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Warrior Women Rising
About Our Podcast | This is a platform for authentic conversations about life after military service for women, the pursuit of purpose, and the evolving definition of success. Focused primarily on women veterans, the show explores diverse pathways to fulfillment—whether through career, family, leadership, mentorship, or other forms of impact.
Our Mission | To amplify the voices of women veterans and leaders, providing a space to share stories of resilience, adaptation, and growth. The podcast honors the diversity of experiences, challenges, and victories that come with transitioning from military life to civilian life and beyond.
Warrior Women Rising
[S1 E5] Warrior Women Rising | On Finding & Living Your Purpose
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Hosts: Ashley Miller (USMA '11) & Kafi A. Joseph (USMA '03) — Host-only Episode
Producer: Xeon Simpson
🎙[S1 E5] Warrior Women Rising — Episode 5: On Finding & Living Your Purpose 🎙
In Episode 5 of Warrior Women Rising, co-hosts Ashley and Kafi kick off a deeply personal and foundational series on finding and living your purpose.
This episode gets back to the “why” behind the podcast itself. Ashley and Kafi reflect on their own journeys as women veterans—sharing how identity, transition, curiosity, and self-reflection have shaped who they are today. Through honest conversation, humor, and real-life stories, they explore what it means to ask not just “what do I do next”? but “who am I, really”?
The discussion weaves together pivotal life moments, influential quotes, and the idea that purpose is not fixed…it evolves. From military service to transition, career pivots, and personal growth, this episode invites listeners to consider how purpose can change over time and how embracing that evolution is part of rising into your authentic self.
Whether you’re navigating transition, questioning your next chapter, or simply reflecting on where you are right now, this episode offers space to pause, reflect, and reconnect with what lights you up.
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Themes
- Identity after military service
- Finding purpose through transition and change
- Influential quotes that shape perspective
- Letting go of who you’re “supposed” to be
- Embracing growth, curiosity, and authenticity
🎧 Tune in, share in our stories, and get ready to rise. 💛
#WarriorWomenRising #WomenWhoLead
#WomenVeterans #VeteranVoices
#RiseUp #HowAreYou
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Let us know...How are you?
- Drop a line via fan mail at www.warriorwomenrise.buzzsprout.com
- Tag us in your #howareyou story on Instagram @warrior.women.rise
- See us on our YouTube channel youtube.com/@warriorwomenrise
- Or simply shoot us an email at warrior.women.rise@gmail.com
If there's someone whose story you'd like us to feature (including your own), or insights, reflections or feedback, any of the above mediums are great for that, too!
~ A & K
Hey everybody. We are back for episode five of Warrior Women Rising.
SPEAKER_00I'll keep doing that every time.
SPEAKER_01It's like so and it's it's holiday time, so it's like, oh my god, I know him. Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_00I brought my mug, my happy paw holidays.
SPEAKER_01I don't have a mug. It's okay. So welcome to Warrior Women Rising. This is a podcast by and for women veterans where we explore who are you. So digging into who you are as a woman veteran, your background, your experience, and what um you have done to get to your transition out of service. How are you? So really first checking in on how the person is doing, and then really, how are you really? Like inside of all of that, how are you really? And then we talk about how you are rising. So how you are finding your authentic self after service, living your purpose, finding your purpose. And then we explore things that light the person up as well as how we can connect with you. But today you have me, Kathy Joseph, one of your co-hosts for Were Your Women Rising. I am based in Washington, D.C. I am an Army veteran, former military police officer. Shout out to the West Point Cadet suites brand. I mean, I'm in the consulting industry, um, and I'm also doing the entrepreneurship thing. But for real for real, right now, I am on medical leave recovering from ridiculous shoulder surgery. So um, and then I live here with my fur baby, Drew the Husky. He's hanging out, and I fight every day for my street cat street cred as an auntie, because those nieces and nephews are serious about you being fun. Ashley, over to you.
SPEAKER_00Yes, and I'm your other co-host, Ashley Miller, also an Army veteran, former engineer officer, executive recruiter, and advisor, based here in Atlanta. And I live with my beautiful little almost two-year-old daughter and my amazing partner and our really amazing curmurgeon old dog ace. I feel like curmudgeon is like the perfect word for him now. He's 13, he's like barely able to see, and he's like always like, leave me alone. Anyways, he's still super lovable and adorable to other people, but he's just getting up there. Um and that's me. We're excited to chat today.
SPEAKER_01Awesome. So that's who we are. We hope that if you're listening and you feel so moved, you pop in our comments and share who you are. Yeah. And uh as we jump in. So this is episode five, and so we're moving into the series on finding and living your purpose. And before we hopped on, Ashley and I were chuckling. We're like, this is kind of the impetus of this whole podcast. We're finding that started it all. Um, so we're gonna talk today. You have the two of us, we're gonna chat a bit about what that means for us in terms of finding our purpose, living our purpose, where where we are, how we are um pursuing that, and um, and then we'll have an amazing guest teed up to come on where we can deep dive into what that looks like for someone else. So, what are your thoughts? What are you thinking about this finding and living your purpose piece that we're in, Ashley?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I it's funny. We were kind of chatting before we got started about this. So, and honestly, as we kick off, I would love before I forget, because it popped in my head for us to cover our quotes that we each have and have talked about as really pivotal quotes to sort of summarize a way that we view life a bit, because I kind of feel like this is a perfect episode to talk about them. But before we get to that, the other thing I really love about what we're about to discuss is also this discussion that I know we're gonna have around how that can look and change and what does that really mean, and not just where are we in it, but how do we think about it. So I'm really I'm just really excited to chat about it. It's like literally why we're here together. So but um, do you want to share your quote?
SPEAKER_01Yes, I'm happy to share my quote. It it doesn't roll off. It does, it's super cool though. It's it doesn't, but it's so cool. And if you know me, I'm d when you hear the word dimension that comes up, I'm super into um many worlds theory and quantum physics, all that too, so it's really dope. But it is, I feel like it's an actor's uh exercise to get your mouth out. Oh, to get it out, yes. All right, so here we go. And see, the people who are just listening and not watching can't see how much.
SPEAKER_00Well, the sea shorter by the seashore.
SPEAKER_01Many merry men. Okay. So the quote is one's mind once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions. That's by Oliver Wendell Holmes. And I love that, and why I've selected it is because I feel like it is it epitomizes how I move and operate. And also, as we get into finding and living your purpose, once you get the idea or you have an inkling or you see, or you touch, or you taste, or you experience the thing, no more are you satisfied with going back to where you are. No more can you reasonably sit there and and just be like, I'm okay with this. It's like, first of all, now you're inspired, you're sparked, you're like, this is a thing. And now for me, it's like now I must pursue it with all and every inch of my body, and let's get after it. Forget everything else. So that's that's my quote.
