Latest / Groove with Portia / The Power of Being Seen When the World Looks Away

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The Power of Being Seen When the World Looks Away · Groove with Portia

0:06
Speaker 1: Welcome to Groul Porsche, the podcast that uncovers the hidden
0:09
Speaker 1: treasures within grief. I'm your host, Porsche the Producer, and
0:13
Speaker 1: I'm inviting you to join me on a transformative journey
0:15
Speaker 1: where we were exchange laughter, of course, the best medicine
0:18
Speaker 1: of them all, reflect on cherish memories, Remember that time
0:21
Speaker 1: that the little boy grabbed my hand instead of his
0:23
Speaker 1: mother's at the amusement park yikes, And of course, discover
0:26
Speaker 1: gratitude while navigating one of the life's hardest challenges lost.
0:31
Speaker 1: So get ready to grow with me, Porsche the Producer,
0:35
Speaker 1: let's dive in. Hello everybody, and welcome back to Groul Porsche.
0:46
Speaker 1: I am your host, Porsche Booker, and as always, don't
0:49
Speaker 1: forget to like, share and subscribe to keep up with
0:52
Speaker 1: all things grew with Porsche. So one of the things
0:56
Speaker 1: that I do on Facebook at times is I share
0:59
Speaker 1: different heartfelt stories those of you who know I used
1:01
Speaker 1: to have a background in news, and there was a
1:03
Speaker 1: story about a woman who had been sleeping in a
1:07
Speaker 1: cemetery for years and a police officer just happened to
1:11
Speaker 1: see her, get some information about her, and eventually find
1:16
Speaker 1: out that she was homeless and so he took the
1:19
Speaker 1: extra step to help her get back on her feet.
1:23
Speaker 1: And how many of us have been in that position
1:27
Speaker 1: where we've seen someone when we took the time to
1:30
Speaker 1: really get to know them and recognize there was something
1:33
Speaker 1: within us that could be that saving grace for them.
1:37
Speaker 1: Let that sink in. So today I have the honor
1:39
Speaker 1: of being joined by another individual who has done a
1:42
Speaker 1: very similar thing. She is the author of the book
1:45
Speaker 1: I Shawna which just recently won the Nautilus Gold Medal
1:51
Speaker 1: for Book Awards. She's also a recommendation from our dear
1:56
Speaker 1: mutual connection, mister Dave Roberts. So welcome to grew A
1:59
Speaker 1: poor doctor Kirsten Harrison. Doctor Kirsten, how you doing today?
2:07
Speaker 2: Chel?
2:08
Speaker 1: It's an honor. I know that we've gone back and
2:11
Speaker 1: forth a little bit and now we are here. So,
2:14
Speaker 1: doctor Kirsten, one of the things I know about you
2:17
Speaker 1: is your background is in both mental health and trauma.
2:21
Speaker 1: And sometimes I think in our society there tends to
2:26
Speaker 1: be this notion that as someone in the mental health profession,
2:31
Speaker 1: you're expected to just kind of have your head down,
2:34
Speaker 1: don't step outside of the parameters and boundaries that are
2:39
Speaker 1: bound by the social work profession or whichever your background
2:43
Speaker 1: is in. And I'm curious, Doctor Kirsten, for our audience
2:46
Speaker 1: when it comes to Shawna's story, What was it about
2:50
Speaker 1: Shawna where you said, you know, this individual has something
2:56
Speaker 1: more to their story and I want to hear about it.
2:59
Speaker 1: What did it take for you to open up beyond
3:03
Speaker 1: what's normally expected of you.
3:06
Speaker 2: That's a great question. So, first of all, Shawna has
3:09
Speaker 2: never been a client. I do have text with her
3:12
Speaker 2: in a life coach and capacity, probably a thousand times
3:15
Speaker 2: a day, but it's completely informal. I just happened to
3:20
Speaker 2: have moved to this beautiful community of La Joya, a
3:22
Speaker 2: seaside community, and we just happened to notice that Shanna
3:28
Speaker 2: was just sort of always hanging around and she had
3:30
Speaker 2: incredible outfits, you know, really flowing wigs, like you know,
3:35
Speaker 2: cool little bikini tops and whatever, and it was just
3:38
Speaker 2: a joy to see her every day, complete resilience. But
3:41
Speaker 2: at the time that we first moved, Shanna was presenting
3:45
Speaker 2: a sean because she is something known as intersect and
3:48
Speaker 2: so she's got ambiguous genitulia. According to her, and according
3:53
Speaker 2: to what intersex is defined as, it's one of those
3:57
Speaker 2: things where she has never fall really grounded in her biology.
