Shownotes
Blair and Alana debrief on Alana’s surgery, her recovery, her first rave, Blair’s upcoming birthday and a community update for The Global Resilience Project. This is the final new episode before their summer break, and they will be back with fresh episodes and a 21-Day Gratitude Challenge in September 2025.
Happy Grieving Australia Grief Trip November 2026: https://grieftrips.com/australia
Buy the books: https://theglobalresilienceproject.com/books/
Be featured in RESILIENT A.F.: Stories of Resilience Vol. 3: https://blairkaplan.kartra.com/page/RAF26
⚠️ Content Note: Some episodes may contain themes that could be distressing. Please take care of yourself while listening, and don’t hesitate to seek support from a mental health professional if needed.
About the Hosts:
Blair Kaplan Venables is a British Columbia-based grief and resilience expert and coach, motivational speaker and the Founder of The Global Resilience Project. Her expertise has been featured on media platforms like Forbes, TEDx, CBC Radio, Entrepreneur, and Thrive Global. She is named the Top Grief and Resilience Expert of the Year 2024 by IAOTP. USA Today listed Blair as one of the top 10 conscious female leaders to watch and she empowers others to be resilient from stages around the world. 'MyStory,’ which is a television show available on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ and Google Play, showcases Blair's life story. She is the host of the Radical Resilience podcast and specializes in helping people strengthen their resilience muscle using scientifically proven methods and guides grieving high performers with her Navigating Grief Framework. The Global Resilience Project’s award-winning book series are international bestsellers, and her fourth book, RESILIENT A.F.: Stories of Resilience Vol 2, will be published in January 2025. In her free time, you can find Blair writing, in nature, travelling the world and helping people to strengthen their resilience muscles.
Links:
https://theglobalresilienceproject.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/blairdkaplan
https://www.facebook.com/blair.kaplan
https://www.facebook.com/BlairKaplanCommunications
https://www.instagram.com/globalresiliencecommunity
https://www.instagram.com/blairfromblairland/
https://www.facebook.com/globalresiliencecommunity
https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-global-resilience-project
Alana Kaplan is a compassionate mental health professional based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She works in the mental health field, and is a co-host of the Resilient A.F. podcast. Fueled by advocacy, Alana is known for standing up and speaking out for others. Passionate about de-stigmatizing and normalizing mental health, Alana brings her experience to The Global Resilience Project’s team, navigating the role one’s mental health plays in telling their story.
Engaging in self-care and growth keeps her going, and her love for reading, travel, and personal relationships helps foster that. When she’s not working, Alana can often be found on walks, working on a crossword puzzle, or playing with any animal she sees.
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Transcripts
I used to really love my birthday. Like, now I like my birthday, but I
Speaker:used to love it. But since mom and dad died, it's a bit harder. But
Speaker:for me, it signifies, like, a new decade. Like, 30, 30s
Speaker:were great, but also really, really hard. Like, I got married, I got
Speaker:engaged. Like, I had a lot of adventure, but it was a lot of dark
Speaker:night of the soul, a lot of grief, a lot of challenges. You know, the
Speaker:pandemic and the miscarriage and a lot of death. And for me,
Speaker:40s, like, I'm never gonna have a miscarriage again. My
Speaker:mom and dad are never going to die again in this lifetime. I'm never gonna
Speaker:have to bury them. There's a lot of things that were so challenging that I
Speaker:know I'm never gonna have to do again. And I know more challenges are coming,
Speaker:but for me, it's like, 40 signifies, like, okay, next decade. Let's see what
Speaker:we got. Welcome back to another episode of
Speaker:Resilient AF with Blair and Alana. And this time, Alana is here.
Speaker:I'm back. Where have you been?
Speaker:I have been a lot of places, mostly
Speaker:horizontal. The couch,
Speaker:the bed. Okay, all the couches. All the
Speaker:couches. We'll talk about that in a second. But for those of you
Speaker:watching, you may notice the book is in a crystal
Speaker:stand. And I found a box of our dead mom's
Speaker:stuff that I haven't unpacked. And our mom died, what, four and a half years
Speaker:ago? Yeah. And, like, unpacking her shit just, like,
Speaker:triggers me. But I found a box, and I was looking for stuff for
Speaker:a music festival and I started unwrapping things. And
Speaker:what better use for a crystal
Speaker:napkin holder than a book holder? Nothing like wedding
Speaker:gifts from the 80s.
Speaker:Oh, man. Okay, Alana, let's just do a check in.
Speaker:How's your health? Because we know on the show we talk about our
Speaker:endo. Yeah. And, like, yours is. Yours has been
Speaker:significantly worse than mine. And presenting in, like, crazy
Speaker:pain, vomits all the things. Okay, let's talk about
Speaker:it. How. How's your health? What's been going on? Well,
Speaker:I know that if people listened to the solo episode
Speaker:with Blair, they would have heard my brief update,
Speaker:but that was, like, not even a week post op. So
Speaker:here I am. I am five
Speaker:weeks and one day post surgery
Speaker:to explore and excise any endometriosis.