SPEAKER_00I love it. And I also love it because when I chat about mine really quickly, is is that there is this connection between once you realize, I think the the realization component of the finding your purpose piece, like we'll talk about it later, but is a really big fixation for me of this aha moment, finding it, getting that. And I think you're right, once it happens, like how do you go back? Uh so mine is actually it's a little different. It's kind of comedic. So, my quote, I'm gonna set the scene. I'm watching a Marvel movie. And I'm seeing you all day, every day. Yes, I'm watching a Marvel movie. You know, the early Marvel movies. Marvel's still killing it, but you know, you can't out outdo the the lead up to end game, but it's actually endgame. I'm watching that. And Thor's mom is talking to him when he's in this really challenging, pivotal sort of, I'll call it a what do you call it? A century midlife crisis. He's been alive for years. I know, I'm like, I don't know what it means, but you get where I'm going. It's a it's a crisis of self. And she tells him everyone fails at who they're supposed to be. The measure of a person is how will they succeed at being who they are, and it is a different perspective and dimension of to caveat off what you said of what we're talking about. But for me personally, I think there is this time where we believe who we should be. Is not always who we want to be or who we're going to be. There are just iterations of who we are in life. This speaks specifically to me because I definitely felt molded to be someone that wasn't necessarily who I wanted to be and what I wanted for my life. So it's a little bit of a different dimension, but I still think the same theme of realizing who I wanted to be or where I wanted to go really changed that perspective for me of what is my purpose and finding that.
SPEAKER_01So everybody fails at who they're supposed to be, right? Um, and I think what I like about your quote is this acceptance of who you are or where you are, right? Because you may be somewhere in your journey, like, can I be who I am right now? Yes, I'm aiming for that thing. Yes, I'm striving for you know what whatever is coming next. And I I am here. So how do I be the best at where I am right now? And maybe it's in an effort towards getting to that thing, but yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and and and failure isn't a bad thing because you can fail and then succeed at it later, too. I just think there's lots of ways to think about it. As an iteration of the who am I journey through the lens of finding my purpose. So when I was in college, I majored in psychology, and I did that because I've always been fascinated with people, which maybe everyone is fascinated with people.
SPEAKER_01I'm not sure, but there are some people who are not. There's the people who are like, you can kindly keep all your people in antiques and all of that over there, and I see it.
SPEAKER_00It's funny because because of my time in service, I went towards that direction. Depends on the people. I think that's fair. Depends on the people. But I've always been fascinated with how different we are, particularly growing up, my brother and I, very different, same home, different experiences. And so I wanted to study that at an engineering school. Why not?
SPEAKER_01And so I really wouldn't have offered it if they didn't want you to study it.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. And how could they not? It's what we do professionally, it's what everybody does professionally. So so I really actually loved that. It was very easy. I'm glad that's what I chose. Clearly, it would serve you anywhere in the military, it was helpful. And once I was in service, I also was still fascinated with the psych component. And it definitely served me when I was counseling. I feel like I can people connect to me, I can have conversations about things that are deeper. And there was a point where I talked about this in our motherhood episode. I realized I what I was doing wasn't it. When I was getting ready to start command, I knew I wanted to get into this space. So I was at this core headquarters deployed in Iraq, talking with my the G3 of H number core. And I'm talking to the medical, the med the medical lead, and I'm asking her, hey, what would it look like to transfer and do a command over in a BSB or a medical brigade or something like that? Because now I'm forgetting all the acronyms, it's been too long. So it doesn't even be that long, and I forgot.
SPEAKER_01I have now been out longer than I was in and actually alive. Uh so and the terms change. So please, we we were there, we have our DD24Ds.
SPEAKER_00Please don't concur us.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00But so I'm exploring this. I want to understand this. I'm supposed to go to one of the brigade combat teams and do an engineer command, which is the dream for people. And I'm like, how can I not do that?
SPEAKER_01It's a supposed dream.
SPEAKER_00It's a supposed dream. And I was I was getting ready to do that. I was gonna go to jump school and be a oh my god, what is it called when you're master?
SPEAKER_01Master.
SPEAKER_00I'm like, senior master. Senior master. Okay, sorry everyone, don't come for us. But um, so I'm getting set up for this, but I know in my bones, like I need to be doing something different. I connect with her, she's so kind. Try WTU. Why don't we look at a command like that? That's irregardless of branch. Long story short, I end up in command there. Um, the the person that I worked for as a battle commander still meant her to stay. Amazing, but he was a Green Beret, and so just the perspective and the the growth journey I had in that command is we could talk all day about it. But so it gave me an opportunity to explore this connection to the medical field and and psych and healthcare and things like that. And I realized in the command that maybe I didn't want to do that, particularly in the army, it was actually incredibly difficult. But it stayed with me this in the back of my mind. I found it really difficult because I wasn't actually a practitioner, I was a commander. It's just a really different that is that is not the same thing as what I was looking for, but we have one experience, you know. So, um, so fast forward, I stay in the army, I go to teach at the University of Maryland, which, you know, in a sense is sort of bringing this counseling, carrying the people component, giving back, like mentoring. And I'm like applying to grad schools while I'm kind of rounding out that time. And I apply to MBA programs, and it's really hard. I'm doing all these applications and I'm like really struggling. I can't find how I'm supposed to talk about my experiences. I literally only apply to two programs, like if we listed one and I don't get into the other. And I decide I'm just gonna get out and think about it. This is obviously not what I want to do. I don't know what I want to do.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you're doing what you're supposed to do. So you get out, you go to grad school, usually MBAs, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yes, and I but I but I actually did realize okay, that's not that doesn't feel authentic. So I just get out. I'm taking some time off. I live with a a girlfriend that I played rugby with as well, who you know, Ray Phelps, and I work at Lululemon. It's like really fun, it's really feminine, it's like really different. I've never done anything like this.
SPEAKER_01Yo, I'm so glad that you did that. I like wanted to be a coyote because Coyote Ugly was out. It was like, get out, it'll be a coyote, I'm gonna go to Hollywood, and I'm gonna it never happened. Um you were like living my dream, you lived my dream of doing something just so different. So different. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Why do you okay? Let me uh why do you think you didn't do it?
SPEAKER_01Because my best friend wouldn't do it with me.
SPEAKER_00Oh my god. Oh my god. It's scary to do stuff like that alone. I wouldn't have done this if I wasn't gonna live with Ray. Yeah, right? Because I, you know, the the partnership, like yeah, like having a somebody with you, and I was single during this whole time, right?
SPEAKER_01So and I ran into recently um someone in the tens or teens grad who did go to Hollywood, she transitioned and she went, she was doing her thing again after, and I was like, I'm so excited for you. So yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, so so I do that. I start to realize while I'm like selling Lululemon pants, which is phenomenal, like what a journey. And I'm helping a little bit operationally. I'm like, this is not enough. Like I need to do, I need to be more active. But I realize, okay, I do like people, I like connecting. I end up at Spencer Stewart doing executive search, which is advising in a way, um, people, and and a little bit can be counselor-like when you're helping find the right fit and and place people.
