In this captivating episode of The Self-Growth Train Podcast, listeners are invited on a journey of self-expression and emotional exploration alongside guest Gwen Constantino. As a fervent advocate for creativity and mental health, Constantino shares profound insights and experiences, emphasizing creativity's role in personal growth, problem-solving, and self-discovery. Throughout the conversation, she highlights the transformative power of embracing creativity, offering practical strategies for tapping into creative energies and overcoming common obstacles and self-doubt in the process.
Delving into the significance of creativity in fostering personal development, Constantino shares her personal journey of unlocking creative potential and the valuable lessons learned along the way. From practical techniques to philosophical discussions on the relationship between creativity and fulfillment, this episode offers invaluable inspiration for aspiring artists, entrepreneurs, and anyone seeking to infuse more creativity into their lives. Join The Self-Growth Train Podcast for an engaging exploration of creativity's boundless possibilities and its potential to spark personal growth and transformation.
In this captivating episode of The Self-Growth Train Podcast, listeners are invited on a journey of self-expression and emotional exploration alongside guest Gwen Constantino. As a fervent advocate for creativity and mental health, Constantino shares profound insights and experiences, emphasizing creativity's role in personal growth, problem-solving, and self-discovery. Throughout the conversation, she highlights the transformative power of embracing creativity, offering practical strategies for tapping into creative energies and overcoming common obstacles and self-doubt in the process.
Delving into the significance of creativity in fostering personal development, Constantino shares her personal journey of unlocking creative potential and the valuable lessons learned along the way. From practical techniques to philosophical discussions on the relationship between creativity and fulfillment, this episode offers invaluable inspiration for aspiring artists, entrepreneurs, and anyone seeking to infuse more creativity into their lives. Join The Self-Growth Train Podcast for an engaging exploration of creativity's boundless possibilities and its potential to spark personal growth and transformation.
Hello, my dear passengers, and welcome aboard a self-growth train, a parca, that combines personal stories, opinions and research in order to better guide you through your self-growth journey. My name is Frances Maritiva Rapacheco and I am your turn guide. First, I just want to say thank you for tuning back in for season number 7, episode 3. I am so excited and I also wanted to apologize, because it's supposed to be a my weekly episode. I don't know what happened that it didn't go as scheduled. And then, when I went to look at the video, I realized I hadn't finished editing it, but I had already scheduled it, but somehow it didn't go in. Then I got a new job and I've just been training, training, training, non-stop for it and I am exhausted, but I love, love, love, love, love my new job. So it's all totally worth it.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:Anyway, anyhow, I am very excited for today's episode because guess what? I have my first official, you know, mental health professional, and it's so exciting because I know that's something that you guys have been asking me for, and the fact that I was able to book someone so fast and also someone who's so good at it. I'm so excited. So, without further ado, here's today's episode. Stay tuned. Today I am here with Gwen Contastino, right Constantino, very close, gwen Contastino. She is a licensed mental health counselor certified in dialectical behavioral therapy. Welcome, gwen, how are you doing today?
Gwen Constantino:I'm doing wonderful. Thank you so much for having me on the show.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:Of course I'm just. I'm very excited because when I originally talked to you about being a guest on the podcast, I was like I don't know what specifically you want to talk about. And you were like, can I talk about creativity and mental health? And I was like, absolutely, and I recently did a podcast live event on Facebook and literally when I asked people, I was like what is one topic that you want to talk about? And they were like creativity and I was like listen, this episode is coming up, so why creativity and mental health?
Gwen Constantino:Yeah, so I mean, I think this is something that a lot of people don't really think of initially, when they think of what can I do to improve my mental health, which is really kind of ironic when you consider the fact that most people who have a basic understanding of child development know that for children, creativity is their way of making sense of the world.