Speaker:We'll find out if what they did excise is an endo.
Speaker:In fact. In fact, endo next week when I have my
Speaker:appointment. So, yeah, my health right
Speaker:now is okay. You know, all of the big feelings in my body
Speaker:I think are surgery and healing related.
Speaker:I think when you live with chronic illness or
Speaker:chronic health issues, you're extra attuned to everything
Speaker:in your body. And so I think in this healing journey
Speaker:I have been feeling everything. That being said,
Speaker:I am back at work. I've been back now
Speaker:this is my third week back. And the way I
Speaker:modify is when I am doing paperwork
Speaker:or charting or anything like that, I
Speaker:keep my feet up and I'm good because sitting
Speaker:upright without being able to move my body still
Speaker:hurts because I think have been overcompensating in my back.
Speaker:But I have my six week post op appointment next
Speaker:week and my hope is I can go back to
Speaker:Pilates August 3rd. Yeah, like what's life
Speaker:been like without Pilates for you, for your mental health? Because that was a,
Speaker:that's a huge thing for you. Like not just your physical strength, but like you
Speaker:are like the poster child for Pilates. Like you win, you get
Speaker:toe socks and water bottles or all the things because you've gamified
Speaker:it. Yeah, I know. I. It's
Speaker:been hard because Pilates is something I go to typically five
Speaker:to six times a week. It's just away from my phone,
Speaker:away from everything, just focusing on my body.
Speaker:And the first few weeks of
Speaker:recovery were very hard because I couldn't
Speaker:really do any of the things that I usually do for my mental health,
Speaker:including walking, being outside
Speaker:much. I mean I could, but I like keeled over. But
Speaker:you did eventually start to train? I did start
Speaker:to train, yes. So when I was.
Speaker:It's probably my first week back at work. No, couldn't have been. The
Speaker:week before I went back to work, I started training because
Speaker:I had committed to going to a rave
Speaker:with my older sister because lordy, lordy,
Speaker:she's still raving at 40. So
Speaker:Alanna and I are very different. She's more like Hampton's
Speaker:Folk Fest and I'm more like boho rocker raver. Like
Speaker:you know, like you like the, like. I like the festivals where you can like
Speaker:sit at the back and like in a, in a chair. Music ends
Speaker:by midnight. Yeah, music ends by midnight.
Speaker:You could go home. Okay, so wait, so Alan, after last
Speaker:year's Base Coast. So it's a music festival called Base Coast. I love it.
Speaker:I went to the very first one in 2008. I've been going off and on
Speaker:for 17 years. I didn't think I'd ever be able to go again. It's like
Speaker:an art and electronic Festival, it's more than just a rave. Like, it's
Speaker:community. It's like on a river. Like, there's a lot of elements to it.
Speaker:And also so being sober, like, it's a very different experience than when I was
Speaker:younger. But last year, I mean, a few years
Speaker:ago I had tickets, but it was right after the pandemic and everyone died and
Speaker:I was like, I don't think I can ever go again. I just didn't think
Speaker:I could have fun. But last year I felt like I was ready to try
Speaker:going again. And I ended up going for two nights. Like, you can go like
Speaker:up to five nights. And I had so much fun and I felt like
Speaker:myself again and that I was home. And our cousin from California comes up
Speaker:and some of her friends come up. And so we all just decided. And one
Speaker:of the. Our other friends, you know, just turned 40. So we decided that we
Speaker:were going to go this year and it was going to be my birthday party
Speaker:kick off. And like, mine and Alex's like, lordy, lordy, still raving at 40
Speaker:plus theme. And so I said to Alanna, it's time
Speaker:to call in a favor. I've come to Kelly Clarkson. I've given you an
Speaker:enema. Time for you to skip folk fest in Winnipeg and come to
Speaker:a rave. So when Alana said that she was having her surgery, I
Speaker:said, you, you might not be okay. Like, you can cancel
Speaker:coming. Just you have to let me know because I want to. Like, this was
Speaker:not a affordable weekend and
Speaker:there's a lot of time and energy and, you know, invested into it.
Speaker:And I gave her an out. How many times? Like three or four times. But
Speaker:Alana was determined in her post
Speaker:op. Yeah, I was ready. I
Speaker:was ready and willing. So you trained for the rave? I
Speaker:trained. I had to miss one of my really good friends weddings. And I was
Speaker:like, I am not missing my only other plan this summer. And
Speaker:your only sisters? My only families.
