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54: Unpacking Your Gifts: Recognize the Strengths You’ve Been Overlooking · The Everyday Awesome Project

• 0:26
  Polly Mertens: hey Super stars.
• 0:27
  Samantha Pruitt: Welcome back polly here and sam, what's up?
• 0:30
  Polly Mertens: beautiful humans I am excited the dawn of our second year as everyday awesome project.
• 0:38
  Polly Mertens: Year two my dear as we step in, and um happy new year crazy.
• 0:42
  Samantha Pruitt: It's crazy that it's been a year.
• 0:45
  Samantha Pruitt: It has.
• 0:45
  Samantha Pruitt: I mean just I'm a little bit blown away a how many of these creative projects fail before they even make a year?
• 0:58
  Samantha Pruitt: Also, how many collaborations, yes, of amazing humans fall apart.
• 1:06
  Samantha Pruitt: Whatever, you know, one is more committed, the other isn't, whatever, all the stuff that happens when there's a collab.
• 1:13
  Polly Mertens: No, not us, I think we're at 100, still like I think we're both still so excited, so like interested in doing these, and what's next?
• 1:22
  Polly Mertens: And the horizon?
• 1:22
  Polly Mertens: It's like yes, oh yes, oh hell yeah, you know like oh, hey, we need to, we need to get on, we need to get on and make an episode.
• 1:28
  Polly Mertens: It's like, oh yeah, totally, there's zero hesitation, zero hesitation zero, zero.
• 1:34
  Samantha Pruitt: The only time we've been like even bumpy is like I'm traveling and I'm in some weird place, or you're in some weird place and we're like, how do we make it happen?
• 1:43
  Polly Mertens: besides that all freaking in, all fun, all freaking fun all day.
• 1:48
  Polly Mertens: Yeah, every time we do this, I'm like I just walk away excited and uplifted and you know, I mean, you know, god bless the people who listen to us.
• 1:58
  Polly Mertens: You know, I mean, I hope they're picking up as much fun as we have talking to each other and sharing whatever the episode is, because we truly do it as like where we're going with this, just so you know, this is unpacking your gifts.
• 2:11
  Polly Mertens: This is a new year.
• 2:13
  Polly Mertens: A lot of people just came out of the holidays unpacking lots of gifts or no gifts or whatever.
• 2:19
  Samantha Pruitt: You know returning the ugly sweater and all the bizarre things you got for Christmas the ugly sweater and all the bizarre things you got for Christmas.
• 2:25
  Polly Mertens: But now, as you step into a new year, we invite you to unpack your gifts, your true gifts, I mean, it's the most important thing, what are your true gifts?
• 2:40
  Polly Mertens: And also the big question what gift will you give yourself this year?
• 2:49
  Polly Mertens: Say it again that it's like period.
• 2:50
  Polly Mertens: I'm in a question mark at the end but I'm just going to go period, but okay, say it again so what gift will you give yourself this year?
• 3:00
  Samantha Pruitt: how many people are even thinking about that?
• 3:02
  Samantha Pruitt: We're here to say that's the most important question and commitment moving into 2025.
• 3:08
  Samantha Pruitt: What gift will you give yourself?
• 3:11
  Samantha Pruitt: And when I say that, what does that bring up for you?
• 3:15
  Samantha Pruitt: What do you think about when I say a question like that?
• 3:19
  Polly Mertens: Well, first answer was sleep, More sleep, more sleep, more sleep.
• 3:26
  Polly Mertens: I'm kind of a fan of sleep lately.
• 3:27
  Polly Mertens: I guess you know the superficial material world that a lot of people swim in is like a lot of things, right, and I think you and I recognize there are things that make life more comfortable, easier or connected or whatnot.
• 3:43
  Polly Mertens: Make life more comfortable, easier or connected or whatnot.
• 3:46
  Polly Mertens: But really I think when I've done a lot of work, I've noticed that my gratitudes are moments and experiences right, and so I find deep appreciation for gifts in connecting with people, the people in my life, memories made, memories yet to be made.
• 4:01
  Polly Mertens: So gifts to me is like, oh yummy, connection with people you know, special people, not just like all being, like running around like a great person you know doing, being new people you don't know, but like enjoying the gifts of others, right.
• 4:16
  Polly Mertens: And I think when I hear that question, you and I had a little bit of time before this, because we not only want to invite you into this question, but before we, you know, click record and we started on air.
• 4:26
  Polly Mertens: Let's say, like we should be in this question with them, which we all in this question right now, right?
• 4:34
  Samantha Pruitt: 100.
• 4:34
  Samantha Pruitt: We all need to be asking ourselves this is this, and not just asking ourselves, but coming up with an answer and making the commitment to the actions towards it.
• 4:45
  Samantha Pruitt: So when we say what gift, like we were thinking of categories that people in the audience might be thinking about, or maybe they have no idea what the hell we're talking about.
• 4:56
  Samantha Pruitt: I don't know if you can put some ideas out there.
• 4:58
  Samantha Pruitt: Perhaps there's an area of your life it could be your health.
• 5:03
  Samantha Pruitt: It could be your fitness.
• 5:05
  Samantha Pruitt: It could also be your finances.
• 5:06
  Samantha Pruitt: It could be relationship with yourself, self-love, self-acceptance, self-compassion.
• 5:12
  Samantha Pruitt: It could be relationship to others.
