From Shut Down to Showing Up: Lyndsey Van Sickle’s Path to Unleashing Productivity and Passion

In this inspiring episode of the Beyond Hope Project, Jason Tharp sits down with Lyndsey Van Sickle, a certified speaker and author of The Black Book, to explore how she helps organizations shift from being shut down to fully showing up. Lyndsey shares her journey of overcoming immense pressure, the transformative power of writing, and how facing our unsaid fears can unlock true productivity and passion. Discover practical tips for reigniting your original passions and hear firsthand how Lyndsey’s hands-on programs address the root causes of burnout. Whether you’re struggling with personal or professional challenges, this episode offers powerful insights to help you move forward and thrive.

MEET  LYNDSEY VAN SICKLE:
Lyndsey works with organizations that want to quickly go from shut down to showing up to watch productivity soar.
Lyndsey V, is a certified speaker. She knows what it is to live under immense pressure and sees how the things we don’t say, block productivity and passion. Her programs are hands-on and focus on the real cause of burnout, to get professionals back to their original passions. Lyndsey serves on the board of the National Speakers Association, Mountain West Chapter. She is a master graduate of Rapport Leadership. Lyndsey is the author of The Black Book. She is a passionate wife, and mother to four, with a love for speaking and outdoor adventures with her family.

CONNECT WITH LYNDSEY VAN SICKLE:
✩ WEBSITE: https://www.lyndseyv.com
✩ INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/lyndseyv_/

CONNECT WITH JASON:

✩ Website - https://www.jasontharp.com
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MEET JASON:

Hi, I’m Jason!
Ever since I was six, I knew I was born to tell stories. As a best-selling author, illustrator, and sought-after speaker, I've turned my personal battles with grade four brain cancer, obesity, and negative self-talk into fuel for transformation. My keynotes don't just talk—they spark potential, ignite creativity, and build resilience. If you're ready for an engaging experience that challenges the status quo and propels your organization to new heights, let's turn your 'impossible today' into 'possible tomorrow' together!

For more information or to partner with me - https://www.jasontharp.com/bookjason

Transcript

:00

[Music]

0:10

hey guys it's Jason welcome back to the Beyond hope project podcast today's guest I'm very excited to welcome

0:16

Lindsay Van Sickle uh Lindsay and I have never talked before this is literally

0:21

our first conversation and it's getting recorded so um it it's going to be awesome uh this is we're going to

0:28

Archive this forever um it's going to be amazing so thank you so much for uh for

0:34

taking the time out to talk with us oh yeah thanks for having me yeah and so um

0:40

what we'd like to do on here is Define hope for you to start the whole thing out because we Define hope a little

0:46

different um you know we all know the traditional sense of the word hope and it has you know multiple different

0:51

meanings but uh how we Define it here is Hope is the spark it's the start place to begin and a lot of times what people

0:58

will do is once they find that space they're going to start moving down the road and ultimately fail and they're going to think they're I'm a failure

1:04

they're going to put whatever letter or whatever definition they want on there but we also do is provide hope as the

1:10

second definition which is the place to find the PATH again maybe the path just moved a little bit um but it's still

1:16

there and take what you learned and and kind of move forward so with a definition like that if you can go back

1:23

to any point in Lindsay's life at any age or any any intersection what type of Hope would

1:29

would you give that person then and what would be some context of how you would

1:34

maybe go about it oh that little spark I mean I feel like I need that every day it's you know

1:42

be so invigorated and then the next day it's so easy to forget and to say what was I doing

1:49

and uh the struggle I I was thinking the other day someone asked the question

1:54

like what would you tell seven speakers that are just starting out like seven things that they have to have and they

2:00

were giving examples like would it be their website and their Onie and their and the very first thing that popped

2:06

into my head was like you have to know what to do when it doesn't go how you thought it

2:11

would and and I was like what would I say though specifically what to do and

2:18

it was pretty obvious but to me it was like it it's just the keep going when you know when you're when you think I

2:25

must have failed now or this time this isn't right or people should be responding better to this or I should

2:31

feel more legitimate uh because I I just feel like I've talked to enough people it just

