volunteer to sweat.
00:13:16
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I was like, that's why I do.
00:13:18
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Why would you do that to yourself?
00:13:20
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That's very unfortunate.
00:13:23
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Sorry for you.
00:13:25
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Yeah.
00:13:26
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You're a sweating box.
00:13:27
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Like I just, yeah, I sweat like nobody's business.
00:13:30
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My skin's like, go ahead, girl, do you?
00:13:33
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So I'm constantly sweating, which is my six-year-old version of me would be like, girl.
00:13:38
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So I'm very proud of myself for sweating.
00:13:42
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And I'm drinking water.
00:13:43
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I have a gallon bottle of water.
00:13:45
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I jug around by the house and I'm journaling and I'm mindful about the thing.
00:13:51
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Like it's so quick and easy to just start talking and not like pause and think about what you're saying.
00:13:55
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Cause a lot of times I did grow up with people speaking poorly about themselves, but especially women, right?
00:14:00
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Women, oh, I'm such a silly person.
00:14:02
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Nope.
00:14:03
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Cut it out.
00:14:04
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Right.
00:14:04
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Wellness over yourself always.
00:14:06
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Right.
00:14:06
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And before getting to a limitation or a statement of no,
00:14:09
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can we get to a yes first?
00:14:11
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I try to correct everyone in the household.
00:14:13
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Like, before we say this can't be done, what have we tried to do to get it done?
00:14:17
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So he understands.
00:14:18
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Yes is always the place to go before we get to know.
00:14:22
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Right.
00:14:23
Speaker
And then also just trying to just be more loving also within the Caribbean culture.
00:14:28
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It can be sometimes it's so much survival mode and not loving, thriving mode.
00:14:34
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So, you know, I ask him to do something and I say, I love you.
00:14:37
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Right.
00:14:38
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To let him know that, yes, there's discipline.
00:14:40
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But it's connected to the idea that, you know, I love you.
00:14:44
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And this is the betterment for you.
00:14:45
Speaker
And we also don't believe in corporal punishment, which is hugely different than how me or my husband grew up.
00:14:50
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No beating of children in the household.
00:14:52
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Yep, it's wild, but we're going to have emotional and physical safety.
00:14:56
Speaker
Thank you very much.
00:14:57
Speaker
Thank you.
00:14:58
Speaker
Thank you.
00:14:59
Speaker
And then reading.
00:15:00
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He is a spun.
00:15:01
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He loves to read.
00:15:02
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And he's two years old.
00:15:04
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And so, and I love that because I love reading.
00:15:06
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Reading is awesome.
00:15:08
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It is the growth that you can't, you can't put a dollar sign to it and make, I feel sick, like physically ill if I don't read enough.
00:15:14
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So I'm that, I'm that.
00:15:16
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Yeah.
00:15:17
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I mean, it allows you to go into another world.
00:15:19
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I remember like doing that with my niece and nephew.
00:15:21
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It's like, you can see life through their eyes and how amazing everything is.
00:15:26
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And it gives you that second pause.
00:15:28
Speaker
Like I, simple as like,
00:15:31
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We're walking and like an airplane.
00:15:33
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And the minute the airplane shows up, my nephew is pointing to the sky.
00:15:37
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And for us, it's something so every day, mundane, whatever.
00:15:43
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You know, if you're aware of that, you just pause and you're like, yeah, that is.
00:15:47
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That's amazing.
00:15:47
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There's an airplane.
00:15:49
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Exactly.
00:15:50
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That is the best thing about children feeding into their joy.
00:15:52
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Cause we lose that as we get older.
00:15:55
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Again, it's that survival life.
00:15:57
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I have to pay bills.
00:15:58
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I have to do this, but there's so much beauty.
00:16:00
Speaker
There's so much magnificence and all that's happening around us.
00:16:03
Speaker
And children remind us to like that computer turning on.
00:16:07
Speaker
That's so cool.
00:16:08
Speaker
This airplane.
00:16:08
Speaker
That's so cool.
00:16:09
Speaker
That lake.
00:16:09
Speaker
That's so cool.
00:16:11
Speaker
Yes, our lives are amazing, but we choose to focus on our problems instead of the beauty and magnificence that is us and around us.
00:16:19
Speaker
Right.
Environment's Role in Healing and Growth
00:16:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:20
Speaker
It's, it kind of reminds me of that quote, like you're always listening to yourself basically, like it really is like the voice.
00:16:27
Speaker
And that's something that I'm actively working on now is like shifting from, I consider myself somebody who is addicted to negative emotions, you know, and that's really hard rewiring to do.
00:16:38
Speaker
when that's something that for 32 years has been ingrained in me, you know, I've done, I'm like, okay, I work out every day.
00:16:44
Speaker
Now yoga, meditation, I journal every day.
00:16:46
Speaker
It's like step is a very tough step, you know, when you're kind of used to that, that negativity and understanding for me, it's been being gentle and compassionate with myself of like, Hey, it took 32 years to get here.
