Latest / Unshakeable with Human Design - A Human Design For Business Podcast / 416: How to Survive Survival: Rebuilding Identity and Finding Flow with 1/3 Emotional Projector Jessica Buchanan
Transcript
- 0:02Hello and welcome to Unshakeable With Human Design.
- 0:05I'm your host, Nicole Laino, and I am here with a, a friend, someone that I've wanted
- 0:11to have on the show for a long time.
- 0:13She is a remarkable woman.
- 0:15She's honestly, um, when you hear her story, you'll be blown away.
- 0:19Everybody is.
- 0:20Because it is this, you know, it, it, it is a real story, a survivor's
- 0:24story, um, that has a happy ending.
- 0:27Um, and, but I think the reason that I wanted to have her on is not just
- 0:31because of that story, but because of, of this transformation that
- 0:35I've watched her go through, and how every day seeing her step more and
- 0:40more into this light that she holds.
- 0:44For everything that she is.
- 0:45It's so authentic.
- 0:47It's so her, um, what she helps women do as far as writing
- 0:51their stories and memorializing their story, kind of owning it.
- 0:55Um, I, I can't think of anybody who's doing that better, that I'm
- 0:58aware of, that I'm in contact with to actually being that example of, of.
- 1:06Really holding that light of owning your story and owning who you are.
- 1:10And she's someone I've talked about on this show before.
- 1:13Uh, uh, because you, you're one of those famous cases, Jess, of, of
- 1:19having thought you were a Manny, Jen.
- 1:22Yeah.
- 1:22And you discovered that you were a pr I unveiled.
- 1:26Uh, I, I dropped a bomb on you, and I was like, you're actually a projector.
- 1:30And it was such a funny thing, and I loved how you, you really embraced it.
- 1:35Mm-hmm.
- 1:35And not everybody does.
- 1:37Mm-hmm.
- 1:37You were just like, you know what, if I accepted this as true, what would happen?
- 1:41What would that, what, what would that do?
- 1:44Yeah.
- 1:44Um, and it's not just the, you know, it's not just the human design thing.
- 1:47It's what I saw you go through after you.
- 1:51And I'm not, I'm not giving human design the credit for this.
- 1:54Mm-hmm.
- 1:55But since I met you, I have watched you just step into like the
- 2:01bigness of what a projector can be.
- 2:04And I think that that's something that's a misconception too, is that projectors
- 2:07are like these, like, you know, they're meek or leaning back and it's like not at.
- 2:12All.
- 2:12Mm-hmm.
- 2:14Yeah.
- 2:14The big energy.
- 2:15Yeah.
- 2:15And um, and I've just seen you do that.
- 2:18And now with this new book that you have coming out, how to Survive
- 2:21Survival, A Guide to Turning Life's Hardest Moments Into Meaningful
- 2:25Contribution for the World.
- 2:27I saw that and I was like.
- 2:29Now's the time to have you on the show.
- 2:30I really want you to talk about this journey that you've been
- 2:32on and, and to share your story.
- 2:35And, you know, when you hear her story, you're gonna be like, oh wow.
- 2:38Um, 'cause there's really nothing like it.
- 2:40But I actually think it's so much more interesting after that, um,
- 2:44what you've been through, so, and, and what you've grown into and
- 2:47what you're helping people do.
- 2:48Mm-hmm.
- 2:48So, Jessica Buchanan.
- 2:51Welcome to the show.
- 2:52Thank you.
- 2:53It's, it's so great to be here.
- 2:55Um, yes.
- 2:56I mean, human design has very much changed my approach to how I view
- 3:02myself and how I, um, show up in my, my professional life and my personal life.
- 3:07I was.
- 3:07Joking before.
- 3:08I take a lot more naps now and I feel okay about that.
- 3:12Um, because projectors need to rest.
- 3:14And that also makes me feel better when I kick my snoring husband out of bed
- 3:17and say, look, projectors need their own space to sleep to restore their energy.
- 3:23You know?
- 3:24And so I use it maybe in some ways as a bit of an excuse.
- 3:28But, um, at the same time, I think the thing learning about
- 3:32being a projector for me that was, um, so significant was that, um.
- 3:39Um, oftentimes we're guides.
- 3:40Mm-hmm.
- 3:41And so I'm a teacher by profession, um, and which is really where.
