Latest / Buying Local Podcast / Support Without Shame with Joyful Support Movement | Buying Local S3E53

Transcript

Support Without Shame with Joyful Support Movement | Buying Local S3E53 · Buying Local Podcast

0:00
All right, welcome everyone to Buying Local.
0:02
I'm your host, Mike Nelson from 5 Towers Media, joined today by
0:06
Sarah Kelly from the Joyful Support Movement.
0:09
And we're going to be talking about all things about who she
0:13
is and what the Joyful Support Movement is.
0:15
And yeah, so Sarah, kick us off. Who?
0:18
Who are you? Sarah?
0:19
What? Tell us a little bit about
0:20
yourself. Well, I I like to push back and
0:24
do sort of non traditional like who am I?
0:28
You know how people always start off with I'm a this, I'm a that,
0:31
I do this. I like to throw out things like
0:34
I will. I live in upstate New York, but
0:36
I'm originally from the Midwest. But I also lived on a boat for 2
0:40
1/2 years, which meant I lived all over.
0:42
And let's see, I would rather spend more time outside than
0:47
inside. But my work revolves around
0:50
helping people manage their inside spaces, so I like being a
0:55
set of contradictions, which is kind of fun.
0:57
I say I'm equal parts practical and whimsy, so I like to be
1:03
practical and efficient, but I also want to inject fun and
1:07
levity in just about everything I do.
1:11
I have to ask about living on the boat.
1:13
Was that child, was that recently?
1:16
Like when, At what point you're like did you live on a boat for
1:18
over 2 years? Yeah, so when I was in my 20s, I
1:21
had my first job out of college and it was a low paying entry
1:26
level job, but I had health insurance and I had, you know,
1:29
my first car loan. I was paying off my college.
1:31
And I just was looking at all these people around me who kept
1:34
saying when I retire, I'm going to travel.
1:37
And I kept thinking, well, what if you don't make it to
1:39
retirement for some reason? Or what if you retire and you're
1:42
not healthy enough to travel? And I just, all I did with my
1:46
time off was travel. So I learned about a friend of a
1:50
friend who worked on a cruise ship and I just thought if I
1:54
don't do this now, I don't I'm going to want to just travel for
1:57
the rest of my life. So I left my job that I had and
2:01
I sold everything except for my car.
2:05
And then I got a job on a cruise ship.
2:07
It was a domestically flagged cruise ship.
2:10
So we were on the East Coast and the West Coast and we did
2:14
Central America and Canada and yeah.
2:19
And then I just, there were two different ships that I bounced
2:21
around and then, and then I took a personal cruise on their
2:25
foreign ships and I lived, I was in South America for a month.
2:30
Yeah. And so after 2 1/2 years, my
2:31
travel itch was fully scratched. And then I was like, I'm good.
2:36
I'm I'm good. When you're on the crew, like I
2:43
don't know how this works so I'm just curious, but like when
2:45
you're working on a cruise ship, like do you basically work all
2:48
the time or is it like you work 8 hour shifts and then you're
2:51
off? Well I mean I would start off by
2:53
saying every company is different in how they set it up.
2:57
For the company I worked for you were you can officially say
3:01
you're on call 24/7. I mean, if it is all hands, like
3:05
it doesn't matter if you're supposed to be sleeping, nothing
3:07
matters. You get up and out.
3:10
They would give us one day off every two weeks.
3:16
And so you had that to look forward to, but you wouldn't
3:18
always get that. And then we had breaks off
3:22
depending on what your work schedule, like what your job
3:25
requirements were, you would have breaks in the day to maybe
3:29
get off. So if you were in port, you
3:30
could get off for two hours and I would go for a run and go to
3:33
the coffee shop. So I got to, I got to see a lot.
3:37
But yeah, it's not a nine to five.
3:39
You have to. It's like like if you're working
3:44
in the kitchen, let's just say as an example, I don't know what
3:47
you did on the ship, but like if you're, if you're one of the
3:49
kitchen crew, like you're just in the kitchen all day, every
3:52
day, kind of all the time is that.
3:55
Yes. So yes, galley staff in the
3:58
kitchen, in the galley. I started out as a server, which
4:02
meant I, well, I was a stewardess, so I served food and
4:05
I did housekeeping. So we'd bounce between the two
4:08
and then I would come back on and I worked as a deckhand for a
4:12
while. So you're all over the, you're
4:13
in every part of the ship for that.
4:16
And then I also did work in the gallery.
4:18
I did scullery, I washed dishes, yes, and that was always in the
4:24
washing area. So yeah, it just depends on what
4:27
your job requirements were and where you were.
4:31
Well, thank you for letting me go down that little rabbit trail
4:34
there. I just always, so you said it, I
4:36
was like, oh, I'm, I'm just curious of what that life looks
4:38
like for people. But but that's not what we're
4:41
here to talk about. We're here to talk about joyful
4:43
support movement. So why don't we just kind of
4:47
start off by giving an overview as to what it is and what you
4:51
guys are doing? Yeah.
4:52
So at its core, joyful support is 3 steps.
4:56
And these three steps are a tool to use to manage getting through
5:01
life, to make life more approachable, easier to just to
5:06
just help yourself through the day.
5:07
And at its core, the three steps are acknowledging your story,
5:11
what's going on in your life, and then what's a joy that's
5:15
going on? It can't, it can be completely
5:18
unrelated to your story. They don't have to be connected.