Gwen Constantino:You know, their brains are these little sponges that are just absorbing everything around them and they use play and creativity to make meaning in ways that you can't just do verbalizing or talking about something. What I think a lot of people don't realize is just how valuable that same thing is. When you are an adult, you know we still have that front and center part of our brain that's in charge of executive function, planning, organizing, staying on top of things, but behind the curtain we are still those little sponges that are just absorbing the world around us and trying to make meaning out of it. And so the more you engage in creative activities, really you are taking care of that inner child that still has that sense of wonder and creativity and imagination.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:I love that you took it back to like early child development, because, like so, as you know, I teach acting for kids, and so one of the things that I love to say is I prefer to work with kids because they allow themselves to use their imagination and they allow themselves to fail and fail again and fail again, and it's something that, like, as adults, we stray away from because society says, like, making errors is not necessarily like the best thing in the world.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:Like, we strive to be like this perfect version of ourselves, whereas with kids, yes, there are times that there are certain kids that are like, meaner than others, or there are more I don't know how to say like more, quote unquote adult like, and they're like into criticizing, like whatever they do, but a lot of times, especially through creativity, they're able to not only understand the world but also, like, create their own space for themselves in it, which is something that, like, I absolutely love, because, as adults, again, we kind of lose our identity, if you really think about it, because we're trying to mesh and clash, like all these other things that people want us to be, which is, in a way, I guess, creative, but like not in the right way. Well, how did you personally define creativity?
Gwen Constantino:I think that at the foundation of creativity is always play. I think that as kids, we are allowed to play and there isn't this sense of self-consciousness, the shame around it, Whereas adults, if you're playing the ideas, work hard, play hard Like they have to be. These two separate entities. In reality, we still crave that desire to just become fully immersed in something that we're enjoying, that we're developing a skill, yes, but that's the residual benefit. That's not really the purpose of play. When I encourage clients to engage in creativity, it's not so that they're going to become an expert at something. A lot of times that does happen. They become much better at something the more they practice it. But creativity is about engaging in that flow of play of not caring what other people are thinking about you, not comparing what you're doing to somebody else, just doing something, because in that moment you really love it and it's pulling you into this moment.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:I love that so much because, when you look at creativity by the submission, especially psychology today defines it as the ability to discover new and original ideas, connections and solutions to problems. Me personally, there was a time where I was in the Innovation Academy at the University of Florida. The way that we define creativity was finding a solution to a problem. They kind of streaked the way, the play aspect of it, because it was just like literally every single time that you wake up, let's say you're late, and you wake up and you're like, oh my gosh, what am I going to do, that's a creative moment, because at that point you're trying to reach a goal and you're just trying to get there as fast as you can because you're late. So I love that you're focusing it on the play aspect and you said something that I now I cannot remember specifically what you said. Oh, yes, you were talking about kids again, the concept of playing. I think it's so intriguing to play hard, work hard.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:I think it's so intriguing that men a lot of times are allowed to have like their main caves and they can play video games and they can keep their I don't know their memorabilia of like the things that they used to do as kids, whereas women we don't tend to be able to do that. Like, even right now, like in my room, I think you can see, look, that's my moon Paul and I love my moon Paul. And like I'm 29 years old and my mom is just like you're an adult, like why are you holding on to this teddy bear thing? And I'm like I don't know. It just makes me feel so joyful and it like, first of all, it's also a weighted. It's also a weighted stuff animal, so it helps. It touches like the places that it needs to to like make me feel like more relaxed and like also just loved period.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:But I think it's also so intriguing that, like, as we grow older, also like culturally, there's certain things that we're expected, and I'm not just saying about sex, it's just something that I have noticed is sex and age, those two things like oh my gosh, like it's totally acceptable for a guy in their 30s to be playing video games, but a woman, if they decided to play with dolls or if they decided to have like what is that thing? Like those little houses, like little houses, like, then it's like oh, she should be focused on, like getting an education and doing something else. So I love that you keep like bringing it back to play, because I feel like we don't focus a lot on the actual play in like whenever people say play hard is more to refer to like going out to drink and like doing things with friends, but just going back to like focusing to your ability to have a moment to like express your creativity and just like kind of endorse it. I love that. I love that you keep bringing it back to that.
Gwen Constantino:Yeah, of course, and I mean I'm also looking at it through the lens of mental health because, absolutely, creativity can be very goal focused. Like you said, when you're being creative with a direct purpose in mind, you're trying to create something, you're trying to accomplish a goal that is creative. But when you're using creativity as a tool to improve your mental health, a lot of times the residual benefit is the product, it's not the purpose. It's like you're doing it for the sake of the activity, to pull you out of the anxiety of tomorrow, of all the what ifs that we worry about as adults, and it's helping you to maybe step away from ruminating on the past, which oftentimes can lead to higher depression levels. You're not focused on what could have been or all of the negatives of life. You're not allowing yourself to get totally drowned in the negative thoughts. You are channeling what you care about into an activity for the purpose of enjoying that activity.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:And like the fact that we're talking about, like the positive effects. I did have a question. When it comes to mental health, how can it possibly affect?