- 3:46I guess that interesting part of my story, um, begins, you know, I have
- 3:52many ways in which I label myself.
- 3:55I'm a wife, I'm a mother, I'm a, I'm a a, an entrepreneur, a CEO, a teacher.
- 4:00But, um, I'm also a kidnapping survivor.
- 4:03And so, um, 2011 I was working for an NGO, an International NGO in Somalia.
- 4:11My husband and I met in Nairobi, Kenya.
- 4:14A few years before that when I was teaching in an international school.
- 4:18Um, and he, uh, his organization had moved him up to Somalia and, uh,
- 4:23Northern Somalia to be based, um, to do a developmental development
- 4:27work, uh, humanitarian work.
- 4:29And, you know, teachers always find work, they always land on their feet.
- 4:32So I quit my teaching job and moved up there with him and.
- 4:36Um, sure enough, started working for the un, started doing work for the
- 4:40Ministry of Education in armed Violence Reduction, which is not something I
- 4:43knew much about until I started learning and, um, and started traveling all
- 4:49over East Africa teaching, uh, conflict management strategies, um, mind risk
- 4:55education, firearm safety, uh, just.
- 4:58Community safety in general in these very, uh, very interesting, um, cultures.
- 5:04Not these nomadic societies.
- 5:06A lot of them were low literacy or no literacy.
- 5:10And so my job was to use my, um, my teaching skills to basically learn,
- 5:15uh, teach, um, these people who are living on the fringes, right?
- 5:20Uh, how to stay safe.
- 5:21They're living in, um.
- 5:23Areas that are still inundated with landmines or unexploded ordinances,
- 5:28little kids would be getting hurt.
- 5:30And so that was my job is to make, make those, uh, messages accessible
- 5:35in terms of keeping them safe.
- 5:37Um, so it felt like.
- 5:39Very gratifying.
- 5:40It felt very fulfilling.
- 5:42It was hard.
- 5:43Um, and, and I was far away from home, but I really felt like I'm
- 5:47a very purpose-driven person.
- 5:49I'm, I'm guessing that that has something to do with being
- 5:51a projector as well, and, um.
- 5:55And it was great until it wasn't, uh, which in 2011, October, 2011, I was
- 6:02sent by my organization down to the southern part of Somalia to go do a
- 6:06staff training, uh, with my colleague.
- 6:08And I was only supposed to be there for three days, made it to the third day.
- 6:13Um, we were leaving the training and our vehicle was overtaken by armed gunman.
- 6:18We were subsequently, um, driven out into the desert.
- 6:23Where we were forced to participate in a mock execution, and then we
- 6:27were held for 93 days, um, uh, for a $45 million ransom demand.
- 6:33Um, and we were kept outside in deplorable conditions.
- 6:38We were starved.
- 6:39Uh, we were beaten.
- 6:40Um, eh, we, you know, we lived outside the entire time.
- 6:45Um, it was.
- 6:46Horrendous.
- 6:47You know, sometimes I, I, you know, I talk about this a lot.
- 6:51I tell this story a lot, and of course as time goes on,
- 6:54you know, you start to forget.
- 6:55And, uh, my husband and I were watching a show last night on Netflix
- 7:01called Hostage, and he was like, are, are you sure you wanna watch this?
- 7:05And I said, yeah, I think it's fine.
- 7:07It's, I think I'm, it's fine.
- 7:09And there was, I don't wanna be a spoiler, but.
- 7:13There was a great moment where some of the hostages were, you know, rescued
- 7:17essentially, and we were laying in bed and we both just grabbed each other's
- 7:20hands and held onto each other because it was like, even after all this time, you
- 7:24know, those just like watching some stupid show, like it still feels very much like,
- 7:30oh, I know exactly, exactly the relief that those people are feeling right now.
- 7:35And, um, and so, uh, 93 days by order of President Obama, um.
- 7:42Seal Team six, uh, the us um, most elite military force.
- 7:47Um, parachuted into the desert in the middle of the night and successfully
- 7:52rescued me and my colleague Paul.
- 7:54And, um, then I like to say like, that's where the second part of my survival
- 7:59story begins, because I had no idea and I don't think, I just don't know if
- 8:06it's that we don't talk about it enough, or maybe we just don't have enough.