5:21
And then finding a step that you can take.
5:23
And again, these three, these doesn't have to be connected,
5:26
but taking a step, whether it's physically taking a step and
5:30
just going for a walk or deciding on a step you're going
5:33
to take to help with your situation.
5:36
And these are three steps that you can do by yourself or with
5:39
others. But what my partner and I did
5:41
was we created the three steps and then we created a whole
5:44
virtual platform to help bring these steps to life.
5:49
So we have three podcasts, each podcast focus on each step.
5:55
And then we have courses that help with different aspects of
5:59
the step. And they're just, they're tools
6:01
that you can use if you need, if you need a little bit more
6:04
guidance or support. And then we have an online
6:07
village where you can come and the tagline is just show up and
6:13
give what you can and take what you need.
6:15
So if you're in a position to give support, and this doesn't
6:19
mean financial support, it doesn't mean saying you'll show
6:22
up and help clean your neighbor's house.
6:23
It just means if you can show up and hear somebody's story and
6:26
just say, I see you. I see you, like validate other
6:30
people's experiences, it just kind of brings that connection
6:34
and humanity back. I think we used to get a lot of
6:38
this. Some people get it with their
6:40
families, which is great, but some people don't get this with
6:42
their families. They don't have any place to
6:44
turn and ask, hey, how often should I be washing my sheets?
6:47
Some people don't know that, right?
6:49
So what it? So we created the safe space
6:51
where you can come and ask questions or if you're feeling
6:55
overwhelmed, you can come and show up and talk about that.
6:58
And there's no judgment and there's no shame.
7:01
It's it's just that supportive space that we all deserve but we
7:06
don't all have in our life. Now I know I kind of have the
7:10
benefit of some of our other conversations that give me, you
7:14
know, kind of the inside baseball, so to speak on on on
7:18
JSM. But what for people that are are
7:23
hearing you talk about it? You know, it sounds a little one
7:27
part life hack, one part like emotional support.
7:33
Can you, can you kind of give me an idea or give our listeners an
7:35
idea as far as who are the types of folks or the kinds of people
7:40
that might get some benefit out of it or you know, what might be
7:44
some indicators for someone listening that they might get
7:48
some value out of what you guys are offering?
7:51
Yes. Well, at its core, everyone
7:54
deserves support, but everyone is a very broad net, right?
7:57
So we like to think my business partner and I, we are, we do
8:02
both happen to be busy working moms and my business partner
8:05
also has a chronic illness, so she's had to adapt to some new
8:09
life experiences. So off the bat, her and I
8:13
immediately connect with women who maybe have a lot on their
8:18
plate and they either feel ashamed that they can't handle
8:24
it all. And I'm here to tell you, you
8:26
don't have to handle it all. It's way too much.
8:29
It's just way too much. But people who feel like there's
8:33
so much to do, I don't know where to turn.
8:35
I feel overwhelmed. You know, I want to do things
8:39
differently, but I don't even know how to start.
8:42
Like, where do the person who's asking where do I show up and
8:48
show that I'm vulnerable and show that I need help and know
8:53
that I will be embraced in a safe space.
8:56
So if somebody hears that description and they immediately
9:01
crumple into tears, 'cause they're like, yes, that's what
9:04
I'm missing. Then those are our, that's our
9:07
audience. That that would be the person
9:09
who would get the most out of our community.
9:12
OK, So, you know, with those people in mind, let's kind of
9:16
start with the village and then we'll talk about the courses and
9:20
then we'll kind of lead into the podcasts.
9:23
So when we talk about the village specifically, how does
9:26
the village help support those folks?
9:29
Those women that you're talking about, They're overwhelmed.
9:31
They're looking for answers, looking for help, or maybe just
9:34
looking for, you know, someone to talk to you.
9:36
That is low risk, right? Someone that's not going to bite
9:42
back at them. Or you know what?
9:44
How does the village? How does it do what it does?
9:48
Yes. So when I first envisioned the
9:49
village, I was, I was coming off of a place of when you show up
9:54
in social media. And I mean nothing wrong with
9:58
social media. It's just I sometimes when you
10:00
show up and you share whatever's going on, whether it's positive
10:04
news or frustrating news, sometimes you get people who are
10:08
having a bad day or maybe a bad decade, I don't know.
10:12
But sometimes they show up and, you know, people lovingly call
10:16
them the trolls. And that's fine.
10:18
We all have bad days, I get it. But it's a real bummer when you
10:23
show up and ask a genuine question or share some genuine
10:26
good news and somebody shows up and decides to just, you know,
10:30
pee in your Cheerios. You know, it's so when I first
10:33
pictured the village, I pictured, imagine if you could
10:36
show up and meet amazing like minded people, but you put up
10:40
this little safety wall that the trolls aren't going to climb
10:44
over. And if they do, we have these
10:46
safe rules in place, which is basically like be kind, like be
10:51
cool man. It's OK to have a bad day, but
10:53
just don't spew it on the other people here, right?
10:57
So there's some safety guidelines.
10:59
So when the village came together, that was our vision
11:04
that you can have that safe space and show up.
11:07
And I love to use the example of I went on, I went on, gosh, I
11:11
don't know if I should say the name of which app it was, but I
11:13
went on an app and I posted, hey, I keep trying to use my
11:17
rice cooker, but it keeps overflowing and getting a mess
11:20
on to the countertop. You know, I used to do it in a
11:24
pot, but I got the rice cooker because I thought it would be
11:26
cleaner. What am I doing wrong?