• 5:14
  Samantha Pruitt: It could be your career, where you feel you could have the most impact if you really gifted yourself this year to get it done, to really make significant change and impact.
• 5:34
  Polly Mertens: Yeah, like you said to me.
• 5:35
  Polly Mertens: You said, you know, looking self-investing, you know, because you're I mean that's like one of the words I think about when I think about you is like self-investing, like you believe that for yourself and for other people, like you want that for other people, and so when we self-invest, we see ourselves as important, right, like we're a gift to the world and so we matter, we're important, we have worth, right, it's for who?
• 5:59
  Polly Mertens: we are right, and so what gift you give yourself is like you not only give to the world, because a lot of, let's say, women and we have such a giving heart.
• 6:09
  Polly Mertens: You know we're taking care of children, you know taking care of others family, community, whatever but we sometimes neglect ourselves, right.
• 6:17
  Polly Mertens: And so this is a blank check permission to self-invest.
• 6:23
  Polly Mertens: If you're like, absolutely, you need nobody else's permission.
• 6:26
  Polly Mertens: We're just reminding you that you already have it to invest in yourself, to take yourself as the gift and give yourself a gift, just giving other people of your time, yourself, your inherent gifts, right yeah, we're definitely not talking about.
• 6:42
  Samantha Pruitt: You know what are all your talents and gifts and how can you pour them into the world.
• 6:45
  Samantha Pruitt: I guarantee you've already been doing that.
• 6:47
  Samantha Pruitt: Ok, whether you were born yesterday or you're you know a ripe old age of whatever.
• 6:53
  Samantha Pruitt: You've been pouring your gifts out into others and the world for a long time.
• 6:57
  Samantha Pruitt: We all have been doing that.
• 7:00
  Samantha Pruitt: All have been doing that.
• 7:07
  Samantha Pruitt: So at some point, irrelevant of your age and where you are at whatever phase of life, it's time to take a moment and give back to the self.
• 7:12
  Samantha Pruitt: If you want to be a fully developed, actualized human, integrated human and really feel like you're having this phenomenal experience in this one body and brain in lifetime, reaching your full potential, you've got to invest in that.
• 7:26
  Samantha Pruitt: It doesn't just passively happen and it's not others investing in you to get you to your potential what the hell?
• 7:34
  Samantha Pruitt: This is your job and you need ownership in that.
• 7:38
  Samantha Pruitt: So this is one of those great opportunities at the end of the year, at the beginning of a new year, to say I'm going to go all in on Sam, you know version 5.5 at age 55 in this particular area of my life and I'm going to really see what I can get done here, and we're asking that of our audience too.
• 8:00
  Polly Mertens: Yeah, and one of the things we talked about is, you know, let's say there's maybe three steps to this, right?
• 8:05
  Polly Mertens: So I hope, if you haven't already had an idea bubbling in the back of your head like, oh, what gift would I have and what would that look like and how could I self-invest?
• 8:12
  Polly Mertens: And you know, I hope you're, you know, playing along with us here, you know, and maybe writing that question down, whether you do it if you're driving or however you're listening to this, like come back to this, like this is an important question.
• 8:23
  Polly Mertens: You're listening to this episode in this conversation for a reason like it's come to you so that it can be asked of you and so it can be answered by you and you can answer it right.
• 8:33
  Polly Mertens: And so what we said was you know, when you determine what that is and nobody else determined it for you, right, you don't have to look outward and go well, they would really like it if I did this, or these people need me to do that, or I'm on the hook for this.
• 8:46
  Polly Mertens: It's like, no, take nothing into consideration except what would bring you the most satisfaction.
• 8:53
  Polly Mertens: Fulfillment, purpose, meaning whatever joy in your life, and that's the thing, that's.
• 8:59
  Polly Mertens: All that matters is, it's in you, and we said you've got to commit to that right.
• 9:04
  Polly Mertens: And then you allocate resources maybe time, energy, what have you and you turn it into daily habits right, and one of the things we've talked about is in my work with people.
• 9:15
  Polly Mertens: So in my background in coaching, I deal a lot with helping people with releasing habits that no longer serve them or engaging in habits that they wanted to pursue and start.
• 9:25
  Polly Mertens: You know, performing or whatever it was, and the role of habit.
• 9:29
  Polly Mertens: One of the things we say is you think about, like having a compelling mission, or you have a compelling future or desired consequences, like positive consequences of this.
• 9:39
  Polly Mertens: Positive consequences, yeah, like what are the results?
• 9:43
  Polly Mertens: What are the positive outcomes or results that you and maybe people around you will receive by making these investments, these little daily ticks of time, new habits, new whatever it involves for you, the results will start to show right.
• 10:01
  Samantha Pruitt: Yeah, to me I see it as like picking a bucket of your life you know there's so many chapters or departments, if you will, depending on how you kind of perceive how your life runs or how it runs you and being like, okay, this one area of my life is just not what I'd like it to be.
• 10:20
  Samantha Pruitt: And I know for several people listening and maybe many people, unfortunately there's many areas that are not working.
• 10:28
  Samantha Pruitt: But to be real here, like you got to pick one area of focus at a time, because it will take time, it will take energy, it might take financial resources, but it definitely will take resources and then require possibly some support from others around you who love and are invested in you to help make, to move the needle in that area Right To make significant change.
• 10:52
  Samantha Pruitt: So, picking one of these areas and then just really figuring out, ok, this part of my life is not up to my standards or maybe it just flat out sucks.