4:01
Speaker 2: She's always felt like she sort of straddled both worlds.
4:05
Speaker 2: But the psychologist in me recognized that there was probably
4:08
Speaker 2: there was some mental distress going on, and that there
4:11
Speaker 2: was probably some schizophrenia. As I've gotten to know her
4:13
Speaker 2: over the ten years eleven years now, I would refine
4:18
Speaker 2: it to say, a very rare category of something proposed
4:21
Speaker 2: back in the day by Colin Ross. After Colin Ross,
4:24
Speaker 2: and that's called dissociative schizophrenia, So it combines some of
4:27
Speaker 2: the dissociative disorders and trauma with schizophrenia. So schizophrenia is
4:33
Speaker 2: much more biological in origin. But Seanna is incredible. She
4:37
Speaker 2: walks twelve to fifteen miles a day. She calls it
4:39
Speaker 2: mood walk therapy. It's the way she regulates her mental
4:42
Speaker 2: health and sort of her flailing out burst sometimes. And
4:46
Speaker 2: as you mentioned, she slept outside on cardboard for eight
4:50
Speaker 2: years and at the Lahoya Rock Center for four of
4:53
Speaker 2: that sort of in their alquob but still had to
4:56
Speaker 2: go to CBS every night and get the cardboard boxes
4:58
Speaker 2: so she could make her a little and the incredible
5:02
Speaker 2: community of La Joya just sort of like helped her
5:05
Speaker 2: in amazing ways. But I have to say all credit
5:08
Speaker 2: goes to Shana for helping herself and just being incredible
5:12
Speaker 2: every morning, optimistic, greeting the day, saying there's got to
5:16
Speaker 2: be something better going on today, so let me just
5:18
Speaker 2: see what that is. So that's how it kind of started.
5:22
Speaker 2: I just started noticing her, and then I kind of
5:25
Speaker 2: got the courage up to ask the barista at our
5:28
Speaker 2: local Starbucks, it seems like she comes here a lot.
5:31
Speaker 2: Do you know anything about her? I would love to
5:33
Speaker 2: buy her drink? And then from there she said, oh,
5:35
Speaker 2: she's got the most interesting story. And then I went
5:38
Speaker 2: up to shine and gave her a drink, kind of
5:40
Speaker 2: give her a five dollar bill, pretending she had dropped it,
5:43
Speaker 2: and then conversations ensued and I'll tell you more, but
5:47
Speaker 2: Long'm sorry. Here we are eleven years later.
5:49
Speaker 1: So well, And I love to doctor Kristen that the
5:55
Speaker 1: gratitude or mood walks, I do those sometimes because it
5:59
Speaker 1: just seems throughout the day we're on social media, we're
6:03
Speaker 1: checking emails, we're on zoom calls, we're so if you
6:07
Speaker 1: want to call it plugged in, that we literally have
6:10
Speaker 1: to log off to just regulate ourselves. And because we
6:15
Speaker 1: see so much, we're exposed to so much throughout you know,
6:19
Speaker 1: five seconds of scrolling on social media, you can see
6:23
Speaker 1: the cute cat videos. Then you'll see there was a homicide.
6:26
Speaker 1: Then you'll see there's a grief story. Then you'll see
6:30
Speaker 1: a little baby kangaroo that got lost and somebody took
6:35
Speaker 1: it home. Right, you know you need those breaks. And
6:41
Speaker 1: I love too how you took that extra step. You
6:46
Speaker 1: see this eccentric person. You didn't shy away based on
6:52
Speaker 1: the societal narratives around people who are different. Right, we
6:57
Speaker 1: say that we accept different, but but when different is
7:01
Speaker 1: in front of us, a lot of people they're judgmental.