Gwen Constantino:creativity? Yeah, of course. So a lot of times the reason I stress the need for creativity is because people don't think of that as a go to intervention for helping people with mental health challenges. You know, I do, as you mentioned, I do dbt therapy, which was designed for higher risk populations, people who are just really struggling with day to day functioning. Maybe they struggle with interpersonal situations, they have a hard time managing their emotions. When distressing situations come up, it's completely a catastrophe, and so the skills that you're teaching them are how to manage day to day activities in life that everybody has to face as an adult. But where I think creativity can be incorporated into that is through the mindfulness component. You know, dbt is all about pulling you into this moment, and when you do it with something that you're really enjoying, that's helping you to identify with that inner child who has that, you know, curiosity about the world. That is a tool that can help you to manage your emotions and just have an overall much more positive outlook on life.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:And you know I have to be all-compassing and like discover everything. Is there any way that mental health can negatively affect your creativity?
Gwen Constantino:Oh, absolutely. I mean I think you've already kind of hit the nail on the head that, with the pressure of being an adult, we are constantly being hit against other people. So there's that sense of shame, that inadequacy, that feeling like if you aren't giving 100% or you aren't really really good at something, you somehow there's no value in what you're doing. And so when you're experiencing that, you know at level 10, which is a lot of times what you are feeling when you're maybe really struggling with depression or anxiety or other forms of mental illness yeah, that can definitely deplete your desire to do anything creative.
Gwen Constantino:My best advice when I'm working with people who come in and are resistant to the idea of being creative is just try something that you know you probably would like if you weren't feeling this depressed. It's kind of a chicken in the egg situation. You feel like you can't do the thing until you want to do it and have the energy and motivation. In reality, that motivation comes from doing the thing. Even if you only devote five minutes to an activity that you know you normally would enjoy, you are building momentum to want to do it again and through that that's kind of how you get your creative juices flowing.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:And I love that because, so for context, like I've recently been going through a breakup and it's been like up and down, up and down, up and down, and one of the things when I was at this psychiatric slash psychology program was I was talking about how I'm in the process of writing this book and there's times where I'm so depressed where I'm just like I don't want to work on this book, even though I'm passionate about this book, even though I'm passionate about this podcast, for example, there's times where I don't want to do it. And so it's interesting because, like for me, some of the writers that I've followed over the years, right like I'm talking to, like Edgar Allen Poe, sylvia Plath, like all of these people and Ernest Hemingway those are three of, like, the most quote unquote depressive people yeah, depression combo there.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:It was like the depression trifecta.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:It just intrigued me because, like, a lot of them were able to kind of channel that depression through their art.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:And there's times where it's like I want to do that, but I'm also scared that if I do that, I'm going to go into, like down this rabbit hole of like all I can focus on is like the negative sides of it.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:So I feel like, at least for me, like it's very hard to balance being able to like deal with my mental health situations, deal with my grief and my loss and like my lack of whatever, like self-esteem, because sometimes, like my self-esteem does go down a lot and then, like also put it into my creativity, because that's another thing, like especially with doing a self growth, self improvement podcast. A lot of the times I talk about my personal life right, because that's my choice, that's how I decided to start this podcast. This is my definition of raw in my definition of vulnerability, but at the same time it can be so overwhelming and it is exhausting, and so, Again, there's times where I'm like, yeah, I want to do the podcast and yeah, I want to do it exactly what I said that I was gonna do it. But how do you find that balance of endorsing your creativity but also not letting it drain you and take you down this rabbit hole?
Gwen Constantino:Well, I mean, I think that it's. It can be really tricky and obviously my go-to Response for that would be if you really feel like you're struggling with some pretty intense painful emotions, don't be afraid to talk to a professional about it to help guide you through that process. You know, when it comes to creativity, there are a lot of modalities for therapy that incorporate creative activities like writing, art, music, things that will help you to Express what you're feeling, to take those raw emotions and pull them out of you in a way that just talking alone might not accomplish. But by doing it with a therapist, you are bouncing it off of somebody else who's able to validate what your experience is, able to witness that grief, make you feel seen and heard and maybe challenge you to Refrain some of your experiences through a more empowering, compassionate lens. You know, putting the raw data out there is the first step and it's it can be extremely cathartic and amazing. But taking that extra step to have another person to bounce these thoughts off of, to say, how would you interpret this?