• 11:04
  Samantha Pruitt: I don't know It'd be horrible.
• 11:05
  Samantha Pruitt: How can I make significant change there over the next 12 months?
• 11:10
  Samantha Pruitt: Give myself the grace and the time to really change this big critical element of my life, and what's it going to look like and how can I get there?
• 11:21
  Samantha Pruitt: So to me we should kind of like break it down, but we're just trying to get people to recognize that like pick one thing Okay, let's say it is your health or your finances or your relationships or whatever.
• 11:33
  Samantha Pruitt: Pick one thing and then let's kind of unpack it a little bit together and then we'll share sort of what you and I are up to this next year, what commitment we're making in our own lives in terms of this gift.
• 11:44
  Samantha Pruitt: But like, let's take them through or walk them through some steps of how they could identify that.
• 11:50
  Samantha Pruitt: So let's say, somebody calls us tomorrow and says or emails us or whatever I have decided that for me, my health is not what I'd like it to be and of course, health is a giant bucket and it's complicated, so we're not going to like pick apart oh, this is what you need to eat and drink, and we're not doing that.
• 12:10
  Samantha Pruitt: This is not who we are.
• 12:11
  Samantha Pruitt: But how can I make changes in that one area of my life.
• 12:17
  Samantha Pruitt: What should I first do, the first step, in kind, of moving towards this?
• 12:22
  Polly Mertens: Well, I think I like how the way that we phrased this question, or you came up with this question, is a little different than, let's say, goal setting.
• 12:30
  Polly Mertens: You know, like, oh, I want to achieve this Ironman thing, or I want to, like, get a better body Lose 10 pounds or whatever, yeah yeah.
• 12:37
  Polly Mertens: I like framing it as it's a gift to ourself, right?
• 12:41
  Polly Mertens: So it's like gifts have meaning, like they're meant to have an impact on you, right?
• 12:49
  Polly Mertens: And so it's about like answering that question for yourself what would have the greatest impact in your life, make you feel the best?
• 12:55
  Polly Mertens: Right, because your life is about how you're feeling.
• 12:57
  Polly Mertens: So some of this may be like when we talk about habit world, it's releasing non-verving habits or stepping into, and one of the things that I find the most important is for doing is being so, like before you go out and do, do, do, undo or whatever it's asking that being you know.
• 13:21
  Polly Mertens: And so one of the ways that I'll just maybe start make this a little more personal.
• 13:26
  Polly Mertens: So, when you ask me before we on air, you know, like, what gift I give myself this year, and for me, I don't know that I had it fully.
• 13:34
  Polly Mertens: I can't write it in one sentence yet, but to describe it is there's been a paradigm that I've been living in since I can remember when, right, that I've been living in since I can remember when, right, since growing up in high school and got to get the job and go to college and you know la-la-la career, and you know save for retirement.
• 13:51
  Polly Mertens: You know that whole traditional society, traditional story, right, you got swept up in that, yeah, yeah, sometimes, sometimes it's, you know, bouncing around and whatnot, but definitely there's this paradigm that I've been operating, I would say, within.
• 14:06
  Polly Mertens: That doesn't feel fulfilling.
• 14:08
  Polly Mertens: It feels at odds with who I inherently feel myself to be, and the older I get, the more wise I get, the more experience I have with performing or playing into this paradigm called, you know, business world.
• 14:22
  Polly Mertens: And I had got an MBA and you know nine to five kind of life.
• 14:25
  Polly Mertens: I've always had nine to five for sure, which is brilliant, right, but seeing the world through that lens has me not see my other gifts.
• 14:36
  Polly Mertens: Right, it's like oh, this is the only thing of value in working world that's going to sustain me and this is what people do, right, this is what's expected of me, or how to survive in the world.
• 14:46
  Polly Mertens: And so the gifts I'm giving myself is saying I have a lot of other gifts.
• 14:51
  Polly Mertens: I have these yummy inner talents, these um softer skills, these um other intuitive.
• 14:58
  Polly Mertens: I came into this world, you might say, with them.
• 15:00
  Polly Mertens: I didn't go learn how to make spreadsheets.
• 15:02
  Polly Mertens: I intuitively know how to listen to people's energy.
• 15:05
  Polly Mertens: You know, like, like, I know other things that I didn't think would get me a job or, you know, put a roof over my head.
• 15:14
  Polly Mertens: But I'm like I think I can list for the gift.
• 15:16
  Polly Mertens: Let me see.
• 15:17
  Polly Mertens: Like I said, I don't know that I can put into one world, but but it's not believing in the old paradigm, starting to believe in a new paradigm that my inherent gifts, my unique talents, my what makes me me, is valuable and I don't need to look at it as in oh, I'm gonna get rewarded for that.
• 15:36
  Polly Mertens: But I'm gonna get satisfaction and fulfillment right instead of.
• 15:40
  Polly Mertens: You know, a lot of people myself sometimes have poured yourself into work or a job or a project or whatever and it just drains.
• 15:48
  Polly Mertens: It's like this is not fulfilling, rewarding.
• 15:52
  Polly Mertens: It's a lot of no, no, no, no, no.
• 15:55
  Polly Mertens: Instead, I'm like, how can I get more satisfaction every day in what I'm doing?
• 16:01
  Polly Mertens: I feel purposeful in what I'm doing.
• 16:03
  Polly Mertens: I feel purposeful in what I'm doing.
