Susan, would you please tell us a little bit
about yourself and what you're up to? Sure. Thank
you, Sue. And I'm excited to be here too. So
the current hats I wear are author, speaker,
and transformational coach. And that's probably
where we'll spend a lot of our time talking about
what the heck does that mean? And why am I doing
it? In past lives, and I've had a few iterations
of careers, I've been a HR executive, I've worked
internationally and run global teams and had
a whole first career in television journalism
way way back in the day that was the original
straight path and then life happens so we'll
go frontwards and backwards and it's that brief
story is really why i'm so interested in helping
people through life transitions That's amazing.
I love this. You've had entire careers that some
people might stay in for 30, 40, 50 years, and
you've just kind of built and built, and now
you're on this. So tell me a little bit about
what is your vision for the people that you serve?
So my vision at this stage of life is to really
help people to grow, not stagnate, through uncertainty.
And the uncertainty we get hit with, we can say
the world right now is uncertain, but it's really
the uncertainty in our lives during big life
transitions. It can be a career change, a relationship
change, a physical move, a physical diagnosis
about our bodies that brings us to our knees
and makes us question. the life that we had planned
and where we thought we were going to go and
in getting into coaching to help people through
these transitions i realized there's a lot of
great research as to the components of transitions
and as i reflect on my many transitions and i
alluded to you know career change moving across
the globe um i didn't get into you know struggles
with infertility and any of those other things
that If you've lived any amount of time, and
I'm 61, you experience. And so part of it was
understanding what I could take from my own experience.
For the years I was an HR executive, and that
was more than 20 years, I got really great training
in coaching, career coaching, executive coaching.
But I wanted to take that to a different level
and really say, when we are redefining, some
aspect of our life we can be really battered
about, right? There's an ending, there's a messy,
messy middle that always lasts longer than what
you want it to. And then there's even when the
new thing comes, is it what we hoped? Who are
we in the new world? So my vision for those I
serve is to be there for them, to help them navigate
their transitions with growth and with curiosity
and with joy. Because right now these transitions
can make us want to curl into a small ball and
just pray it's all over soon. And we don't grow.
That's how we stagnate. And so the real vision
is about growth for the people I work with. I
mean, that's beautiful because like you said,
we all go through these things. There's just
no escaping unless you are in stasis and nobody
lives like that. No. And then it's hard a lot
of the time. And it's it can make it where you're
just like you said, I just want to go to sleep
for a thousand years till this is done. That
type of thing. And that we miss out on all the
the joy that is right there in the messy middle
with us. So that's that's so cool. So how do
you work with people on this? So number of tools,
because although. transitions are inevitable
and they can hit on any level. And the stages
of transition are really well known. There's
an ending, messy middle, and a new beginning.
What is unique is what works for each person,
right? So fortunately through my training and
different certifications, there's a bunch of
tools. One of the tools that I found accidentally
is actually what I wrote a book about now a little
over a year, and it's art journaling. uh that's
just a tool it works really well for some people
because it gets you out of your your thought
loops and into that curious creative space which
is what you need when you're in the space of
i don't know my life i've heard the phrase like
feels like it's been flushed down a toilet i'm
in a lifequake and I don't even know how to move
forward. Moving into curiosity and out of a doom
loop can be so powerful. And I always feel like
I need to explain this to people. When I introduced
the concept of arts journaling, it is not about
creating art. It's never about showing anyone
your art. It's about using that right side of
our brains to just tap into our more. holistic,
authentic self. It's play, it's curiosity. I
mean, the book title is like art for your sanity.
And there's been so much great research on how
that, but that I will tell you doesn't work for
everyone. Some people are really uncomfortable
that even as we work through exercises. So that's
one tool. We do breath work. We do values work,
as that makes sense. We can do role play. We
can burn things. There's a whole series of tools
because each tool at each stage is going to meet
the person where they are. There can be a lot,
about half the changes that occur to us, we want.
