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Play and curiosity as core values · The Generalist World Pod

• 0:00
  Hey, it's Millie, and welcome to the Generalist World Podcast. This is the podcast for people who have never fit into a box at work, and to be honest, we don't really want to.
• 0:09
  Every week, I chat with a new member of Generalist World and I share their stories, their philosophies, their frameworks of how they are living their life, and creating work that actually aligns with their generalist skill set.
• 0:22
  So if you are someone who has had a non-linear, squiggly career, this is the podcast for you.
• 0:27
  This is a very special, not to put too much expectation [laughs] No pressure, but it is a very special episode because we have Mildred, who is a friend, a community member, a colleague.
• 0:44
  It's a weird word to say. [laughs] Do you feel like we're colleagues? I don't know. What do you feel like? I, I- What do you call me? I actually say, I say my boss. [laughs] Is that...
• 0:54
  That's even worse actually, I think. [laughs] No, but yeah, like, for people with no context, I'll just be like, "My boss." Um, but with people, for people with context, I'll just be like, "Yeah, Millie."
• 1:05
  [laughs] Like, duh, obviously Millie. [laughs] Who is Mildred? Who are you?
• 1:11
  I think at the core of who I am, I'm just a very curious person who likes to learn things and dive deeper into things, and likes to play and is serially non-serious. Mm. That's a fantastic answer.
• 1:28
  [laughs] 'Cause I was gonna follow on with, like, "Who are you really?" But you kind of just went straight to the really. Mm. You know, people are usually like, "Well, I'm a founder and a writer, and..."
• 1:37
  [laughs] Where you're like, "No, this is who I am. This is, like, the essence of who I am." Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I feel like if I went, if I went down the route of, like, the what- Mm...
• 1:47
  then the typical generalist thing, I would be, like, I would be listing a million things of the things that I like to do, but what is the thread that connects the things is my curiosity.
• 1:57
  What is your relationship to play? How does that show up in your life? Play in se- in, what did you call it? Serial unser- Serial unseriousness That's a tongue twister. Yeah, [laughs] I know.
• 2:08
  I ju- just came up with that. [laughs] Yeah. [laughs] What is my relationship to play?
• 2:14
  Well, we've been talking about this quite a lot over the last few days because, you know, as, as we know, AJ is, loves a little bit of play.
• 2:21
  [laughs] Um, my relationship to play, I think I've always been a very playful person, and it's so important to me to have that in my life and in my relationships.
• 2:34
  And I often say that my life and my decisions are guided by what I, what is fun to me. Mm.
• 2:43
  And I had a, I had this conversation with someone else before where, you know, we had this conversation about does everything have to be fun? What if, what if- Mm... it's not fun, but it's rewarding? Mm.
• 2:57
  Like, will you still, still do that? And I said, "I think to a certain extent, yes, but, like, there has to be an element of fun, otherwise, like, I'm, I might be bored. Like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna not enjoy it."
• 3:11
  I think the playful element is just really important in anyone's lives because it's what, it's what keeps us grounded. It's what brings us back to the childlike wonder, which brings us back to the curiosity thing.
• 3:23
  I think it's, it's one of those things that's just all connected. And there's like, there's different types of fun, right? So like, um, you know, last night we went out for an extravagant Japanese
• 3:35
  mini course dinner, and that was fun. Yeah.
• 3:38
  That was like, that was some good, good old-fashioned pleasure fun, where like, my husband, I often look at what he calls fun, and it's the very type two or type B fun- Mm-hmm... where he's like in the rain
• 3:53
  u- under a tarp, camping, eating, like, a dried oat for three days. Yeah. And he's like, "So much fun." [laughs] Like, "It's so fun." And I think there is... That, he's extreme.
• 4:06
  But there is an element to, like, I don't think, um, hard and/or, like, hard things are devoid of fun as well. Mm-hmm. They could just be a different kind of fun. Yes. I totally agree.
• 4:18
  And actually, like, it's so, it's such a personal thing. Like, what, what you think is fun is probably not what I think is fun either.
• 4:24
  And e- even, even if we're talking about, like, the stuff that we do for work, I don't know, some people might find doing spreadsheets really fun. Mm. And someone else might not. [laughs] And actually, that's super fine.
• 4:36
  Like- Yeah... it's, it's, I'm, [laughs] I'm not here to judge what you think is fun versus what I think is fun.