• 16:04
  Polly Mertens: I feel like I'm on fire because I'm offering up to the world, to the collective, to people who want to work with me, what I'm good at, like gifted at, not business, just you know.
• 16:15
  Samantha Pruitt: So that was a little all over the place, but I know where you're going now and so for me to bring it home for the audience.
• 16:22
  Samantha Pruitt: I'm thinking so the gift that you would give yourself this year is the time, the space, the energy to allow your truth of yourself as a professional person, and how you are in your career path, profession, in your money making persona, to be the real you and not just the hard driving, results oriented, freaking, crushing all things person.
• 16:50
  Samantha Pruitt: Yeah, you can be that, but the satisfaction lies in an integration of your full, well-rounded self, showing up into these projects, on these teams, in these companies, in this space.
• 17:01
  Samantha Pruitt: Sure, okay, also crushing the things.
• 17:04
  Samantha Pruitt: But what about this whole other underbelly of me, if you will, which are my real gifts as a human being on the planet to be seen, recognized, appreciated, fully utilized and for you to have full expression of them?
• 17:21
  Samantha Pruitt: I mean to me that's you as a creative and as an artist also, but like it's the full part of your identity being in a work environment.
• 17:30
  Polly Mertens: Yeah, I think one of the things you and I touched on that I'm just now remembering just before we went on air was the word believe.
• 17:38
  Polly Mertens: So believing in self, believing in those inherent talents, those unique gifts, those soft skills that are valuable way to the world, to other people, whatever, but like starting.
• 17:50
  Samantha Pruitt: You know what's so hilarious.
• 17:51
  Samantha Pruitt: I'm sorry that we call them soft skills.
• 17:54
  Samantha Pruitt: Oh my god, why did we label them like that?
• 17:57
  Samantha Pruitt: But I get, I know exactly what you're saying.
• 17:59
  Samantha Pruitt: But just for the a moment to for us to pause.
• 18:02
  Samantha Pruitt: As a human, in society, what are the most critical skills to the survival of a human?
• 18:09
  Samantha Pruitt: It's those skills.
• 18:12
  Samantha Pruitt: It is sure the hell, not the spreadsheets and all the other skill sets.
• 18:16
  Samantha Pruitt: You didn't survive as a human evolving on this planet without those skills.
• 18:24
  Samantha Pruitt: They are the primary skills of the human being.
• 18:28
  Samantha Pruitt: Sorry, I just had to go on a rant for a second.
• 18:30
  Polly Mertens: So true.
• 18:31
  Samantha Pruitt: If you don't have those, Mr Boss, Lady Boss, whatever, and you're hard charging out there with all these like hard skills, but you don't have those.
• 18:40
  Samantha Pruitt: First of all, I'm not ever working for you or with you.
• 18:43
  Samantha Pruitt: That's a no.
• 18:44
  Samantha Pruitt: Those first of all.
• 18:46
  Samantha Pruitt: I'm not ever working for you or with you.
• 18:47
  Samantha Pruitt: That's a no.
• 18:47
  Samantha Pruitt: Yeah, but like humans are not going to feel good being with you in your space and they're sure the hell not going to perform.
• 18:51
  Samantha Pruitt: Okay, there's my rant.
• 18:52
  Polly Mertens: It's so good.
• 18:53
  Samantha Pruitt: So good.
• 18:54
  Polly Mertens: Yes, yes, soft skills, yeah, it's.
• 18:58
  Polly Mertens: You know, and I think also, if I am honest with myself, those soft skills and those intuitive skills, those unique gifts and talents that, whatever my wherever came from my life and my years as a coach, I mean some of the most valuable work I would say that I've done is helping people in their life Right, helping people Right.
• 19:22
  Samantha Pruitt: Oh, yes, I am changing someone's life.
• 19:26
  Samantha Pruitt: What, in the hell, I mean, are we kidding right now?
• 19:30
  Samantha Pruitt: It doesn't matter how much money is made or any kind of production metric that somebody slapped on your me over our lifetime, and they still are doing that to this day.
• 19:41
  Samantha Pruitt: I don't give a shit.
• 19:43
  Samantha Pruitt: That's not how my identity is in the world.
• 19:45
  Samantha Pruitt: My identity is in the human beings that I connect to and how I can facilitate their growth, growth, transformation.
• 19:53
  Polly Mertens: And mine too.
• 19:54
  Samantha Pruitt: Don't get me wrong.
• 19:55
  Samantha Pruitt: I mean me too.
• 19:56
  Samantha Pruitt: I'm along the journey, doing the thing right, and I want to be in those spaces with those people.
• 20:03
  Samantha Pruitt: Girl, that's where you crush it and you've got to find that yes, that's my answer to that question.
• 20:11
  Polly Mertens: So what gift are you giving yourself?
• 20:12
  Polly Mertens: Is you're believing in myself and my unique inherent talent and looking for the outlet for them, instead of the whole paradigm that I had to fit in and the box of the nine to five and la la la?
• 20:22
  Polly Mertens: So it's like pivoting my paradigm, expanding my vision, opening up to possibilities that are out there, people already doing that I just have been narrowly focused on.
• 20:33
  Polly Mertens: So gift is I get a more fulfilling and sort of fast forward.
• 20:37
  Polly Mertens: You know like some of the positive outcomes of compelling vision is like, yeah, fucking, crushing it and being with people and like their lives are just multiplied and transformed and it's like and I'm like, oh, my God, you know, had impact and I feel like and it can be in their business.