00:16:59
Speaker
It ain't going to take overnight to get somewhere else, you know?
00:17:02
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:17:03
Speaker
And for us,
00:17:03
Speaker
moving away and we've talked about this as well separately that for us being a born New Yorker, like always a New York girl forever.
00:17:11
Speaker
But I, uh, you know, I had a lot of family and a lot of people and you, you know, the, what the tri-state area is, it's a grind and with that grind sometimes comes a lot of bitterness and a lot of disillusionment and a lot of anger.
00:17:25
Speaker
And for it to, to kind of unlearn that negative emotional space,
00:17:30
Speaker
Sometimes that means moving thousands of miles away.
00:17:32
Speaker
And I know that that's hard for people, but you know, if people refuse to be in a journey of evolution, then you can't halt or stult yours for them.
00:17:41
Speaker
And so sometimes, and I've seen a quote where you can't heal where you were hurt in the same space you were hurt.
00:17:46
Speaker
Oh, wow.
00:17:46
Speaker
That's why Arizona is like our Mecca, our haven, because New York, love you, we'll visit some point, but I couldn't heal.
00:17:55
Speaker
where I was hurt and I needed to go somewhere on that earth and cacti and little lizards.
00:18:02
Speaker
I love that you said that because, I mean, as you know, I just came back from St.
00:18:05
Speaker
Pete, Florida, right?
00:18:07
Speaker
And I have ignored my internal knowing of moving for so long.
00:18:11
Speaker
And I think that has caused so much friction for myself internally where I
00:18:15
Speaker
Oh, my mom's here.
00:18:16
Speaker
I need to stay in Connecticut.
00:18:18
Speaker
Right.
00:18:18
Speaker
Oh, you know, I'm familiar with Connecticut.
00:18:21
Speaker
Like it's comfortable.
00:18:22
Speaker
Comfort is not the best, you know, discomfort is where the growth happens.
00:18:26
Speaker
And that's what our conversation where, like you said, we had offline was so insightful to me because, you
00:18:33
Speaker
It is.
00:18:34
Speaker
And I love that you can't heal where you, you know, are hurt or you were hurt.
00:18:37
Speaker
It just doesn't.
00:18:38
Speaker
I've talked to so many people that were like, yeah, I spent 10 years in whatever place and then came back home.
00:18:44
Speaker
And it's like, I did my healing.
00:18:45
Speaker
It's like, you're not signing your life away by going somewhere else, but there's other experiences out there.
00:18:51
Speaker
When you trust yourself for me getting to a point where I trust myself to go off and do it.
00:18:55
Speaker
And that's what these two and a half weeks have kind of shown like, Hey,
00:18:59
Speaker
You're okay by yourself.
00:19:01
Speaker
You know, like there's stuff to learn out there about you.
00:19:05
Speaker
Right.
00:19:05
Speaker
And I think a lot of us, we again, serve for others, forgetting about ourselves and then complain about life.
00:19:13
Speaker
And it's like, turn that lens inward, which is the hardest thing to do.
00:19:18
Speaker
It's so hard, but it's so impactful.
00:19:21
Speaker
Oh yeah.
00:19:21
Speaker
No, I know for a fact, I wouldn't have become a mother if I didn't move to Arizona.
00:19:25
Speaker
I feel like I'm turning, I'm on the cusp of turning 37 and I would not be who I am today if I didn't come here.
00:19:32
Speaker
So I'm, I'm deeply grateful for Arizona.
00:19:34
Speaker
I feel like it saved my life to be honest.
00:19:36
Speaker
And I encourage everyone listening.
00:19:39
Speaker
If you take anything from this conversation is you owe it to yourself to, to, to save yourself and to figure out what that looks like for
Pursuing Growth and Embracing Change
00:19:46
Speaker
you.
00:19:46
Speaker
Maybe it's moving.
00:19:47
Speaker
Maybe it's a pet.
00:19:48
Speaker
Maybe it's
00:19:49
Speaker
a new job, maybe it's a new wellness thing that you do, but either way, there's something that could drastically change your life and you have got to be honest with yourself enough to identify it and go after it and make it happen.
00:20:01
Speaker
Now, not later, now.
00:20:04
Speaker
I love it.
00:20:04
Speaker
That's literally why I wanted to talk to you so badly because you're so like, it's a confidence in like, you have to do this, you know, especially if it's knocking on your door.
00:20:15
Speaker
If it resonates with you as you're listening to this, it is something to at least explore, right?
00:20:20
Speaker
It's something to at least journal about something to at least have a conversation about.
00:20:24
Speaker
because it it's inciting something within you that's untapped, you know, and that's where everything kind of happens for us.
00:20:31
Speaker
So you're inspiring me again to go back to St.
00:20:35
Speaker
Pete, which I'm already planning on doing, but do it for longer, do it for three months, do it to the point where you're there.
00:20:43
Speaker
And well, this is a month and a half.