- 8:11I don't know if we don't have enough research about it, but there
- 8:14is really the space of surviving survival that happens for those of us.
- 8:19And we've all experienced trauma, um, to some extent.
- 8:23Um, but for many of us, um, uh, you know, if you've experienced
- 8:28a death or, uh, the loss of.
- 8:31A dream or a job or, um, what you fill in the blank.
- 8:35Um, none of us escapes the human experience unscathed.
- 8:39Um, it's that space where you feel like you should be over this by now and you're
- 8:45not, because you're still surviving, but you're not surviving the trauma anymore.
- 8:49You're surviving survival.
- 8:52And, um, that has been, wow, that's been the longest journey of my life.
- 8:58Uh, and, and that's what this, this book is about.
- 9:01This next book is about, so, so talk to me a little bit about.
- 9:06About that, about surviving survival.
- 9:09So you're rescued by Seal Team six.
- 9:10Everybody thinks that like, oh, great.
- 9:12Now you just, I don't think anyone thinks you just go on with your life.
- 9:15Sure.
- 9:15But you know, there's a, a, a huge gap in time between that, um, what.
- 9:24What inspired you to write this book?
- 9:27'cause you wrote a book about your story of, of being a kidnapping
- 9:32survivor and what that was like, and you know, the whole story of
- 9:34everything that you just told us.
- 9:35Yes.
- 9:36You and you've been a, you've been a touring speaker on that book and
- 9:41you know, I, I believe you've spoken at like the, the UN and you've,
- 9:45you've had all of these opportunities that, that have come from that.
- 9:48But why?
- 9:49And you help.
- 9:51Other, is it, is it exclusively women that you work with, uh, for writing
- 9:55Right now we are, we are starting to branch out, but right now just women.
- 9:58Yep.
- 9:59Because you have your publishing company where you publish memoirs
- 10:03and anthologies of, of women writing their story and owning their story.
- 10:07Mm-hmm.
- 10:08Um, does that feel like one chapter in itself of you having to own
- 10:12that story like you wrote the book?
- 10:14Did you feel like you owned it after that or was there so much more work
- 10:18that you didn't even realize was needing to be lived or worked through after?
- 10:25Yeah, I think impossible odds.
- 10:27Um, I, while it's considered a memoir, I would consider it more so
- 10:31just an account of what happened.
- 10:33Mm-hmm.
- 10:33Um, and so, um, I think in the like immediate aftermath, uh, you know, it
- 10:40was a very high profile media event.
- 10:42Of course you have Obama involved and you've got SEAL Team six.
- 10:46They're the same, um, seals that, um, you know, killed Osama Bin Laden.
- 10:51Mm-hmm.
- 10:51So, very high profile.
- 10:53Um, and so I don't think I knew which story to tell.
- 10:58Mm-hmm.
- 10:58I didn't know what was my story.
- 11:01I, I was telling the story that I thought everybody wanted to hear.
- 11:06And so I had to work through this like damsel in distress narrative
- 11:11because absolutely I was in distress.
- 11:13But it took me a really long time to understand that there can be
- 11:16more than one hero in a story.
- 11:19And, and you know, the classic like narrative, uh, uh, uh, the Hero's
- 11:24Journey only really teaches us to write one in, but what I think
- 11:29I've been able to do is write.
- 11:30And two and, and three, and four and five, because there are a lot of
- 11:34heroes involved in my story, thank God.
- 11:37Right.
- 11:37Um, because teamwork makes the dream work.
- 11:41And in my, my situation is the ultimate teamwork.
- 11:44I wouldn't be here if it, if that weren't true.
- 11:46Um.
- 11:47I think for me and what I have found and really what this next, this next
- 11:52book is about, which this will be my fifth book because I've written,
- 11:55um, uh, many or been the lead author of several anthologies in between.
- 12:01But, um, what I've really tried to unpack and articulate is that when
- 12:10we experience something really hard.
- 12:14Um, there's often a loss of identity, and then there is, along with that, the
- 12:21loss of purpose or a perceived loss.
- 12:24And so when I came back from the desert.
- 12:28150000% happy to be alive, grateful to be reunited with my family and my husband.
- 12:35I didn't know who I was anymore.
- 12:37Mm-hmm.
- 12:37I didn't know what I could do, what I was qualified to do.
- 12:41Um, you know, my, my particular situation came with a loss of my job.