• 20:54
  Samantha Pruitt: It is in their business in many instances, but it's been in a different way, you know it's not.
• 21:00
  Polly Mertens: You're accounting for your bookkeeping or whatever help you buy a house or something like that.
• 21:04
  Polly Mertens: Like, yeah, meaning and growth of those humans as a business owner or whatnot.
• 21:11
  Polly Mertens: So all right, so that's, that's my rant.
• 21:13
  Polly Mertens: How about if you answer it?
• 21:15
  Polly Mertens: So what gift are you giving yourself this year?
• 21:17
  Samantha Pruitt: what would that look like.
• 21:18
  Samantha Pruitt: I'm sure I described it to you earlier and I'm sure it was definitely not in a sentence, but it was about me really releasing old identities around.
• 21:32
  Samantha Pruitt: So I have a life as a wife and a mother, as a grandmother, also as a boss, as a professional in certain spaces, as a community leader, as an athlete, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah you know all the things right.
• 21:45
  Samantha Pruitt: So releasing those identities, and it's kind of similar to what you're saying, but I feel like this year I have felt a massive expansion in not only my capabilities but in my commitment to self to continue to evolve myself way beyond those things.
• 22:07
  Samantha Pruitt: So part of that is letting go of things that are no longer serving me labels, identities, et cetera and then moving into a space that is new and exciting and more evolved.
• 22:16
  Samantha Pruitt: So I take these gifts and skills and the gift I give myself is this year to become more fully expressed and evolved and move for the second half of my life into not a whole new identity but into definitely an elevated identity, right when it's like those things are part of my history and journey, but they're surely not who I am.
• 22:42
  Samantha Pruitt: I'm still figuring out who I am and, frankly, if I don't do that till the day I die.
• 22:47
  Samantha Pruitt: I got robbed.
• 22:49
  Samantha Pruitt: Isn't that why I'm here Like.
• 22:53
  Samantha Pruitt: Isn't that the path of each human?
• 22:56
  Polly Mertens: Yeah, and what you said before was I put light on it like this, but it was about picking up the clay and crafting your life.
• 23:04
  Polly Mertens: You know, it's like what?
• 23:06
  Polly Mertens: What way do you want to express in the world for the next 10 years or five years, or whatnot?
• 23:11
  Polly Mertens: Like, how do you want to mold, like what you've been you know, like your inherent gifts, the, the experiences that you've picked up along the way, setting aside that, the have-tos or the should-dos or whatever, like I want to do it.
• 23:24
  Polly Mertens: Oh, that sounds exciting.
• 23:25
  Polly Mertens: You know, they know anything that isn't resonating with you.
• 23:31
  Samantha Pruitt: That's a big thing, the saying no, I've gotten pretty damn good at that, and even like sniffing it out really early, whereas I used to get far down the pipeline and be like, oh my God, it's such a no, how do I get out of this mess?
• 23:42
  Samantha Pruitt: And be like, oh my God, it's such a no, how do I get out of this mess?
• 23:46
  Samantha Pruitt: Totally, totally.
• 23:47
  Samantha Pruitt: But now really being like a lot of those old labels and they're not things that I didn't love and appreciate.
• 23:53
  Samantha Pruitt: Of course I have loved being a mother, a wife, a grandmother, a community leader, a business owner, all those things but I'm 55 now.
• 24:02
  Samantha Pruitt: Okay, they all have been raised Like I got all those businesses.
• 24:07
  Samantha Pruitt: I'm 55 now.
• 24:08
  Samantha Pruitt: Okay, they all have been raised Like I got all those businesses.
• 24:09
  Samantha Pruitt: I'm not running those businesses anymore.
• 24:10
  Samantha Pruitt: I'm now part of other teams and other businesses, but I don't need to be in charge of anything Like.
• 24:13
  Samantha Pruitt: It's just this very liberating place to be and I want to take my gifts or skills and experience and help other people reach theirs.
• 24:25
  Samantha Pruitt: So, as I'm evolving myself like, I feel like a really strong pull to be on the evolutionary path of others, especially whether it's young women or young people or people evolving in their own business or space or identity and like helping them fulfill that and really fully, you know, actualize their own goals.
• 24:48
  Samantha Pruitt: But for myself, giving me this year 2025, I keep what keeps coming up is the two words space and grace.
• 24:57
  Samantha Pruitt: Make the space and and provide the grace to myself and to those that I connect with, and it just feels so yummy and decadent and like so long overdue.
• 25:16
  Polly Mertens: I've been doing the last.
• 25:17
  Polly Mertens: You know like I would have done this sooner, kind of thought.
• 25:20
  Samantha Pruitt: And why have I resisted?
• 25:21
  Samantha Pruitt: The last couple years I've had a lot of resistance around the old stuff.
• 25:25
  Samantha Pruitt: And then, you know, there was this pandemic, bizarre moment we all experienced together and then, like, we all went through this weird thing and then, coming out the other side, a lot of people, I think, can relate to me as like, well, my identity in my old job was this, or in my old relationships or old life was this, and it's not really fitting anymore and it just feels awkward and weird and I feel lost.
• 25:47
  Samantha Pruitt: And I didn't necessarily feel lost, but I felt like diluted.