11:28
I got a lot of great answers. And I learned so much about
11:31
cooking rice that I didn't know. I didn't know.
11:34
But I always remember this one person came on and said, Oh my
11:37
gosh, I can't believe you're allowed to be an adult.
11:40
How have you not burned your kitchen down by now?
11:43
And I was like, man, I just didn't need that today, right?
11:48
And like, this is where we talk about with joyful support, the
11:51
joy ripple. Like that person's ripple kind
11:55
of caught me on a bad day. And then I take that negativity
11:59
and I turn around to my family and I have this like, somebody
12:02
totally slammed me for making a mess when I cook rice, you know?
12:06
So it's, it's that kind of stuff where like, what if you can show
12:10
up and ask these questions and know that you're not going to
12:12
get any guff from anybody. So that's the primary point of
12:17
the village is to have that safe space to show up.
12:20
No shame, no judgement. And then it also serves as a
12:24
platform, the three steps that I mentioned that you can show up
12:29
and share your three steps. Sometimes people just want to be
12:33
heard. Sometimes we just want somebody
12:36
to see and validate our experience.
12:39
So when you come in the village, you have the option of sharing
12:42
your steps. And I do it all the time.
12:46
And it feels so good somehow just going out there and saying
12:51
this is my story, this is what's happening, this is my joy, this
12:54
is my step. It helps it so it doesn't get
12:58
stuck inside of me and I can just put it out there and I know
13:02
that the people reading it are seeing me and what I'm going
13:06
through. So it serves for that.
13:08
And then it also serves as where our courses live.
13:12
So if somebody wanted to do one of our courses and they had
13:15
questions or they just wanted to go through it with a cohort, we
13:19
can do a guided cohort for the courses together.
13:22
And. Well, first of all, I just want
13:26
to say absolutely on the social media stuff, it's terrible.
13:29
Like people are asking legit, like this is what you said,
13:32
right? I, I see it so often where
13:35
someone's just asking a legit question.
13:37
They they're looking for an answer and they're looking for
13:39
people that maybe have life experience and that can give
13:42
them an actual answer on it. And there's always people.
13:45
It's just a dogpile, right? They just start and then once
13:48
one person does it, then another person's doing it or they start
13:52
a mini argument inside of the comments.
13:55
You know, you watch that happen where it's just two or three
13:57
people going back and and it's like, Oh my God, I just had the
14:00
question about a rice cook, right?
14:02
A wild thing. I know.
14:04
I've actually had to recently take myself off of most social
14:07
media channels. I'm only on one right now and I
14:09
think I'm about to get off of that one for a while because
14:11
it's just every single thing I read is just negative toxic.
14:15
It's not constructive, it's not helpful, It's not what I'm there
14:17
for. And then you get sucked into it
14:19
too. I find myself doing it where all
14:20
of a sudden I'm like chiming in on a post or I like start to and
14:23
I'm like, what am I doing back out of the post?
14:26
Like, I don't, I don't need to get involved in this
14:27
conversation, but it's supposed to suck you in, you know, it's.
14:31
Pretty. And that's and that to your
14:33
point, that's what happened was it was I wanted to connect with
14:36
people. I enjoyed these social media
14:38
apps, but I realized more and more I was walking away feeling
14:41
crappier than when I got on. And I was like, I don't have
14:44
time for this. I do not have space in my life
14:47
to give any of my emotional energy to feeling bad.
14:52
And so again, it's it's when I go into this village, think of
14:56
this virtual village that's always in your pocket.
14:59
It's with you 24/7. And I know when I log in, it's
15:03
that positive feedback loop. I know that the people inside of
15:08
there are going to be kind of me and I'm going to be kind of
15:10
them. And it just, I can feel relaxed
15:14
when I go in there. And so honestly, I created what
15:17
I wanted and then we're just hoping to share it with other
15:20
people. That's how it all happens,
15:22
right? That's you.
15:23
You were looking for something and it wasn't out there and so
15:26
you created that's market opportunity, right?
15:28
Yes. Amazing.
15:30
So you mentioned the courses before and I didn't want to
15:33
deviate from that 'cause I was like a perfect segue into
15:35
talking about the courses. What, what are the like?
15:38
What types of courses are we talking about?
15:41
Well, I'm going to back up to our my origin story a little
15:44
bit, which is my background is in home management, which is
15:47
helping people figure out ways to manage their homes easier so
15:51
you have more time for the things you want to do.
15:53
So for instance, if you haven't figured out a laundry system
15:57
that works for you, like let's look at it and let's create a
16:00
unique solution. So I was working with clients
16:03
one-on-one and I realized I was saying a lot of the thing, the
16:06
same things over and over. And I, I feel I'm sort of a
16:10
natural teacher at heart. So I just had this natural like,
16:14
oh, I can take a lot of these similar principles and put them
16:17
into an online course. And that way there's no price
16:20
barrier if somebody can't work with me or they can access it at
16:23
their own time. And so my first step was 10
16:27
steps to meal planning freedom, which is all about if you're, if
16:32
you're cooking for yourself or for a whole group of people and
16:37
you are banging your head against the wall every day
16:40
going, what am I making today? And you just it's draining your
16:44
cup all the time. This is this like really short
16:48
system to create a plan that will be easier for you in the
16:52
long run. So that was my first course and
16:54
then I went to put it together and visual, visual stuff on the
17:00
computer. It, it's just not my strong
17:03
suit. And so that was when I was
17:06
connected with my business partner Laci at the time.