SPEAKER_01You're helping the business decision exactly.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. And so I'm really enjoying that journey, and I realize I want to get a master's. And I'm like, oh, I want it to be something that's like really meaningful to me that is related to what I want to do long term. I don't just want to use it on I'm gay because that's what everybody does, right? Which we just talked about, which also, no shade, love it. Everybody should live their dreams. But I find this master's of science in clinical rehabilitation counseling, someone I went to high school with recommended doing that or getting a social work degree. And because I want to work with women veterans in the long run, eventually, that's kind of my focus area. And I also just think the VA is doing its best, but there's just not enough care out there for people.
SPEAKER_01And I want certainly not enough for women.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there's oh, they are certainly not enough for women. And I say, after a lot of research, a lot of hardship, I'm not all the way talking through. I say, okay, we're gonna try this. So that long story is to get to I'm in a position professionally where I'm doing care in a way that's counseling for executives, but I want to do this for you know my peers and sisters in arms. And so I'm getting my degree. I just actually got in, I told Kathy a couple weeks ago to this program locally in Georgia.
SPEAKER_01Yay! No, we're gonna pause because we don't celebrate. Yes, no, wait, the kids don't snap, they do the little tea thing.
SPEAKER_00Oh, they do the tea thing now.
SPEAKER_01Okay, well, I'm no pause. Congratulations.
SPEAKER_00Thank you.
SPEAKER_01As you said, you went through the whole process of researching and figuring out and determining, and I am incredibly excited for you. So we're gonna pause. Do it, go ahead, pose for the camera. Yes, yes, we're on the path. Okay.
SPEAKER_00So, in terms of finding your purpose, yeah, I don't know what it is in the end, but I feel like I've taken the right steps to move more towards that you know, in my years, 37 years of life. The last 10 have probably been the most focused towards getting here. And so I'm excited. I'm gonna get this degree in this master in science of clinical rehabilitation counseling. That's a mouthful. It's also an exercise if I was an actor. And that's how I'm gonna get closer. So that's me.
SPEAKER_01How do you feel? How are you now? Now that we've gone we've gone the journey and you're landed and you're about to embark on this. How are you?
SPEAKER_00Like in my heart of hearts, I'm really excited about it because it is gonna take me to the person I want to be. And hopefully that is who I'm supposed to be in the end. I am like nervous. This is gonna be the first time in my life. I'm going to, you know, be doing something that feels like a path-changing event eventually. And it's exciting, but that is a very different path at some point than the one I'm on today. Most importantly, I feel really supported, which when I think about like how I'm doing, I have like a really phenomenal partner. I have really great friends that make me feel comfortable about taking this next step. Speaking of different changes on the path, I'm gonna be really reliant on my partner in a way that I've not had to be in the past, which is also really scary as an independent type A woman. The workload makes the whole load of life different. So I'm definitely nervous about that, but also really excited that I have a partner that would do that for me. So on the whole, yeah, I have my yeah, my person. So on the whole, I'm I I'm gonna do what what I would call I'm cautiously optimistic. Like I'm but I'm I feel better than I felt in a long time, too.
SPEAKER_01Yay! I love that.
SPEAKER_00And um I said most days, I don't want to be like, oh, and every day I wake up and now I'm like the flowers have bloomed, right?
SPEAKER_01You know, and think that cautiously optimistic is totally fair because number one, optimism is in it. So there is optimism, right? You know, I think that that's totally fair, and you're you're doing something that is potentially putting you on that path to where where you are, right? Like not who you're supposed to be, but who you are. And you know, in one of our other episodes, we talked about the fact that in a good chunk of our lives and our careers, there were a few things that we really truly got to choose. Right. And so this is 100%. This is something that you got to you just talked about how much time you spent reflecting, considering, thinking about, saying no to the things that were not, you know, appropriate for you at the time, not being sure of what it is, and now you're potentially on that path. So it's okay, you know, to be cautiously optimistic. I think that's healthy. And because the optimism is there, and then you're filling it out, just you know, and we yeah, so I'm I'm excited for you. I got a little emotional. You're like, I feel so supported.
SPEAKER_00Well, and I definitely and this is a really good after I share this segue into kind of your journey too, because I noticed a couple of times you mentioning some things that would have been interesting to pursue or consider that maybe you didn't. I also have lots of decision points and experiences like that. And I do think, Kathy, there's this component of our formative years being spent preparing us to do uh one specific job in in the military. Not that it's not complex, it is, and there are a lot of components that you can and cannot be prepared for, but the choice component is is very different, not that it doesn't exist as a leader, but there are a lot of components around direction, career progression, even regulations and rules by which you make decisions for the group that you lead and manage that are not overly complex. There are only so many answers there at the end of the day. And so when you talk about decision points of deciding, do I do something really risky and go to Hollywood and be a coyote ugly person, right? I I mean that can feel to do it by yourself. I I wouldn't do that either. But but why not? You know, we we are also trained to be comfortable with risk, but in a very specific way. Right. And so I I just think this dichotomy of our education background, which again, incredibly, incredibly thankful for, yeah, of course, can be a little bit of a double-edged sword if that's not the path you choose for your entire career, right? You transition out and you really have to figure out how to use these muscles that don't exist, positive or negative, and and or capitalize on the ones that you have developed from that education and training. So would love to hear your thoughts about you too and kind of dive in on your journey.
SPEAKER_01I recently re-listened to our first podcast, and so that that was interesting because I I was just coming back from one of my sabbaticals. I love um that you anchored to school, right? And this fascination and um interest in psychology. And so it made me start to think about like where did I explore this idea of purpose and you know why I'm here or what I'm supposed to do or that kind of stuff. And so I have a distinct I have a distinct memory of posting a thing on purpose. I feel like I have a a book from my roommate. Um I had the same roommate, Yuckier, up until second semester first year when I went to registra. And she got me this this book for my birthday, and um, and like part of it was like, I feel like you're defining journeys in life or finding your person and finding your purpose uh for the record for anyone who's interested. Uh the person still has not arrived, you know, drop me a DM if you're and I'm just kidding. And so I I uh when I went on my first sabbatical, I pulled up from the archives this journal entry um from November 2009. And it was a year and two months after I decided to leave the active duty army and um and then I was as part of like that first sabbatical. So I've been on two quick rehab for everybody, but I am apparently a perpetual sabbatical taker.
SPEAKER_00Um who is not a perpetual see that is that is the construct telling you that's a problem. It is not like you're not as she's taken two sabbaticals, and I don't know how many people wish they've taken one, but like that isn't a serial sabbatical taker. That's someone who's acknowledging and present enough in themselves to know they need a break. But anywho, continue. Yes, and the running we'll talk like that about my friend.