• 25:53
  Samantha Pruitt: And I've come out of all that and now, like, there's just this clarity of like, oh, that's a hard no and that's a hell yes.
• 26:06
  Samantha Pruitt: And so the gray bubble that was in between, where I kind of floated and many people will be able to relate to this, where they're floating.
• 26:13
  Samantha Pruitt: I'm not going to tolerate being in the gray bubble anymore.
• 26:17
  Samantha Pruitt: That felt to me like I was giving myself, just almost making excuses of like this is good enough, this will work for now, this is temporary, this is whatever.
• 26:30
  Samantha Pruitt: Fill in the blank, fuck that.
• 26:33
  Samantha Pruitt: Yeah, listen, I don't know how much longer I'm going to be on this planet.
• 26:37
  Samantha Pruitt: Girl, I got stuff to do.
• 26:39
  Samantha Pruitt: I am not going to be floating around in the abyss anymore.
• 26:43
  Samantha Pruitt: It's a hell no or a hell yes.
• 26:47
  Polly Mertens: And only we know that from inside right, and so only we know that no one else can answer that question or those many, many questions which, by the way, are asked of you all day long and the more you know you are involved in the, let's say, a web of a family unit, you know there's there's a lot of questions and a lot of responsibilities and stuff like that and we get that and so expectations yeah.
• 27:11
  Samantha Pruitt: Yeah, and same with work life yeah, and same with fill in the blank yeah, all of it.
• 27:18
  Polly Mertens: So we're not saying your answer to this question has to look like our answer to this question.
• 27:22
  Polly Mertens: We know that your answer is unique to you.
• 27:25
  Polly Mertens: Whoever, whatever's in your life right now, whatever space you're in, whatever you're feeling called to, we hope you will just take this question and sit with it, like sit with a journal, and ask yourself, like, what gift am I giving myself this year?
• 27:40
  Polly Mertens: Right, and I love what you said.
• 27:43
  Polly Mertens: It's about committing, you know it's getting about it.
• 27:48
  Samantha Pruitt: So find the thing Right, make a commitment on this thing, whatever.
• 27:54
  Samantha Pruitt: And then I love your what you said about creating a compelling vision.
• 27:59
  Samantha Pruitt: I think, like for me um, I this is how my brain works Like I'd like to set a commit, a compelling vision for myself.
• 28:06
  Samantha Pruitt: Like, what would this area of my life look like in three months, in six months, in 12 months?
• 28:13
  Samantha Pruitt: Like, where would I like to be?
• 28:15
  Samantha Pruitt: What would I like it to look like?
• 28:16
  Samantha Pruitt: And then I work it backwards.
• 28:18
  Samantha Pruitt: So what would the things so I don't get overwhelmed start with the three months.
• 28:22
  Samantha Pruitt: What would I need to be doing now and for the next three months, on the daily, on the weekly, to have my whatever, we'll say health look different in three months?
• 28:33
  Samantha Pruitt: What kind of changes would I need to be making?
• 28:36
  Samantha Pruitt: What would it have to look like?
• 28:37
  Samantha Pruitt: What kind of habits would I need to let go of and embrace?
• 28:42
  Samantha Pruitt: So, in three months, this area of my life that I've chosen to focus on, this one area I'm gifting.
• 28:48
  Samantha Pruitt: What do I need to do?
• 28:50
  Samantha Pruitt: And then write that shit down and start making it happen.
• 28:54
  Polly Mertens: Yeah, last year we did several episodes on habit change and you know so.
• 28:59
  Polly Mertens: If you want more, you know the how-tos and the individual like.
• 29:03
  Polly Mertens: Listen to some of our other episodes in Everyday Awesome Project.
• 29:06
  Polly Mertens: We definitely have done some deep dives into like, these are the things that you do, but this one, you know, start a new year, new beginnings.
• 29:15
  Polly Mertens: We just want you like opening yourself up to new possibilities right, like there's so much more access to and you deserve right, like we've been all kind of all right.
• 29:26
  Polly Mertens: You know, I don't know how the last year's felt for everyone, but I have a feeling, if it's felt a little bit like mine, it's been transformative, mutative, you know, just rocked.
• 29:36
  Polly Mertens: You know, before we ever was like man, how my health started out in the beginning of the year.
• 29:42
  Polly Mertens: I had like erratic thyroid stuff going on.
• 29:45
  Polly Mertens: I was just way in the wrong place and like tired all the time.
• 29:50
  Polly Mertens: I was like oh and like coming into the year I brought it back to feeling amazing, you know, know and so what has your year made more aware of?
• 30:00
  Polly Mertens: right and what gift?
• 30:02
  Samantha Pruitt: and the dawn of this new year or a new day, depending on when you're listening to this like just be a new day, like every day is an opportunity to find your gift and to ask yourself this yeah, I had a friend that was really worked up about their finances and, you know, wanting to make their finances be different, and it's like they feel overwhelmed and like they're drowning in debt and all these things, decisions and choices that have been made, you know, since the pandemic, and whatever.
• 30:29
  Samantha Pruitt: Like they just inherited this long train of yuckiness.
• 30:31
  Samantha Pruitt: I was like, well, start right now.
• 30:36
  Samantha Pruitt: But it's not some master plan that has to be like it's.
• 30:40
  Samantha Pruitt: I think we overcomplicate things Right.
• 30:51
  Samantha Pruitt: So it's like, well, if you don't want to go into more debt, you chop up the credit cards you have and you actually don't use them anymore.