17:08
And that is what she went to college.
17:10
One of her master's degree is in, I don't know, I always
17:14
forget what it's called, but it's visual information.
17:18
And she helped me put, she helped me put that first course
17:21
together. And then my next course was all
17:24
about home management principles.
17:26
If nobody's ever taught you, which is fine, like we're all
17:30
taught to drive a car, you have to take a test, right?
17:34
But nobody teaches us how to manage a home, right?
17:37
So where are you going to learn? A lot of these magazines have
17:41
these really high standards that you're like, I don't have time
17:44
for that Martha Stewart, No shame if you're Martha Stewart
17:48
or that's what you do. But we don't all have that kind
17:50
of bandwidth. So my next course was, how do
17:53
you manage your home? And I created these basic
17:56
principles and you take what works.
17:59
It's not telling you that you have to do it a certain way.
18:01
It's just this is what I end up telling my clients.
18:04
And then and then Laci helped me create that one.
18:08
And then she got so excited about that course that she was
18:10
like, OK, we have to do something more together.
18:13
So we have a couple home management courses.
18:16
The meal planning course is actually a free one that you can
18:20
get access to. And then I have a whole dream
18:23
list of more courses to do. But I'm I'm sitting on my hands
18:27
because we've we've got to do some other things before I just
18:31
go off on creating more and more courses.
18:34
Yeah, it's interesting when you talk about home management,
18:39
because to be fair, I hadn't even considered that a thing,
18:44
right. And I and I, and I say that
18:46
because like, you know, we, I, you know, I've grown up, right?
18:52
We had home EC in school, right? Like, like I'm that old, OK, So
18:56
like when we but it was like just a kind of glance at some of
18:59
the stuff that you're talking about.
19:00
And I think that we, I think people don't realize that there
19:05
is just like running a business or doing anything that if you
19:08
can develop systems and you can develop a process for how you're
19:11
doing it, it makes it super efficient and can make it easier
19:15
and not so soul sucking to have to do all the stuff that you
19:21
have to do for your house every day, right on top of everything
19:24
else. Your home is where you go to
19:30
restore yourself, to rest, to eat, to get clean clothes, to
19:35
relax. But if you come into your home
19:39
and you are frustrated about all of those things, then you're not
19:44
restoring yourself. And so by and we always say we
19:49
do not care how your home looks, we care how your home feels.
19:52
So if you can come in and you can make food efficiently, if
19:55
you can get your clean clothes, if you can relax the way you
19:58
want to relax or host events or just grab your hiking gear to go
20:03
out on a hike. If you can do all of that
20:05
easier, then you have more in your own personal cup to then
20:10
show up in the world as your best self, right.
20:13
So yeah, the whole home management thing.
20:16
I'm really excited because I think my generation, it was
20:20
still very much on the female shoulders.
20:23
Like if you brought up anything that had to do with vacuuming or
20:27
laundry or cooking, there was such a female connotation with
20:31
that. But we're really getting to a
20:33
gender neutral stage with that. I mean, come on.
20:35
Like, we all need to know how to do this stuff.
20:39
Yeah. There is no gender involved in
20:41
washing a dish. There just isn't.
20:43
So I'm really excited to start talking about all this stuff in
20:48
a very, like, neutral way that applies to everyone.
20:52
And my other course is home management for kids.
20:55
How do you teach your kids this stuff in a way that doesn't
20:59
leave you guys screaming at one another or somebody crying?
21:03
How do you teach your kids to move out one day into a dorm or
21:08
an apartment or a house or a ship, possibly a ship?
21:12
How do you teach them to know how to do this stuff easily?
21:16
And so I created a course that addresses that.
21:20
And I'm super excited cause so many parents just end up in
21:22
fights with their kids. And they say either I'm just
21:25
going to do it. So then your kid learns nothing
21:27
or you just keep yelling at your kid for not doing it right.
21:30
When in reality, it's that they haven't been able to receive the
21:34
information in a way that makes sense to them.
21:37
So it's it's like a puzzle or a Riddle, and I love figuring that
21:41
out. Yeah, well, and I think, I
21:46
believe anyway, that I, I read somewhere probably like Doctor
21:50
Spock's parenting or something along those lines, you know, but
21:54
where it was talking about giving kids structure, which
21:56
essentially that's what a process or a system is, right?
21:58
That's a set of rules on how to do something, a structure that's
22:01
in place that essentially makes it as efficient as possible,
22:05
right. And it's, it's funny, 'cause as
22:07
you're talking about it, I'm thinking about my youngest,
22:10
although all my kids are slobs, but my youngest who is 5.
22:15
And I'm trying to work with him on like, you know, cleaning up
22:18
your room and not making a mess every single time you eat and
22:21
all these different things. And I hadn't really thought
22:24
about the fact that if I put some sort of structure in place
22:27
around those things to help him understand like a system of some
22:32
sort, not that it's going to be perfect or right, but be better
22:35
than the chaos it is right now. It's fascinating.
22:38
I think I'm going to have to do that.
22:39
Course, Sarah, that's. Absolutely.
22:42
I I absolutely love the course. We've gotten so much positive
22:45
feedback. And I know for myself, I would
22:49
have benefited from it a lot. And so it's so it's great to be
22:53
able to, like I said before, the village, like I'm creating what
22:56
I wish existed when I got married and started running my
22:59
own home. Like these are the things I wish
23:01
I knew. So yeah, it's really, it feels
23:04
really good to be able to provide something that is useful
23:07
and beneficial to other people. Why?