2:36

comes up for everyone's journey and to not to just believe in

2:41

what you have um let's see specifically even just thinking of this

2:47

morning I was doing some new content looking at my marketing for some different things I'm doing and I was

2:54

getting in that meditative space and I'm like send me something really really good you know I love writing and

3:00

thinking about these things and the thought that came to me was like trust what you have you know want desire to

3:09

lean in to what you have and believe and put the Power into that and that was a

3:15

big spark for me this morning you know a lot of times the Sparks for me are personal they're something my heart

3:22

needs to remind me and to jump back in um it's hard to take any any Spark

3:28

from somebody else for me that's not going to work right yeah that's great and so when when you when you are

3:35

seeking that spark is there some sort of trick that you use to find that within yourself and you mentioned meditation is

3:41

there other things that you do that uh that bring that part out for you yeah

3:47

I'm a huge writer I tapped into that uh not until about 10 years ago and

3:53

I started writing um I have my blackbook that came about because of some writing I did but just in all aspects I like to

4:01

ask questions and then I kind of listen in a meditative space and I feel like

4:07

it's tuning into you know my heart or my higher self whatever you want to call it

4:12

uh and I'll feel those Sparks that are very specific for me individually and they're

4:19

energizing because it's tailored to me and I'll write the answers that I get um

4:24

a lot of times for me it comes to looking what's getting in the way of those Sparks and I mean that's what the

4:31

blackbook and a lot of my passionate is about is the pressures that build up in

4:36

life and the stress I've I thought before it must be this stressful job I have or this house

4:42

that we just built and trying to manage it all and it must be all the Clutter on my desk and what I realized it was it

4:50

was everything I wasn't saying about all of that all the stuff that was going on behind the scenes that I just kept no

4:57

it's not that way it shouldn't be pushing away pushing away um that was

5:02

just building up building up this this weight on my chest you know it was

5:07

feeling I remember in my late 20s like I'm I'm holding shut like closet doors that are bursting with all of this just

5:15

junk and emotion and life living that had never been looked at you know that I thought couldn't be and

5:22

still um today it still builds up and builds up but that's what led me to find

5:27

you know what I call shred writing and looking at some of those things that block the Sparks The Hope yeah it's kind

5:33

of hard to feel that when you're so bogged down with you don't even know what you're bogged down by yeah um yeah

5:40

I I I love that because one of the things I like to tell people is that um everything you're looking for is kind of

5:46

hidden behind everything you're afraid to actually talk about or or tackle and we we make up all these things this this

5:54

monsters in the closet right that are these things that we go like oh my God like what do I like it can't be that and

6:01

and the thing is I I tell people like what's the you know because I've had people ask what's the biggest learning you've got from brain cancer it's like

6:07

everything that you think that it's not it is like it's like everything that you question about what you're trying to go

6:13

through is exactly the answer but the problem is is because we're we're programmed to think that that can't be

6:18

like that simple answer can't be it that we uh will avoid it at all cost right we'll just like oh damn it can't be that

6:25

there's no way and and so I'm I'm just curious like you mentioned like in your 20s like starting to undercover that

6:31

like what was the part that kind of open that kicked that door open for you to even Explore it because I think a lot of

6:36

times uh especially at that age it's it's the world is telling you what you

6:42

should be and to do something that is kind of like self-reflective is it's scary as hell because like you're you're

6:50

still getting formed of like what the world is telling you as an adult right like what was the the spark that made

6:56

you kind of question those those things yourself you know it's so true I really felt

7:04

like uh life should have been a lot different than it was for me in my 20s is what I thought like success to me I

7:10

thought was being productive I thought was feeling really happy all the time

7:15

you know I thought success was um loving a being being a mom while balancing

7:21

having a business and as things didn't add up in that way I just rather than

7:26

looking at them I just the worst thing I could do ever is look is look at it and

7:31

I thought the best thing I could do would just be to act like it wasn't there you know we've a lot of us have

7:38

done this I woke up and I would put a mask on you know this is the happy Lindsay and this is who people want to

7:44

see and I didn't realize the toll it was taking on myself though talking about

7:50

maybe a pivotal spark I remember one day sitting on my

7:56

bedroom floor and I had my legs crossed and I had this huge Journal sprawled open on my lap and I