• 30:54
  Samantha Pruitt: Like you just start chipping away at little things and the little things become the big things, and then you can get an army of people or one person a coach, a friend, a loved one, a family member, whatever who is just all about helping you work through and crushing this area of your life.
• 31:10
  Samantha Pruitt: And there's mentors.
• 31:11
  Samantha Pruitt: There's like so many resources, depending on what the heck you're trying to accomplish here where you can just get a buddy or a person who is going to double down with you and support you on that path.
• 31:22
  Samantha Pruitt: And maybe you don't have all the answers, you'll figure it out, but you've got to start taking steps, and it starts with commitment to self.
• 31:31
  Polly Mertens: Yeah.
• 31:31
  Samantha Pruitt: Commitment to doing it differently.
• 31:33
  Samantha Pruitt: What's the definition of insanity Wanting things to be different but yet doing it the same day after?
• 31:40
  Polly Mertens: day.
• 31:41
  Samantha Pruitt: I mean, we just make ourselves crazy with this stuff.
• 31:44
  Polly Mertens: In order for things to change, first I must change, yeah, in order to have different results in your life.
• 31:49
  Polly Mertens: It's about you, and so part of this question some people could see it as it's so overwhelming, so many things that I want to change, and some people could be like, oh well, why bother, why get started, and we're here to say fuck that, like, ignore that answer.
• 32:05
  Polly Mertens: That's not acceptable, like there is no.
• 32:08
  Polly Mertens: So you know, tony Ross has the phrase we overestimate what we can get done in a year, we underestimate what we can do in 10.
• 32:16
  Polly Mertens: Right, we largely inflate those, deflate those.
• 32:24
  Polly Mertens: So just start with whatever is feeling like in your heart, like you you didn't hear my answer or in yours.
• 32:27
  Polly Mertens: You know those sparkles that people like to say.
• 32:29
  Polly Mertens: You know specific, measurable, actionable.
• 32:31
  Polly Mertens: You know, oh yeah that's not yeah, that's not what this is about.
• 32:35
  Polly Mertens: Like the paradigm shift, the, the changing and creating new and a partial identity for yourself and your new future.
• 32:42
  Polly Mertens: It's like those are the you know I used to when I didn't work with one and one people and have it.
• 32:48
  Polly Mertens: It's like your life is more like a cruise liner, like a massive ship going through water, than a speedboat.
• 32:55
  Polly Mertens: It doesn't really turn on a dime right, unless it's hit from the side or something.
• 33:00
  Polly Mertens: Right, right, right.
• 33:01
  Polly Mertens: It's about going.
• 33:03
  Polly Mertens: I want to go in a new direction, have a new port of call.
• 33:05
  Polly Mertens: I want to see it in my future.
• 33:07
  Polly Mertens: Like I want to head in this direction and creating that gentle, just even answering this question, writing down your answer to it, like holding space, it, doing the inquiry, like what gift do I want for myself?
• 33:19
  Polly Mertens: Like just going exactly and finding the answer, starts to open up that possibility for you, right?
• 33:26
  Samantha Pruitt: yeah, and just this concept of giving yourself a gift after you just spent several weeks or whatever, and thousands of dollars, god only gifting all these other people around you, after you gifted the whole year, your services and your skills and talents out to the external world.
• 33:44
  Samantha Pruitt: Stop, stop.
• 33:48
  Samantha Pruitt: If the end of the year and the new year are not about anything else, they're about this, this interim between the like Christmas and the new years and the beginning of a new year of your life in this one body and brain.
• 34:02
  Samantha Pruitt: It's about whose freaking life is this anywhere?
• 34:06
  Samantha Pruitt: Anyway?
• 34:07
  Samantha Pruitt: And like, this year of my life is my year?
• 34:10
  Samantha Pruitt: Like really owning that, and this question forces you to own that by saying what will I be giving myself this year?
• 34:21
  Polly Mertens: And I would say you know, it's always two sides to a hand, right.
• 34:25
  Polly Mertens: So, like when you give yourself the gift, you're actually giving more of yourself to others, to the world.
• 34:33
  Polly Mertens: Like the world needs you to uniquely be you and be fulfilled as full of you, know your inner you as you can possibly be, and expressing that.
• 34:43
  Polly Mertens: That's the best gift you can give anyone in your life.
• 34:46
  Polly Mertens: All of us, the collective right, the whole consciousness of us, you being more aligned with the you that you're here to be, that the gift that you're been denying yourself or you haven't been expressing to the world, or you've been holding back on or you haven't thought was important enough, or you didn't deserve it, or all of that.
• 35:03
  Polly Mertens: The world needs you doing this and I'm saying I'm saying I'm hearing it right.
• 35:09
  Polly Mertens: They're like, you know, the coaches, hearing the coaching.
• 35:12
  Samantha Pruitt: It's it's like a birthright, like uh, you know I know you're much more in tune with these things than I am the universe and the planets and all of the seasons and all that stuff but like a human and we did a whole episode on this which was like mind-boggling at the intro, where I give all the numbers, but like a human is born.
• 35:31
  Samantha Pruitt: It's so incredible the how we even exist, get a grip, okay, but then when we're born and we're dropped into this really messy, chaotic universe, like we both believe that we're here for a reason and that we have a gift.
• 35:51
  Samantha Pruitt: We have so many gifts, but that the world and the universe, and definitely the people in our sphere, our families, our friends, our communities, etc.