00:20:44
Speaker
And if I can find a spot, I will definitely be staying longer, but
00:20:48
Speaker
To the point of like, hey, I was able to access the playful side of me, right?
00:20:52
Speaker
Riding a scooter down the street.
00:20:53
Speaker
And I was like, when would I do this in Connecticut?
00:20:56
Speaker
You know, surfing.
00:20:57
Speaker
The same thing that I loved to do when I did it in Costa Rica.
00:21:00
Speaker
Like me in the water is just a healing base, right?
00:21:04
Speaker
So riding the scooter, surfing, going to beach bars.
00:21:08
Speaker
And like, maybe I went to the beach in the morning, you know?
00:21:10
Speaker
And just like, that's how I start my day.
00:21:13
Speaker
But I think...
00:21:14
Speaker
The other thing that's come up is like how my definition of wellness has shifted as I've grown up, where before it was, I worked out to look a certain way.
00:21:22
Speaker
And now it's like I work out for my own self as part of my lifestyle, but I've added...
00:21:28
Speaker
meditation.
00:21:29
Speaker
I've added yoga as enhancements to that wellbeing.
00:21:33
Speaker
You know, journaling has been something since I've been in therapy that I've adopted that has really allowed me to not only because whatever's in your head is already real, right?
00:21:42
Speaker
Like people are like, I'm scared of journaling.
00:21:45
Speaker
You already got the thoughts.
00:21:46
Speaker
You might as well look at them and see patterns that are existing.
00:21:49
Speaker
Right.
00:21:49
Speaker
So I think just getting
Community, Advocacy, and Personal Wellness
00:21:51
Speaker
started.
00:21:51
Speaker
And I know in like the DEI space, there's a lot of people that sometimes are afraid to
00:21:57
Speaker
speak up afraid to get started in creating change.
00:22:01
Speaker
So I don't know if you have any advice for that side of things where people might be feeling a certain way in their organization, in their team, or in like healthcare, in the wellness space in general, how do you advocate for yourself?
00:22:13
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:22:14
Speaker
So first and foremost, organizations that don't create employee resource groups, affinity groups, or even just like Slack channels for BIPOC community or just those who need to connect with each other.
00:22:25
Speaker
That's a very good starting point because it's sometimes really hard to try to impact or create change by yourself, but it's a little bit easier when you have at least one other person with you.
00:22:34
Speaker
So trying to develop a community wherever you are, whatever that space is, if it's your job, if it's
00:22:39
Speaker
organization, whatever.
00:22:41
Speaker
And then from there, setting out that agenda, and then having the ability to have more than just you be able to work on things.
00:22:48
Speaker
And then when it's a team of people that can, someone can talk to the HR person, someone can talk to the leader, and then get budget, right?
00:22:55
Speaker
And then you can start to impact and create opportunities that sometimes on your own, it just seems a little bit stifling.
00:23:01
Speaker
So I would say that would be my first thing
00:23:03
Speaker
And then, you know, as, as we, again, I think there's a space to understand educationally, what are the points of lacking?
00:23:11
Speaker
What are the points of deficiency that, that you could be better at and do more at?
00:23:16
Speaker
And then,
00:23:17
Speaker
What else?
00:23:18
Speaker
What else?
00:23:18
Speaker
I think also just a level of confidence also, because I think that people are scared for change because they don't know who they're going to be on the other side of that.
00:23:26
Speaker
And so I just want to encourage you to think through the fact that they're not going to know, but that's the exciting point.
00:23:34
Speaker
The same way it's exciting to travel to another place, it's also exciting to travel in life.
00:23:39
Speaker
and visit and see who you're going to be.
00:23:42
Speaker
And guess who's in charge of that journey?
00:23:44
Speaker
You.
00:23:44
Speaker
You got just all these, just like mic drops of wisdom.
00:23:49
Speaker
And that is incredible.
00:23:51
Speaker
That is, I mean, I've been stuck on 32 years of one way of thinking,
Recognizing Self-Worth and Personal Goals
00:23:57
Speaker
right?
00:23:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:57
Speaker
So, well, if you had, I know we got to wrap up here, but I could talk to you forever.
00:24:04
Speaker
If you had one piece of advice for people or
00:24:07
Speaker
One encouraging thing that somebody could do today, what would that be?
00:24:13
Speaker
One, know that you are worth it, that you do not need the validation of anyone else.
00:24:19
Speaker
other than yourself to know that you are meant to be here.
00:24:22
Speaker
Your life is meaningful.
00:24:24
Speaker
And I would encourage you, if you could do one thing is to ask yourself, what are three things you want to do before it's the end of the show and then go and do them.
00:24:34
Speaker
Well, I don't know about you listeners, but I'm going to actively take that advice and I needed to hear all of those things.
00:24:41
Speaker
So Natasha, thank you so much for joining Something's Brewing.
00:24:45
Speaker
And I look forward to hopefully having you back on the podcast soon.
00:24:48
Speaker
Thank you so much.
00:24:49
Speaker
Thank you.