8:02

would write all the happy gratitudes of the day in the journal and which I mean

8:08

gratitude journals are great right yeah you know we love them but what I was doing is I was saying like on this

8:15

morning I was like Lindsay just just write everything just write the happy and look you can hear you know your kids

8:21

laughing and your business is going in this direction and it's fine the Market's turning and yeah it's fine just

8:28

write all of that but I was completely miserable miserable inside and I was

8:34

just just write what's good and that's what I did every morning but that morning it was like I just I couldn't do

8:42

I remember trying to in my pen like wouldn't move it was like enough is enough feeling yeah and I just couldn't

8:48

write and as I'm sitting there this feeling came to me maybe it was a spark

8:53

you know I've never heard the spark thing before look looking you up Jason which I love and it was this this

8:59

feeling I kind of felt in my heart and it was like Lindsay like what do you really really want to say I was like no

9:06

no no no like I could never that's not me that's not who I am that's not what I

9:11

want to be Lindsay like what do you really want to say you know and it was at that point I

9:18

Unleashed like then the ink started flowing and I remember just scribbling in that nice Journal like I'm

9:24

disappointed I didn't think things would be that I'm frustrated I've been anxious for years you know it's piling

9:30

and um the things that were really going on in my heart were going out scribbling

9:36

I was writing one word on top of the other and I don't know how but I'd wrote three

9:41

pages so fast it was like everything new was already on the surface and coming out and my real self like what was I

9:49

just begging to be written you know I tore those pages out tore them into

9:55

little pieces took it outside and kind of threw it all out

10:00

um that I didn't realize that then that really was a big line in the sound for me that was when I first

10:07

started look opening the door instead of pushing it all away yeah like a few days

10:14

later I remember feeling the anxious and pressure build up again and I reached for that nice Journal tore through more

10:20

pages of it you know and I started to step into who I really was and my own power and look for help and accept

10:28

started to accept it and that was a big changing spark for me then yeah that's awesome and and I just want to like Echo

10:35

back a little bit so everybody listening really let's this sink in you know what Lindsay is saying is it it doesn't like

10:42

it wasn't like that was a Magic Bullet that day to take those things right in down and shred them it was that you know

10:47

I think what people do is we don't realize that your wins in life are a series of small wins like you know the

10:54

feelings just because you have a conquer in them in that one moment doesn't mean that the next they're not going to

10:59

Bubble back up but what she's was doing in this process is she's not allting to Define who she is and I'm just curious

11:07

like what what made you continue to do that like because I think a lot of people will do it one time and go yay

11:15

that felt great and then they think that that was The Cure All and then when it happens again this goes back to like

11:21

understanding the path didn't move right like they go like that was it and then they go well damn like I why do I feel

11:28

like crap today cuz I just beat it yesterday like if you could elaborate a little bit on like what continues like

11:35

and and what you have found in the lessons of continuing to show up each day in that manner for

11:40

yourself tracking is huge for me I have you know I do my daily tracking from

11:46

habit Atomic habits I think that's where I originally heard of it and I just I try to not think too much into things

11:53

and just trust the time that I felt this was powerful for me and keep keep going with it uh with Shri red

11:59

writing I kept I don't know if it was God looking out for me if maybe it's the spark of hope it kept coming back to me

12:07

as kind of a reminder like almost those same words like what do you what do you really want to say Lindsay and that

12:14

initial just I didn't feel better I didn't solve a huge problem but you know I started to feel lighter I started to

12:21

feel stress release and that feeling was something I had not felt before and I

12:28

wanted more of that so following even without knowing but following the more

12:33

that I knew could be there trusting that I don't know what this is but I'm going to find me I'm finding something good

12:40

keep going and um later once I started tracking it I really was making more progress I mean that was 10 years ago I

12:48

don't know how many like nice book journals I shredded through like for me that was just my the thing you know and

12:56

then switching to cheap notebooks and then I put my process into a book because

13:01

people would ask me and I was so passionate so I mean the evolution of it you're right and it's so messy I would

13:08

think it you know start writing and then you'll start to feel like really good and then you'll feel legitimate and then you'll really be happy and it's like

13:14

what it's even this morning grabbing for paper in the muck and in the struggle

13:21

and finding power in all of that that feels like I don't want to go through this what's what's wrong I'm starting to

