Ep 37 - Sam: The Decision To Be Different

What happens when you decide your story doesn’t have to repeat itself?

In this chapter of Sam Golubic’s series of mini-monomyths, we explore how she chose a different path from the one she grew up with. Raised in a home shaped by her mother’s mental illness and her father’s distance, Sam could have easily carried those patterns forward. Instead, she made a conscious decision to live differently.

Through independence, adaptability, and a “can-do” attitude, Sam transformed what she learned from hardship into strength. Her leap of faith — moving from Pennsylvania to Texas — opened the door to a life filled with possibility.

What does it take to rewrite the narrative — and how do early lessons become the foundation for change?

Join us as we explore how Sam turned life’s early challenges into the foundation for her strength and independence.

Call to Action:

✅ Think back to a moment when you chose to do life differently — what sparked that decision? Share your reflections with us.

✅ Send this episode to someone rebuilding after loss—sometimes the reminder that light can rise from the wreckage makes all the difference.

Listen now on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you stream your favorite shows! 🎧✨

🔗 Links & Resources

Sam Golubic is an entrepreneur and a seasoned massage therapist with over 34 years of experience helping others heal through mind, body, and spirit. She is also  professional travel planner and passionate travel enthusiast who helps her partners and travel insiders fulfill their travel dreams— all while staying within budget.

📞 (281) 772-3971

📧 samhands@sbcglobal.net 

🌐 Travorium - Helping Hands

🔗 Facebook Profile

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Transcript

hi everyone and welcome to the monomyth Diaries, a podcast where ordinary people get to share their hero's journey. 


I'm Mandi and i'll be your host. We'll discover powerful insights, critical moments of growth, and much more. Thanks for joining us. We all have a monomyth to share and someone out there needs to hear it. 


Welcome to the monomyth Diaries, a take what you like and leave the rest podcast where real people share inspiring stories of transformation. 


No advice, no experts, just connection, growth, and hope. Today's featured hero is Sam. She shares what it's like growing up with a mother who faced mental illness and a father devoted to running the family business. 


Despite those early challenges, she learned to adapt, stay positive, and build the kind of independence that would one day lead her to create a new life in Texas, one filled with possibility, purpose, and growth. 


Let's welcome Sam to the show. Welcome to the Monomyth Diaries. Thank you so much for joining us today. And thank you for inviting me. This is going to be fun and exciting. 


I love your willingness and your good attitude. We're going to start with some monomous story starters. Just a series of quick questions to get you comfortable, although I think you're already comfortable, but it'll give the audience an opportunity to get to know you. 


Do you have a hidden talent? So I wouldn't say I have a hidden talent. I have hidden passions instead. Talking to people, listening to people, see how I can help more of a servant type thing. 


So maybe that's a hidden talent. You have a servant's heart. Yes. I do. I love that. That's a hidden talent. Not a lot of people do that. Yeah. All right. Dogs or cats? I don't know. If I had one, I hate to say it, I think I would go with a dog. 


Do you have a dog? I had a dog and two cats. The dog lived 14 years. The cat, one cat lived 21, one cat lived 18. They lived good lives. Yeah. I'm sure as your pet they did. 


Yes. If you could eat only one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? Potato chips. Me too. potato chips are my nemesis. I love them so much i can't stop. 


I call them a trigger food because i can't just eat one. No. Have you gone to bucky's when they make them homemade? I don't love homemade potato chips you don't i want them out of the bag i don't oh you want the salt? 


Probably. The crunch and the salt. Oh, no. I want the potato chips and you could put feta cheese on them and you can dress them up and they can be a whole meal. 


Well, yeah, potato chips can be a whole meal for sure. I'm telling you. What's your favorite movie snack? I guess popcorn. Yeah, because i've had that movie popcorn with butter. 


What's your guilty pleasure? I don't think i don't think i have a guilty pleasure. You don't feel guilty about anything? I don't. I love that. You live in today. What's your favorite tv series? 


Justified. Oh, what's that it's uh it's like a real sexy cop being sent to like, I don't know, Alabama. It's just like a who done it type thing. It's All right. Well, that was it. Feeling comfortable? 


I am. I love that you are not nervous at all. I was talking to a girlfriend of mine this morning about you, and I was like, I just want to live like she does. 


This girl? I mean, how old are you? You're in your 60s, right? 65. You would never know it. I mean, you just have such a good attitude and happy, and you just go, and you do, and you're flexible, and you adapt. 


All right. Well, for our listeners who have been following along for season one, season two, typically... 


When we interview somebody, we have two episodes. Mm-hmm. We're going to do things a little differently with Sam. She's going to actually appear a handful of times throughout this season. 


She has looked at her life as a series of experiences rather than one big catalyst. You have looked at all of your challenges in life as opportunities to grow. 


A lot of the people who have been on the show don't learn that until they have some big aha moment. 


And I love that you've always sort of looked at life that way. So we're going to talk about a handful of experiences that you've had in your lifetime. 