7:06
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yes, I think I mean it kind of
7:10
Speaker 2: evolved over time. But I think that what drew me
7:13
Speaker 2: in was because my ex husband well passively soon to
7:17
Speaker 2: become my husband again. Whole another story, whole another book.
7:21
Speaker 2: But with a professional tennis player and used to be
7:25
Speaker 2: a coach at the majors and he has long dreadlocks.
7:29
Speaker 2: He's originally from Trinidad back in the day, and so
7:32
Speaker 2: I kind of was always listening to him, you know,
7:35
Speaker 2: who he'd see at the tennis courts and whatever. Because
7:37
Speaker 2: Shanna was I mean, she is an incredible athlete and
7:41
Speaker 2: was always hanging at the tennis courts as sean my husband.
7:45
Speaker 2: I'll just found my husband at James. At the time,
7:47
Speaker 2: did not think anything of it, but when Shawn then
7:50
Speaker 2: at the grocery store, was all of a sudden in
7:52
Speaker 2: Shawna with her beautiful wigs and her outfits. To me,
7:56
Speaker 2: that was like, there's a story there, and I want
7:58
Speaker 2: to know the human being behind it. And mind you,
8:00
Speaker 2: I had no idea she was homeless at this point.
8:03
Speaker 2: It was just really wanting to connect with a very
8:07
Speaker 2: you know, colorful personality. She was just very exuberant and positive,
8:11
Speaker 2: and that was the other thing that drew me in.
8:13
Speaker 2: She was full of joy. And that's the thing that
8:17
Speaker 2: even when she was sleeping on the streets that people
8:19
Speaker 2: still notice. She was never menacing. She was always very appreciative.
8:23
Speaker 2: She created community wherever she went, and she just like
8:27
Speaker 2: exuded this incredible joy and gratitude and she was so
8:32
Speaker 2: connected to something bigger. You could just tell she's so
8:35
Speaker 2: I call her walking spirit, and I feel like she's
8:38
Speaker 2: very synchronistic. You know, the encounters that I've interviewed over
8:41
Speaker 2: time with people who have known her. It's just mind
8:44
Speaker 2: boggling sometimes, but the reality is, at some point, over
8:49
Speaker 2: numerous encounters, I started bringing her clothes from the goodwill.
8:53
Speaker 2: I started asking a little bit more, and when I
8:56
Speaker 2: did find out one night in the rain she was
9:00
Speaker 2: standing there sugaring, it finally clicked, Oh, she doesn't have
9:04
Speaker 2: a place to go, and then I put her up
9:06
Speaker 2: in a hotel. Called the local newspaper. I got the
9:09
Speaker 2: ball rolling, and then we started a community go fundme
9:12
Speaker 2: to get the word out with the La Jolla Light newspaper,
9:16
Speaker 2: which I'm so indicted to, and the editor was so
9:19
Speaker 2: wonderful in trying to share Shanna's story because remember this
9:22
Speaker 2: is eleven years ago. Go fund me were just sort
9:24
Speaker 2: of starting. I had no idea what we were doing.
9:27
Speaker 2: And we got her housing, which is incredible, with the
9:33
Speaker 2: help of some angel investers. Also starts feeding up the process.
9:37
Speaker 2: Because she had no rental history, it was very hard
9:41
Speaker 2: to have anyone vouch for her. She hadn't been employed
9:43
Speaker 2: in seventeen years, so eventually so she got off the street. So,
9:49
Speaker 2: by the grace of God and the goodness of people,
9:52
Speaker 2: she got off the street. Her story started getting a
9:54
Speaker 2: little traction and then I told her, maybe wish told
9:58
Speaker 2: write a book. I don't really know so what else
10:01
Speaker 2: to offer here, But I could offer some ability as
10:04
Speaker 2: a psychologist, as somebody who has a little bit of
10:07
Speaker 2: insight into your story. Now, then we could write a
10:09
Speaker 2: book and we can help you tell your story. You
10:11
Speaker 2: want from very invisible to now maybe more invisible, and
10:15
Speaker 2: it can help people. And ten years later. It took
10:18
Speaker 2: ten years because COVID was in there. You know, I
10:22
Speaker 2: had three kids to raise, one of them with special needs.