SPEAKER_01I appreciate you, friend, for keeping your friend safe. Um, and I and in all honesty, I'm I've been treating this medical leave almost like a third one. Um, it's been giving me some time to sit down. But so I found this um this journal entry. So it's from a year and 10 and a year and two months after I had left active duty army. And then on that sabbatical, I had done an exercise that starts with my life purpose is. So you had to write at the top of so if anybody wants to do this exercise, here you go. You write at the top of 10 sheets of paper, write the words, my life, my life's purpose is to, and then you don't think about it. You just complete the sentence on each one of those pieces of paper. And so I wrote, make a difference, help others see and achieve their personal greatness, be an example of what's possible, leave behind a meaningful legacy, change the world, be forever young, achieve my personal legend. That's an alchemist reference, empower others to make a difference, chase experience, make memories, have adventures, inspire greatness. I'm very wordy. Those were 10 things, even though it sounded like more than that. Um but if you read, if I read their journal entry, it was like to use my creativity and empathy to devise ideas and advent activities, listen to and share experiences that help others pursue their dreams while enjoying a sense of accomplishment. So, like, you know, all in all, like I I read that, I did that exercise in the past, the through the two sabbaticals, like I've discovered human design, and I've learned that my literal incarnation cross, if you're into it, that says what's your life's purpose is to lovingly help people get their stuff together. So, you know, I've been, I say all this to say I've just been kind of circling around it. Even, you know, when I came back from my first sabbatical and shared my experiences, it's been talking to people about how do they do that for themselves, right? The second sabbatical, I was like, all right, I need to get more focus. And when I came back from that, I knew that I wanted to focus on women and youth and veterans, right? And again, like how do I help them get it together? And where I am now is um I'm super anchored on human design. It's really a personal self-knowledge tool, right? Grounded in what I call like the ancient divination art. But it it is a way for you to know who you are, and then not who you're supposed to be, not the archetypes that we say out there, but like who you are, and then get after life secure in that. And there's just something that's liberating um when you know, and you just you know described it. We heard it in Ashley's when you know who you are and and what matters to you and how something resonates with you, you know, at your core, you you feel just so secure and just like rolling with that.
SPEAKER_00Because once one's mind is stretched, you can never. Yeah, right. And so, right, and so literally like, yeah, that just continue to have been tapped into like I am supposed to be helping people.
SPEAKER_01What does that look like? And what I love, you know, I'll this is my last like human design rant, is so many people can have that life purpose, lovingly help people get their stuff together, but it depends on like what you're aligned to, what you're aligned to. So it you know, someone that's really into money can be doing it by helping people as a financial advisor. Someone who's really into fitness can be helping people lovingly get their stuff together by working out. Me, it's apparently helping people figure out who they are and get after it, or you know, the best way to be aligned. And so I'm so into human design now. My purpose and what I'm pursuing and and and working through is how to bring human design and form tools to help people just be their best selves. And so working with someone on an app, I got diagnosed with ADHD in my big, big age of where I am. And um, and so that's one of the ways. It's like, how can I help people operate in alignment with their energy? Right? Like, not the task, not what you have to do, like what does your energy say, and how can we like change that paradigm so people aren't like out here grinding and losing their freaking minds trying to do all the things versus versus do how they're energetically positioned for that day. It's like a weather forecast, but for your energy. So we don't go do certain things when it's raining, we adjust our our activities. How about we adjust our days based on what our energy looks like? So that's what that's like where I am, and that's one piece of it. Like, I think that's one way that I'm bringing things forth. The other is I've been really digging into coaching people on like say, like, how do you find an align on your purpose? Like, what does that look like for you, right? Not what anybody else says, but like feeling comfortable being in that, and then just doing the same for a couple of folks, like who are their businesses, like solopreneurs, um, entrepreneurs. Like, how do you pursue your business and set it up such that it's aligned to who you are and your energy, not whatever the norms are. Because once you operate, I love your quote so much now. I'm not I'm Thor's mom is Thor's mom is the business. Once you operate in who you are, everything else falls into place, right? You're not too busy chasing or contorting or like spending the expending that extra energy not being yourself. So that I hope that flowed. That feels like it flowed. Yo, but it's been so many years.
SPEAKER_00November 2009 was the I kind of wanted to ask, you know, you mentioned that you did this like a year and a half-ish, a little over like less than two years after getting out. I'm curious what was going on at that time. What were you doing, and what might have precipitated the post? And you may not know what I get too far back in the archives, it wasn't that long ago, but I'm kidding, I'm kidding. But that is a little bit of what I'm curious about. I do think I certainly want to dive more into this perspective, too, of the alignment component and how once you are comfortable with who you are, or what who you are wants to go do, or where you want to go, things do align because you're not chasing maybe what someone else wants you to be, or what you think people should chase.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. You're not chasing, you're not forcing, right?
SPEAKER_00Both of those things require this energy or this like literal manipulation of mass in a way that like sitting into a box, like, or into a body that is not yours. And I do also find it really interesting. I would love to see, and sometimes I talk about what the world was like when we were a little more primitive. This is getting kind of meta, but if everyone was doing that, I wonder how much more successful we would be globally. Sometimes I talk to people, one of my friends, super side quest, Ray, is starting a shout out to her Etsy shop. I'll we'll post it in here, but she's starting an Etsy shop and selling these like really beautiful plushies of like dogs, animals. And I said, you know what's so wild is there was a time where we were all creative in our own ways. We were selling things through our crafts. People were blacksmiths and they were like selling you know, arms, people were artisans, and we were just like connected through the things that we can do well, which is just feels so far away. I got a little meta with this, but and I think I was basically I was trying to explain to her, you should totally pursue that, even if it isn't the thing for the rest of your life, because you are creative as a person and you've been not being creative as a person because that's not what people told you you should do.
SPEAKER_01That part, that exactly that part there, and there's so many, because there's there's not a career field. The the cadets just pick their branches on that list of branches. There is not a career field that says go paint, go act. Of course not, of course not. And so it's it's really interesting to me, and even in just some of these paths, um, post-military, right? When people are trying to figure out what to do next or determining I have had a few classmates and friends that are that have gone that creative route, and it's so difficult for them because the people who are in those routes don't have the kinds of experiences that they have, right? And so it's really interesting for them to even think about does it can't be right. And then there's that piece of right, is this what I'm supposed to be doing?
SPEAKER_00Right, because what someone told me I should be doing after I leave the army is going to corporate America and then just repeating what I did in the army there for profit, not not to oversimplify. But and there's also nothing wrong with that, right?
SPEAKER_01Which is fine because there are some people who you're busy and it's quite lines with that, and they're doing so much in that space. And I love um, I recently came across um, because I did do acting school a couple years ago, because it's a cup of coffee.
SPEAKER_00Wow.
SPEAKER_01I still get my backstage alerts. So, you know, don't have my person for me if perhaps it's in uh Hollywood or small screen or Netflix, I mean whatever, you know? Yeah, reality show. If you guys want to syndicate this podcast, whatever, we're open to it.