Gwen Constantino:Maybe from a more From a place of empowerment, which is huge for trauma work, like a lot of times, trauma-focused therapy does have people write out the most painful of painful Experiences and to discuss it in a way, that's okay. But how did you come out of this? Because you're not a victim, you are a survivor. You have survived something that, by all accounts, you may have expected it would absolutely break you, but you're crawling out of the rubble and you're still here. How?
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:I love that and it reminds me of something that One of my therapists used to say, when, like, he would want us to like talk about like the things that were going on in our lives, and he's like, I don't want you to re experience it, I just want you to give me the bullet version of it. He's like, how can you tell me this in a way that you inform me but you don't relive it? And that, for me, was very powerful because, again, like I'm still in this learning environment of I want to be Clear and honest about the things that I'm feeling but, at the same time, I don't want to put myself in a position where I'm like reliving these experiences, like this trauma, discreet, like all of this stuff. So I think that, like, I love how you said it, it was beautifully said and I you said something, you said a phrase that I really, really loved and I cannot remember it right now, but when I go back I'm gonna write it and I'm gonna text it to you, and I was like this is exactly the part that I really, really Love that you said what have you found for yourself, or like even for your patients, to be like the best Creative outlet.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:When somebody really says you know what? I am in such a big depression or I'm in such this like Moment of anxiety that I don't even remember what I like anymore, what would you say is the first creative outlet that you like recommend for them?
Gwen Constantino:Well, I am a writer by by nature. I just love creative writing in any form. So I do try to get my own clients to write about their experiences as much as they can and to bring it in to process with me. This is something that my own therapist has done with me. So I do it with my clients because I know from personal experience how impactful that can be. I think that and writing isn't for everyone, you know that's not everybody's go-to outlet, but for me I think that that's maybe a medium that most people can relate to on some level even, and going into it, recognizing you don't have to produce a masterpiece, you just have to produce something that speaks to you and that tells your truth and I remember that there was I Think was like an article one time that where it was like if, if you get recommended to write and you don't know where to start, just always start your your prompt with, I remember when Okay For me, because I'm like I don't again like writing this book.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:There's days that I'm like I don't know what to write and I'll start it like it whenever I'm writing a little bit, I'm like I remember when and I'm like whatever first story comes to mind, we're gonna talk about that today, we're gonna try to incorporate it or leave it for another chapter. No, I think I think it's great and I think one of things that you just said that I love when you said it were my therapist Used it with me and I use it with my clients like I love the fact that mental health professionals see other mental health professionals, because a lot of times people have this misconception of like, oh, their mental health professional, like they would never seek help, and it's like no, that's exactly why they seek help, because they know they need it too.
Gwen Constantino:Absolutely. I mean, every single person in the world has some blind spot that is preventing them from solving problems in their lives, and you don't have to have a severe mental illness to benefit from therapy, I mean therapist. Go to other therapists, because those other therapists are going to bring a totally different perspective into your life that might help you to clear up your own blind spots.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:Going back to creativity, have you seen your creativity increase this year or decrease this year? Because I'm curious, because, like this past year, what would you say has happened with your creativity?
Gwen Constantino:Oh my gosh. Well, I've had a lot of changes in the past year. I've switched jobs, I've gotten married, I've moved. So I think when I Thank you.