10:24
Speaker 2: I was in the thick of that shut. I had
10:27
Speaker 2: moved to Palm Springs at that point, so we had
10:29
Speaker 2: to do a lot of interviews over the phone, get
10:32
Speaker 2: them transcribed. But here we are and now it's winning
10:35
Speaker 2: awards and she's so proud. She's so proud, and that
10:39
Speaker 2: just makes me so happy.
10:41
Speaker 1: The one thing that stands out, doctor Kirsten, is the
10:46
Speaker 1: community coming together, right, and I think we need more
10:52
Speaker 1: of that today. Where you see someone who it appears
10:58
Speaker 1: to be homeless, right. I know I've done this a
11:01
Speaker 1: few times. I sometimes share this with my soul mother
11:04
Speaker 1: when I'm out different places, Like there was a gentleman
11:07
Speaker 1: one time I had stopped at the ice cream store,
11:11
Speaker 1: and this gentleman was crossing the parking lot. And this
11:15
Speaker 1: parking lot is weird during the wintertime because whatever paint
11:19
Speaker 1: they used to redo it, it's very slippery. So the
11:23
Speaker 1: gentleman literally fell, and I'm like, oh, man down. And
11:27
Speaker 1: there are people in the parking lot around us who
11:31
Speaker 1: saw the same thing, and none of them came. So
11:35
Speaker 1: I got out of my car. I came over to
11:38
Speaker 1: the gentleman. I said, hey, let me help you up.
11:40
Speaker 1: So I got him up. I'm asking them different questions,
11:42
Speaker 1: checking them out. I'm like, did you hit your head?
11:44
Speaker 1: I'm like, do you need me to call nine to one?
11:45
Speaker 2: One?
11:46
Speaker 1: Just different things. So I helped him get back into
11:49
Speaker 1: his apartment because it was literally just like a few steps.
11:52
Speaker 1: He was right there by the door. And the gentleman
11:55
Speaker 1: he kept his name was Ernest. That was his name. God,
11:58
Speaker 1: I couldn't remember his name for the life of me,
12:00
Speaker 1: but his name was Ernest. And he kept wanting to
12:02
Speaker 1: offer me money, and I said, no, I don't need
12:04
Speaker 1: the money. I just wanted to make sure you're okay.
12:07
Speaker 1: And I've seen him a few times after that. But
12:11
Speaker 1: it goes to show though, like what has happened in
12:14
Speaker 1: our society, doctor Kirsten, where the bystander effect has become
12:21
Speaker 1: the main response yes, well yes, go ahead, yes, go ahead.
12:26
Speaker 2: Least no absolutely, I'm also thinking even his name is
12:30
Speaker 2: so beautiful, Ernest. It's like you know, being Earnest, and
12:33
Speaker 2: it's like you you operated from that place of heart
12:37
Speaker 2: and the sensibility that in this moment I can do
12:41
Speaker 2: that one thing that will make all the difference and
12:44
Speaker 2: be of assistance and make somebody feel just a little
12:46
Speaker 2: less alone. And I can't tell you that a man
12:49
Speaker 2: of people that are unhoused, that it's really just takes
12:52
Speaker 2: a smile and acknowledgment of something. I mean in the
12:56
Speaker 2: book I talk about some people would drop those little
12:59
Speaker 2: hotels off for Shawna so that she could when she
13:02
Speaker 2: went to walk miles to her beach shower in the morning,
13:05
Speaker 2: she would have some soap, you know. And it's just
13:07
Speaker 2: the little things like that that can go so far.
13:11
Speaker 2: And bless you for having a spirit that you have.
