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Transcript

62: The Waiting Room | What a Stranger Taught Me About Purpose · Banish the Lies: Outsmart Your Inner Critic

• 0:03
  Tania: Welcome to Banish the Lies, the podcast where we outsmart that sneaky inner critic and get closer to the truth that sets us free.
• 0:10
  Tania: I'm Tania Cerv oni, your host and fellow work in Progress here to share real stories and small shifts that help you reclaim what fear and doubt once stole.
• 0:21
  Tania: Let's jump in.
• 0:27
  Tania: Welcome back to another episode of Banish the Lies.
• 0:30
  Tania: Today, I'd like to tell you about Naomi, a woman I met this morning.
• 0:34
  Tania: Actually, met isn't even the right word.
• 0:37
  Tania: I, I knew her name from her name tag.
• 0:40
  Tania: We never actually had a conversation.
• 0:42
  Tania: She doesn't even know who I am, but she completely changed my day, and this episode is inspired by her.
• 0:50
  Tania: You see, my morning started out rather roughly.
• 0:55
  Tania: After a very poor night's sleep, I woke up groggy, anxious, and wishing I could just hide under the covers for the rest of the day.
• 1:02
  Tania: But of course, life had other plans.
• 1:04
  Tania: There was work to do, and I had to get my daughter to her dental appointment.
• 1:08
  Tania: So I managed to get through my first couple hours of work, greatly assisted, I might add, by my favorite dark roast, and then it was off to the dentist with a grumpy teen who would also have preferred to still be in bed.
• 1:20
  Tania: I walked into the office, greeted only by this screen that asked me to check in.
• 1:26
  Tania: The waiting room was chilly, both literally and energetically.
• 1:32
  Tania: And then from the back office walked in Naomi.
• 1:36
  Tania: Everything about her seemed to melt the ice in that place, and it wasn't just her smile or her warm voice.
• 1:45
  Tania: She simply acted as if every person in that waiting room mattered.
• 1:49
  Tania: I watched her as she approached another mom whose young daughter was clearly nervous about her appointment, and within just a few minutes of chatting with the young girl, she began to smile, and I could see that she loosened the grip on her mom's hand.
• 2:06
  Tania: I watched in wonder as Naomi's warmth continued to do its magic.
• 2:11
  Tania: The mom was visibly grateful, and I was even grateful just witnessing it.
• 2:16
  Tania: Naomi even took the time to make eye contact with me and offer me that same welcoming smile.
• 2:23
  Tania: She just seemed to ooze sunshine.
• 2:26
  Tania: And what made this particularly special is that in all the years I've been taking my daughter to this office, I don't think I've ever encountered anyone quite like Naomi.
• 2:37
  Tania: You know, of course, the other hygienists have always been professional, but I've never experienced that kind of warmth that silently communicates, "I see you, and I'm here to take good care of you." And yet here was Naomi showing up in service and completely changing the atmosphere simply by the way she showed up.
• 2:59
  Tania: And as I watched her, I started to think about this idea of purpose and the impact that we wanna have in the world.
• 3:07
  Tania: And I realized that I'd spent years looking for my purpose as though it was, you know, this big destination waiting for me somewhere out there in the future.
• 3:19
  Tania: For the longest time, I'd imagined purpose as, you know, finding the right calling, the right opportunity, discovering the thing that God had created me for.
• 3:32
  Tania: And all that time, I'd carried this anxious feeling like maybe I was missing it, and that somehow time was running out.
• 3:41
  Tania: But as I watched Naomi, it began to dawn on me how many opportunities I'd probably missed to live with purpose in completely ordinary moments with the people that I encounter every single day It also made me wonder how many times I've stayed stuck, you know, in whatever mood I happen to be in, never really stopping to consider that my mood wasn't just affecting me, it was affecting everyone around me.
• 4:12
  Tania: And I don't say that with condemnation, just awareness.
• 4:16
  Tania: And what I find rather remarkable is that Naomi shifted me today without ever really speaking to me.
• 4:23
  Tania: And because she shifted me, I showed up differently for my daughter, and that had me wonder whether I'd misunderstood purpose, at least to some degree.
• 4:33
  Tania: Maybe purpose isn't only found in some future calling.
• 4:38
  Tania: Maybe it's also revealed every time we choose to bring love into an ordinary moment.
• 4:44
  Tania: When I left the dentist's office, I didn't just feel better, I behaved differently.
• 4:50
  Tania: And later that afternoon, I remembered it was my neighbor's birthday, so I bought her a bouquet of flowers.
• 4:57
  Tania: I'd never done that before, so she was surprised and delighted.
• 5:03
  Tania: And as I walked away, I found myself wondering, "Would I have bought those flowers if I hadn't met Naomi?" Honestly, I don't know.
• 5:11
  Tania: But I do know this.
• 5:13
  Tania: Naomi will probably never know how she affected me today.
• 5:17
  Tania: She'll never know how she inspired this episode.
• 5:20
  Tania: She'll never know that my neighbor received flowers probably because of the way she patiently cared for a nervous little girl.
• 5:27
  Tania: And maybe that's exactly how purpose works.
• 5:31
  Tania: Maybe the lie I've been believing all these years was that purpose was waiting for me somewhere out there, somewhere in the future, when all along God was inviting me to live it right here.
• 5:44
  Tania: I mean, I still believe that God has a unique purpose for each of our lives, yet I've often lived as though purpose doesn't begin until I discover it.
• 5:56
  Tania: And today, I found myself wondering if we've created a false choice, as though we're either living our purpose someday or we're simply waiting for it to arrive.
• 6:07
  Tania: What if the way we show up today is preparing us for whatever God has planned for tomorrow?
• 6:14
  Tania: What if every smile, every patient conversation, every moment of kindness is shaping us into the kind of people our future calling will require?
• 6:26
  Tania: Because of Naomi, other people experienced a more loving version of me today, and maybe that's what purpose looks like.
• 6:34
  Tania: Not necessarily waiting for some distant calling, but becoming the kind of person who is ready when it comes.
• 6:41
  Tania: Thanks for listening, my friends.
• 6:44
  Tania: Until next time, take good care.
• 6:52
  Tania: Thanks for listening to Banish The Lies.
• 6:54
  Tania: If today's episode resonated with you, take a moment to let it settle in.
• 6:58
  Tania: And maybe share it with a friend who could use it too.
• 7:01
  Tania: Lies, lose their power when we're brave enough to challenge them.
• 7:05
  Tania: I'm Tania Cervoni, and until next time, be kind to yourself.
• 7:10
  Tania: And remember, you're not broken, you're not alone, and you don't have to stay stuck.