• 4:44
  And when you look back at the arc of your work, of all the different things that you have done, what are the sticky things that stand out as the things that have brought you the most joy, the most...
• 4:58
  Kind of where are your strengths? Where, where- Mm... where do you feel like you're playing in that zone of your strengths?
• 5:03
  Actually, how I got into doing any sort of, like, people/community-esque work was through events and, yeah, through events and, like, bringing people together.
• 5:16
  And, um, during, during COVID, I started this community for East and Southeast Asian, uh, creatives, and it was through that people started to say to me, like, "Oh, you know what?
• 5:30
  You're, like, really good at bringing people together." And I was like, "Maybe I am." [laughs] And, um,
• 5:37
  from that, then going into looking at this thing of community, uh, which is very on topic because yesterday we were at London Community Week.
• 5:47
  I didn't, I didn't even know that was, like, a thing that people did or that was a job. But I love, I love doing events and e- especially real, i- i- in person events because,
• 5:59
  like, it feels like the culmination of all of this work that you've done leading up to it, the planning, the venue hunting, the, the food, the looking for people, getting people to sign up to the event, to actually being there and seeing-
• 6:15
  People enjoy the event. See- seeing people connect with each other is really special, and that, that really gives me a sense of fulfillment, I think. Mm-hmm. Yes. And I've seen you in action in this.
• 6:33
  And actually it, it- last year we ran... It was actually our first event together for, was it IGD? Yes, I think so.
• 6:38
  And you, you were hosting, and I remember telling Eja afterward, I was like, "Mildred's, like, hilariously herself." [laughs] Like, you...
• 6:46
  It was such a funny event because you would just, you had all these, like, quirky games and stuff- [laughs]... that you were playing. And this is a thread that I see constantly come up for you.
• 6:58
  When I think of Mildred, I'm like, "Mildred's Mildred." Mildred is herself.
• 7:03
  And a, two days ago we were running this co-working, um, event for GW members at X and Y, and, uh, one of our members was looking at your Slack profile picture and they were kinda like, [laughs]
• 7:16
  "What's up with your Slack profile picture?" [laughs] 'Cause it's just Mildred, like, drinking a chocolate milk. [laughs] And they, they were like, "You don't look very happy." And you were like, "I'm so happy.
• 7:25
  I'm drinking a chocolate milk." [laughs] And, like, my question is, like, how do you... 'Cause to me there has to be a real element of confidence. Mm-hmm. Um, and I wonder if you feel this.
• 7:34
  I, to, this is what it seems like from the outside of, like, being confident or content with, like, yeah, I'm Mildred, I like chocolate milk, and it's Slack, but whatever. Yeah.
• 7:42
  I'm gonna have a picture of me drinking my chocolate milk. [laughs] Where does that come from? And does that ring true for you? Yeah. No, 100%.
• 7:49
  And I, it's, I think it's funny because I think when I was growing up I was, I was always, like, the kind of, like, quirky person in school, and I was, like, super okay with that.
• 8:01
  I think, um, after, after I finished secondary school and went into uni, I felt very out of my shell and I felt like actually my self-confidence was really low. Mm.
• 8:11
  And I think, like, everyone has elements in which their self-confidence is kind of low, but I think overall I would say that I'm a fairly confident in myself person.
• 8:22
  Um, it was really funny, I went on a trip a few months ago to Sri Lanka with, like, 17 other people. [laughs] And, um,
• 8:31
  we were playing this game of you have to say a statement and people have to guess whether it's true or false. Mm. And my really random one [laughs] I don't know if this is not, not safe for work, but eh, it's whatever.
• 8:44
  [laughs] Um, my, the thing, the statement that I said was, "Oh, I wish I had bigger boobs." [laughs] And everyone immediately was like, "False. That's a lie." [laughs] Mm.
• 8:53
  Like, every single person was like, "That's a lie." And I was like, "That's kind of crazy." [laughs] And it was, it was this thing of like... And then someone else made a comment, say, "Oh, um, you know, you're,
• 9:06
  you're so confident in yourself, like, there is, you, you probably wouldn't want to change, like, a quite big element of yourself." Mm. And yeah, that was, that really stuck with me because I was like, "Oh, okay.
• 9:18
  Uh, do I come across in such a way that people just think I'm, like, a, quite a confidence and self-assured person?" Because I, I wouldn't say that I always feel that way.