And today, we're going to focus on your early years with your family. And I know one time we were talking and you shared that you did have some family struggles, like many of the people that have been on the show, but you looked at even your early years as opportunities to grow and learn from those experiences and took them with you, which I find fascinating because it took me forever to learn to do that. 


So we're going to start with What was your early life like growing up in your household? Let's talk about your mom, your dad, all the things. My dad moved us. We were Jewish. She moved us into a place that we were the only Jewish family, you know, in the 60s. 


That was a challenge of itself. My mother was bipolar and she was true bipolar and she had to be committed. So it was just really difficult. The medicines weren't great. And when I was about 10, she actually lost it. 


I mean, she had a nervous breakdown when I was in the car. Oh, when you were only 10? I was 10. So I had to go up and I had to testify. you know, what had happened in the car. 


And luckily I could talk her down, you know, and she had ripped drapes. She had ripped the weights or the magnets or whatever, the washers and thinking that the house was bugged. 


So there was a couple of things that went on. So she was pretty paranoid. She was pretty paranoid and she was a little schizophrenic. She kept thinking she heard people and saw people. 


She really did think she saw sick people. And you know, I had another dysfunction on my father's side. He was self-employed, so he was always working and he wasn't really connected like you would think. 


They would come home and they would not talk to each other. So I learned that you've got to learn how to communicate and connect at a very young age. 


So right there, I came back with, I'm not going to be a victim of this. And I learned how to talk to people. So you were learning a lot of skills very early on. 


Yeah, because you were around different people. That was one of the things that you and I talked about was even though the situation wasn't great... 


You're learning a lot of independence. And I love that you look at that as an opportunity to learn a skill, which is going to help you moving forward. 


You hope your parents are going to pick you up at school. Well, sometimes they didn't pick me up at school. You had to learn to adapt. I had to learn to be flexible. I had to learn how to cook. 


I had to learn how to do everything. And then my father was saying, well, if you want money, because every girl wants to buy something. 


We were clothes fiends when you're growing up. He says, you got to come to work for me. So I started working from the store like I was 10 or 12. 


And I learned how to be an entrepreneur, again, talking and communicating with people and seeing how I can help. 


But I learned how to run a business, you know, on how you treat your employees. I love that you could have, as you said, played the victim role. 


Oh, my childhood was so horrible. But you've never taken on that attitude. I know one time you said your attitude is everything. And experiences are just stepping stones. 


Yes. Where do you think you learned that at such an early age? I know I didn't, to be honest. It sounds like it came out of a need for survival. Despite the challenges, you've got to survive and you're using these survival skills and looking at it as a, I've got to survive. 


As you said, I've got this. Nobody else is going to do this for me. Where it sounds like it came from for me is, I got to take care of myself. 


It's that independence piece, that grit piece that your parents gave to you unknowingly. I think you're probably, I know you're probably right. You know, I never thought of it as survival, but it was a need not to crater. 


You can count on yourself. And that's how, that's how I live. You know, I think back now I was shipped off to like every little grandkid. 


I was lucky. My parents, my grandparents lived in Florida. And I think at a young age, I was shipped off to my grandparents. So I started flying when, you know, flying was like the cheeky thing to do. 


So I saw a different world. Maybe if I didn't see that different world out there and saw how other people lived and interacted, maybe that. 


cost it. And my grandfather was an entrepreneur too. He had grocery stores. Yeah. Let's talk about that because you said, despite all the challenges and your dad and your mom not being super present for you, he did give you a lot of grounding. 


There's a lot of influence there. And so let's talk about your dad. You said he's not super plugged in, but you're learning some valuable skills at the age of 10, 11, 12. 


That's amazing. So what else are you learning from dad? So I learned from dad a couple of things. He was just too too nice to people. Back then they had layaway or you could take it and they'd pay you. 


So when he passed away, I didn't know that all these people owed him money. I was just 22. And what I learned is that you are responsible for you. 


Okay. If somebody owes you money or they're not respecting you and what you're doing, you need to address it in a proper way. 


If you're going to be in a business, you've got to act like a business. It can't act like a hobby. It's your livelihood. It's your early on and how to speak up for yourself. 


I know that's something that I work on all the time is conflict resolution. And you're going to be problem solvers. Yeah. So I learned what my father did at a young, at me being a young age that I always elevated myself. 


And so when I was 22 and I'm like, this is not the place for me. I think I had just turned 21, 22. And that's how I got to Texas. I said, I don't really feel that I'm going to do well up here. 


You know, I'm, felt stagnant. You just work. You just work. That's life. You just work and you retire and you sit and I'm like, that's not me. 


Yeah. You're seeing some things that you don't want for yourself and learning those lessons as well. So you're learning grit, independence, negotiation, resilience, adaptability, so many amazing tools at a very young age. 


And as you said, at the age of 22, you're going to move to Texas. How do you think all of your experience, your younger years helps you take that leap? 


Because 22 is young and you're going to move across the country. When was that? 82. Yeah. When there's no cell phones, no internet, no Google Maps. 


I mean, we're still using that. I got lost a lot. That's very brave. That was a brave thing to do back then by yourself, especially a woman. 