13:27

realize that's actually that's nothing wrong like that's a cool piece to go through and find something powerful you

13:34

probably saved yourself a lot of money too getting cheaper notebooks oh yeah

13:40

right is that what where is that what sparked the your your book The Black Book is that where did it come out of

13:45

that exactly what sparked it because I started to realize there was hacks and things I could ask myself like I would

13:53

say I know Lindsay like you don't there's nothing you want to say right now about XYZ situation you know but if

13:59

you could say something what would it be you know something so simple or there

14:06

were just a lot of prompts so I started to record them and I put them in the blackbook with my with my simple process

14:12

and now I call it like the teing tear it up process and you know tearing it up in

14:19

the business world is like succeeding in a huge way and being Innovative and then tearing up the paper to do that right

14:25

yeah 100% block what gets in the way you're un stable your problem solving

14:31

mode you know it's clear it's I couldn't have no one could have told me that I had to go on my own Journey yeah I think

14:39

I you know it's kind of like you're slaying the dragon like you you in your head you've built up this big monster

14:44

right and then it's like once it's in paper form you're like oh well I mean I've done this stuff before like you

14:51

know and I love the act of like like destroying it like you know it's not like you're destroying your life it's

14:57

just like you're you're no longer allow allowing that stuff to Define who you are and that that stuff is such a

15:04

powerful thing and and I would definitely encourage people to to grab your book for that reason I mean it's it

15:10

the beauty of of writing um and tell me if you agree or disagree I start you

15:16

know I wrote children's books and now I do adult books but the process was that

15:21

regardless of what you're writing about you'll realize in the process of writing there's a lot of other people out there that that are looking for exactly what

15:29

you're writing and I think a lot of times people are trying to write this book that's going to change the world

15:35

but you change the world by changing your world and I think that's what you're doing in the process of that and

15:41

that's that's really really cool to do and so where when um did you grow up in

15:48

Utah as well or like was what was like growing up like for you were you were you a weird awkward kid were you the kid

15:55

that had it all together like where where did you fall on the spectrum of broken children out there in the world

16:01

like okay and I love how you're how you said

16:06

it's like slaying the dragon and then you get there and you're like oh the dragon was actually something not huge

16:11

and it's for me yeah way bigger than us right

16:18

yeah okay so I grew up in Utah really um religious community really um

16:27

a lot of perfectionism like growing up it there just wasn't another option be

16:32

other than like having your together yeah you know and just which

16:38

you know wasn't a bad thing but you don't realize as a kid that you're kind of like this is all this is it yeah like

16:44

need to be in line and I need to be smart and with it and look good and struggling is bad you know that was kind

16:51

of the the feel like avoid struggle at all costs and what a shift when you

16:57

realize gosh struggle is actually this kind of a gift thing even though I don't know if you ever really love it yes um

17:05

so that's how it was I was the oldest of five girls and oh my God kind of felt

17:11

this responsibility with them and wanting to keep everything in order and going well for them and um in life and I

17:19

still do love like order and things to look well but it's it's been good to

17:24

find the ways that work a lot better yeah without all the pressure you know did you find that difficult to to to to

17:31

go through that process of having that structure as as you know young being

17:36

like it's the Str struggle bad like you know um would did you find that that was

17:41

like the big hurdle to overcome or was it pretty much like that Awakening happened you said okay I've gone this

17:47

way I know the answer to that but I'm going to check out over here how did that work out for

17:52

you um it was really it was so hard that I I almost

17:58

felt like I was two people for a long time if I'm thinking about your question it was like I couldn't even stand to

18:07

think of how I really was compared to who I thought I had to be and it was just years of this kind of turmoil and

18:12

making terms like even when I started shred rting it was like okay fine if I just let myself look at that much but

18:19

you know it gets so ingrained in us how life should be that I thought then I'll then I'll still have this perfect

18:26

picture going on and um I don't know the Journey of realizing that that wasn't a real thing and it was

18:32

more the real like satisfaction really longterm was being able to be who I

18:38

really was and help if that could help anyone or serve you know that was such a different vibe that that's a newer thing