- 12:46I was no longer able to go and continue doing what I had.
- 12:49So I had, I had worked so hard.
- 12:53To get there.
- 12:54Um, and then it was just, poof, it was gone.
- 12:57I lost my home.
- 12:58Um, we had to relocate back to the us, um, which I, you know, my husband is not from
- 13:03this, the us and so that was difficult.
- 13:05And then all of a sudden, I am, I'm having a baby, which everybody
- 13:08was like, oh, how amazing.
- 13:10And I'm like, I'm not so sure about that.
- 13:13So then you got that secondary loss of identity.
- 13:16Mm-hmm.
- 13:16And then this, you know, and so.
- 13:19I really struggled.
- 13:20I really wondered, I think understanding I was a projector
- 13:24if I had understood that earlier.
- 13:26Might've been very helpful for me.
- 13:28Mm-hmm.
- 13:28Um, but I'm better late than ever.
- 13:30Um, but I think that, um, yes, it's in that space of the now what?
- 13:38That really, really gets people stuck.
- 13:42And what I have attempted to do with this, this offering is I've, uh, I,
- 13:48I've, um, interviewed 20 people who have been through their own crises and
- 13:53I highlight how they have chosen to turn their, um, pain into contribution,
- 13:59their horror into contribution.
- 14:00And some of it's big, some of them have created nonprofits and then
- 14:04some of them have made a career change and decided to become.
- 14:07Massage therapists, you know, so I try really hard to cover the
- 14:11whole spectrum, um, women and men.
- 14:14Um, and I'm, I'm really proud of the people in the book, and I'm
- 14:20proud of being in this space and learning what I've learned so
- 14:23that I can, so I can offer this.
- 14:27And I, I should say you're, you're a one three emotional projector and
- 14:32you're on the cross of rulership.
- 14:33I think one of the things that's interesting about that is that it
- 14:36inherently comes with like power struggles and, um, you know, there's leadership.
- 14:44Innate in that, and I think you have led yourself through all of
- 14:49these stages that you have been in.
- 14:51Mm-hmm.
- 14:51But I When you were explaining like that loss of identity, it is,
- 14:56I, I think that that's something that people take for granted is the
- 14:58fact that like, I can't go back to being Jessica before this happened.
- 15:02Like, I don't even, I don't do, do you just like, not even
- 15:05feel like the same person?
- 15:07Yeah.
- 15:08And I remember when I, I, I write about this, um, I remember exactly
- 15:13when I came to that realization.
- 15:15You know, I tried to go back to teaching, you know, and I was, I was teaching in
- 15:20a, you know, a title one public school.
- 15:22I had a really cool teaching job.
- 15:24I was like teaching outdoor education, like you couldn't have gotten any better.
- 15:29And I was sitting at a stoplight coming back from the grocery
- 15:32store, and I, it just hit me.
- 15:35I can't go back and do what I used to do because I am no longer, I have
- 15:39been changed on a cellular level.
- 15:41Mm-hmm.
- 15:42So the person I was before, some of the things are the same.
- 15:46Like, yes, I still like garlic bread and you know, um, yes, I love the ocean.
- 15:53Those things haven't changed, but.
- 15:55My, my, my stress, um, level and tolerance has changed because of PTSD.
- 16:01Mm-hmm.
- 16:01Um, the, the things that I used to believe were so black and
- 16:05white are now very, very gray.
- 16:08Um, and what I want.
- 16:10Who knows, that's such a moving target all the time.
- 16:13But, um, what I feel like I can give to the world has changed
- 16:18because I'm a mother now.
- 16:19Yes.
- 16:19And because I'm a person who carries around complex PTSD,
- 16:23um, and this experience.
- 16:25And so,
- 16:28uh, you know, there's so much grief.
- 16:32Um, and then there's probably, it's, I think it's is the stages of grief, but
- 16:38right, that new, that newly added stage, um, to the, the acceptance, the denial
- 16:43and the acceptance, um, is, is meaning.
- 16:46And so when you get to a place, what I, what I really hope people
- 16:50understand is this, this, when you're, you're standing there and
- 16:55you're on the rubble of your life.
- 16:58There is, you can still make something beautiful from that.
- 17:02You can still create something, meaningful.
- 17:05Things take the time they need to take.