13:14
Speaker 2: I've obviously followed you on some of your things and
13:17
Speaker 2: seen just the incredible stories and human encounters that you
13:21
Speaker 2: capture and that you bring to light, but also that
13:24
Speaker 2: you personally invest in with your heart and that is
13:27
Speaker 2: really what is asked of us, is just to have
13:30
Speaker 2: a moment of a heartfelt connection. And I think that
13:33
Speaker 2: people crave that and that is why they seek things online. However,
13:37
Speaker 2: also taking those walks like we were talking about, and going
13:40
Speaker 2: out in the community and seeing what's happening. And I
13:44
Speaker 2: think that's part of what Shauna does as part of
13:47
Speaker 2: her community building is because she's always walking, walking with
13:50
Speaker 2: a purpose and walking very determinedly and people say hi, Shaanna,
13:54
Speaker 2: and she interacts and she's done that for thirty years
13:57
Speaker 2: and that's why, Yeah, I mean, that is why she has,
14:02
Speaker 2: you know, the eyes and ears of everything going on.
14:05
Speaker 2: She's got a pose on it. And that's why people
14:07
Speaker 2: also wanted to help her because they saw her, in
14:10
Speaker 2: some small way, trying to help herself and navigate the
14:14
Speaker 2: difficulties of living with schizoprenia, which is a formidable.
14:18
Speaker 1: Impairment, right, right, And I love to doctor Kirsten how
14:23
Speaker 1: you're highlining that despite all the things that Shauna has experience, right,
14:28
Speaker 1: discrimination for being intersex, right, and in our society, you know,
14:33
Speaker 1: we are in Pride Month and the LGBTQ community faces
14:39
Speaker 1: a lot of discrimination even in their own right. And
14:43
Speaker 1: I'm curious, Doctor Kirsten, especially for Shawna's story. With Shauna
14:48
Speaker 1: being intersex. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone
14:51
Speaker 1: else being intersex in my life. But when it comes
14:55
Speaker 1: to Shawna's story of being intersex, how has Shauna been
15:00
Speaker 1: able to really wear that identity and also holds space
15:07
Speaker 1: for the grief of being ostracized by society? And what
15:11
Speaker 1: can people take away from Shanna's story of resilience and
15:17
Speaker 1: embodying who they truly are despite all of the labels.
15:24
Speaker 2: So I love that the way that you put it,
15:27
Speaker 2: because I mean, she's dealt with racism her whole life.
15:29
Speaker 2: She's been ostracized in so many different ways, and you know,
15:34
Speaker 2: it became clear and clear. The schizophrenia didn't really appear
15:37
Speaker 2: more floridly until I guess the collegers when she was
15:41
Speaker 2: playing college basketball and things started to feel different. But
15:44
Speaker 2: she said that people always sort of saw her as
15:47
Speaker 2: kind of like a gentle giant, like kind of the
15:49
Speaker 2: more you know, feminine softness to yet the like the
15:53
Speaker 2: more maxculine athlete like. So they were like clues. And
15:57
Speaker 2: when she was little, she was teased for things, and
16:00
Speaker 2: over all these years we found her family and I've
16:02
Speaker 2: talked at length with her sister and she kind of
16:04
Speaker 2: validates that they were definitely finds that seemed very confusing
16:08
Speaker 2: to everybody. And yeah, they brought we're brought up in
16:10
Speaker 2: such a strict Christian household, which had its wonderful beauty
16:14
Speaker 2: to it, because Shanna is very, very faith based. However,
16:17
Speaker 2: there was also a lot of kind of life, don't
16:20
Speaker 2: talk about this, and you know, questions around gender, sexuality,
16:25
Speaker 2: so many different confusing things for her. One of the
16:28
Speaker 2: things that we made a big deal out of after
16:30
Speaker 2: we published the book last year. It was released in
16:33
Speaker 2: May and June being Pride month. As you say, I said,
16:36
Speaker 2: how about we go to World Pride, euro Pride. She'd
16:40
Speaker 2: never been out of the country in her whole life
16:42
Speaker 2: in sixty years, fifty nine years at the point, So
16:45
Speaker 2: we started going to all the different Pride events. We
16:48
Speaker 2: went to Portugal for the Yearal Pride, we did dc
16:52
Speaker 2: A World Pride, then we had done London and Paris Pride,
16:57
Speaker 2: and then we ended up in Iceland, which is an
16:58
Speaker 2: incredible unity, a very supportive LGBT community, and each time
17:04
Speaker 2: she said, my mission is to educate about the eye.