18:46

yeah so when you go through that process like of of this like Awakening part of

18:51

you um I think that's what makes you a better writer and a better communicator and and a speaker so I'm just curious

18:58

like when you're doing like when you're doing a lot of your your speaking stuff and and things like that do you find

19:03

that it helps you be more relatable to people um or what's your Technique when

19:09

you're speaking that you kind of draw that bridge between that story but not going too far

19:15

into uh triggering yourself into some sort of like on stage shredding you know like

19:22

right the more I don't know the more I'm learning about myself do you feel this way the

19:28

more more I realize I have to learn and it's just a really really humbling like you reminded me of the Taylor Swift song

19:35

like it's me I'm the problem I didn't know that was one but yeah yeah I think of that um and just

19:45

realizing like the way I'm viewing the world right now it could change in a few months and it does keep surprising me

19:52

and let's see as I think about my audiences a lot of times we I'll bring

19:59

up like what are some of the most difficult things in the workplace you know in general there's some that people

20:05

have in common time management difficult conversations and I've been

20:12

surprised maybe it's not the things I was feeling that day when I was shred writing but there's definitely things

20:18

that people aren't saying that for all of us um think of thinking even just of a

20:24

difficult conversation if you go back to maybe the last hard one you had it's like human nature to just be like I've

20:30

got this I can solve it like because I don't want to come off as not being able to or saying I don't know or this is you

20:38

know so we'll jump in and kind of like overwork it and keep going with things and it's

20:44

interesting I feel like we're almost not meant to be able to figure it all out it's almost more about slow it

20:50

down um you know slower is smoother smoother is faster like in the military

20:56

they'll say that and a way to slow it down is look at the all the things that

21:01

I'm believing around this and that I feel about this and that I'm tied to about this person and this conversation

21:06

and kind of what you're saying in a way I think like another way to go around it all the things that I'm bringing to the

21:12

problem and my beliefs and kind of looking at those and releasing it and then I'm amazed the confidence and power

21:20

someone can have to go in and just like totally solve that problem have that conversation but first looking at what

21:26

what am I bringing here in a safe place and a time for that and when you're when

21:32

you're speaking are you are you typically dealing with like uh business audiences or are you doing um more like

21:39

one-on-one with people or what does your typical audience look like there's a lot in real estate uh dental and then a lot

21:48

of like women's Retreats and groups too so and I sorry go ahead I'm just gonna

21:54

say I just in the summer it turns out to be there's like quite a few teens that I kind of just love to do on the side and

22:00

team groups and that's one of my favorite things and we'll talk about some of the main things that are holding

22:05

them back and it's amazing how many we do all have in common but if we don't talk about it we don't realize you know

22:12

like not feeling good enough not wanting to disappoint oursel or others um not thinking that we can reach a goal if we

22:18

do set it and uh I I broke that down just you know a week or two ago with

22:25

some teens with a worksheet and well what what are the three things about the one that's the scariest to you like

22:32

which one of those is the scariest and just to see that like I had

22:37

some teens say I don't like writing I don't like doing personal work I don't like doing development but they were like it's almost like my brain's doing

22:43

it for me that was the comment I had like I can see some of this stuff is so

22:49

scary and this is why and I didn't and I'm pulling the coverage back like you said in it's it's not so bad and I'm

22:56

seeing what's going on and what's kind of ruling my life about this and uh pressure releases a little it's like the

23:03

putting the power back into our own hands right yeah I think there's a lot of things that could be solved by people

23:08

just realizing that like you know we're all struggling with the same stuff you know regardless of anything and we just

23:16

that it's it's almost like if you have that it there's something beautiful about just taking out a journal and a

23:23

pin and write it stuff down because you're unplugged from all the stuff telling you all the reasons why you shouldn't feel that way right and it

23:30

it's it's the simplest answer always seems to be the right answer and I think there's a lot of you know Parts where

23:37

people don't realize that and and so I commend you for like going out there especially with teens and helping them

23:43

see that like you know you know what everything seems so messed up in your world right now is actually going to be

23:48

the answer that's going to solve your problems when you get older you know and it it really like if you could learn it

23:54

now that's good and it's like if you can learn that now and go like you know yo

24:00

listen like everything you're questioning about yourself it's going to be 10 time magnified when you're an