- 17:08Mm-hmm.
- 17:08And there is no hack, there's no shortcut.
- 17:10Um, but I do believe, um, that you, you can turn your pain
- 17:17into something purposeful.
- 17:18Um, if you want to.
- 17:20You don't have to, but it's an invitation.
- 17:23It's a choice.
- 17:24Yeah, for sure.
- 17:25And I think that, that, like, that identity shift we we're all experiencing
- 17:29identity shifts if you're growing mm-hmm.
- 17:31Um, and you went through something traumatic that probably forced you to
- 17:38grow into this next version of you.
- 17:41You know, we think about the next version as always being like, you know,
- 17:44oh, it's, it's better, it's higher.
- 17:46It's like.
- 17:47Most of us walk through some kind of fire to get to that next version of
- 17:53ourselves, or we find ourselves sitting in this moment saying, I don't know why
- 17:57I'm not connected to everything that I've always been connected to before.
- 18:00There's not always like a, you know, large scale traumatic event like
- 18:05you experienced, but I do think that that is a very human experience
- 18:09to, if you're paying attention.
- 18:11I think some of us are so busy and we compartmentalize and
- 18:16we, we avoid and, and detach.
- 18:19Yeah.
- 18:19So, so we don't feel those things.
- 18:21Like, I'll just stay busy.
- 18:21I'll just keep going.
- 18:22I'll just be, and then, you know, like your husband cheats on you or something
- 18:26happens and you're like, oh wait.
- 18:29Yeah.
- 18:29And then, then you have the identity.
- 18:31So it's sometimes it's the event that forces us to change.
- 18:34Well, isn't it all, I mean, I, I was just talking to my sister about this, like, why
- 18:39do, why does it, why is it always the big stuff that forces us to make these changes
- 18:44that we probably should or wanted to make?
- 18:47But we wait until it's like.
- 18:50Really major and I, and, and maybe that's just me.
- 18:53Like I, I don't move until I'm forced to move.
- 18:57You'd think I'd like start learning that lesson a little bit more quickly,
- 19:01but, um, I, I agree completely.
- 19:04I think it's one of those things, you know, they say like, you know,
- 19:06it starts as a whisper, but it's so easy to ignore a whisper for sure.
- 19:09And then it becomes a knock.
- 19:11Yeah.
- 19:11And then it becomes banging and then eventually it kicks the door down.
- 19:15You know, it's your choice when you answer the call.
- 19:17Yeah.
- 19:17Um, and.
- 19:19You know, some of them will require more courage to make a choice that
- 19:23maybe you don't think, why do we wait?
- 19:26I think it's because sometimes we're so scared of making the wrong decision.
- 19:29Yeah.
- 19:29Or making the change.
- 19:30What if we choose wrong?
- 19:32Right.
- 19:32And I think that's one of the things that people look to human design for.
- 19:36And I think that's one of the things that I, I hope to correct in the
- 19:40thinking, which is that human design doesn't guarantee that nothing will ever
- 19:43be uncomfortable in your life again.
- 19:45Yeah.
- 19:45Um, it, in fact, it's, it's probably going to drive you into discomfort
- 19:50because it's gonna take you away from what you always felt was safe mm-hmm.
- 19:54Or your regular mode of operation, and it's gonna drive you to something else.
- 20:01Now something else might be better.
- 20:02It might not look better right away, or it might cause some things to fall apart.
- 20:07Mm-hmm.
- 20:07Because you changed course.
- 20:08And I think that that's probably why we don't listen to the whispers.
- 20:12Why we don't change sooner is because we're afraid of things falling apart.
- 20:16Don't rock the boat.
- 20:18Yeah.
- 20:18You know the devil.
- 20:19I know.
- 20:20Yep.
- 20:20Absolutely.
- 20:21And I think too, like we're afraid to trust ourselves.
- 20:25Mm-hmm.
- 20:26Right.
- 20:26Because we've been conditioned for generations.
- 20:29To not to listen to the voice of reason or, you know, um, practicalities or,
- 20:36you know, more pragmatic or logical.
- 20:40And sometimes those whispers are not logical or pragmatic at all.
- 20:46Exactly.
- 20:47And so what is human design helped you with?
- 20:51You know, outside of napping, which I'm very happy that you're doing
- 20:54because there, it's not an excuse.