17:06
Speaker 2: The intersex lgbtq I is her mission, and she does
17:13
Speaker 2: often talk about it's it's kind of hard. She said
17:16
Speaker 2: that Sean got the first fifty years and now Shauna
17:21
Speaker 2: is going to get the rest because she feels like
17:23
Speaker 2: Sean hot in time, and that Shawna is really really
17:27
Speaker 2: out there ready to just sort of be. And for
17:30
Speaker 2: the last eleven years here in La Joya, it was
17:33
Speaker 2: a little cooler than where she lives now in Palm Springs,
17:36
Speaker 2: so in the way she had a lot of very
17:37
Speaker 2: elaborate wigs. In Palm Springs, she wears more leggings, a
17:41
Speaker 2: bikini top, and then like a bald head, got a
17:43
Speaker 2: baseball cat. So it's much more sot of I guess
17:46
Speaker 2: we would call it androgynists. To me, I see it
17:48
Speaker 2: as a peer maybe intersex expression of her. She wears
17:52
Speaker 2: a lot of her bikini skirts still, so she talks
17:58
Speaker 2: a lot about how she's been a category of one
18:00
Speaker 2: and her mind all her life, that she's never quite
18:03
Speaker 2: fit in her she's so exceptionally smart, but her mental
18:07
Speaker 2: illness has really separated her sometimes from people's understanding of
18:12
Speaker 2: how to approach her, how to be around her. She
18:14
Speaker 2: can go from one hundred percent just incredibly connected and
18:20
Speaker 2: joyous and exuberant to also then very agitated and flailing
18:24
Speaker 2: around and clearly distressed. And I saw that in Paris
18:29
Speaker 2: when I was at a department store with her and
18:31
Speaker 2: we had a little break, we had a little lunch,
18:33
Speaker 2: and she was getting very very agitated, and I just
18:36
Speaker 2: looked right into her eyes. I felt like, I said, Shauna,
18:40
Speaker 2: it must be so hard to deal with everything you
18:42
Speaker 2: deal with externally on the daily and then also internally,
18:47
Speaker 2: and she just looked at me and said, Dot, you
18:50
Speaker 2: have no idea. And I was like, in that moment,
18:53
Speaker 2: it went past the mental illness, It went past all
18:55
Speaker 2: the societal judgments. It was human to human resonating. And
19:00
Speaker 2: she just said, but I get up every day and
19:02
Speaker 2: I just keep going, and you know, you never know
19:04
Speaker 2: what the day's gonna bring, You never know what's around
19:06
Speaker 2: the corner. And that positivity and optimism is the part
19:10
Speaker 2: that I think all these years has kept me in there,
19:13
Speaker 2: because there are a lot of people who can just
19:15
Speaker 2: get very disgruntled or angry about their circumstances, but Shanna
19:20
Speaker 2: finds a way. She has a true gift for translating
19:23
Speaker 2: adversity into positivity and gratitude and connectedness. And I think
19:28
Speaker 2: that's why people rally around her. You get the little
19:31
Speaker 2: kid running up to show shawna a boxtball truck, to
19:33
Speaker 2: the guy driver in the Lamborghini, you know, doing this
19:36
Speaker 2: thing in a suit to like another homeless person. I mean,
19:39
Speaker 2: she's incredible who she relates to. It's the whole gamut
19:42
Speaker 2: of humanity. So I think that's why she you know,
19:45
Speaker 2: she's won two Gold Awards and a Silver Award now
19:49
Speaker 2: for her story, and I think she embraces that as well,
19:53
Speaker 2: the power to persevere and good things are always going
19:58
Speaker 2: to come. You just have to maybe be a little patient.
20:00
Speaker 2: And that's for my sage.