SPEAKER_00Whatever you want to do, we're here for it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but um that gap, they've started to realize and help to address that gap. And so there's a group. I'm gonna have to like post it later because I can't remember it off the top of my head, but there's a group that helps creatives who are veterans who are creatives get into that space and help relate. And then there's just something that is also just also therapeutic and cathartic about being able to be creative after some of the experiences that we've got.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. I also think a whole different direction we can touch on another time, but there are a lot more really creative people in service, so many, and also part of, like you said, maybe coping with the time, part of like post-traumatic, we lots of that outlet can be incredibly the like exciting and healing to just be doing completely the opposite. So me, I mean, and maybe that's some of that that feels really great to people. But I wanted to share, I follow this gentleman, Derek Grant, who his Instagram is DG Mindset, but I actually really love daily reviewing his Instagram because he does a lot of this discussion around how you really have to find alignment by looking at yourself before you look at others. So just because we've been talking about this a lot, he shared something that is really the reason I decided to apply to these schools. And there's he shares so many great nuggets and perspective pieces, but I'm gonna share with you this quote that he shared. I see this happen so often in society. You get to the top of the mountain and you've achieved everything, but you are never aligned. Achievement without alignment ain't anything but vanity. You feel empty and you have all of this, you feel like you're still not enough, it's not enough. You're chasing, you're chasing like a donkey chasing a carrot, and you never get to it. So instead, alignment over everything. And so he says more, but basically, you know, those CEOs get to the top, and I'm over-generalizing, but anybody, if you become incredibly successful and it wasn't out of alignment, you're never gonna be happy.
SPEAKER_01So yes, I mean that that's like the crux of like everything. So for me, it's human design, like whatever it is, you know, for some people it's prayer, for other people, it whatever it is that helps you. It's you know, to get like to to whatever allows you to understand who you are, right? Whatever allows you to reveal this this new idea that that stretches your mind at what's possible. Once you know what it is, like alignment is the core of it. Like being aligned is is so huge. Like the thing I um one of the things I said I was gonna stop talking about human design. I'm not, so here we go.
SPEAKER_00Um, because you know what? And to be fair, this is a great segue that we've already done into how are you rising a little bit. So keep talking about human design, and then we're kind of pivoting into how are you rising because this is a big part for you of that, but not just weak for you, but go ahead, keep changing.
SPEAKER_01And before I forget, Armed Services Arts Partnership ASAP is the name of the program. It's free for veterans, I think, and service members. Don't quote me on that. Um, so it is like they offer workshops for you in the arts and creative areas. Like you need to give this to my brother. Yeah. So Armed Services Arts Partnership. ASAP ASAP.org. So if you're interested in the creative things, you're a veteran, you're trying to find your hopefully we've uncovered, you know, one of many things for alignment there. But back to the alignment piece, so many people, when I, you know, start to um talk about or go over their human design and you know, their energy and their profile and all those things, their concern before we even get into it is well, what if I don't know if I want to be pigeonholed into this thing, or what if et cetera. It's like you're saying that because you have been operating from a place of where you have been pigeonholed. Once you know who you are and you you start to reinforce and get confident in that, yeah, it feels so good. You don't care, you couldn't care less. You're like, I am operating in alignment. Forget the haters, forget the naysayers. Like, I feel so aligned that I'm gonna keep, you know, going down this path. And and I don't know, you know, when we were doing the lead up, we were also talking about books that we've read and different concepts. Like the Alchemist is one that I've read about your personal legend. And it's like once you know it, you know that's the thing. Like, even though there aren't, I'm not saying there aren't gonna be hard days or there aren't times where you are, you know, wanting to stop. However, it's like this is legit the thing. Um if this isn't it, or if I don't pursue this, I may miss that opportunity to you know to find that ultimate alignment. So alignment 100%. I love that quote. And and I co-sign it. Alignment over everything.
SPEAKER_00Alignment over everything. Let's subscribe. Does he have a t-shirt? I know we should admit, we'll make one. He put it up. Derek, do you let us know if you have a t-shirt? If not, let us know if you want to come on and talk. We'll just let you talk the whole time. But no, I and and if we think about like how we are, how are we rising, and I think about this concept of alignment and how hard it really is to get there, or not hard. I it is this for me constantly evolving change of what the focus is for alignment, because I do think it's in the same token, it can mean a lot of different things, and we're kind of talking about it very I don't know if it's to me, I think I've made career the one place of focus. Yeah, yeah. I feel like we're kinda like the alignment piece to me, as I think about it, just is is really about knowing where you want to focus your efforts. I say that to say that I'm going into this program and I went to this orientation last week, and one of the senior students that about that's about to graduate was like, it's actually incredibly hard. This is like really hard. It's gonna rack you wide open. It's not easy. You're gonna be juggling a lot of things, especially if you have a job and you have a family and then you're also doing this program. And she talked about how there are lots of ways to assess yourself. And going into the program, she recommended this assessment tool about your priorities or what you value, which is you know, it's an it's an avenue of this discussion around alignment. And part of alignment is knowing not just what your purpose is, but what do you value? Yes, and what's important to you. And so I think before I had a family, which was not that long ago. And I had family, I have friends, like my friends, you're a core unit. Yes, now I'm a core unit with another person, and I made a a small human. Like that is a that is my family. I realized that I really put my career in the in the front all the time. It was all I had, really. And so having to think about what is a like what are what are my values now? What is what is most important to me? Balance is really important to me. Being able to be present with my family is really important to me. And I struggle with that a lot because I say that and I want that, but my muscle memory and my life of who I'm supposed to be is very career-driven and very focused on success that I don't even want. I think there's also this other component of alignment I wanted to make sure we talk about that's incredibly hard, that is about marrying what your values are for yourself internally to how that comes out and lives in the world. And it's just it also really hard to do all the time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And so, as I'm going to this program, I've said balance is a challenge, it's important to me. I want to prioritize my family, I want to be present, and I don't want to sit with Layla and be worried about 50 phone calls or like emails because this is fleeting and it happens fast.
SPEAKER_01So I don't know how I got my uncle and I were talking, and we got to that recently. Um we're talking about my hand, my shoulder. But we got on that. He was like, I don't know how we got here, but we got on that life piece, that life, the life story around values. He's like, what you what you do reflects your what you value, how you operate reflects what you value.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And oftentimes we have a values mismatch. And so I think it is and it's so it's you either need to acknowledge and say, No, I'm operating this way and making time for these things because it's actually what I value, or yeah, what you shared, which is be aware of it and start to create the behaviors to change them. Yeah, to change and adjust. It's not easy, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And I think for me, as I think about like where I am and how I'm doing, and then how my rising taking this step into this program is a part of that for me, and trying to change my behaviors to match those values in alignment is a really big part for me too. Yeah, but I read this book by the author of Epre Love called Big Magic, and it was a lot about purpose and how do you be creative, and where do you find that nexus of getting to doing the things that you love? And I've brought up the alignment piece around values too, because I think that for some people, maybe alignment includes a career that is really focused around what is their purpose. And this book, when I was in a really pivotal time, transitioning out, working at Lulemon, not sure what I wanted to do next before I started working in executive search. I felt really tied to the idea that the next thing I did needed to be this perfect career move, and I needed to be aligned with my purpose and exactly what I was meant to do for my whole life, and that's just a really grandiose romantic idea. But the book challenged me to think that really maybe that's what happens, but also you can be living your purpose and it not be the center of your career base. Maybe it's just alignment through values and how you prioritize what you care about. Yeah, maybe it's that you get to paint on the side, and that brings you a lot of joy, and you don't have to make that your career. Maybe you do. Eventually, I think the hope is always that whatever that you know lined pieces is connected there. But I I guess all of that to say, career isn't the only place that purpose can be found.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, this is so true. As you said that, I remember um a recent reflection I did. So I've been in in February, I went to a startup accelerator for my app idea, which how amazing.