• 36:00
  Samantha Pruitt: You know we're in there because we're there for a reason, but if we don't take the time and provide, like what I'm saying, the space and the grace for our gifts to fully evolve, that will never really become manifest.
• 36:19
  Samantha Pruitt: It will never really become true.
• 36:20
  Samantha Pruitt: Oh my God, it's just like robbing ourselves and the world of that.
• 36:26
  Samantha Pruitt: Just seems really wrong, doesn't it?
• 36:28
  Samantha Pruitt: The mind state?
• 36:30
  Polly Mertens: I don't remember if I'll have the exact phrase, but there was a wonderful speaker, les Brown, who used to talk about how many dreams and possibilities live in great arts, because people died with their music inside them.
• 36:45
  Polly Mertens: Like the world did not hear their muse, their music.
• 36:49
  Polly Mertens: They didn't express it, they didn't bring it to the world and it's just sitting in the great arts.
• 36:54
  Polly Mertens: It's like no, we don't have that gift from that person because they didn't offer it to themselves and we it's just sitting in the graveyard.
• 36:59
  Samantha Pruitt: It's like no, we don't have that gift from the person because they didn't offer it to themselves and share it with the world and you have that experience with your father and possibly even grandparents, and I've had that experience with my parents and other ancestors where they lived this very, you know, utilitarianitarian life that was very limited to first survival and then after survival was, like you know, chasing the American dream and all the different things that ultimately their lives ended short and unfulfilled and that's the greatest tragedy for anybody.
• 37:36
  Samantha Pruitt: Yeah, that's not happening to me, even if I die tomorrow off in the bushes somewhere because I fall off a cliff on my mountain bike or whatever, I'm having a damn good time while I'm going down.
• 37:46
  Polly Mertens: Hey, lady, I invite you all to right I hope you're hearing this the time is now, the action is required.
• 37:55
  Polly Mertens: Self-investment is the next step.
• 37:58
  Polly Mertens: So you know, we've taken some time to ask these questions of ourselves.
• 38:03
  Polly Mertens: We deeply, deeply, deeply invite you to ask them of yourself.
• 38:07
  Polly Mertens: What is the gift you're giving yourself this year?
• 38:09
  Polly Mertens: Because, guess what you're giving it to others?
• 38:11
  Polly Mertens: Naturally, right, the world needs it.
• 38:12
  Polly Mertens: Our collective needs those.
• 38:15
  Polly Mertens: You need just that.
• 38:15
  Polly Mertens: Only you have to give.
• 38:17
  Polly Mertens: So, please, please, please, please, ask yourself this question right now and start to you know, start to let it sit like a seed, like you're talking about, like, for me, it's like I need to start watering that new paradigm.
• 38:27
  Polly Mertens: You start watering that new belief in myself and you start watering those gifts that I inherently like.
• 38:31
  Polly Mertens: Yeah, I can do that, not just you know, it's it, nurturing it, giving it space and grace to grow and develop, and who knows where it's going to go.
• 38:42
  Polly Mertens: Have a compelling vision.
• 38:43
  Polly Mertens: Whatever you can see from this finish point, it'll probably be even brighter and lighter than you can ever see from now, because you don't know where all those fingers of your life just keep looking in the past.
• 38:52
  Polly Mertens: You're like how the hell did I get through all of that.
• 38:55
  Polly Mertens: I didn't see that road coming.
• 38:56
  Polly Mertens: How?
• 38:57
  Samantha Pruitt: the hell did I get through?
• 38:58
  Polly Mertens: all of that, I didn't see that road coming.
• 38:59
  Polly Mertens: The same is true of your future.
• 38:59
  Polly Mertens: It can be super beautiful.
• 39:01
  Polly Mertens: Just step in and ask yourself this beautiful question Now Today, today, today.
• 39:10
  Polly Mertens: Today.
• 39:10
  Polly Mertens: What's our one thing?
• 39:11
  Polly Mertens: It seems like it's just the question itself.
• 39:17
  Polly Mertens: It is yeah.
• 39:18
  Polly Mertens: So every episode we like to wrap with one thing, and so our one thing is just asking you that question and damn it, you haven't asked yourself.
• 39:26
  Polly Mertens: Hit pause at the end of this.
• 39:27
  Polly Mertens: When we're done, ask yourself and sit and answer it for yourself and share it with us.
• 39:32
  Polly Mertens: We'd love to hear from you as well.
• 39:33
  Samantha Pruitt: Write it down.
• 39:34
  Samantha Pruitt: If you have to tattoo it to your wrist, I don't care.
• 39:39
  Samantha Pruitt: Somehow you need to see it.
• 39:41
  Polly Mertens: It needs to sink in and then it needs to be continuously reminded because people get distracted watering watering that new, whatever it is for you, the thing that you're giving yourself more space, uh, less, less, yes, and let more knowing in the world, whatever it is right, all right, beautiful, well, uh, thank you for our first episode of the year.
• 40:02
  Samantha Pruitt: Year two, here we come one of those little things, horns that blows out yeah, what do you want to remind our sweet listeners of today?
• 40:15
  Samantha Pruitt: Oh man, it's so good.
• 40:18
  Samantha Pruitt: How your life feels is more important than how it looks.
• 40:21
  Polly Mertens: Beautiful humans, you have been reminded yet again and how, and every day is your opportunity to find your awesome.