Yes. They all thought I was going to come home. I'm not going to come home. You made up your mind. You're going. So I came down actually on a vacation because I was a workaholic. 


Trent says, hey, we need help at a restaurant. I'm like, I am assistant manager of JCPenney's, of the shoe department. And I was like, there's got to be a better life. 


And, you know, God listens to you. You knew there was something else out there. My friend said, you have six weeks vacation. Why don't you just come down to Texas? 


So I came down to Texas and I started waiting tables. I'm like, I'm making lots of money because I know how to talk to people in sales. 


I'm not going home. It's warm. People are friendly. There's opportunity. I had two jobs. I worked at a hospital because I always wanted to help people. 


I thought I wanted to be a physical therapist. I was in the hospital working, going, you know, I'm making more money waiting tables and I'm not happy here. 


I gave my notice and I started waiting tables and I progressively moved. worked at many restaurants and I helped manage many restaurants. 


And then I moved on to the bar and the bar industry, there was a lot more money. Okay, let's circle back around for a moment. We're talking about your early life, how all of the things that happened to you as a child, you look as opportunities and you've made this leap of faith and came to Texas and all of those skills that you're learning, you're taking with you into Texas and you make that leap and you're waiting tables. 


Let's talk about some of the boons of this early chapter of your life. Some of the gifts that you've received. I appreciate everything. And I give kudos to my parents. 


They did the best that they can. But when you're an adult, it was up to me. And I found out early in life that they may have been scared to grow. 


And I wasn't going to do that. Yeah. I wasn't going to do that. Yeah. What an amazing benefit to have that attitude of gratitude. Yeah. Which we talk about a lot on the show. 


You, today, are an entrepreneur. Yes. And what a gift that has been. Watching your dad. Watching your grandfather. And now... You've been an entrepreneur almost all of your life. 


That's been a giant benefit to you. And in every episode, we talk about that, your professional boons. You own several businesses. You want to tell us about those? So I'm doing two things. 


I've had a massage business, my own massage business, and that was from one of the mentors. I was at a health club massaging, and I'm taking all these classes. 


I'm traveling around, and they weren't paying me. And I'm like, wait a minute, I deserve more. Well, this isn't why I gave up waiting tables and thought, well, I'm better than this. 


I've taken all these classes. And one of my guys goes, I think you need to start your own business. And then it's going back to my dad, you know, and my parents. 


You've got to respect yourself and the craft that you're doing. So today you're a massage therapist. You've been a massage therapist for? 34 years. I've had my practice for 27. 


I've been totally self-employed for 27 years. Yeah. And you're quite an expert in your field. I am. So what's the name of your business? You're going to laugh. I'm the traveling squirrel girl. 


Because I travel all over the place to learn different modalities. I learn from different people on everything I do. So it goes with massage. And then my second business is actually a premium lifestyle membership. 


One component of it is travel. Yeah, I love that you are always learning and always growing. I think that's one of the things that attracted me so much to you. 


So your massage business, as well as your helping with travel, all fall under Traveling Squirrel Girl. 


Yes. Okay. We'll make sure we drop that in all the show notes. Yes, yeah. You had said to me once that you could change the narrative. And I found that fascinating that you can look at your childhood as I was a victim, or you, like yourself, can look at your childhood and say, there were some challenges. 


Despite those challenges, there were a lot of things that I learned from that situation and change that narrative and look at it with a more positive attitude. 


If people are struggling with... Thinking about their childhood, feeling like a victim, being upset over their childhood. 


How do you hope your story would inspire them? So I would say if you want to change the narrative, think of the positive in it. 


Everything can always change, but you've got to make that change yourself. And go back to the story of your mind is the story of your life. 


The story of your life is the story of your mind. And how are you adding attitude in that? Are you adding attitude? Like I got this. There's the song, the hokey pokey, get up, you brush yourself off and you start all over again. 


Life is never an ending story. That's how, that's how I look at it. It's a journey. Yeah. And I love that you bring that up because your life is quite the journey. 


And the next time you're on the show, we're going to talk about the next chapter of your life where your business is taking off. 


But you have a major health crisis. Yes. So make sure to join us next time when we talk to Sam again. Thanks for joining us. Thank you for having me. What a great reminder that we don't have to be victims of our circumstances. 


Every experience, even the hard ones, can become a lesson that shapes us. Sam's story is proof that change begins the moment we decide to rewrite our narrative. 


To our listeners, if you've used your own challenges to spark change, share your story with us. And don't forget to subscribe and follow along for more of Sam's chapters later on in this season. 


Thanks for joining us on the Monomith Diaries. If this episode resonates with you or someone you know, we'd love for you to share it and spread the inspiration. 


Don't forget to follow us wherever you get your podcasts or on YouTube to stay connected. We'd appreciate if you could take a moment and rate and review the podcast. 


It helps us reach more people with stories of transformation and growth. You can visit us at monomithdiaries.com or text us directly from the show notes to reach out and keep the conversations going. 


Until next time, heroes, let's journey together through our monomyths