24:05

adult if you don't deal with it now and um so yeah that that uh that's really

24:12

cool and and it is interesting because I you know I T my stuff tends to be more in the business type of world like big

24:19

groups and stuff like that um when I do the speaking stuff but it's the same stuff it's it's dealing with the idea of

24:26

like not feeling like you're enough like feeling like there's something wrong like and and prob and trying to solve

24:33

some big problem with some magic button and you know um it's in all yeah go

24:41

ahead it's all in a dirty work it's all in a dirty work you know all the Dirty Work yeah so I would love just to

24:48

hear are thinking like oh I couldn't know what to do I couldn't have this solution it couldn't be this simple like

24:55

you're saying so how many times did you go through that process before you finally trusted it though because I'm

25:00

I'm going to guess you're just like you know myself where you you do it and it's like okay that works but then you you go

25:09

especially growing up where everything had to be perfect or whatever you go like well wait a minute like that's not that's that's too dirty how do I keep

25:17

digging through it it's embarrass I mean years honestly and it's not just a

25:23

linear thing like you talk about it's it was back and forth and messy and it still is I think the difference now is

25:32

as I found more of myself I started to feel like I had a foundation to stand on and I started to feel like I had

25:38

something I could go back to and not um it was less up and down extremes of like

25:45

feeling like oh I have something that works and it's sparking things for me oh no I've lost it and um I could trust it

25:52

more the more I did it right and so The Compound Effect like you said and letting things add up and sticking with

25:58

it yeah and I I I use that to like kind of talk about like because one of the parts

26:03

you sent me in your your notes that I really liked was that you work with organizations that quickly go from shut

26:09

down to showing up and that process that I think the writing does is it gets you

26:16

out of shutdown mode right and what like what are some tips that you have maybe

26:21

throughout your time that if I'm somebody out there that is feeling closed off shut down alone you you know

26:28

feeling negative or whatever what are those like what are a couple tips that somebody listening to this could kind of

26:34

go and take those steps to just show up to life like and and you know to get

26:39

them to that Launchpad of productivity so maybe it's just I got you the gym

26:45

today like it's it or what you know what are the the things that you kind of you give people as like a little

26:51

Kickstart I would say very first when you're shut down you're in fight or flight and so you need to get to a place

26:58

where you can feel like I call it Lindsay where I can feel Lindsay where you can feel Jason where it's a safety

27:04

right um just a place to be free whether you know some people it's going on long

27:11

runs obviously for me it's writing what's what is one for you Jason like where are you just for me it's the gym

27:18

it's like the gym yeah yeah okay getting to those places and stepping back as

27:25

counterintuitive as it feels to step back back from it kind of trust for a minute um things will be okay and step

27:33

back and kind of find yourself and that that regrouping it's impossible to be shut down when you're um when you're in

27:41

tune with yourself and I had to really realize that's not something someone can

27:46

tell me what it is because for everyone you know for some people it's worshiping and nature and um but but letting

27:54

yourself kind of have the freedom to explore that and find that it feels like you're going slower but you'll find that

28:02

you're so much more productive if you found this after and really in a

28:07

sustainable way that productivity will go with you uh but letting yourself take the

28:13

time to step back first that would be my hugest tip and you you can't be shut down when you're present like that yeah

28:20

I love that 100% because you're always going to feel like there's a Neil gaming

28:25

uh quote that I love and I cannot remember the commencement address but he's talking to like a li arts school

28:31

and one of the lines in there he talks about is that when you feel like you're walking down the street naked you might

28:38

actually be on the right path and I equate that to like you know when you

28:43

start to do the real work of getting to know you and what makes you click judgment is the first thing that's going

28:49

to show up because you're going against everything that you have believed for a

28:54

long long time and it it is it is that Dirty Work that you got to do and you

29:00

know um did you notice that people around you changed when you started doing that or did people were people

29:07

supportive of it like how did you manage through you know somebody that maybe was close to you that decided Well we don't

29:13

like this version of what you're becoming did you ever have to deal with any of that stuff or um I think it it

29:20

really goes back to what we were saying in the beginning for me is like trusting it for yourself like hey I felt this

