Empowered by Hope

From Isolation to Empowerment: Jamie Olson's Journey in Building a Special Needs Community Through Uniquely You Magazine

Emily K. Whiting and Ashlyn Thompson Episode 66

Send us a text, we want to hear from you!

Jamie Olson, publisher of "Uniquely You Magazine," joins us to share her transformative journey from isolation to empowerment. Her story begins with her raising her 12-year-old son with autism, epilepsy, and nonverbal communication, and her relentless quest to find community and resources. Dive into how her involvement with Purposeful Living Inc. not only healed her but also inspired her to create a lifeline for other parents through her magazine.

As COVID turned the world upside down, Jamie saw a divine opportunity to launch a special needs magazine, drawing from her experiences and a lack of existing resources. "Uniquely You Magazine" became a beacon of hope for families with special needs children, initially in Indiana and now expanding to Ohio and Michigan. Jamie shares how this free monthly resource connects over 30,000 families with vital information. Hear about the magazine's mission to celebrate the stories and milestones of individuals with disabilities and its powerful community impact.

We also explore the profound healing that comes from sharing personal stories, especially for those newly navigating the complex world of medical diagnoses. Jamie emphasizes the necessity of building support circles, offering practical advice and resources like "The Surrender Experiment" by Michael Singer. She passionately underscores the strength found in vulnerability and community connection, encouraging listeners to reach out if they need support. Together, we remind everyone that they are not alone on this journey, reinforcing the power of community, empathy, and shared experiences.

"At Uniquely You Magazine, we believe in the transformative power of storytelling. Sharing personal experiences not only fosters connection but also empowers individuals and families to navigate their unique journeys with confidence and resilience.

Join us in supporting this vital publication and experience the profound impact of sharing your story. Explore our archive of past issues, connect with fellow community members, and discover invaluable resources:"

Indiana: https://linktr.ee/uniquelyyouindiana

Michigan: https://linktr.ee/uniquelyyoumichigan

We kindly ask that you share this podcast with other families who might benefit from our insights and support. Additionally, please take a brief moment to leave a review on your preferred podcast platform, which helps us to reach as many families as possible who are navigating this challenging journey, so they can find our support circle and access the assistance they rightfully deserve. No one should walk this journey alone.

To get more personal support, connect with us directly at:
https://parentempowermentnetwork.org

Facebook: Parent Empowerment Network
Instagram: ParentEmpowermentNetwork
Join the Parent Empowerment Network Community of Hope
Get your copy of She is Charlotte: A Mother’s Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Journey with Her Child with Medical Complexities by Emily K Whiting on Amazon

Speaker 2:

Whether you've just been blindsided by your child's diagnosis or you've been in the trenches of their complex medical needs for a while.

Speaker 1:

Empowered by Hope, is here for you, though we wish you didn't know this heartache we're so glad you found us, so together we can walk this journey in hope.

Speaker 3:

Hello everyone, welcome to the Empowered by Hope podcast. It's your co-host, ashlyn Thompson, and Emily is not with us this week, but she'll be back really soon. But today, once again, I get to bring another really special guest to you all, and this beautiful person, who came into my orbit probably within the last couple of months, is when I started hearing her name consistently and knew she was somebody I needed to speak to, totally lived up to the hype, and from the moment I met her, I knew that we needed to share her with you, because not only does she have a great story, a special story that will connect with all of you, but she has this really incredible resource that we want you all to know about and benefit from, and so I'm super excited and really happy to be bringing on Jamie Olson today.

Speaker 3:

And Jamie is the publisher of this really pardon the pun unique magazine, and it's called Uniquely you, and I'm going to let Jamie tell us more about it, but I will say just personally, from having gone through it, from having a conversation with Janie, it's so much more than a magazine. It is a lifeline, it is a resource that is full of so much hope, it is so relevant to our community and it's also just to me, it's another really great way to work on building our own support circles, because you can find so many people to connect with, you can find so many resources, and it's just. It's something that's actually tailor made for us who are on this journey of raising children with medical complexities, regardless of what it is. And so, with that, take a breath, because I'm excited I'm going to introduce Jamie. So, jamie, welcome to the Empowered by Hope podcast.