SPEAKER_00I was so inspired by that. So I just want to take a second and be like, we didn't, I should have stopped us earlier and celebrated this, but like Kathy is creating a really cool app for people, like she's an entrepreneur, she's founding an app that is amazing. So many people couldn't even imagine how much impact that's gonna have one day. But I just think that that inspired me to look towards something that felt more aligned personally. I just want to take a second and celebrate you doing that and going to this course and graduating from this course because it was really hard and you crushed it.
SPEAKER_01Thanks. Thanks for that because I legit was about to like gloss over it. So it was the Founder Institute, and I got into it while I was on my second sabbatical, but it started when I went back to work. So I was doing 30-hour weeks for this course um while legitimately doing my day job. I hit kind of a stall after we graduated. You know, I have an amazing researcher. She's a PhD neuroscience researcher, so we've she's been kind of pushing a lot of our research along, and now we're trying to um figure out a few things before we can launch maybe early next year. Um, not maybe, before we launch early next year. However, I was in that, I had found myself in that all or nothing thinking that we talked about. And so what you mentioned about it doesn't have to be the career you're in right now, um, or even ever, right? If we think about some of our parents or grandparents, they didn't have the luxury of, you know, the the questions that we're asking ourselves, they didn't have the luxury of it. Yeah. And yet they still found ways, some of them, many of them, to live these fulfilled lives because they focus on what matters. I have to work to put food on the table, but work isn't my life, like it is for some of us. My family is my is important, or you know, these these things. We look at some of the sacrifices and the things that our parents have done for us, or just the ways they set us up. So, anyways, and so I finally I had been doing some reflections and I finally got to that point where I literally wrote a song using AI. Y'all, if you haven't used the Suno app, it is so dope.
SPEAKER_00It's amazing. Have it share with me, it saved my life. Just tell them about it.
SPEAKER_01If music motivates you, if you need if you use music for mantra playlists or if you love, like I have a million and one playlists that correlate to whatever I'm going through in my life ever since I could record songs off the radio. Yes, I'm that old. Um but no, in all seriousness, um, I had been have been using this app. We summer camp for the girls, we use it as our Steam event where they wrote lyrics using AI and then they use this music.
SPEAKER_00In summer camp, I don't know if everyone knows this, but Kathy's a uh member and leader on the Emily Peret. Yeah. Yeah, you had Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And we h we host a summer camp, we host two things, summer camps for young girls, middle school age, and then we do boot camps, resilience boot camps for women veterans, um, on just resources to help navigate times where you need to reinforce your resilience. And so when I talk about the kids and the tea, it's the summer camp kids. Um so we I found this app, and then I have just been using it. And so I recently recently went inward and was like, I am not feeling aligned. And so I wrote this song called I Am Aligned, and one of the lines, and I didn't think about it until you brought up alignment over everything and how it work doesn't have to be anything, but one of the lines in my song is that it's this sentiment of I honor the work that I do today, right? Because how silly would it be to be disdainful of, or you know, like all these experiences that I have, where I am right now, everything else, it would be silly for me to just be like, I can't believe that I'm stuck in this space, but that's where I was. I was being like super negative about where I was that I wasn't in the work that I should be doing. I'm not doing it. I should, should, should, should. I'm supposed to, suppose to, supposed to, right? I'd seen this idea, it's been a stretch, and I'm not there yet. And so it was really helpful. It was yeah, it was the the it was a I'm looking for like a big it was like mind-altering, life-changing. I was so transformational for me to actually get to that point where um where I realized I could say that. So what I the words that I have are today, I live an aligned purpose, I honor the work I do at this time and nurture the vision that I've been called to to build through my actions. What is meant to be to exist will be. I'm not waiting to become, I am the moment. She is me, I am she. Like, but that piece, like finally getting into that point of like I can honor what I'm doing today, even if it's not the thing, and still develop my still focus on my vision and move towards it, has been um that plus the you know, the idea the alchemist in your heart and going after your personal legend has been driving me to keep going, you know, like slow and steady some days, other days it's super fast. And so, like that when you say alignment and everything else, that's kind of what it is to me, too. You don't have to be exactly in the thing, right?
SPEAKER_00Right. And it's so funny because I'm just gonna share this. Kathy shared that app with me, songwriting Suno, and I love it because to piggyback off what you just said, it's not an easy journey to kind of figure out like everybody's just living our lives trying to figure it out. But we can make it really hard. I also made us made a song for myself that was very different. I was feeling very lost in the sauce, and so she shared this app. And when I say lost in the sauce, I don't know if it was time of year in our defense. A lot of people had a hard last year. This has been a hard year, but we're not the only ones that would say that in our defense. It's December though. This has been a hard year, but I just realized we're it's almost, yeah, we're almost maybe out of it. I guess we'll see what next year holds. But but yeah, I I I was also having a hard time, and I I I think there's a lot of value in, I guess when we think about alignment, but in kind of regrounding in what are your values and letting those those things help you find alignment or what do you want them to be, but also manifesting those things by doing things like writing a song that reminds you how you want to feel or what you want to channel. And I had to a little bit different, but I I had to write a line in mine that basically said, Everything always works out, things always go my way from this experience, only good will come. What is meant for me will always find me, and I'm choosing love and light and peace. But you know, I think that's beautiful. A few of my friends shared some of these pieces that I put into the song, but I needed to hear that to feel that, and so I think there's this component of manifesting and telling yourself and changing your perspective and changing your mindset that really matters too. That is what you're talking about.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. And you know, we're go get a little woo ethereal. We are getting a little and that's science. Frequency you can just look it up. What the what sound frequency does to water molecules, yeah, and and we are water.
SPEAKER_00I have to share this before I forget. I don't know if we've talked about this before, but I was reading an article through a friend. Neurologist recently compiled a study. Don't come for me, this isn't exact. That people who think they're lucky are lucky. There's this percentage that I don't have. I don't know if you read this too, Kathy, but similar studies, yeah. Yes, I was floored, and it's changed the way that I think about. My mom used to call me lucky as a kid, and I'm like, I'm not lucky, who's lucky? And now I'm like, I am lucky. I am lucky this is gonna work out for me. But it literally changes the okay, I'm not gonna say this right, but the your brain, okay? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, you're more open to things you embark on journeys that that other people might view outwardly as like lucky, but because your mind was more open to the possibility that this would happen, it can. So I'm really just taking this to mean I will win the lottery. I will win the lottery. You know, me and my best friend are always like, we don't even enter the lottery. I'm gonna enter it, but but I do think that in line with this, that really also changed the way that I I rethought about my choices and the way I think of things.