Gwen Constantino:It's been a wild whirlwind of a year, but all very good things. In terms of creativity, though, I think that you know, when you initially asked me that question, when I Agreed to do the podcast, I was thinking, well, what do I do that's creative? But then I started really thinking about it and I think that Over the years, I have just incorporated creative activities into my daily life to the point where I don't even really think about it. Like Every single day I do something creative, whether it's writing, reading. I love playing piano, I'm decorating my apartment right now and having so much fun with it and, you know, thankfully I have a husband who can do the heavy lifting for me. When I have a vision, you can't quite figure out how to make it work. So, yeah, I think that you don't have to go into it with this mindset of, if I can't do this perfectly, I shouldn't even bother. Like, just find something that you know for like 10 minutes a day you're going to probably have some fun with, and the creativity comes.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:Thank you for saying that, because that is an issue that I have. I'm like, ok, like I have my calendar and I have my planner and I'm like I must set up this hour to do things. And then I find myself sitting and watching and then, like I'm going to be honest, sometimes I go so hard on myself. I'm just like for us and money, why would you watch? Like that is not creative. You should be working on the book, you should be doing this thing. And I have found that this year see opposite to you, my year has also been a whirlwind, but I would say it has been mostly negative. But I try to stick to positivity as much as I can because, like, if I was going to sit here and just give in to like the negative yeah, like I wouldn't I probably wouldn't be here. I would not be able to like do the podcast. I would be sleeping all day. I would like I would really give in to my depression and make a home out of it. So I do. I do enjoy getting out and like being positive, but I can't. I can't say that like being positive doesn't lead to, at times, also being negative, like one of the things that I also was very honest and vulnerable about on the podcast Was that for the first time ever, I'm struggling with suicidal thoughts and ideations, but on a consistent thing. Because, yeah, there's been times where, like I don't know, like something happens and I'm like, oh, what would happen if I wasn't here? Like the little things like that? Yeah, but for me to have it so consistently and so presently and so like I don't know, like I would even say like daily, for a while it was just like daily and I'm like I know this is not me and it's just kind of crawling out of that hole. And part of like what helped me honestly was this podcast, because I was like I have to spot guys about self growth and initially my first thought was, again, let's talk about how society wants this to be and like creativity, I was like, okay, so I have this podcast where I can be myself, but like society doesn't want to hear about a podcast host that is struggling with this and I'm like, wait, hold up, absolutely not. Like that is exactly what my podcast is for is to talk about the things that I'm struggling with.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:Now, again, I get to decide how much I get to share or how many things I get comfortable with discussing, but for me personally, I'm a big advocate of like, talking about everything and this stigmatizing as many things as we can, and this year, especially this second half of 2023, like it's been honestly just me being like oh my gosh, god, can you please stop sending me all of this stuff? Like I made a joke on the last episode that I did with my best, one of my best friends. I was like he keeps sending me lessons, but I'm good, like I'm good. Like I'm good for two years, like let's recap in two years, but like right now I'm like like I don't need anymore. At the same time, however, I do recognize that all of the things that are happening, like the negative, I can creatively turn them into positives or use them for the good of other people, because sometimes I don't think they're necessarily for my good. But we'll see.
Gwen Constantino:Yeah, absolutely, and you know you raise really interesting points just about the human experience, which of course, connects to creativity. To have really strong mental health you have to be vulnerable to your full range of emotions, which again, I'm coming at it from a dbt perspective. A lot of times I Part of what we do with dbt is have clients track their emotions every single day on a scale of one to five. You pick a couple of positive, a couple of negative emotions, but the point isn't to say one is good, one is bad. They all are and we just want to see where they are and to help people embrace that vulnerability that comes with acknowledging.
Gwen Constantino:Today, my depression is through the roof, I'm feeling sad, I'm feeling intimidated, I'm feeling insecure, feeling angry, I'm feeling jealous. These negative emotions that maybe Difficult, but they are inherently bad because they are part of what allows us to feel our positive emotions. It's that full range, that full spectrum which you know as an acting teacher, obviously you're familiar with. You know to be really strong with my snare. You need to be able to access all of those emotions, not just the positive, because that doesn't make for an authentic human experience, which is why what you are trying to create through art oh, my snare, my snare, my snare and I have a loving relationship.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:I need to get back to my obviously, now that you you said that because, like, one of the things that I remember back when I was training with in my snare was, wow, like it's so nice to let go, it's so nice to like not have a filter, like, yes, obviously it's a repetition exercise where you're repeating exactly what the other person is saying and then you say other words. But the point is that, like, in terms of like the things that you're allowed to do within that space, it's you're limitless. Essentially, obviously, you can't hurt other people, but I'm saying like you can yell, you can like Cry uncontrollably, you can like I don't know like, I feel like Meisner should honestly be taught at every school, like creativity and art and Meisner, those three I'm like, yes, they must definitely be taught in schools because, like, I just feel like it's such a great outlet to let all of those emotions Go and a lot of times, like, a lot of people think I might be a passenger. If you have never seen Meisner, I totally Recommend that you go and watch people do Meisner. You go and you try it yourself, because I'm telling you. It's very Sorry and it's amazing, but one of the things that people don't realize is I don't go To the studio with my emotions like, yes, I'm feeling my own emotions from my day-to-day living, but as I'm watching people portrayed, these Characters are like going through their own turmoil of emotions.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:In that moment that's where my own emotions start building and, yes, they might be like affected by things that are happening in my real life. Like I remember this, one time there was like there was two students like doing Meisner, and it was a guy and it was a girl, and the guy was getting aggressive. It was very, very, very aggressive and like that's something that triggers me, because I've been around that type of energy before and I got very defensive and I was like I have to go in there and I'm like all the times that I didn't fight these aggressive people in my life, like this is the time to do it. So I just I wish that we had, like Meisner as like a Structure for everyone to follow whenever they're like feeling, like super, like earlier you were talking about dbt and how you Rate the emotions based on like what, like what number you're at.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:I think it will be interesting and I don't know, maybe you do this to see, like, what type of activities, especially creative activities, help with which emotions, because I know that for me, when I'm angry, I need to move. I Need to move and I like hitting things. So, for example, like, if I can grab I don't know, like what is it like a mallet or something and just be doing like woodwork woodwork or probably be the best option for me. Honestly, when I'm mad, but I'm happy, I'm very like and very angry and it's like okay, dancing, dancing is the one that I want to do. So have you ever done that? Where you like, tell them, like, have to notice which one of these you want to do.