Speaker 4:

Hi, thank you for having me so glad to be here, and it's an honor.

Speaker 3:

Oh well, wonderful. I'm glad you feel the same way. So, to start things off, would you mind sharing a little bit about your story? I think it would help our audience to know why you know what Uniquely Magazine is, of course, or Uniquely you Magazine is. But before that, I think it's important to understand your motivation of how it even came to be, why it's relevant for you.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, absolutely Great question. I have been on this journey. You know, my son is now 12, severely autistic, epileptic and nonverbal and for the first few years of his life you know at least the first five to seven I didn't know very many people at all that had special needs, because you're just immersed in the day to day and navigating through the challenges and found it incredibly difficult to find resources you know that were available and I kept thinking to myself, gosh, I can't be the only parent that has a child with special needs that feels alone and isolated and overwhelmed. And I kept thinking like, okay, I got to do a lot of personal healing and personal growth on my own, you know, before I can step into a role to help other people. And early on, there's an incredible nonprofit organization that exists called Purposeful Living Inc. Which is designed to help the modern woman that on the outside, you know, looks like she has it all together but deep down is broken, searching or lonely, and they provide free prayer and care and coaching and growth groups, and not only in person but virtually, you know, all over the nation, and I was able to plug in with them, receiving not only coaching but also becoming a growth, group leader and facilitating different groups on fruit of the spirit, my identity, my destiny and those groups not only allowed me to heal and do a lot of growth, but it allowed me to pour into other people that were navigating similar journeys.

Speaker 4:

Even before that, I went to my church and I was like, hey, is there a Bible study for families that have special needs kids? Because our church has a special needs ministry. And I thought, goodness, there's got to be a Bible study that exists for special needs families. And nothing did and I thought, well, I'd have never ran a Bible study. I've been a part of a few, but why not take a lead role and step into even running those? So there is a book called the Life We've Never Expected, written by Rachel Wilson and her husband, and that book our church helped turn into a study and we invited families to come and we did it in person before COVID and then, obviously, virtually during COVID. But that group alone too was just very impactful to talk about.

Speaker 4:

You know our journey and the healing process and the waiting and the witnessing and the treasuring of each and every moment, along with the grief, you know, of having to process things and realizing that what we think life is going to be like oftentimes isn't what it is, and letting go of, like, our expectation of what we think it should be, and kind of letting God paint that canvas, you know, in his way and in his timing um, working on you know each of us, so I would say those groups, I'm sorry, had a has a phenomenal impact on my life and allowed me to do a lot of healing, which was so needed. And then it was probably 2018-ish or so. There was a scripture that was handed to me at one of the events and it was Romans 8, 28,. For God gives good to those who love Him, who've been called according to His purpose, and I kept that on my mirror. I still have it on my mirror to this day, and every day, multiple times a day, I would kept resonating over that scripture and just asking you know, father, what are my giftings? What is my purpose? You know, help reveal that to me and help me walk in the purpose that you have set before me in my life.

Speaker 4:

And it was the fall of 2019, about a year and a half later after that scripture, and I walked into my youngest daughter's room, who was five months old at the time and and I was just getting back into working, and while I was working, you know, while she was off at least I could kind of do it from home and around everything. But I was getting really back into it and Holy Spirit just landed this vision on my heart and he was like hello, you've been running magazines for eight years and sharing stories and doing events and connecting families to resources. You have a special needs child. You know how isolating and lonely that can feel. You should start a special needs magazine.