20:03
Speaker 1: And I love doctor Kristen the notion of being a
20:08
Speaker 1: category of one, because sometimes that is what opens up
20:13
Speaker 1: the curiosity egg, right of what does it mean to
20:17
Speaker 1: be an intersex person walking around? Right? Does that mean
20:24
Speaker 1: that you're this? It sparks that curiosity for some, but
20:28
Speaker 1: other people it poses fear right And then you brought
20:32
Speaker 1: up about the strict household upbringing right the religious aspect.
20:36
Speaker 1: You know, I also grew up in a household that
20:39
Speaker 1: was taught about God. We went to church every Sunday,
20:43
Speaker 1: but for me, it took my grief journey of both
20:47
Speaker 1: of my parents making their transition for me to build
20:49
Speaker 1: my own relationship with God outside of the Bible. So
20:54
Speaker 1: it's interesting how certain life circumstances. I can definitely relate
21:01
Speaker 1: to Seana on that aspect. And I'm curious, doctor Kirsten.
21:05
Speaker 1: We're in Pride month and one of the things that
21:08
Speaker 1: often comes up is inclusivity, right, And from your experience,
21:13
Speaker 1: you and Shawna traveling the world, going to all these
21:16
Speaker 1: cool different Pride events, what, based on your experience, does
21:20
Speaker 1: true inclusion look like.
21:23
Speaker 2: Well, I will say that when we started posting these
21:28
Speaker 2: things on social media, which is not my strength. That's
21:30
Speaker 2: not me. I'm a humane human person. But my friend
21:34
Speaker 2: decided to create a social media account. We got a
21:37
Speaker 2: million views on TikTok, a million views on Instagram because
21:42
Speaker 2: we were sending videos of like, for example, Paris Pride
21:46
Speaker 2: and just how much fun people were having coming together.
21:49
Speaker 2: You had the people from different countries in Africa at
21:52
Speaker 2: their signs that basically they were being you know, oppressed
21:55
Speaker 2: in certain ways for their you know, their expression their
21:59
Speaker 2: countries like at the time, in Hungary where they were
22:03
Speaker 2: forbidden to have a Pride event, and so Shanna was saying,
22:08
Speaker 2: you know, look at all these people coming together in
22:10
Speaker 2: a place that feels safe, it feels joyous. I mean
22:13
Speaker 2: in Paris there is nothing like it. It's so creative
22:16
Speaker 2: and artistic. The music, it was just like freedom. And
22:20
Speaker 2: the other thing that was interesting is that, you know,
22:24
Speaker 2: Shawna sometimes tries to distinguish herself in sort of the
22:26
Speaker 2: trans community because it gets a little confusing interseecks versus
22:30
Speaker 2: trans and so sometimes in these pride events, you know,
22:34
Speaker 2: people come in huge costumes, especially in Paris, the customs
22:37
Speaker 2: were incredible. But then Shanna's just showing up sort of
22:40
Speaker 2: as Shanna. There's no costume. This is how she is
22:42
Speaker 2: every single day. And to me that was quite a
22:45
Speaker 2: lesson in what it feels to walk into Shanna's shoes
22:48
Speaker 2: because people looked at her sort of as maybe that's
22:51
Speaker 2: what she wore for the event, but no, this is
22:53
Speaker 2: what she wears every day. So it was colorful, exuberant, Yeah,
22:57
Speaker 2: it's just her. And then all so in Lisbon, the
23:03
Speaker 2: people were so kind, I mean just the kindest, most friendly,
23:07
Speaker 2: caring people, and everybody was just curious, and so to
23:11
Speaker 2: me that the sense of inclusivity was like, hey, we're
23:14
Speaker 2: all getting through life in our own ways. Tell me
23:16
Speaker 2: about your experience or let me at the very least
23:19
Speaker 2: on of it. The amount of like Starbucks redoing, she got,
23:24
Speaker 2: you know, just people just saying hey, I see you,
23:27
Speaker 2: and I want to just say good on you for
23:29
Speaker 2: showing up and having a message and wanting to help people.