23:10
And I know that I you've told me this, but tell me again why it's
23:13
called the Village? Because we're all promised a
23:17
village. And again, this is kind of aging
23:19
me too, with that. It takes a village.
23:23
Yeah, it sure does. But where is it?
23:26
We're all sort of promised this, this village and just the way
23:31
our society is now, people move around more.
23:34
We're not necessarily living next to our family of origin.
23:37
We're way more mobile. And it's just that like, well,
23:40
where's your village? And it's just like, hey, here's
23:43
this virtual village where you can ask whatever you need to
23:47
ask, see, be seen, be validated. And so that's, yeah.
23:51
So it's so funny. I'm like, wow, we never even
23:53
really had a discussion. It was just always the village.
23:56
And I guess that would be the reason.
23:59
Yeah, You know, it's interesting.
24:01
We're more connected than we've ever been.
24:03
The population is as high as it's ever been.
24:06
But like, most people I talked to are looking for community,
24:11
like they're looking for a place to connect with.
24:15
It's the wildest thing. We're so heavily connected, but
24:17
at the same time, everyone is feeling so disconnected.
24:20
And I, I think about a couple of my friends specifically that,
24:23
you know, in a conversation a couple years ago where it was
24:27
like, you know, we're just trying to find our community.
24:29
And it's like we're trying to find the people that are into
24:31
the same things that we can have conversations with.
24:34
You know, we like the same kind of stuff.
24:35
And it's, it's such a wild thing that there's more people,
24:38
there's more ways to be connected, but we're so much
24:41
more disconnected than we ever been.
24:42
It's it's pretty wild. Well, yeah.
24:44
And that's, it's almost there. There's too many options, right?
24:48
Like, I remember when I was young, there were two brands of
24:50
ketchup. There was a store brand and then
24:52
there was, you know, Heinz and then now it's there's 30 brands
24:56
of ketchup just in your local grocery store and it's almost
24:59
paralysis by, you know, there's too many.
25:02
And so I think to your point, I think connecting you had school,
25:07
you had church, you had your job, you know, right, there were
25:10
like very few things and you could, there were very few
25:14
activity. It felt like there weren't as
25:16
many options. And now it's almost like
25:18
diffuse, right? There's like so many choices.
25:23
But yes, that is, again, we're trying to provide that safe
25:25
space, especially for women who may not have time to go
25:30
someplace and show up in person. Although I am going to have an
25:33
in person event in January, which I'm very excited about.
25:36
But yeah, if you if you wanted that connection to be a little
25:40
honest and vulnerable, it's it is a safe place to show up and
25:43
do that. Tell me a little bit about the
25:48
in person thing that you've got coming up.
25:50
Is that is that in the books official?
25:52
Well, the more I talk about it, the more it is I have a place, I
25:59
have a framework, yes. So again, going back to the
26:02
three steps of joyful support, it's creating a safe place where
26:08
we can meet in person and show up and do the three steps
26:12
together. And if you want to show up and
26:15
just listen, but just be around like minded people or if you
26:19
want to share, But it's just that safe place.
26:22
And I liken it to a a for a very specific reason, which is 6
26:28
years ago, I lost my mom suddenly and not proud, but I
26:33
was abusing alcohol at the time. It was, it was really tough.
26:37
And I kept thinking like, I don't know, like, do I have a
26:41
drinking problem? Am I an alcoholic?
26:43
What do I do? Where do I go?
26:44
Who do I talk to? And so I kept researching a, a
26:47
meetings and I just had this thought of like, wouldn't it
26:50
just be so nice to know I could show up at this place as a
26:55
stranger and I could just show up and I could just share what's
26:58
going on And like the culture of the environment is that they're
27:01
going to listen to me and just hear me and not judge me.
27:05
And I just thought, Oh my gosh, that's so beautiful.
27:08
And I, I did get to a point where I realized it, you know,
27:11
I'm not an alcoholic. It was, it was something I was
27:15
able to get under control. But I, I liken it to that.
27:20
It is this room. You can show up and you can say
27:24
whatever's going on and you're not going to be judged and
27:27
you're going to be heard and you're just going to be seen and
27:30
validated. And it's going to have just like
27:33
an, A, a meeting, it's going to have those safe rules of sharing
27:37
of, you know, not giving unsolicited advice, you know,
27:40
keeping it safe within the room. So I just for me, again, going
27:45
back to what would feel good to me is if I could show up once a
27:48
week and just know that I can sit still and just commune with
27:52
other people and just listen. That's that's what the in person
27:57
events going to be. And then we also have online
28:01
ones where we can do it over Zoom for people who either can't
28:03
leave their house or, you know, don't live, don't live nearby to
28:07
others to do this. So the in person event will be
28:10
in January. I will be having more
28:13
information where people can sign up and get the details and
28:18
be held accountable for showing up.
28:21
So yeah, there will be more, more details coming in December.
28:27
Yes, December. December.
28:29
OK, perfect. Well, stay tuned everyone.
28:32
Yes. So before we, I know we're gonna
28:37
talk about the podcast, but before we leave the courses and
28:39
then we kind of jumped around a little bit there.