Speaker 4:

And with that vision I was like, you know, just literally a billion ideas just kind of flooded into my mind about the impact that this resource could make in the community. And at the same time I was met with the whole other side of like can I do this? How do you do this? Is this something the community wants? Like, how do you start something from scratch with no model, no systems, no, nobody else doing it? And of course I was like well, I got to start by just asking. So I went to our national conference and ended up running into our president, earl Seals, and had a really quick conversation with him about the vision of doing this and he quickly was like run with it. And I was like, whoa, like no red tape, no caret effect, like just okay, we got to figure this out. You know, if he's going to give me the green light to do this, then I got to do it and it was fall of 2019.

Speaker 4:

And I was meeting with families and connecting with them and getting ideas and hearing their stories of what they want to have in there, what's important to them, what's needed, what could be valuable. We then started putting the word out to build our mailing list and so, yeah, it's crazy to think that during COVID you know, through, you know everything people feeling even more alone and isolated and overwhelmed. I'm like we have to get this resource out into the community. I was already running two magazines with our company, the Into Company. They publish over 900 different types of community magazines nationwide and are one of the largest print companies in the nation, and in fact, in the last decade, they've donated over $20 million to help fight human trafficking, which is phenomenal. So each one of our partners that supports our magazines, every month, 2% of the amount they're spending goes directly back to IntoGives, which supports organizations like Love, justice and several others that help support the efforts of, you know, counteracting sex trafficking and supporting victims to get them back into community. So it's just phenomenal to work with such an incredible company who offers the support and can help, you know, give back and make a difference, you know, in this world in a much needed way.

Speaker 4:

And so we launched the first issue in November of 2020 here in Indiana, and we mail hard copies out to over 1200 people in the Indianapolis surrounding county area. They get a physical, printed copy mailed right to their home each and every month. And we also mail to nonprofit organizations that support those with special needs ABA centers, developmental pediatrician offices and it's a free, monthly resource provided on behalf of our supporters, and they own their space. They get to use it to impact community, to share resources, tools, tips, tricks, highlight individuals they're supporting and serving, talk about their programs and really just be a resource to pour into families. There hasn't been anything that directly, you know, reaches families and individuals with special needs and disabilities, so to bring this resource to the community has been a tremendous blessing and we now reach over 30,000 digitally throughout the state of Indiana.

Speaker 4:

And then, just a year later, we worked with Rick Miller. He is an area director in Ohio and launched a Uniquely you out in Ohio and I grew up in Michigan, near Detroit, growing up. My brother has ADD, adhd, odd and as an adult, struggles, you know, with mental health and I watched my mom, you know advocate for years to help him and, you know, to support other families and, not knowing that one day I would have my own you know, special needs son and be navigating the journey, so I was like if I were to do another. I definitely want to serve the state that I grew up in.

Speaker 4:

And we officially, a year and a half ago, launched a unique lieu in Michigan as well. So we are officially in three states and, excitingly, we brought on Michelle Maxfield, who ironically, graduated from the same high school that I did 15 years before I did. Such a small world has a special needs child herself, and she was formerly involved with Welcome Wagon and ValPAC and she now is brought on board with N2 to help oversee the entire expansion of Uniquely you, and that's so exciting because that was placed in my heart in 2019. I felt clearly, holy Spirit say not only one day are you going to do this, but one day there'll be one in every major city in the nation that'll help support, connect, impact and really connect the disability community and local areas. So we officially have a training the first week of November and we have four people that will be going through that training and launching a unique glue in their local area. One will be Central Texas, another will be Florida, we'll have one in South Carolina and then Georgia are the four states that we'll be expanding into. Then Georgia are the fourth states that we'll be expanding into, which is super exciting, and after that, in January, we have another training scheduled.