• 9:29
  You know, like everyone else, we have our low moments, but yeah, I would say that I am quite a self-assured person, especially in, like, my thoughts and feelings and behaviors.
• 9:44
  I think in terms of the work side, I feel less confident at times, but in terms of the other things in my life, I would say I'm fairly self, self-assured. Mm.
• 9:56
  And when you're in those times of feeling less confident at work, what do you do? How do you, how do you deal with that? How do you get through it? Hmm.
• 10:05
  I try and think about when people have said that I'm good at something, and often I'll, like, screenshot when people have given me, like, a compliment- Mm... at work.
• 10:17
  [laughs] And I save it into my folder of, like, nice things people have said about me. [laughs] Yeah. Literally, I think the folder is literally called Nice Things That People Have Said About Me.
• 10:25
  [laughs] Um, but I think I said this, uh, earlier this week where that's why I really love working with you guys, because you will tell me when I do something well. Mm. And I think that's really valuable in general.
• 10:40
  And I, I, I remember we were saying, like, how has this become a radical thing to just- Mm... to just tell someone like, "Oh, you did a good job." [laughs] Feedback. Uh, yeah, exactly. Feedback. Yeah.
• 10:50
  It's really valuable, and I think that really, for me, it really helps reinforce like, oh, okay, like, this... Especially if it's a specific thing, so okay, this specific thing that I did was good.
• 10:59
  Let me continue doing this specific thing. Mm.
• 11:02
  And I think even in relationships in general, I was talking to a friend about this idea of like when you, when you are in conflict with someone or there's something that you don't like their behavior, how do you approach that?
• 11:19
  Because it's d- it's difficult to change someone's behavior or how they're acting towards you, but when they do it well, you can be like, "Hey, that thing that you did- Mm... actually is how I want you to- Mm-hmm...
• 11:33
  treat me- Mm-hmm... or act and behave." And I think
• 11:38
  that r- that really helps to reinforce the like, oh, okay, like, I, I didn't even, maybe I didn't even notice myself doing this thing, but okay, now that you've pointed it out, I know that this thing is, like, what you would prefer, for example.
• 11:50
  Yeah. One of my... It's so funny that this, uh, applies to humans of all ages.
• 11:56
  I was talking to one of my friends who has a, a toddler, and she was saying she, she's learned that if you say, you know, let's say the toddler, toddler is jumping on the bed, and you, you don't want the ch- Mm...
• 12:08
  they're gonna fall off and bump their head or something.
• 12:09
  And so if you say to a toddler, "Don't jump on the bed," they don't yet have the, like, understanding of what the don't means, so they kinda just hear, like, jump on the bed. So- Ah, okay...
• 12:20
  but if you were, b- but maybe then they were like- I don't know, walking out the door or something, you could then be like, "I really like how you're, like, walking out that door." Right.
• 12:29
  So it's like saying the thing that you want to happen. Mm. Um, and I can see that that can apply... Yeah, the same, like, understanding can apply, um, to all different ages. Mm, so true.
• 12:42
  How do you think about what opportunities you want to say yes to? I know you're someone that has lots of ideas, lots of side quests- Yeah... lots of, many things that you wanna work on.
• 12:56
  And how do you think about what you say yes to and what you say no to? Ooh, this come, really comes down to gut feeling. Mm. And actually, it's a mixture of gut feeling and [laughs] knowing thyself. [laughs] Ooh.
• 13:12
  I think, like, I always say this. I, I... One of the, my favorite things of getting older or just, like, getting more experiences in life is slowly getting to know what you like and don't like. Mm-hmm.
• 13:24
  It doesn't even matter. Like, it could be food, it could be the type of work that you like, the type of people that you like to hang out around.
• 13:31
  And it's such, like, a, I don't know, good experience to have because, like, we s- I don't know, I think a lot of people spend a lot of their time trying to,
• 13:44
  trying to appease every single person in their life and the general masses. Whereas actually, [laughs] should we niche down? [laughs] Oh my God. Oh my God. [laughs] No, no, no, no, no, no. Generalism for life.
• 14:01
  [laughs] That was a quick... [laughs] No, I think, I think this is, this is different. This is more like figuring out the things that you like and don't like, um, just makes life easier- Mm...
• 14:13
  for yourself and for other people, I think. I'm wondering, like, on that generalism for life, like, what does, what does that even mean to you? What does being a generalist mean to you?