We instigate. About half happen to us. And there's
a whole different process when you have suddenly
lost. your dream job or a relationship that you
thought was forever has fallen apart or, or,
or any of those things that we may not have chosen,
but we are facing could be a diagnosis change
in a loved one. And you want to use tools to
meet that person where they are, because they
may be in a stage of, you know, shock or surprise,
anger, rejection, right. Whatever that looks
like. And so. Finding what resonates with the
person at that time and helps them to process
what they're going through is really important.
Like I said, I found art journaling to be so
easy, so inexpensive and have such a low barrier.
You don't need a coach. You don't really need
anyone. I have a free downloadable. pdf on my
website to get people started that i thought
i just want to share this because you can meet
the whole program and sometimes you just need
a very small little tool to help you i like that
it's that sense of maybe unlocking that doom
loop that you talked about right just maybe one
pull one little string edge of the string and
maybe it could unrock unnav unravel a little
bit you know yeah i mean the doom loops are are
i think human nature. And unfortunately, it's
like a groove that gets deeper and deeper. I
think of like tires spinning their wheels and
snow and mud, whatever you've ever had your tires
spin, wheels, it gets deeper and it gets harder
to get out of. And just getting that little bit
of reframing, right? It's another popular term
to get you out of that and to show that there's
more possibility here than what you're feeling.
oh that's it's so huge uh being able to get out
of that and be in a more resourceful state that
changes everything now it's like oh okay the
sun did come up i'm not dead yet i'm still here
i'm gonna you know there's options uh what does
that look like though doing the you know so i
love this it's not for art display it's not actually
to create art what does it actually look like
So different people are going to show up differently.
The premise is to go back to a time, I call it
your inner child artist, about anywhere from
four to six. The research shows that after about
age seven or eight, anyone who doesn't identify
as an artist got some messages of like, ah, that's
not how you draw a tree or whatever it may be.
So you're going back to a point where you just
had fun and you felt like what you did was fantastic.
recommend scribbling exercises, doodling exercises,
very timed, messy exercises. I also recommend,
and I'm a passionate believer in this, that if
you don't have some supplies around the house,
maybe a kid you can steal them from, if you're
going to go out, buy the least expensive things
you can. find because that keeps the inner critic
at bay i joke all the time i have yet to meet
an adult in the workshops i've taught and in
any of the feedback i've gotten who takes themselves
really seriously holding a crayon or a glue stick
i mean think about it it's it's so great because
everything we tell ourselves as we go through
life and we rack up successes or failures or
things that didn't work there's that voice sort
of score keeping and If we had a fancy paintbrush
or even a really nice pastel color, all of a
sudden there's sort of two voices. Maybe I'm
an artist and just didn't know it, or I'm terrible.
I can't draw a stick figure. Either way, you're
telling yourself a story and everything in between.
With a crayon. You just don't as an adult, particularly
when a person says, we're doing this for three
minutes. I'm putting on, put on your favorite
song, blast it. And I want you just to scribble
or do whatever you want. Three minutes, fill
a page. Because when you introduce constraints
with fun, some music, that's where that creativity
and that. That bruising voice of perfectionism
just dies away. There isn't space when you're
engaging your senses, right? Your hand is doing
something. Your eyes are seeing it. You're listening
to music. It's a really, you know, somatic experience
in that you're using a lot of your senses. And
it gets you, it's like, I'm going to use an old
analogy here, but if you think of a vinyl record
that gets stuck in a groove, it's literally like
picking up the needle. and going to a whole new
new song so good i love that so i've taught people
how to you know mostly how to write um that's
been a big thing and there's a lot of that interior
like the fifth grade english teacher that has
the red ink and she's like no no no no no and
i said you know when we're writing why it's so
hard sometimes to write is we've got the critic
going as we're trying to have the writer going
and that's that doesn't work So for writing,
it's cool. If you close your eyes, well, you
got to put your fingers on the right keys first.
And then close your eyes and write. It's like
your interior critic can't keep up with your
output. It sounds like it's the same thing, like
a secret entryway into letting that artist out.