23:33
Speaker 2: She also wrote something we wrote together this thing for
23:37
Speaker 2: that United Nations and up ed on what it means
23:40
Speaker 2: to be intersex because under Joe Biden they had done
23:44
Speaker 2: this huge thing where that there was a recognition in
23:47
Speaker 2: the United Nations about intersect people and so we really
23:51
Speaker 2: wanted to write about that and how important it was. So,
23:53
Speaker 2: I mean, she's taking her platform with mount illness, the
23:58
Speaker 2: racial aspects that there's always been this inequality and this
24:02
Speaker 2: whole judgment sort of within the Christian community sometimes about
24:06
Speaker 2: the expression. And so she's taken all of these things
24:09
Speaker 2: that have made her more resilient. But being on house
24:12
Speaker 2: for all this time, being INTERSEPX and being misunderstood and mislabeled,
24:16
Speaker 2: and then also with the whole thing of mental illness,
24:19
Speaker 2: the hard thing is She's not necessarily super self aware
24:23
Speaker 2: about her schizophrenia, but she knows it's there and it's different.
24:27
Speaker 2: So the more over time that we've talked about it
24:30
Speaker 2: and talked about different ways that she copes, like the
24:33
Speaker 2: mood walk therapy, the more she's also saying, Hey, I
24:36
Speaker 2: think I want to really help people who struggle with
24:39
Speaker 2: mental illness. That was our last category that was the
24:42
Speaker 2: hardest for her to kind of accept and embrace. And
24:47
Speaker 2: so she's just she's just this like person who goes
24:51
Speaker 2: out there. She's like the pied piper of humanity. She
24:53
Speaker 2: just goes out there and does her thing and with joy.
24:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, Shauna reminds me of being like Superman, right, because
25:04
Speaker 1: Superman is right, Clark Kent is his own category. No,
25:09
Speaker 1: nobody has superhuman strength the way Superman does and the
25:13
Speaker 1: you know, laser vision can fly all these different things, right,
25:17
Speaker 1: and Shauna is very similar. And I can see easily
25:21
Speaker 1: where with Shauna being intersects, how it could easily be
25:25
Speaker 1: mistaken for trance. So I'm glad that Shauna is being
25:31
Speaker 1: that educational bond of saying, yes, the I here is individual,
25:38
Speaker 1: not it's not a te you know, a mistaken tea. Yeah, Kirsten,
25:46
Speaker 1: we are gonna be wrapping up here soon and this
25:49
Speaker 1: has been a beautiful conversation and hopefully next time Shawna
25:53
Speaker 1: can join us. But before we conclude today, doctor Kirsen,
25:56
Speaker 1: if our audience obviously wants to get the gold winning
26:00
Speaker 1: copy of Shana, they want to connect with you, how
26:05
Speaker 1: can our audience connect with you?
26:07
Speaker 2: So the best thing is my website is soul Wise
26:11
Speaker 2: Solutions dot com, so s u l wi se Solutions
26:16
Speaker 2: dot com. The other thing might be Amazon, Barnes and Noble.
26:19
Speaker 2: They all have the book. Not sure if they'll have
26:22
Speaker 2: a little stick around, but they have the book. And
26:25
Speaker 2: then also soul Wise Team Team is our handle on
26:30
Speaker 2: TikTok Instagram, and that's always so much fun because we
26:33
Speaker 2: post different videos sort of a day in the life
26:35
Speaker 2: for some of the things is trying to do by
26:37
Speaker 2: just being herself. And so those will be the best
26:40
Speaker 2: ways to get a hold of the story. That the
26:44
Speaker 2: kind of putting the momentum forward, sharing with your friends,
26:47
Speaker 2: that would be really.
26:48
Speaker 1: Really helpful, excellent. So, as doctor Kirsten mention, you can
26:53
Speaker 1: do a Google starch if you forget, We'll also put
26:56
Speaker 1: the website in the show notes and also you can
26:59
Speaker 1: get a You of Eyes Shanna again. You can use
27:02
Speaker 1: AI as your friend, right. AI has information on all
27:06
Speaker 1: of us, even if it's just something completely random. Right, Well,
27:11
Speaker 1: everybody that was doctor Tiersten Harrison that you heard from
27:16
Speaker 1: today on grew with Portia. And that concludes our conversation
27:20
Speaker 1: and until next time, everybody piece and hair grease everyone,