• 14:24
  So my go-to answer when people ask about, like, what Generalist World is, um, is it's a community for people who are multidisciplinary and multi-passionate. And I think,
• 14:38
  like, the, the, the way that I would describe myself and what a generalist is i, in general is exactly that.
• 14:47
  And it's, like, even just now when we were, we were trying to describe it to, I forgot her name, but someone here at Ramen Space, it is easy and it is difficult to, to define- Mm...
• 14:59
  um, depending on, like, who you're talking to, I think. But
• 15:04
  generalism to me is just this, [laughs] going back to curiosity, it's this, it's this innate sense of curiosity because it's people who are c- go after the things that they are curious about and happen to develop skills along the way.
• 15:22
  Mm. It's not even about, like, something that, oh, okay, like, maybe I've decided that I really like, uh, [laughs] I keep looking at my tea, making tea.
• 15:31
  [laughs] And for the rest of my life, I, I've, for the rest of my life I make tea. It doesn't even have to be that because sometimes we have fixations that last, I don't know, six months and then it drops off. But- Mm...
• 15:45
  it doesn't mean that you lose the ability to make tea. Mm. You're, you probably will have the sense of, you know, what makes a good tea- Mm... for the rest of your life.
• 15:55
  But it's this, it's this thing of, oh, I'm curious about this thing. I'm actually gonna find out more about it, and
• 16:05
  I will have these skills that I carry with me for the rest of my life that also then transfer to lots of other things that I do. Mm. It's like this idea of like, you know, can we really waste time? Mm.
• 16:19
  And it's like, okay, let's say you learn... We were just, uh, had a podcast with Ellie, and she was in the police for 12 years. Mm. And, uh, then she changed many times actually.
• 16:29
  I think she said after 12 years, she then pivoted every two and a half years. She was pivoting and changing. And I have a belief that you really can't waste time- Mm... if you're, if you're learning and if you are,
• 16:43
  if you're being true to yourself. Mm. I think if you're, if you're not being true to yourself and you're like, "Oh, this really sucks, and I'm not making any, um, active effort to change it-" Mm...
• 16:52
  then you might look back at that with some regret.
• 16:54
  But ultimately, if you're following your curiosity, if you are being true to yourself, I really don't know if you can waste time 'cause you just take those skills with you. Yeah.
• 17:03
  And I think time is, time is, time is subjective. Time is- Mm... time is how you, how you want to... I don't know where I was going with this. Time, I don't know. Time, time is a funny one because it never feels...
• 17:17
  I think when you're doing, when you're doing the things that you like and want to be doing, time oft- will often feel like shrunken. Mm.
• 17:24
  The, it's, it's all, it's, like, going back to that gut feeling of like, oh, okay, how do you, how do you know when you do like something? Well, you, you know because you can feel it, and it feels good in your body. Mm.
• 17:38
  I remember I once read a, a quote from, uh, her name's Veronica. She's, like, one of the partners at, uh, Weekend Fund, which is, like, Ryan Hoover's fund.
• 17:47
  And, uh, she said something that has completely stuck with me for my whole life, and that was, like, work is just a complete construct. Mm. We have completely made up that work is a, is a thing. Mm.
• 18:00
  And all we actually have is time. Mm. And all we actually have is the choice of how you want to spend that time and the people that you wanna spend that time with. Mm-hmm.
• 18:08
  And what you really, I mean, that's like companies and organizations and missions and teams, and it's all, like, the, the, the concept of this work is something that we have just, like, constructed in our own minds. Mm.
• 18:22
  All we have is time. It really makes me think about what we were talking about again on the first day where, how do we, how do we create the work that we don't have to wind down from?
• 18:32
  And this fake idea of work-life balance that Edgar was talking about because what, what, what is work-life balance when work takes up- Probably, uh, the majority of our lives Mm.
• 18:46
  So how, how, how can we have work/life balance when actually we spend most of our lives working?
• 18:53
  How can you continue to do work that you don't like and ultimately feel unaligned, misaligned with for the rest of your life if that, if that is, that is just how we spend most of our time? Mm.
• 19:08
  And I, I really don't like this idea that, "Oh, okay. I will do this after I retire." Mm. The retirement age now is, like... I don't remember how- Going up and up and up. [laughs] S- it's, like, 60 plus or something. Mm.