28:44
You've got the home management course, the home management for
28:47
kids, just those two courses or did I miss another one or there
28:51
more? There are more and it's I've
28:57
been we've been creating so much that I'm actually trying to
29:01
remember what all is on the website right now.
29:06
The ones that I've dreamed of making, the ones that I are
29:08
actually out there and published.
29:11
I'm, I'm, I'm going to just own that.
29:14
I don't know how many courses are in the village right now.
29:17
That's. OK, I but it's not just those
29:19
two, I guess that is. The no SO and the reason I'm
29:22
hesitating is because some of them are free if you sign up to
29:26
be a friend of the village which it doesn't cost anything.
29:30
We have free courses available. One is joy mapping, which has to
29:35
do with if, if you're not sure that you're having any joy in
29:39
your life, it walks you through how do you find these little
29:43
moments of joy? And remember, joy isn't big.
29:45
It's not winning the lottery or going to Disneyland.
29:48
Joy is little like touching a tree or petting a dog or having
29:53
a cup of tea. So there's a worksheet that
29:55
helps you do that. And that's, that's a free one.
29:59
Yes. And then the two home management
30:01
ones and the meal planning one, which the meal planning one is
30:05
free if you sign up to be a friend.
30:07
OK, OK, so let's talk about your podcast.
30:11
Yes. Which is, and obviously we're on
30:14
a podcast. I know we've talked about it.
30:16
You love podcasting. I I love talking, talking to
30:20
people and learning about who they are and what they're doing.
30:22
And so tell us about you have three podcasts.
30:25
They line up with each one of the steps.
30:28
Yes. So tell us, what's the the first
30:32
step again is. The first step is sharing your
30:35
story. So when I met Lacey, she already
30:37
had a podcast called Sharing the Middle.
30:40
So when we met, she she developed a chronic illness in
30:46
later in life. And so she all of a sudden she
30:48
was in this situation that was brand new to her.
30:51
And she, one of the steps she did for herself to process it
30:55
was to talk with other people who are in the middle of
30:58
uncomfortable situations and how do people feel about being in
31:03
the middle of something? And so she already had her
31:06
podcast. And then I'd always dreamed of
31:07
having a podcast about home management, but just didn't have
31:10
the tech skill set. And so when we met, and I told
31:14
her that we started our podcast, which previously was called No
31:18
Shame in the Home Game. But we realized that we want to
31:22
help people take steps in all areas of their life, not just
31:24
their home. So it's now No Shame in our
31:26
game. And so we've we've just
31:29
broadened the umbrella of what we talk about and we do Q&A so
31:34
people can submit questions. Harken back to my how do I use a
31:39
rice cooker without making a mess?
31:41
Like you can ask that question. You could, I mean, you can, you
31:45
can ask, it doesn't have to be related to home management and
31:48
we'll, we'll give you some great options.
31:51
Again, we're never telling you what to do, but we're just
31:53
giving suggestions and resources and then we bring on experts in
31:57
different areas to talk about. So I'm thinking back to some of
32:02
our experts. We had one on who was a
32:04
functional nutritionist and we talked about how do you make
32:08
healthy food if you have no idea where to start?
32:10
And so we talked about the importance of healthy food and
32:12
where to start and where to get more information.
32:15
We brought on, we've had a life coach on.
32:18
We've had, gosh, now I'm forgetting all of our experts.
32:23
My, my cup has overflowed with information.
32:27
Oh no, listen, I get it. I run it into it.
32:31
We have our our other podcast, blue collar startup and Derek,
32:35
who's the visionary behind the whole podcast and, and him and I
32:39
host the show together and he is like so good at like remembering
32:45
people that came on the show, what episode they came on, like
32:48
all the, and I'm just looking at him.
32:49
I'm like, Oh my God, I'm like, I don't know, I, I, I remember
32:53
conversations. I'm like, but he can tell me all
32:55
these details. I'm like, man, I don't know how
32:57
you keep all that information in your brain, man.
32:59
It's just, it's a lot. It's hard to keep it all
33:01
straight. Well, I used to be.
33:03
I used to be a. Lot better, but we're filming
33:06
right before Thanksgiving and I've got 1 foot into
33:09
Thanksgiving land and one foot in work.
33:13
So I think, I think my brains doing a little back and forth.
33:16
But so we, we bring on experts and we have some experts lined
33:20
up to come on in the future. And again, it's just talking
33:23
about healthy steps that you can take in all areas of your life
33:27
and making it approachable and doable.
33:31
And so that's no shame in our game.
33:34
And then our third podcast, which I was actually just
33:36
listening today and it made me so happy because I'd forgotten,
33:41
I'd actually forgotten most of what we talked about, but it's
33:43
called joy moments. And So what we do is we share
33:48
joy moments from people as a way of helping that joy ripple carry
33:54
on. So if something, if something
33:56
makes you happy and then we share it and then it's like you
33:59
get to hear it again and then somebody else hears it, it might
34:02
make them happy. And then so it's just it's
34:05
captivating. It's capturing that happy moment
34:08
or something that brought you. And what we've learned is that
34:11
joy, that term joy doesn't resonate with everybody.
34:14
It's something that made you smile, something that just, you
34:18
know, felt good for a moment. Maybe it made you laugh, you
34:21
know, anything that just felt good.
34:24
And what was that joy? This one today that I listened
34:27
to was all about pets and it I had my neighbor had horses show
34:33
up in her yard one morning. And so I guess it was just, it
34:36
was all about different animals and different funny stories
34:39
about animals. But yeah, so that one's fun.