SPEAKER_01Well, and the other thing, so I was having a conversation with someone, if you're listening, you know who you are. Um we're having a conversation about luck, right? And so there's also this so there's that that the neurochemical piece. Yes, that's what you couldn't say. And then also, though, there's this idea of luck is where opportunity means preparation. So if you're sitting here thinking good things happened to me, you know, I'm whatever, there's also things that you're doing. And so you're like, oh, I'm ready for this thing to happen, let me get ready. So people who are lucky or thinking something will happen are also preparing themselves. They're like, all right, somebody's gonna come reach out and syndicate our podcast. Somebody's gonna ask me to come to Hollywood. Let me get ready, you know, let me do the things, let's make sure, you know, we're recording, we're dropping episodes, we're engaging, we're whatever.
SPEAKER_00We're planning the next season. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. And so, you know, there's the and I'm doing this to ground it for people, you know, our audience may not be as woo as we are, but there's science and all the woo, right? And so, yes, those people are thinking that, and they're not just laying around like daydreaming, they're also doing the things. And so if you are prepared, an opportunity will pop up, and because you are prepared, you are air quote lucky. Someone who's not prepared or is not thinking about that or not open to it or not doing the things, when that opportunity pops up, they're not ready.
SPEAKER_00Yes, serendipity I find is not is not just woo-woo. It's like you were prepared so you could take the opportunity when it came to you mentally and in any other way possible. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I mean, and oh, oh my gosh. And we had this conversation, it was about merch.
SPEAKER_00So oh, I was about to, oh my god, I when you were like, oh, we're manifesting, I was about to be like, we're dropping merch. I'm just letting you like, no, it's not here, but we're manifesting it. We're we've got the ideas.
SPEAKER_01It's happening, it's happening. Maybe for Galantine's Day, if you want to get your best out there, we'll have some stuff by then. And in that conversation, though, we were talking about um rising, right? And so we're talking about how we're rising. Right. And the intentionality, when we picked Warrior Women Rising, like it wasn't out of, you know, oh, the random, like that sounds good. Rising is this act, it's not, it's, it's, it's active. Never ending. Yeah. Yes. It's it's something that's continuous, it's ongoing. Yeah. And so as we're sitting here talking about how we're rising, um, even as I said, when I listened to, you know, our first podcast in this one, it's really fun to see the progression, the growth, to know that it's, you know, something that's that's actively happening, and to know that we could look at today. And if today's a down day or a bummer day or whatever for this month, when you zoom out, all of those things still are progressing in that positive upward motion of rising. So um, so when I when I think about how we're rising, and like it's felt slow in the past few months. I'm recovering from shoulder surgery. I can't, you know, I can't do my day job. I can bear, you know, I can barely like I do this stuff, I'm tired, everything takes 50 times as long to do, and yet still rising, right? And not even still, we won't even be able to qualify. And I am rising, and there are things to do there.
SPEAKER_00So I mean, honestly, if I think about the past few months for you, I mean, it's been challenging. So I'd love to hear how how has that been for you?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I don't know if we have clearly said this or not, or if I've clearly said it. So I just sort of ground for the audience what exactly this is, it's been challenging. I um was supposed to be taking six weeks off of work back in August for shoulder surgery, uh, old army injury, and had the surgery three weeks into it, fell and tore everything, and then had to have another surgery right back into the same spots, and then have had a series of complications um since then. Um still and uh just getting the surgery done, we've you know, Ashley and I have talked about we are independent women, we've got a fiercely independent, don't tell me what to do. I got this, you know. I I live with a husky, and so just having the surgery in the first place was uh tough because it meant that I needed to rely on other people, other people.
SPEAKER_00And um You like couldn't even say it.
SPEAKER_01Let me say it, I had to rely on other people, and I'm thankful that I have the friends and the family and the support system that I can actually rely on, right? And and that I've been there's a lot of things I wanted to do and accomplish at work in my day job that once the second surgery happened, I was like, well, there goes that, right? Um and so sitting around not able to do a lot has like offered me the opportunity to do a fair amount of self-reflection and introspection, and it hasn't been easy. However, I think it's been necessary. You know, that's where I am, that's where some of this, some of this alignment, some of these realizations have come through this process. I had an opportunity to write, uh do a visceral vision exercise and write my vision for a year from it just right before my birthday, so a year from my birthday where I see myself. And so on top of like having read the Alchemist, Alchemist, I reread it for the third time, focusing on my personal legend, the alignment, being in the song, writing this visceral vision, turning that into a song, and just like listening to and really anchoring to that. I've been moving, it's been slow. Like there's some there's been a couple weeks where definitely the weeks right after the surgery, this is a plural like I couldn't do anything, and just being in a place of acceptance, right? Like this is where I am, I have support, I'm supported, and where I am is exactly where I'm supposed to be, and everything will work out. Um It's not easy, but like I think the thing I think about when you ask this is like one of the things that popped up for me I have to get some testing done to figure out like why I have additional pain. But it's not in my shoulder. And so recently my shoulder has started to feel really good. And I remember thinking two weeks ago, like I don't know. Yeah. I was just like, ah, it's not getting better. Like, I don't want to be positive. I'm like, you people leave me alone. Stop telling me it's gonna be fine. It never doesn't feel like it's gonna be fine. Um, you know, I've been living under an ice machine for months, you know, for for 24 hours a day at one point, every night. And so I'm starting to feel better. So I'm seeing, you know, through the other side. And so I think where I'm going with that is because of my support system. Like, if everyone, if I had been left to my own device devices, or if uh people around me were also negative, they were like holding on to that for me when I couldn't. And so I'm on the other side of it. So I I do recognize intellectually, like years from now, I'm not gonna remember any of this. It's gonna be a blip to be like, oh yeah, that year when I had to deal with the the surgery, and I've had surgeries before, and it's the same thing. I know it and I've experienced it, but uh, it's been hard. Um, but it's definitely been, I think, revelational to help reveal some things for me about myself. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And it always does. That whole life thing. Isn't it wild too though that like things like that was two weeks ago. Two weeks ago, I found out I got in this program and I was like, I can't do this. There's no way I'm gonna be able to do just I do think this comes back to this perspective of mindset and how we think about it. And you brought up your point. Sometimes we need people to help us. And honestly, us doing this through this whole period from start to finish, starting from when we came up with this idea a couple August ago, has helped me a lot immensely through finding alignment, which is part of why we do this and are hoping we can help other people.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_00By chatting a little bit about where we are and how we're thinking about things.