29:26

spark I'm feeling more a foundation I'm going to keep going with it um there was

29:32

so much back and forth if I could go back and tell myself oh we have my my little eight-year-old on the podcast

29:38

jany this is violet hi Violet if I could go back I would say to

29:44

myself um keep going with it and that would have cut the time a lot for me to

29:49

keep trusting because once I felt like I had my own Foundation that's when I started

29:54

to feel other people really start to say wow you know this is cool I respect it or kind of rise with you and even

30:01

starting to attract people that are doing similar things and really amazing things in their life but you almost have

30:08

like you said I had to really step out um feeling like you're stepping off a

30:14

cliff for a long time and still go with it still keep going hi Violet how are you hi

30:23

hi we're almost done we only have like five more minutes

30:28

like just a minute she's like one more thing just one more thing icasting in the summer this is how every

30:34

time I'm like maybe this will be the one time someone doesn't come in no it's great it's like that the clip in uh

30:40

remember back when Co happened the kid with look come she came like Dancing Yeah and they're like naked and

30:48

like yeah and like yeah the parent comes zooming in and she like slides to the door it was

30:54

like it's great I love it it makes it real I mean it's like and that's the I mean I guess that's the point of what

30:59

we're talking about is that life is real like you know the stuff like you know things aren't perfect things aren't

31:05

going to be um you know one of the one of my favorite things that I don't know if I originally wrote it or if it just a

31:12

bunch of crap that I put together is that I realized early on that when I was

31:18

a kid I was felt a liot I told a lie that practice makes perfect and what I realized is going through all of my

31:24

stuff was that it's such a lie because there's no such thing as perfect what practice does is It prepares you for all

31:31

the imperfect stuff that's going to happen and it just prepares you to realize that like you know man this

31:39

sucks but guess what I thought the thing two years ago was the worst thing I ever

31:44

would get through and that was two years ago your life didn't stop then you're still here right and you're kind of like

31:51

I think that's the thing is so I appreciate moments like that because it it's just that's just life like you know

31:57

stuff happens is like she's she wants to hang out with her mom like that that's cool

32:03

like and that's why we choose to do what we're doing in a way and meet cool

32:08

people who are same yeah anyway I love that thank you that's great so if you if

32:13

you could like kind of um knowing all the stuff you've done now and and guys I want to make sure that uh you all know

32:19

that there's going to be links to all of Lindsay stuff I'll link your book and all those different places your book people can pick it up at Amazon

32:25

bookstores is that right it's on okay so we'll we yeah we'll have all the

32:31

links to those things because I definitely want to get people and and I will say just from a writing standpoint

32:37

everything you're doing is so right on the money and I and I appreciate that myself I do I do a lot of that myself um

32:43

where I write a daily I mean it's it's a book I just haven't put it in book form I I think this morning I looked it was

32:49

like I'm at 63,000 words on it so it's like I just I'm like I just had to shape

32:54

this into a book but it's you know whatever um but there's nothing better than just writing to write yeah it's

33:01

it's like but you know it's there and and you're just like it's just it's like clay and I think that anybody in the

33:07

creative process they don't realize that like you know when if you're you're molding clay like it looks lopsided but

33:14

all it does is take like one little bump and all a sudden the whole thing just makes sense and I think writing's that

33:19

way doing what you're doing the work like in that world so if if you could

33:24

kind of go back and like answer this question is um what's the best piece of

33:31

advice that you've never listened [Music]

33:39

to oh I'm so stubborn there's been a lot I

33:45

think one huge piece of advice was realizing that I could choose to kind of pivot out of choosing stress over and

33:52

over if that makes sense let me see if I could be more simple like I when I learned

33:58

about shred writing I would clear out I would find this awesome head space and

34:03

then so often I would go back into my phone back into friend right back into all the things and find my brain so

34:10

cluttered again and I always heard people say you can choose and it's a choice but the

34:16

advice I never took was to finally be like that's enough I'm choosing to go

34:22

out of that I'm choosing to go to x y or Z powerful with more space with more

34:27

writing how I could choose my own life to be there's your long answer no that's great I a new thing honestly for me that

34:35

I coming into my life is going to be what I'm choosing and nothing else really you know I I can relate to that