- 20:55I'm gonna go take a nap, I'm gonna go take a nap after this prescribed naps.
- 21:00Um, but, but what else has human design allowed you to do?
- 21:04Has it allowed you to trust yourself?
- 21:06'cause at least from the outside looking in, I know that you and I have kept in
- 21:09touch, but we're, we're not like talking all the time or anything like that.
- 21:12But from the outside looking in, it looks like you are trusting yourself.
- 21:16More.
- 21:17Um, but what, what, how do, how do you, how has it changed
- 21:21you from your perspective, or what has it shifted for you?
- 21:25Yeah.
- 21:25Um, I think like from a really practical perspective, um,
- 21:30professionally, um, I don't.
- 21:33Feel like I have to force things anymore, you know, which
- 21:36has, has been very liberating.
- 21:38Um, and it's been, I've been practicing a lot, so I've, I've lost that,
- 21:43or, you know, it'll resurface every once in a while, but I don't feel
- 21:45like I have to make things happen.
- 21:47Mm-hmm.
- 21:48Um, and so there is this, I think, um, steadier trust within myself and,
- 21:56you know, I'm a person who's like.
- 21:59Rejection is protection and I, I really believe in the universe has got my back.
- 22:04And so, um, when it comes to like clients for, in, for instance, or like,
- 22:09um, prospective authors, you know, I'll have a call with someone, maybe they'll
- 22:16be very interested in working with us.
- 22:19Um.
- 22:20And then for whatever reason, a lot of times it's just about resources.
- 22:24They decide that, you know, or you don't hear from people.
- 22:28And I don't know if you deal with this, but you know, you
- 22:30get time ghosted or whatever.
- 22:31Maybe I'll follow up once.
- 22:33Um, and then I don't hear from people and I'm like, that's okay.
- 22:37Like, you know, I don't need to like chase people down if it's not,
- 22:40it's not my, it's not my issue.
- 22:43Bless and release.
- 22:44Um, and the same thing with clients who can be a little sticky.
- 22:48You know, I can tell like from the very beginning before we even sign a
- 22:51contract if it's gonna be a problem, and I'm like, I just feel much more, um.
- 22:57Secure in saying, I don't think that this is a good fit, and I'm not worried
- 23:02about the loss of income, or, you know, the whatever else could happen.
- 23:06I just trust that.
- 23:07Um, all I have to do is, is show up, put, put our offerings out there, put
- 23:14our work out there, show up, be on podcast interviews, tell my story.
- 23:18And then I really do feel, and I hope, I hope I haven't misinterpreted
- 23:22this, but I really do feel like it's such an easier way for me.
- 23:26To operate it.
- 23:28It should be, yeah, it should be.
- 23:30Particularly for proje, for projectors.
- 23:31What I think, um, so pleasantly surprised me about you and the way that you
- 23:36took to this, because you just really were like, you're like, I'm Manny Jen.
- 23:39I'm like, no, you're not your projector.
- 23:41And you were like, that blows my mind, but okay.
- 23:44And, and you seemed to slip into, like you got rid of the podcast that you were on.
- 23:50Yeah.
- 23:50You cut a bunch of things.
- 23:51Like you were like, this is, it seemed like you took it as
- 23:54permission to cut the fluff.
- 23:56What a hundred percent.
- 23:57I was doing all kinds of things that I didn't wanna be doing.
- 23:59'cause I felt like I had to be forcing things.
- 24:03People ask me all the time, in fact, somebody I have to write
- 24:05back on Instagram wrote me.
- 24:06She was like, well how do I quit my corporate job and work three
- 24:09to four hours a week without like, lose, like losing all of my income?
- 24:13Mm-hmm.
- 24:13And it isn't about.
- 24:15The three to four hours, uh, sorry, not three to four hours per week.
- 24:18Three to four hours a day.
- 24:19Mm-hmm.
- 24:20It isn't about, I was like, yeah, how do you do that?
- 24:23How do I not work at all?
- 24:24Yeah.
- 24:25Um, no, but like the, the three to four hours a day, it's, it, it isn't
- 24:29so much about like clocking that.
- 24:31It's about looking at your life and saying what isn't necessary that I
- 24:35have made feel like I have to do.
- 24:38Mm-hmm.
- 24:38But that's really because of somebody else's model.