• 19:21
  Like, 60 plus? Mm. I, yeah, no. [laughs] I can't do that. [laughs] Yeah. The, the, I need to... And I think that's also one of the things that, like, I'm trying to build for myself.
• 19:32
  It's this s- sustainability of doing the work that I wanna do while also living the life that I wanna live. Mm. And I think they are very intertwined. Mm-hmm. And it's not, it's just not separable. Yeah.
• 19:45
  I think it's worth hovering a little bit on, like, how you came to be working with GW- Mm... 'cause I think we have a kind of a unique model in that it's actually really simple. We just hire our community members.
• 19:59
  [laughs] Because it's, like, you know, bigger companies will do this, like, culture fit- Mm...
• 20:05
  and they'll, like, cut people off based on, "Oh, no, you're not a cultural fit," where if you're a active, engaged, happy member of GW, you're probably an excellent- Yeah... culture fit to be a part of the team.
• 20:16
  And so maybe can you, like, just give us a, a high level of, um, how you, how you came to be sitting here? So last year I joined as a member through the Unboxed program. Mm-hmm.
• 20:30
  And I think it was shortly, shortly after I became a member that you guys reached out to me and was like, "We're doing this local leads thing. Would you like to be a local lead and, you know, host events in London?"
• 20:41
  I was like, "Yeah, sounds great." [laughs] Um, I like doing events. I like GW. Perfect fit.
• 20:47
  [laughs] Uh, that, that's also how I met Marta, who is also my co-, uh, London lead, and now we're really close friends, [laughs] which is so nice.
• 20:58
  Yeah, and then a few months down the line, towards the end of last year, 2025, you had a role open up for content lead, and I think you first opened it up into the community.
• 21:11
  I put my, like, little application in, and it was, like, very simple. I was just like, "I, I'm a GW member. I love GW."
• 21:19
  [laughs] I, I, I did, like, a little example of, like, um, an article that I w- would have done or something. Yeah, and then after that, I think I had, like, a call with you guys, and then that was it. I was...
• 21:32
  [laughs] Now I'm a part of GW. [laughs] And now we are in July, so we're, like, about six, seven months in, and yeah. I don't know. It's just, like...
• 21:46
  I always say this to people, that I, I'm so happy to be working with you guys because, one, like, having a small team is, it's just better. [laughs] Mm-hmm.
• 21:56
  I think someone was saying the other day, like, there's just, like, less, a f- fewer points of communication, which I think makes communication- Mm... easier. Sure.
• 22:05
  It's this feedback thing that we were talking about just now, and also you guys are just, like, nice, friendly people who respect people and the fact that we all have our own lives, and we have emotions, high days, low days, all of these things.
• 22:24
  And it's just, it's so important to acknowledge those things in a workplace because, like, like we were talking about, work, as much as we wanna separate work and life, work and life are not separable. Mm.
• 22:38
  Well, we love having you on the team- [laughs]... obviously. And I wonder, like, what's your, what's your dreams, or what's your hope for what this role could become? I don't know.
• 22:50
  I think, I think the true answer is I don't know- Mm... because in very generalist nature, like, there are, there are so many things that I could do and would like to do.
• 23:03
  So much of being a part of GW is working with you guys. Mm-hmm. And it's, the, the, the what itself is not as important- Mm... if that makes sense. Mm-hmm.
• 23:15
  I know that a cop-out answer, but the what is not as important because if the culture and the people are good, the actual thing itself is not as important- Mm-hmm... in my opinion. I don't think that is a cop-out answer.
• 23:28
  [laughs] I think that's a really on-the-head, or, like, on-the-nose answer. Mm. And I think a lot of the world of work goes about it backward. Mm.
• 23:36
  And we start with the what, and we're like, "I'm going to be a, a head of ops, and that's what I'm going for," and then everything else kinda comes secondary.
• 23:44
  And then you're like, you know, three months in, and you're like, "Oh, this is not the vibe at all." Yeah. And we kinda joke that w- we run on vibes- Yeah, yeah... a little bit. And, like, long may that continue.
• 23:54
  I hope it can. Mm-hmm. Um, so far so good. I feel like the more vibey we get, the, the more successful we're becoming. Um, so I j- I, I'm just gonna keep running with it until, until that doesn't work. Yeah.