Speaker 4:

So, as we're expanding, you know, throughout the nation, we now are opening the doors for people that have interest and could see value in bringing a Unique Leu to their local area and be able to apply and see if it's something that would be a good fit for them to start and potentially go through the training to launch one in their local area. So it's incredible to give autonomy back to the individual, to give people their voice, to allow them to share things from their perspective and their timing, talk about things that oftentimes are, you know, not always talked about, but can shine a light on some much needed. You know issues and supports and ways to kind of help and also encourage. You know there's people that have been through the journey and have learned so much and are willing to support others and their journey as well, and these stories are just so profound and just give so much hope and so much encouragement and support and ultimately like for me I found have shifted perspective big time.

Speaker 4:

There's a story I'll never forget. It was written by a girl named Hope and she has cerebral palsy and she's not able to use her voice. She can't talk, she doesn't have the ability to use her hands, so she's not able to sign. The only way for her to communicate is with the device hooked up to her wheelchair and she uses her toe to type. And so she wrote her story by toe and I was reading it just in tears as I was reflecting in life on how much we easily take for granted. In her story she shared that it can take her close to two hours every day, you know, just to get dressed.

Speaker 4:

And for me that really hit home because my son being autistic, he doesn't pick out his clothes or dress himself at 12. Yet we're making progress. You know he can pull down his shirt and pull up his pants and pull his sock on, but he isn't able to do it fully independently. So I found myself you know, not that you should compare, but my daughters, who are five and seven, you know they dress themselves and, you know, don't need my help and I just kept thinking like, okay, jordan, are you going to be 40 or 50? Like, am I going to be dressing you at 60?. You know I'm just thinking in my head and you know not to wallow in my own self-pity, but after reading Hope's story I thought why am I complaining about helping my son get dressed in three to five minutes maybe max, when it in a big and much needed way?

Speaker 4:

So, yeah, we're excited to bring it nationally and to bring it into other states and to allow people to share their stories and those that are oftentimes, you know, put in the back of the room or not celebrated. You know we want to put on the cover and recognize and highlight and, you know, individuals with disabilities running businesses. We want to feature their businesses and talk about their story and allow that to influence and inspire other people to know that they can do it too. It's just such an, such an honor, you know, to bring this incredible magazine and resource to the community each and every month.

Speaker 3:

Right, wow. Well, your, your passion is palpable and, my gosh, I mean an incredible resource I'm processing. You know, get yourself almost together before you could be there for others to support others. And I'm curious if you still feel that way now, because, you know, I feel like your magazine is a great example.

Speaker 3:

Listening to this, to consider that, as you pointed to, often, one of the best ways that we can work on healing ourselves is actually to just start sharing our story. We feel like you know so many of us I mean, I still feel like I'm somewhat new to this and I'm three years down the road but we have this false we can have these false ideas that we need to have all together. Who are we to help somebody else when we're struggling with this ideas that we need to have all together? Who are we to help somebody else when we're struggling with this and that and that and this? But it's in sharing the struggle and in helping bear the weight of what our realities are. That, to me, is where healing really starts to take off. That's where that new foundation can start to spread, and you'll find that your new foundation is made from a lot stronger substance than probably what you had previously. To start, yeah, right.

Speaker 4:

You definitely can't wait till you have it all together to get it going, because then you'll never get going.

Speaker 3:

I don't know anything that's all together that's ever lasted more than a snap of a moment. I mean like everything is always going on Right. So I just wanted to take this just to point out that you know that's that's something that I love about Uniquely you magazine and and Jamie, I'd like for you to speak to this. I know that if you're listening to this, you can actually you can submit your story to share. Can you let our listeners know? I was really interested when you said that you guys, you all did the research, reaching out to families to see what, what information did they want to see, what kind of things did they want to experience in your magazine. I'm curious what that feedback looks like, because I assume that that's part of what led to having creating the ability for people to submit their own stories.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, absolutely. We make it super easy, super simple. I'll put a couple links in the chat, one to our Indiana magazine, the other to the Michigan, and people can go to those, click the links and be able to not only sign up to get the magazine but able to view all the past issues that we've ever published digitally. All the kinds of links are on there for people that want to contribute and share stories, whether it's a caregiver's perspective or a sibling's perspective or, you know, a story to highlight an individual working in business or people's passions and hobbies and special interests. Any milestone, you know, no matter how small, you know, deserves recognition and just the smile on these individuals' faces when they see themselves, you know in print and like holding it and like just the recognition they get to feel like what they're doing is valued, is so important. You know just our natural need, you know, to be seen, known, valued and heard. We want to give that to each individual that participates and shares in Uniquely you and honor them. You know, as an individual, where they are and where they're going and their journey, you know, along the way. You know celebrating each and every one of those moments is key. So, yeah, giving individuals their ability to do that. You know, celebrating each and every one of those moments is key. So, yeah, giving individuals their ability to do that, you know, on their own terms and their own timing, is all done, you know, through those links. But we also invite people that have nonprofit organizations and support those with disabilities to contribute and share a story. We feature different nonprofits every month and highlight a new one just so that people know about the types of services that are available out there to support individuals as well. So we highlight nonprofits. We also have in the magazine, monthly, several upcoming events specific to individuals with disabilities. And you know, just knowing that, you know, our time is so valuable and we're pulled in like so many directions Nobody has time to look and find and sift and, you know, see what's out there.

Speaker 4:

I received a phone call a few months back of a girl. She was calling me from the library because she doesn't have a phone, she can't afford it, doesn't have internet, you know, can't watch TV, she doesn't. She's like she was telling me she can't afford it, doesn't have internet. You know, can't watch TV, she doesn't. She's like she was telling me. She's like I do the same Sudokus, the same word searches, you know, day in and day out. And she's like I know I'm made for so much more than this, but I have to, you know, schedule my transportation and if I don't know what's going on, I can't, you know, schedule that. And I was like, well, we got to get you out into the mailing list and get you a copy of Unique Wii U so you at least know what's going on and can schedule those things and, you know, be involved and participate in more things. So we were able to add her, you know, to the mailing list, which is a blessing.

Speaker 4:

So you know just reaching the vulnerable and those that are needing support and community and hope. And I always say, like you know, just reaching the vulnerable and those that are needing support and community and hope. And I always say, like you're, either you're in the same spot as somebody else. You're either to shine a light on somebody else that is going through something or you need somebody to help you. That you know that are going through something, you know that are going through something. So it's good to have, you know, a variety of people you know in your life and to do it in community.

Speaker 4:

You know, not not alone, not isolated, not by yourself, because, yeah, the enemy comes in the darkness and will cause, you know, chaos and confusion. You know and we don't need confusion, you know, when we can get around others that are able to shine a light or give more hope, open encouragement, by sharing our stories, becoming more vulnerable. It helps others and, like you said, it helps us heal, you know, as individuals too, which is beautiful. So, yeah, to think that I would have had it all figured out, I'm like I'm still trying to figure it out Navigated a pretty not good difficult divorce.

Speaker 4:

Actually, right as I was ramping up to launch the Unique Leo in Michigan, I didn't know I'd be navigating a tremendously difficult divorce while, you know, ramping up to launch a brand new magazine. But, you know, through the healing, through the growth, through, you know, involvement in community, holding on to those, you know, roots and those pillars of hope, has really helped me. You know, navigate those difficult times and the still difficult times. You know, navigate those, those difficult times and the still difficult times. You know that are that we're in the season of, you know, right now.

Speaker 3:

So right, thank you, jamie, I would. There's two things I would love to in this conversation with. Well, truthfully, I'd love to keep talking to you nonstop, but for the sake of the podcast, two things. So the first thing I want to ask you is if you could share just a little bit more information for our listeners that if they're in any of the other states where there's not a magazine already, what criteria should somebody have to be able to, you know, get involved in starting a magazine like this? Because I know that you know, for example, like I heard this and it's like, oh man, like if I lived in a state that didn't have this, I'd love to do this, but wait, I don't have publishing experience, I'm not an editor. Like, do I? Does somebody need to be that? Or what does one need to be? If they're they, they feel a calling when they hear you talk about this.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, great question. Honestly, when I started with N2 in 2013, I had zero publishing background experience or knowledge. N2 is phenomenal to provide all the training. In fact, they've now developed a specific training just for Uniquely you, which is awesome. So, yeah, everything can be trained.