- 24:40Not because I really feel like this is.
- 24:43What I'm supposed to be doing.
- 24:45Yeah.
- 24:45And you did that without really much prompting.
- 24:48Mm-hmm.
- 24:49You were like, yes, I got rid of the podcast.
- 24:51I remember you sent me a voicemail.
- 24:52You, you were like, I just wanted you to know, this is amazing.
- 24:55So I just got rid of this.
- 24:56I got rid of this.
- 24:57I'm only doing this, I'm just doing the publishing.
- 24:59Like I'm just.
- 25:00Doing the books.
- 25:01That's what I want to be.
- 25:02And to me that was like, that's what you wanted to be recognized for.
- 25:05Like this is who I am.
- 25:07And that's the most important thing for a projector is like,
- 25:10who do I want people to see me as?
- 25:12Mm-hmm.
- 25:12And then if I'm just that thing, that projection gets super strong.
- 25:18Mm-hmm.
- 25:18Mm-hmm.
- 25:19And you know, you're like, I'm a survivor.
- 25:21This is my story and I can help you tell your story.
- 25:25And it's like, that gets to be like a super strong tractor beam.
- 25:28Right.
- 25:29When you're scattered and fragmented, that diminishes and
- 25:33you work harder to get everything.
- 25:36Yes.
- 25:36Did you find that people, more of the right people were finding you when?
- 25:40Oh, a hundred percent.
- 25:41I mean, I think too, like after, after all of that.
- 25:46I did just start showing up and telling my story, particularly on, um, social
- 25:51media, Instagram, and everything just blew up like it was, you know, and my
- 25:57ordeal happened really before Instagram.
- 26:00But um, you know, and then it was so cool because all I had to do was just show up,
- 26:06tell my story, or if I had a thought on my mind or an anecdote or whatever, and
- 26:11then all these women started finding me.
- 26:14You know, and one of, you know, one of our offerings is we do these, we work
- 26:18with a cohort of women once a year, um, and, and we walk them through the memoir
- 26:22writing process as a group and, and we pick a theme and everybody writes, and,
- 26:27you know, so it's a really cool offering, but like, how do you reach 20 women at a
- 26:32time for, you know, to fill these spots?
- 26:34And, and it was just like all you said was like, you just have to keep
- 26:37showing up as your authentic self.
- 26:40Now the problem is if you don't know who your authentic self is.
- 26:43And, and that, that's a lot of hard work.
- 26:46That's a lot of digging deep.
- 26:47Um, and I think I had done a lot of that work and I was primed and ready to just
- 26:53show up because I finally knew who I was.
- 26:55I knew what I wanted to say.
- 26:58Um, and, and it, and it, like you said, like.
- 27:02It's growth, it's, it's evolving and so it's always changing.
- 27:05And so who I was, you know, two years ago, I'm different.
- 27:09And now I, you know, I'm, I'm starting to dream about other things.
- 27:12Mm-hmm.
- 27:13And, and I'm, it's super exciting.
- 27:14Instead of like, overwhelming and making me afraid and exhausted, I'm like,
- 27:19oh, I can show up as that, you know.
- 27:23Yeah.
- 27:24And, and you know, from your lips to God's ears or to every listener's
- 27:28ears that you know what you said about, you had done the work, you
- 27:32knew who you were, you had you, you'd done, you had to, you were forced to.
- 27:38We've, we've covered this.
- 27:39You had to do that work.
- 27:41So what that created for you was like, when human design comes in and
- 27:46tells you, you just have to show up as who you are and be the lighthouse.
- 27:50Yes.
- 27:51Go step into the spotlight, own it, and claim your space.
- 27:55Right?
- 27:55You were like, oh, I can do that.
- 27:57I know who I am.
- 27:58I know what space I wanna claim.
- 28:00I'm gonna get rid of everything else.
- 28:01So, you know, I, I think that some people expect human design to be
- 28:05this magic, like silver bullet.
- 28:06And it can be when you've done a lot of other work for me, I had
- 28:11done a lot of work, so human design kind of clicked things into place.
- 28:16Yeah.
- 28:16I didn't do it as, I hadn't done as much work as you did
- 28:19at the time that I found it.
- 28:20I was still sort of finding a lot of that, but it allowed me to find it.
- 28:24But a lot of people won't go through that work, or they're disappointed
- 28:28when it doesn't happen instantly.