34:42
It's just like a little 15 minute brightener for anybody's
34:46
day to listen to other people's joy stories.
34:52
I I'm curious, 'cause you said it and I'm thinking in my head
34:55
about the word joy and you're saying about how does it
34:58
resonate with some people and that.
34:59
And so of course, I'm like, well, why?
35:01
Why does the word joy not resonate with people?
35:04
Do you have any insight into that?
35:06
I'm just curious. Yeah, well, I've learned a lot
35:08
from Laci. 'Cause she was a communications
35:10
major. And so there is just, you know,
35:14
there's connotations with how it was used growing up.
35:18
There's a lot of reasons as to why.
35:20
But yeah, we had her husband on as a guest and she said, you
35:24
know, honey, can you share your joy moments?
35:26
And he's like, I don't have any joy moments.
35:28
And she goes, well, I know you do because every night at dinner
35:31
as a family, we share something that was the bright spot on our
35:35
day. She's like, and you just shared
35:37
one last night and he's like, oh, well, I wouldn't call that a
35:40
joy moment. Right.
35:42
So I think there is a little bit of joy to some people might seem
35:48
like a really big word. It might seem bigger than what,
35:51
than how we're seeing it. You know, they might see that
35:54
as, oh, it's when you, you know, do like, I don't know, an Easter
35:59
egg hunt and then you fill your basket and then you got all the
36:01
candy. Like something like bigger,
36:03
right? Joyful, right.
36:05
But but we use joy and more of a, of a smaller, just like what
36:10
feels good, what fills your cup, you know, And like, I'm a big
36:16
bird nerd. So I often and Laci is not, not
36:20
an not a bird person. And so I'll often talk about
36:23
birds that I see out my window and she's like, man, that
36:27
doesn't do anything for me. But I love that that makes you
36:30
happy, you know, And so it's just, it's just little things
36:33
like that. And so we're part of our premise
36:36
with joyful support movement is like, we're not trying to
36:38
pretend that bad things don't happen.
36:40
We fully embrace that crap happens every day, but we're
36:45
just bringing joy to the table. Like, yes, your water heater
36:51
maybe flooded your basement. Yep, that stuff happens.
36:56
And let's also talk about some joy today that happened.
36:59
So it's just we're trying to show both sides of the coins or
37:02
just kind of balance those scales for people, which I think
37:06
in our society we've gotten pretty heavy on leaning on the
37:10
like, what's going wrong side of things.
37:14
And we're not pretending nothing's going wrong.
37:16
Like we're not. We're not sticking our heads in
37:19
the sand. We're just, we want to bring joy
37:22
into the conversation where we can.
37:24
Yeah, it's interesting to say that.
37:26
Too 'cause I know, you know, I, I've certainly said out of my
37:30
mouth before that like if it wasn't for the challenges and
37:35
the obstacles that I get to overcome on a daily basis, like
37:38
I don't know what I would do, I would be bored.
37:40
And, but at the same, and I do, I love overcoming things and
37:45
getting past whether it's small things or big things.
37:48
And I'm sure and some subconscious way I create some
37:52
of those for myself. But I, you know, it's
37:55
interesting because I think as a society on a whole, that's kind
38:00
of where we're at, right? We're just, we're surrounded by
38:03
social media and the negativity in the trolls and all that
38:06
stuff. And so there's and then in work
38:08
and, and everywhere, you're just constantly surrounded by
38:11
challenges and obstacles and hardship.
38:14
And we do, I know I do. And I was just listening to an
38:17
audio book yesterday that made me think about this a little
38:19
deeper. But it's like you forget to have
38:22
those moments where you take a moment of appreciation for even
38:25
small things or big things in your life and how good you have
38:28
it in so many way. Like, yeah, I got this obstacle
38:30
in front of me right now I'm trying to overcome.
38:32
But I I also have all these great things that I'm completely
38:35
taking for granted and ignoring them and getting them a little
38:39
attention, which is what it sounds like your joy moments
38:41
are. I imagine it's a pretty healthy
38:44
practice. Well, and like you said.
38:47
Like you face obstacles every day, right?
38:49
And I imagine you also have resources to help you get
38:54
through those obstacles, whether it's friends you can call or
38:58
family or, you know, something to lean on.
39:02
You know, but we all have those days where our friends are busy
39:05
or our friends have our own issues or our families out of
39:09
town. You know, it's about the the
39:13
village and the movement. It's about what if you need
39:16
somebody? What if you need some help to
39:18
get through that challenge? And it's not about us solving
39:21
the challenge for you, but it's where do you turn to We, we call
39:25
it self help with community support.
39:29
Like you're still going to help yourself.
39:31
You're still going to solve your problem, but the community is
39:34
there cheering you on, helping you navigate it, helping you
39:37
figure out your resources so you're not alone trying to
39:41
figure it out, feeling like you're on an island all by.
39:44
Yourselves, that's yeah, we're trying to be the.
39:47
Antithesis of that? Absolutely.
39:50
Well, because that's what it could.
39:51
Feel like sometimes to your point, right, if you don't have
39:53
that community, you don't have that everybody's out of town and
39:56
you're trying to tackle something by yourself, it feels
39:58
like you're on an island by yourself sometimes.
40:00
So yeah. And we one.
40:02
Of the terms that we also used for the platform is peer-to-peer
40:06
support, right? Like it's great to have experts,
40:10
to have a therapist, to have, you know, specialists.