Speaker 4:

You know, raising a son with special needs, with epilepsy, every day was different, you know when some days he'd have, you know he'd go a couple of days without seizures. Some days he'd have seven to eight, you know, in a day and it would wipe him out, you know, for several days afterwards. So I never knew, one day to the next, if I could work or if I had to, you know, be full-time mom and caregiver to support him and his needs. But to be able to run it and launch it. In fact, during COVID in 2020, we launched the full Unique Leo in Indy all done virtually, you know, from home, because people weren't doing very many in-person things and then that kind of influenced, you know, the ability to do one in a totally different state. That you know I don't even live in to be able to support that community. So technically, you don't have to have experience and to provide all the training, you know, just a heart and a passion, you know to want to support and give back and make a difference in community is really all it takes, you know, and to as big on working as a team and you know they have such a huge heart for supporting you know the area director in the role of launching a magazine. So, yeah, they're incredible to have back this type of a platform and to allow it to, you know, go on a national scale, even a worldwide scale.

Speaker 4:

You know, to find that our digital version is reaching, like Syria and United Kingdom and 10 other countries. You know people are able to access. You know the resources and learn more about supports. I didn't know. You know 80% of those with a disability live in a third world country and how there's very much limited supports, you know, in other countries, as it is here. Yeah, to know that teachers are saying you know your magazine is giving us. You know other ideas and resources and things we can implement to support. You know our individuals out here. It's really cool to see a little Indiana magazine having, you know, worldwide impact. What a ripple effect right, that's amazing.

Speaker 3:

So I will make sure that we drop in our show notes. I'll connect with you, jamie, that if somebody is listening to that, if you're somebody listening and your heart got excited hearing about this opportunity, I will confirm with you, jamie, on how best to reach out to throw your hat in the ring or to share your interest and so that way you can make contact and start that conversation.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, that's great, thank you. I put my email in the chat box. I don't know if people can see that or not, but they can certainly shoot me an email if they're interested. I would love to have a conversation or on the links that I provided to get to see the digital version. There's also a calendar link for people to see if they wanted to have a one-on-one conversation and talk more about, you know, the potential for the opportunity.

Speaker 3:

Okay, beautiful, beautiful. Thank you, jamie. Okay, so for our last question, I've been thinking about this and I just feel like you are a great person to ask this. So, speaking to people who are newer to this journey and you mentioned several times how true it is, how isolating it can be, and I think almost I would venture to say, majority of parents, caregivers you know, when we're talking here, pediatric receive any type of medical diagnosis or something that requires medical intervention and you have to become a caregiver as well that it can send you into a vortex of isolation, because it's one you never imagined yourself being in that position.

Speaker 3:

Nobody loves that child more than you do, and so how could anybody else in the world possibly understand how you're feeling? And I think that's where that isolation comes from. A lot of times, it's not that there's nobody out there, it's just nobody is literally in your exact shoes, and and that's valid. But because of that, you know, emily and I stress a lot the reason that we were able to start this whole mission that we're on and Empowered by Hope podcast was because she and I recognized the impact and the power that came from connecting with each other by leaning on each other, and so we stress the value of a support circle, stress the value of a support circle. And so, jamie, I'd love to hear from you, if somebody is newer on this journey. What words of encouragement would you want to provide to somebody in terms of guidance, let's say, how to set up a support circle and why that matters for them and why they deserve that?