• 24:07
  And I, I lo- I love that we run on vibes, actually. [laughs] I don't know how Eja feels about it. [laughs] But yeah, I, I, I think, like, when we had our Monday doing,
• 24:22
  like, brainstorming, dreaming, all of those things, [laughs] I think b- before, before Eja came, me and Millie, uh, we were there for, like, an hour and, um, we wrote, we wrote, like, the things that we wanna do.
• 24:35
  And it was like, "Have fun. Spend time with each other dreaming." And then Eja came, was like, "I think we should talk about, like, the, uh, operations- [laughs]... or, like, how is this gonna work?"
• 24:44
  [laughs] And I was like, "Oh, yeah. [laughs] You're so right." [laughs]I don't know.
• 24:51
  It's- it's very similar to what I said to Lindsay, um, who used to work with GW and is also a close friend with you guys that I think the more authentic that we are to ourselves and the less that we police ourselves, I think the more permission we give our- give ourselves to be who we are.
• 25:14
  And actually, people can see that and can feel that, and I think it's- it's what draw people to us. Mm. And it's really important.
• 25:28
  And I think actually something that really stuck with me was, um, there was once someone messaged me on LinkedIn offering to...
• 25:36
  offering something, I can't remember what, and I posted it into our GW Slack with just us saying, "What do we think of this? Do we wanna take this person's offer?" And you said, "How do you feel about it?
• 25:53
  What is your gut instinct?" Mm. And I was like, "No." [laughs] Mm. And I think that was really- that was really nice for me because
• 26:06
  instinctually in a workplace, I'm- I want to defer to you- Mm-hmm... or AJ, and I'll be like, "What do you guys think? Tell me- tell me what to do." Mm-hmm.
• 26:17
  And in that moment when you're like, "We trust you to make the decision," I was like, "Damn, you trust me to make the decision?" [laughs] Yeah. That was- that was a really nice feeling.
• 26:28
  And w- k- yeah, it came back to my point of like, oh, okay, they trust me to be who I am, and they trust my judgment. That is such an important point because I think that trust is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Mm.
• 26:41
  And this is where things go wrong when you get micromanaged, which I have been in the past, where what they're really saying is, "I actually don't trust you." Mm. I don't trust you.
• 26:49
  And if we're a team and we don't trust each other, then something really fundamental is missing. Mm. And I think it's- it's...
• 26:57
  Maybe I'm even a bit too [laughs] too far on this spectrum of trusting, but I would default to that. I would default to trusting the people around me. And therefore, I found that people step up- Mm...
• 27:12
  because they're, "Oh, okay. She trusts me, so gosh, I better- I better be trustworthy." Mm. So it feels like a self-fulfilling loop.
• 27:18
  Are there any other, like, philosophies that either, could be work or personal, that you like to live by?
• 27:25
  One of the things that I think is really important to me is the understanding that everything lives in the nuance, and that...
• 27:33
  I- I don't know where this is from, but I have it- I have it- I wrote it down when I saw it, um, and it's now stuck on my computer. It says, "Binaries are false idols." And- Mm... it's- Mm.
• 27:44
  [laughs] I- I really like it because I think we live in a world of very strict binaries, and it- it often f- especially politically, it often feels like it's either- it's either you're right or you're wrong. Mm.
• 27:59
  And understandably, some of the time, yes, it is- it is a right/wrong situation, but it's not, actually most of the time I think it's not. And
• 28:11
  my- my belief, my firm belief, is that if we- if we took the time to understand people and understand each other more, we would really come to understand that
• 28:24
  binaries are false idols, and that we have far more in common than anyone thinks. Mm. Far more in common than what we can just see online from people's comments. And I love to look at comments.
• 28:37
  [laughs] Um, but actually- actually, sometimes the comments also do give the nuance because I wanna see what other people are- Mm... thoughts are about it.
• 28:48
  E- even as- if it's, like, a- an article on Instagram having a specific opinion, you know, people are stating their different opinions in the comments. And
• 28:58
  yeah, I think- I think we are often too quick to judge, myself included. Sometimes I think pa- part of that thing of getting older and starting to know what you like and don't like, it's also a sense of feeling like, oh,
• 29:13
  I know more. But it's not always the case, and I think it can be quite humbling to remember that I don't know everything. Yeah. The more you know, the more you realize you don't know. Yeah. Right?