Right. Because nobody is there herping at them
saying that is wrong. Yeah. So, Sue, I love the
fact that you shared that because that's that's
exactly right. I mean, going back to years ago
when I was a journalist and writing, I read and
it was like Julia Cameron's Artist's Way. It
was like just the morning pages. You're just
writing. No critic. And it's interesting because
my first career was in that. I had a lot of blocks
about writing a book. That was what. my master's
degree was in, it was in journalism. And so when
I went to write about art, I actually had to
make a deal with myself. It was for 30 days.
I was going to write for 10 minutes. I was going
to write badly. And that's what I told myself.
It was almost the same. I didn't sit at desk.
I had the laptop balancing precariously, my cup
of coffee, you know, it's on my lap. The dog
was like panting away and just like. 10 minutes
go and for 30 days i just pushed myself through
what had been a really developed inner critic
about my ability to write because of all the
the school and the journalism and blah blah blah
blah blah and i knew the book would be more more
personal but yes that doing freeing yourself
the blind. And I love that on the keyboard. Like
I said, I think because I rested the laptop on
a pillow and the coffee and the dog were all
there. It was very much like being blind. Yes.
Oh, I love that. That is so great. And yeah,
I mean, that's amazing because especially having
had that experience of journalism, like there's
rules you got to, you know, it's very strict.
So that's very strict. We found the unlock. It
is. There is. And I think the theme you and I
are talking about in that is play, right? It's
when you move into that there is no expectation.
I joke all the time. Kids go out to recess. They
don't go out to recess with an agenda. Like,
I'm going to recess better today. right i mean
you know i maybe there's some bullying i'm going
to avoid that kid but you know when you're even
younger and that four or five six you're even
doing that it's like someone's a jerk you just
go the other way kind of thing yes um and i think
for anyone who wants to be creative and particularly
for entrepreneurs when we talk about people starting
a business if you are forging new finding ways
to to tap into that creativity even if the new
has a bunch of rules like the subject is very
serious and rule bound to find your space because
it's a crowded marketplace in many cases takes
a lot of creativity and very open thinking oh
yeah that's so great all right well now i want
to ask you this tell me your vision for your
business yeah so This is interesting. If you
had asked me that four months ago, I probably
would have said something else because I thought
I was going on a clear path. I've actually been
moved into a place of not knowing anymore because
something I thought I would love and that would
be deeply satisfying. And versus continuing to
just pursue it for my business on this path,
I'm taking a little bit of time and I don't like
it. It feels uncomfortable. I hate not having
a really good answer that like you can market
across. And yet I know I need to take some time.
So the underlying value that I'm having at this
life stage is I want to serve. I know there is.
wisdom and experience to be shared. And I see
it with my clients. The best way, the avenue
in which to do it is what I am thinking. So the
vision of service during a chaotic period is
crystal clear. The path and avenues, I am less
clear about. that makes sense and that's an honest
answer and that's wonderful and that's the place
you know just like everything that you're teaching
curiosity that's going to lead you to that next
step on the on the spiral staircase exactly rather
than insisting it's going to look like this or
like that yeah and i think that's we're taking
some time and it's hard to to do in our society
right it's like keep moving stay productive keep
going it's very uncomfortable period and yet
i know i owe it to myself just like when i work
with clients to to listen to why am i not not
sure and are doors opening when i go this direction
are doors opening when i go that direction um
and i'm really exploring that and i'm exploring
what it feels like when a door that I think should
open doesn't magically open. And what does that
do to my ego and myself? And it's some really
good, deep, deep work. Thank you for being here
today. I'm really happy that you tuned in to
Vision Pros Live. I'm looking forward to seeing
your reactions as these episodes continue to
move forward. This is going to get more and more
fun. We'll have more and more engagement as well.
We'll invite people to participate in the show
and thank you for giving us your time and attention.
Have an excellent time building out your vision
and becoming a vision pro yourself.