40:13
But let's be honest, you might have an appointment with them
40:16
once a week. You know, what do you do in
40:18
between? You know, and like I said, if
40:21
you have that, go to friend you always call, but they're having
40:23
their own bad day with their own water heater, you know, and
40:27
that's where I found myself a going back to when I lost my
40:30
mom, you know, I was going to see my therapist next week.
40:33
And in my own life, I felt like I, I just, I felt like I
40:37
couldn't talk about my grief anymore with people around me,
40:40
my circle. I felt like I kind of run that
40:42
out with everyone, which is fine.
40:46
I mean, absolutely. But it was like, OK, what's the
40:48
in between? What's that backstop so I don't
40:51
feel alone on an island, you know?
40:53
So again, creating what what I needed and then hoping that it
40:58
helps others. Yeah, well, you have to assume.
41:01
Right, like if you have a problem, other people have a
41:04
similar problem, yes, you can't be the only person that's.
41:07
Dealing with this. Stuff.
41:08
But you know, there's just way too many people on the planet to
41:11
be the only one going through what we're going through at any
41:14
given moment in time, which is what we tend to think.
41:17
So which is? Which is how?
41:19
No. Shame in the home game started
41:22
because I was doing home management.
41:24
People would bring me in behind the door and show me what wasn't
41:28
working. And there was always a tinge of
41:30
shame and like they were sharing a dirty secret.
41:35
And I'm like, I have been in so many people's homes.
41:38
You're not the only one struggling with this.
41:41
Everyone's got something. Like if we all opened our doors
41:45
at the same time, like, we would all feel a sense of relief.
41:50
Like, OK, we're all dealing with something.
41:54
And if we stop trying to pretend like it'll actually feel a lot
41:58
better to just be honest and then talk with your neighbor
42:03
about Oh my gosh like I can't figure out how to get my kid to
42:06
stop wiping peanut butter hands on the stairs.
42:09
Like let's just talk about it and problem solve together
42:14
without the shame and negativity of maybe a troll who had a bad
42:18
day. Amazing.
42:20
So if people want to join the village or they want to listen
42:23
to a podcast or just learn more about everything that you guys
42:26
are doing, how do they find you if they go to Joyful Support?
42:30
Movement.com, everything is on there.
42:34
There is a link to all of our podcasts.
42:38
You can learn more about the village.
42:41
You can easily contact myself or Lacey.
42:44
So if anyone hearing this has more questions, Sarah at
42:47
joyfulsupportmovement.com. I love talking to people.
42:51
So whatever your question is, go ahead and fill my inbox.
42:55
But yeah, you can go to that website and get all the
42:57
information. If you don't see it, just send
42:59
me an e-mail. And then if you're interested in
43:02
the in person event, check out the buy local in December where
43:07
I'll be posting more information.
43:09
And that in person event will be in January in Saratoga Springs.
43:13
Very nice. And they can also find an.
43:15
Article that you just wrote in the current edition that will be
43:19
in stores. Of course, by the time this
43:21
comes out, it'll already be in stores.
43:23
But you've got real quick, give us like a 32nd plug on the
43:27
article that you just wrote. Oh my gosh, it's so cathartic.
43:30
It is about holiday easy. It is if holidays don't bring
43:34
you that happy feeling that you want or desire, it's how do you
43:39
recapture that? And so I walk through a tool
43:41
called good, better, best. Oh, that's another one of our
43:45
courses that you can. It's all about good, better,
43:49
best, which is just a tool for making decisions throughout the
43:53
holidays so that you can check in with yourself and what do you
43:57
have to give? And how can you show up and
43:59
still enjoy the holidays without ending up feeling like grumpy
44:04
and just wanting to like throw all the decorations in the trash
44:08
before the holidays have arrived?
44:11
It's news. Well, you know, I mean, I
44:15
listen, I, I love to cook for my family and for people, or it's
44:18
like an active service thing. And so like, I love the
44:21
holidays, the idea of being able to, you know, cook for people
44:24
and, and have that thing, but it ends up it can be really
44:27
stressful, you know, like it's a lot of work.
44:30
And so one of the. One of the tools that Laci just
44:34
made, which you can find on our website, it is about identifying
44:38
in the holidays. What are you looking forward to?
44:42
Like, what are you dreading? And then like kind of
44:46
reconciling like, OK, what can I do about this?
44:49
Like, how do I do more of what I like?
44:51
And then how do I kind of turn down that part that is draining
44:54
me? And so it's just about it's
44:56
about being intentional going into the holidays around those
44:59
items. Absolutely amazing.
45:02
Well, I can't wait to read it and I'm I hope everybody else
45:06
gets a chance to read it. So and thank you so much, Sarah,
45:09
for coming on the show. Oh, my son is.
45:12
It's OK. My son just got.
45:13
Home from school too. He's creeping in behind me here.
45:16
Trying to see himself on camera. So I guess that's our cute and
45:20
the show. Sarah, thank you so much for
45:22
coming on. I really appreciate the time and
45:24
I appreciate everything that you're delivering for us.
45:26
So thank you. Well, and thank you Michael for
45:28
giving me this. Opportunity.
45:29
I really appreciate you helping me get the word out.
45:32
Yeah. So thank you for this
45:33
opportunity. You're welcome.
45:35
Say hi. Thanks Sarah, have a great day.
45:40
And happy Thanksgiving too, by the way.
45:42
Yes, you too.