SPEAKER_01Because it's hard. And I wanna I wanna before we do that, real quick, something you just said, it's hard or give credit. Like, this was your idea, and I just jumped on and was like, this is amazing. I would love to support and share stories. And to that point, like, we're also doing what isn't happening in a lot of the Instagram posts or the LinkedIn posts or the whatever where people are sharing just the hugged reports. I haven't like I've been talking about I haven't posted on I post on Instagram a lot. I post on LinkedIn a lot. I have not posted because I've been in such a crappy state. I didn't want to invite it, I didn't want people to see it, you know, whatever. And I guess I'm sharing for the first time here. But um, I haven't even like updated my sibling chat. My siblings are like, Are you alive? My brother, shout out to Jeremy when you hear this. My brother in the sibling chat. I've been avoiding doing an update. He's like, hey, hey, how are you doing? It's good to see you on Strava. I forgot the freaking Peloton connects to Stravas. He knows he knows I'm alive, but I haven't wanted to share because it's not good news, and I just didn't want anyone to worry and all the other stuff. So by design, we are sharing the not so pretty parts, and we're asking people to share those parts so that you can know that you're not alone, what you're experiencing is something that other people have experienced, and you can get another perspective as our audience on you know how you might tackle it. So, yes, thank you for that. You know, thanks for that, Ashley.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I could talk about this all day, honestly, because and you said, like, I just this is your idea. I just hop on this thing. Well, it was my idea. I've wanted to do this for a long time, that's true. But I also like how you didn't go be a coyote girl, didn't do it myself. I do think there's this. I mean I felt better about doing it when I always wanted a partner, I always wanted to do this with somebody else because I'm great, but so are you. And I just think what we also aren't talking about, that we've kind of talked about throughout this whole discussion, too, is it's easier with other people. Sometimes you can't get there by yourself. Some of the alignment piece, I don't know anybody who's full alignment, is like, I want to be at the top by myself. Like, so I I do think that it was my idea, but I wouldn't have brought it to life without someone else in this universe, like without you. So I'm really thankful for that because also, since we were talking about it, Kathy has been going through a challenging time. When we decided to do this, I was a year postpartum, and it was incredibly challenging for me. I don't know how Kathy had conversations with me for months. I was just like barely together. I was like, I don't even have time for this thing I really want to do. Like, I have no time for this. And even in that journey, I feel like we've tried to re-ground and recenter and continue to reassess for this podcast what alignment looks like doing this for ourselves and what good looks like to us and what is and isn't gonna work. So just wanted to kind of shout that out too.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, I think we designed something that we wish we had, and um, in that the goal is to create something that is helpful for others. So, yeah. I feel like you are adept and the skillful one, you're very great at, and we just I look through uh our human design turns around communication, now I understand why at the recaps you're so good at it, and then I just like I like glob on, I'm like, yes, and that part and this part, and I feel like you're taking notes. I'm like, should I have been taking notes? What are we talking about?
SPEAKER_00No, no, and I think you know, we make a good team, and on that note of recapping, I feel like we did recap the episode already, but one thing we haven't done that we like to do, we should do with each other is how can we? And it's just us, but I do want to think about a how can we, you know, with others, as we kind of talked about some really cool things that people can research or use as support, want to talk about those things, like books and podcasts and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_01Some books. So let's start with book categories. So books, the one that I thought of was The Alchemists, that's like a classic if you're into that stuff, and it's just about it's how it's it's it's like a fable, it tells a story of someone pursuing their journey, yeah. Um, and I won't give it away, but lots of allegories, etc. And that's what's motivated me. And it took me three times before I finally read it, and then I reread it three times.
SPEAKER_00So and he has a a bunch of books that are really great, so yeah, by Paulo Coelho, yes. Paulo Quello in general, he's just like a great resource. Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. I really loved that book, is is one that I mentioned. DG Mindset is a cool Instagram to follow, Derek Grant, about alignment and the pathway to finding you and results.
SPEAKER_01What's a good Instagram to follow? I don't know, there's so many out there. Human Design at Human Design at Human Design Blueprint are pretty good ones. You can also just go to Jovian Archive, um, and that's like the definitive source of it. You can also hit me up if you DM me. What's a mat? Yeah, just DM us, I can point you to some things. I think what's important is what's more important is once you know your design to find a community of people who are of that design, it's kind of like the difference between um the difference between like a man trying to tell a woman how to navigate the world as a woman and a woman telling a woman how to navigate the world as a woman, or a woman telling a man how to navigate the world as a man, like just finding your people who have had similar experiences. Armed services art partnership, you shared that for creatives. Yes, if you are a veteran that's I think even if you're in, if you're thinking about or you want to get into the creative space, the armed services art partnership, and then yeah, if you're in DC area and you're looking for acting classes, studio acting conservatory, super great program, very dedicated instructors, cool community. Suno, which is um an AI songwriting app, which is yeah, if you are into music and you're tired of trying to find playlists or songs that exactly replicate or indicate what you're feeling, Suno is pretty dope for that. You can write your own songs, you can tell it what genre you want it to look like, all the things.
SPEAKER_00And in general, I was gonna say something my therapist shared with me when I was feeling very exploratory. I'm not sure what I want to do, I'm sure what I don't like and don't want to do, is that she just encouraged me to find people doing things I was thinking about doing or wanted to do. Yes. And so just in general, I would say sometimes it can feel information overload, like you get inundated with inundated with so much to look at and observe and take in. If a thing in your mind is calling to you, if it's a purpose, if it's a value, yes, if it's a place, if it's a career, if it's a person, just explore that. See if you can find somebody, talk to your friends about it. You can DM us. We're your friends, you're a badass, we're your friends. Explore it. Yes. Somehow.
SPEAKER_01That's super that uh so one of the um, there's a couple, there's a sabbatical project that exists out there, that's what they're called, the sabbatical project. Yes. And one of their um, one of the tenets that they pose and they preach is around that, like exploring. So if you are seeking to figure out, you know, what what to do, because a lot of sabbaticals are an opportunity for you to explore what's next, um, they highly recommend exploring, finding people who are doing that. And um just a similar that resonated with me. You heard me go, yes. Um the other thing, a version of that was um in the Startup Accelerated Founder Institute, they told us, like, find working groups of other founders because whatever it is that you're trying to do, you're attempting to do that you want to do that you're pursuing, it likely is. If you're this concerned about it where you're looking for people who are doing it, it likely is not, it's it's different from what you've been doing. And so you need to be around people who are doing that. If you're if I'm sitting around with my friends who aren't founders talking about, all right, I'm about to go do this thing, it sounds crazy and they might talk me out of it. But if you're around a bunch of people who are already doing that or who are eating and sleeping it, and then you get inspired and motivated and aligned, you find alignment in being with them. So I wholeheartedly support what your therapist said, and that you were practicing.
SPEAKER_00No, it's important, cool. Yeah. Well, I guess it's the end today, but we will see you guys next time. Just wanted to shout out how you can find us really quickly.
SPEAKER_01Our Instagram is at warrior.women.rise. And our website is warriorwomenrise.buzzsprout.com.
SPEAKER_00And our email address is warrior.women.rise at gmail. And you can find us on Spotify and iTunes. Yep.
SPEAKER_01Apple is we got some really cool feature that you can text us if you wanted to. We'll get those messages in our podcast. Yes.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Yeah, yeah. So this is this is great. Hey, can't wait to see you guys next time. It's good to be with you all. You're a badass if someone didn't tell you today. We'll see.
SPEAKER_01Go into the mirror. If they had if they didn't tell you, we're telling you, and we're telling you to go tell yourself. Go stand in the mirror, put your hands on your hips and say, I am a badass. You don't have to use the kid voice.
SPEAKER_00You can just use your Yeah, you use your big you use the big girl voice.