- 28:30Yeah, and really the, the differentiating, the, the, the big
- 28:35differentiating factor right there is.
- 28:38The work, right.
- 28:39Have you done it already and you're coming in at, you know, one of the last chapters
- 28:43of the book and we're just closing it out and shifting you into like the third act?
- 28:47Mm-hmm.
- 28:48Or are you coming in questioning a lot and you have some soul searching to do
- 28:53before you can ground into these things and human design can help you do that, but
- 28:57it still might take you some time to Yeah.
- 29:01Find that alignment.
- 29:02So like, I'm curious like how often, like.
- 29:06How often do people come to you that are in that state that they
- 29:09still need to do some of the work?
- 29:12Oh, often.
- 29:13Yeah.
- 29:13Very often.
- 29:15Yeah, because they're, they're, they're questioning a lot.
- 29:17It depends on the stage that they, they are at.
- 29:19But I get a lot of people who are, things haven't worked and things
- 29:23have been really hard and they've struggled and they're looking for human
- 29:27design to be kind of that framework that helps them get their footing.
- 29:30And I tell them, I'm like, if you do the work, I promise you that it.
- 29:34It, it can provide that for you.
- 29:36Yeah.
- 29:36But.
- 29:37If you haven't done, if you're not willing to do the work, then
- 29:41I don't wanna take your money.
- 29:43Uh, right.
- 29:44Because it's required.
- 29:45This isn't gonna work because it's required.
- 29:46It's sort of like, I wanna write a book.
- 29:48And it's like, well, will you write?
- 29:49Yes.
- 29:50You know, it's, it's, it's a path that you walk.
- 29:52Exactly.
- 29:53You know?
- 29:54Yeah.
- 29:54Um, and so I tell everybody.
- 29:58Um, where can they find out more about this new book that you have coming out?
- 30:03It comes out in October, right?
- 30:05Is it October 27th?
- 30:06Is that the date?
- 30:06Yep.
- 30:07Absolutely.
- 30:07So October 27th.
- 30:09And then you also have ways, if someone listening is a, an
- 30:13aspiring writer and they're looking to be published, you also help.
- 30:17Women get published and published, absolutely.
- 30:19Publish books.
- 30:20So tell tell them about those, those two ways and, uh, of, of connecting with you.
- 30:24Sure.
- 30:24So, um, you can always find out more about my story and what
- 30:28I'm up to@jessbuchananuh.com and then, uh, soul Speak Press.
- 30:34Dot com is our, uh, website for, um, publishing company.
- 30:38We're a non-traditional publishing company for women who've been through something.
- 30:41Now they know something and they wanna teach us something.
- 30:44Um, and so follow us, so Speak Press or Jessica Buchanan on Instagram.
- 30:49We're always, we've always got something going on.
- 30:52Now.
- 30:52We've got a riding retreat next year in Italy.
- 30:55Like, I mean, there's just constantly stuff that we're
- 30:57putting out, so it's super fun.
- 30:59Um, and I, I don't think I'd be here if it weren't for you.
- 31:03So, thanks, Nicole.
- 31:05Thank you.
- 31:06I, I, I don't know if I deserve that much credit, but I, I really
- 31:09do wanna give, I please receive it.
- 31:11It really has made such a huge difference in my life.
- 31:14That means more to me than, than, uh, than I could even say.
- 31:18Mm-hmm.
- 31:19Um, and once again, the, the name of her upcoming book is How to Survive
- 31:23Survival, A Guide to Turning Life's Hardest Moments Into Meaningful
- 31:26Contribution for the World.
- 31:28We will link everything up in the show notes for you so that
- 31:31you can get the details on that.
- 31:32You can order this book, pre-order it please and um, and then stay
- 31:36in touch with Jess on Instagram.
- 31:38She has a wonderful feed over there where you can see.
- 31:41Her brand really in action.
- 31:43Jesse Buchanan, um, on Instagram.
- 31:46Thank you so much for being here.
- 31:48Absolutely.
- 31:48Thank you for the invitation and allowing just to show up.
- 31:51I appreciate you and remember, in order to have an unshakeable business, you
- 31:55must first become an unshakeable human.
- 31:57So thanks for letting us help you become unshakeable with human design.
- 32:01We'll see you next time.