Gwen Constantino:Yeah, no, I really haven't thought about specifically tailoring which creative activities go with which emotion, but I do think that through different activities you can access emotions that maybe Don't come as naturally for you to let go of, to allow yourself to express. For me, I found that you know, doing Meisner through acting training, I Really struggle with allowing myself to not win. That was a feedback that I got. A lot was it's okay to lose. You don't have to win every time, and that's just kind of how I am in life. So I mean, you learn so much about yourself through these activities of you know, what is it about? The vulnerability of losing that is so terrifying for you? These are things that you can figure out and, you know, do something with if that's something that you want to do, explore about yourself. So so I guess long-winded way of saying yes, I agree that different forms of art do help you to access different emotions and just Figure out more about where you have room to grow well, good, I have one last question for you.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:Oh, where are you in your self-growth journey and where are you striving to get?
Gwen Constantino:Well, I, as I've said, it's been a whirlwind of a year. I think that I've done a lot of self-growth this year just in terms of Figuring out what I want out of the next chapter of my life, and I think that, you know, incorporating creativity into that helps me stay focused on who I am, what my values are, where I have room to continue, you know, developing myself as a person. Obviously, having a Partner who's super supportive and also, you know, really into creative activities, can be extremely enriching as well.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:Well, gwen, thank you so much for being here today. I've like, honestly, I love it. I've never met in person, but now I want to hang out with you. You sound really cool and I love everything that you said. I think, like there's so much that we still need to discover, we creativity but I love specifically one of the messages that you said today was just being creative every day, like giving it this for just five minutes, like that's. That can be so life-changing. So I'm definitely going to do that because I need to, and I will let you know how it goes. I Can't wait to hear.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:Well, I don't know if you've ever heard on episode, but at the end I do. Can I get out? And then we do shoo, shoo like a train. Okay, okay, okay, so can I get up? Well, my dear passengers, the time has come for me to thank you so very much for tuning back in and listening to season number 7.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:As you know, self growth is an endless journey to our self improvement. However, you don't ever have to do it alone. As your tour guide, my goal is to guide you with the best intentions and the best research available, which means, if you haven't gone back to seasons 1 through 6, what are you waiting for? There are so many resources in each one of those episodes and I can tell you and I believe that there's always a nugget of wisdom that can help you or help somebody else that you know that is going through a similar situation. If you go through all of the episodes in your life, francis, you know what. None of these go with anything that is happening in my life. None of these go with anything that is happening to any of my friends' life. You know what you can do. You can reach out to me on social media and my email and the website, whichever you prefer, and go ahead and send me a message about what you're going through, or maybe the topics that you're interested in, because I want to make sure that there's resources for everyone out there. And maybe there's just a topic that I have never thought about and I wouldn't have thought about it if you hadn't reached out to me.
Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:Having said that, friendly reminder that you can find me in so many different social media platforms I'm talking Facebook, instagram, tiktok, youtube, email and even a website. All you have to do is look up the Self-Growth Train Podcast at gmailcom for the email and then for everything else. If you're looking for my handle, it's literally just the Self-Growth Train Podcast. Oh, and another thing that you could really really do to help me out would be to write a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Podcaster. Why? Because I want other people to find this podcast, and I also want to hear whether you think this is helpful or not helpful and what areas I can improve on, because, after all, that is the purpose of this podcast. As always, all the resources used today have been added to the episode description. Well, unto the next up. Dear passengers, safe travels.
Gwen Constantino:Bye.