34:41

myself because there's so many times where you have I'm really big in meditation and writing and all stuff

34:46

like that it's like you can have these amazing moments but it's so quick to fall right back into everything else you

34:53

know whether it's you know like complaining people complain constantly and you're just like it's so easy to

34:59

fall into that trap of just jumping in with the flow with everybody else like oh yeah you're right that does suck and

35:05

d and you're like damn but I just had this it's so true you almost think you

35:12

have to like it's just what you do yes yes we should complain right because that's what we're supposed to do is

35:18

complain and yeah it's yeah 100% yeah even being able to freewrite or like

35:23

you're talking about get these words down that could be clay one day it never even dawned on me until I'm well well

35:30

into adulthood that oh I could just I can do that I can give myself permission yeah to do that or to write or to say

35:37

and feel the things I want to fa and that's something I wish I would have listened to earlier too is there any

35:43

anything that you think that if you could um duplicate like the eight-year-old version of you um that

35:50

would come in like that would you could sit down with with her and say like you know this is what I'm doing now like

35:56

what do you think that she would think of the stuff you've accomplished in your

36:02

life oh what a fun question I think

36:11

she she would probably cheer me on because if I think of the eight-year-old version of myself

36:18

she was totally fine to being perfect and I think it was later and she was she was fine to be in this muck and

36:25

just trust that like there's going to be cool things in this journey you know building a speaking business and trying

36:31

to tell people about a black book like it's been a a me field business you know

36:37

like there's been really hard times sometimes but thinking of my eight-year-old self she didn't really

36:42

care about that or think into that yeah she she'd probably be like go it doesn't matter that it's like it's you're

36:49

failing sometimes you know that's great it isn't funny how much like the younger

36:55

version of ourselves are the lesson Giver to the older versions of ourselves oh my gosh I haven't even thought of it

37:02

like quite like that until today she totally she knew what was up

37:07

yeah yeah she know she knows more better than you do now that's the crazy part it's like it's and and I think as adults

37:14

what we do is we we steal that from kids a lot of times you know we take that like we you know how many times you

37:20

think about like you know I'm a parent myself too and you go like we don't have time for that right now and like you're

37:26

like look at back you're like damn but like when I was a kid like that's that's all that mattered was right now like and

37:32

as adults we think you know we can't do that and that's a lot of stuff when I when I do school visits and stuff I

37:38

would tell I would tell kids I'm like you know and I know it's in one or out the other because it's life will do this

37:44

to them it's that as you're growing up you got to do you can do one thing an adult can't do which is be present in a

37:50

moment and you got to fight for that the rest of your life and make sure nobody takes that and and it's true and and and

37:58

it's like one of those things so um but you know uh I guess you know to to

38:04

respect your time uh I know Violet is wanting some wanting to and I promis her five minutes so we're we're at our five

38:11

minutes she's eight so that's her it's her time so you know I totally get that

38:17

but um is there anything else that that you would like to pass on to people like we'll make sure that your links are in

38:22

there uh I'll make sure that uh we're linking up your website and your your Instagram and and stuff like that um do

38:29

you have any sort of like parting wisdom that you would love to like drop on uh all the people about what you're doing

38:35

what you're up to like hope in general that's so yeah that's so nice Jason it's just been really really fun

38:42

to connect I would just say like we're we're all in this together and we've all got this like our we know our heart

38:49

knows what the things that we need and just keep following it because that that there's hope that you don't have to find

38:55

out in the world or from anyone else it's within we and we've got it we really do have it there you said it

39:01

that's great I love that thank you so much and guys uh like I said I'll make sure that all Lindsay's links are in here make sure you give her a follow go

39:08

check out all the cool stuff she's doing I know I could speak for her when I tell her that uh you know you're doing a great job being a human is not easy and

39:14

sometimes things go sideways but it's in showing up for yourself every day that you're going to find that version of you that you've been looking for all along

39:21

and uh you don't have to look too far because it's actually there already and um I we just hope this helps so uh

39:28

thanks thank you so much Lindsay uh have a wonderful day enjoy your time with Violet tell I said thank you for letting me borrow you for a few minutes and uh

39:36

best of luck in everything you're doing you too I will tell her thank you we'll talk soon see you bye bye

39:4