Speaker 4:

That's such a great question. Thanks for asking and I honestly can't say I I know all the answers to that question because there are so many resources and things out there to help. The biggest thing is is just don't be afraid to ask. You know, don't be afraid to share your story, don't be afraid to connect with others and to be vulnerable in those times. You just never know what somebody else is going through or if they know somebody else that's going through something similar, and each of us have. You know this incredible journey of life you know to be on and we all are experiencing just so many things. You know pulling us in so many different directions, and you know just to take the time to listen to that inner small voice and recognize what that voice is telling you.

Speaker 4:

There's a book recently that I just finished called the Surrender Experiment, and it was, I believe, written by Michael Singler and it really helped shape a lot of different perspectives of you know the voice in our head and what it oftentimes tells us we are, or tells us what we're capable of or what we can do, and you know letting go of our need to. You know, really, if we don't recognize what it's telling us and we don't shift those thoughts to things that are true versus things that are not true, we can get wrapped up into the lie and oftentimes we can make a situation way worse than it needs to be. And our fear of like it's going to be like this or it's going to be like that oftentimes is never the case If we actually reel back our thoughts and get them out on paper and just express them. You know the hand to the writing is so important, especially with everything shifting, you know, to virtual, to just get out paper and take the time to write. And I've lived a life of feeling like you always had to be on the go, you always have to accomplish, you always have to do, you always have to achieve and never really leaving time to be still or just to be okay, doing nothing. You know it's like, like, and then what are you doing with those nothing moments? You know like, are you really doing self-care or are the thoughts getting in the way for you to love yourself? Well, you know, and really looking inward at loving yourself? Well, because when you can, you know, reflectively, look inside and be like all right here, here's who I am, here's what I want to be and how is what I'm doing in my day-to-day life allowing me to become? You know who I want to become, not that I'm trying to throw a million books out there, but there's another great book called the Miracle Morning and it was written by Hal Elrod and he survived, you know, a massive car accident and was told he'd never be able to walk again and fully recovered and is walking and then shortly after developed a pretty bad cancer and was told that he was going to die. And he fought and survived cancer and he wrote this book called the Miracle Morning.

Speaker 4:

It's actually a national movement.

Speaker 4:

I believe there's a movie or documentary out about it, but it goes over the life savers, and savers is an acronym, so it spells it's basically every day.

Speaker 4:

A lot of people start it in the morning, you know, get up an extra hour early, spend 10 minutes doing each of the six savers S being silence, a being affirmations, v being visualization, e being exercise, r being reading, and then S being scribing or journaling or writing. So by contributing, you know, even if it's five minutes on each of those six things you know every day, and then just getting really clear and really focused on you know, your goals and your intent and the things that matter in your life help to clear ourselves of any negative fears or anxious moments, because we know, you know that you know God's word is true and having that time to be still and to be silent and to listen and to be clear on what's important to us really does make a difference in our day-to-day walk. So, yeah, I don't know if that gave any extra support, but that's what I found has been helpful for me answer.

Speaker 3:

Jamie, thank you so much for joining us today on the Empowered by Hope podcast and if you're listening to this, please, please, please, please share. It's so simple to share stories, this one. You can literally just hit a share button most of the time, or leave us comments or let us know what you thought, or I just I think this was an incredible episode. I'm so grateful to have learned about the uniquely you magazine and, like you said, it's so important for us to see ourselves and others. It's important for our children to see themselves and others, and I really encourage you that, if you know, if you're on this journey, think about submitting your story. You might be surprised what comes out of you and, if anything, I promise it will be a therapeutic experience writing your story down for the Uniquely you magazine. So with that, thank you everyone. Jamie, thank you so much for joining us. Yeah, everybody, take care and remember you're not alone. We're here for you, so reach out if you need anything. All right, bye.

Speaker 2:

We're here for you, so reach personal journey and how we can support you. Reach out to us at contact at charlotteshopefoundationorg. And last but not least, if you know of someone who could benefit from this podcast, please share when hope is buried.

People on this episode