• 29:30
  Is there anything that I haven't asked you? A... could be questions, could be an idea, could be a memory, a thought, whatever, that you want to have the chance to speak about while you've got the mic.
• 29:43
  Maybe we can touch a little bit on, like, different versions of ourselves- Oh... because I think we kind of talked about that at dinner yesterday.
• 29:50
  And, like, you were talking about all of the different lives that you've led. Mm. Oh, and also- and also life, death, life. [laughs] Sorry, our favorite one this week. [laughs] Yes.
• 30:02
  I, like, both- both of those are interconnected because, you know, I w- I guess I wanna talk about, like, the different versions of ourselves that we go into in the process of our lives and how you-
• 30:18
  how you transition and how you maybe grieve that, a past version of yourself and step into a newer version of yourself. Mm. They're totally interconnected. Yeah.
• 30:27
  My coach really helped me, uh, see something that was right in front of me, which I think is the goal or the job of a coach, right? Mm-hmm. They're like, "Oh, yeah. Okay. Now I see it." And I was describing- [laughs]...
• 30:38
  uh, my different identities and different, like, versions of myself as, like, an evolution. And she was like, "It's almost..." She's like, "To me, it seems like it's more like a reincarnation." Mm. Life, death, life.
• 30:52
  And I was like, "Yeah, and they do feel a bit different," in that- To evolve, it's often like a linear thing, you know?
• 31:00
  It's like from one thing to the next, to the next, to the next where often I feel like the identity shifts that I've gone through has required things to die. Mm.
• 31:07
  Has required parts of myself and parts of how I see myself and perceive myself, and probably how others perceive me as well just to die, just to be pruned. And like, you know, I always come back to gardening, um,
• 31:20
  references. And how does that show up for you? Like, when you look, when you think of the different identities of Mildred over the years, um, how does that show up for you?
• 31:30
  I, I really love the pruning analogy as well, and I, I actually think, like, I have, I have plants in my house, and it's one of my favorite things when you can, you can see that, like, a leaf is dying or, like, it needs to, it needs to be pruned or something like that.
• 31:46
  And, like, when I take the leaf off I'm like, "Okay, I'm taking this leaf off because I know that actually something else is coming." Mm. Like, I know that by taking this leaf off m- new growth is coming. Yeah.
• 31:56
  And, like, it's just so like, it's like wow. [laughs] Oh my God, nature. [laughs] And, uh, yeah. Uh, okay. In terms of for me, I think the reincarnation thing that you mentioned is actually really interesting.
• 32:10
  I think I've often viewed my life as more an evolution, I think because if... I, I can, I can see the, like, thread that goes through all of it, like the core of myself that goes through it.
• 32:24
  Um, and those core things are things like curiosity and love, maybe. Mm. But I think, uh, I think I often see, [laughs] I often see my life as pre...
• 32:36
  Uh, I, I had, I had, like, what I define as a pretty big breakup when I was i- uh, 21. I see my life as, like, pre that breakup and post that breakup. Mm, interesting.
• 32:49
  And I say that because it felt like such a fundamental shift, and I can't, I can never really describe what the shift was. Mm. But I know that I had to die in order to be then, like, reborn. Mm.
• 33:04
  And I started getting really into these concepts. And actually that's probably when I also learned about, like, the idea of life, death, life. You know- Mm... thing, things must die in order for new things to grow. And,
• 33:21
  um, was when I first started thinking about more, more about spirituality. And I mean, I grew up Christian, so that's like a whole other thing, but yeah.
• 33:33
  I think, I think spirituality is a really important part of my life, and that for me post-breakup was like a- Mm... big going a bit more woo-woo, more spirituality, more self-reflection, more into myself. Mm-hmm.
• 33:50
  Um, and I think is a really big, was a, like, a big rocket push into who the, the rest of th- my life trajectory I think. Hmm. And for anyone being like, "What are they talking about, life, death, life?"
• 34:03
  I'm gonna plug it, Woman Who Run With the Wolves, the best book for me of all time, probably my most gifted book of all time. And if you're curious just come and, come and DM us, and we'll, [laughs] we'll talk about it.
• 34:18
  Um, Mildred, this has been wonderful. We're so grateful to have you a part of the team. And if anyone is listening and you read the newsletter, it's Mildred writing it. [laughs] It's a human. Yeah. Yay. Thank you.
• 34:31
  So thank you so much. This has been wonderful. Yay, thank you. Boop-boop.