Speaker:Okay, I love that. And you. So I started training. So she
Speaker:trained. She. Every day she'd go on a walk and it got longer and longer
Speaker:and longer. And what I have to say is like,
Speaker:the way I like to go to festivals, like, I don't want like three. We
Speaker:did three nights because we showed up on early to set up, but we glamp.
Speaker:So we show up and everything's set up for us. We're near the stages.
Speaker:I have a foot issue. I injured my foot in. I'm dealing with it now,
Speaker:but I was wearing like my orthotics. And my physiotape and Advil
Speaker:and like, we like our sleep, even though it's, like, very loud and it
Speaker:gets really hot in the morning there, but. Cause we're at, like, there's music for
Speaker:what, 20 hours, 18 hours? But
Speaker:knowing Alana was spending a lot of time horizontal and that, like, sitting is my
Speaker:passion, I invested in an inflatable couch that also turns
Speaker:into a bed, and Alanna spent a lot of time on it.
Speaker:But we also brought it to a. Stage to ensure that I made
Speaker:it to the stage. Blair said, you know what? We're gonna bring the
Speaker:coach to the stage. You're gonna get up. You can
Speaker:rely down as soon as you get to the stage. So we brought
Speaker:the couch and me to the stage because one day I
Speaker:was having pain and just needed to. Tap out, and that's fine. So she
Speaker:tapped out. We made friends. People kept sitting because they thought it was part of,
Speaker:like, the festival, which it was like, we are the installation.
Speaker:But yeah. So base couch. Base couch, but
Speaker:yeah. So how was your first, like, festival rave? Like, let me tell you,
Speaker:we got back, and Alana and I decided we're now going to have life
Speaker:week because we have grief week. And almost on the opposite end of the calendar
Speaker:is base coast. And I'm like, next year come longer. And then after base
Speaker:coast, we can go out to our lake spot and, like, decompress, be off the
Speaker:grid, like, really, like, live and be and,
Speaker:like, not be connected. And base coast is kind of like where those
Speaker:neurodivergent, really fun people come to, like, get
Speaker:as wild as they want, like, costumes and, like, making new
Speaker:friends. And it's just, like, such a good group of people. So I'm like, why
Speaker:don't we just do it next year and call it life week? So literally right
Speaker:when Alana gets home and they announce tickets. Did you get the tickets yet?
Speaker:I'm like, and you've actually asked me twice. I'm like, she
Speaker:wants to rave. So how. How it
Speaker:wasn't a bad time, minus the surgery, holes
Speaker:healing. How was your first rave?
Speaker:It was wonderful. Can I tell you my favorite part?
Speaker:Can you guess my favorite part? The survivor game. Yeah, I thought you were going
Speaker:to say the fact that I ate, like, tacos three times a day. Well, that
Speaker:would be your favorite part. Well, yeah, I guess that'd be. No, it's not my
Speaker:favorite part. Okay, well, let's talk about the survivor game. Okay, so the
Speaker:theme of this festival was wild things, and there was different
Speaker:art installations, and I'm walking by and I see
Speaker:this two, like, snake
Speaker:looking thing with. I don't even know how to describe it.
Speaker:I'm gonna not describe a game. A game. And I'm.
Speaker:And I look at someone who's like, just like watching people do it and I'm
Speaker:like, are you the artist? And she was like, yeah. I'm like, this
Speaker:reminds me of Survivor. And she was like,
Speaker:it was inspired by Survivor. And then I talked to her for like 10
Speaker:minutes about Survivor and I don't think she really wanted to talk about Survivor,
Speaker:but I'm sorry, that's what happens when you come across me and there's like.
Speaker:And Atlanta's a super fan Survivor and. I'm a super fan. So then
Speaker:I played it the next day and it was hard.
Speaker:I am not meant for. Well, maybe
Speaker:in different circumstances I'd be meant for Survivor, but that was my favorite
Speaker:part. The art was honestly, I think, the coolest part for me. I mean,
Speaker:obviously, like being with you. You couldn't dance, like, but I couldn't. Dance
Speaker:and I like to dance. And the costumes, like, the people watching is like, amazing.
Speaker:And like the people camping next to us, oh, my God. Shout out
Speaker:to big gay Al. Yeah. Georgie and
Speaker:Robbie, like, we had this like the funniest little, like, group of people beside
Speaker:us and it was awesome. It was wonderful.
Speaker:Emily. It was just really fun. And so, like, well, there's like science that shows,
Speaker:like, how dancing is so good for your mental health. And like, I think
Speaker:being in that situation, like, you get to. It's a choose your own adventure. You
Speaker:get to do it however you want. There's a lot of sober people there. There's
Speaker:people who don't wear costumes. There's people who are only up during the day. There's
Speaker:some people who don't come out of their tents till night. And there's the river
Speaker:and then there's like some great food. There's talks, there's. I did a booty
Speaker:love fitness class which was so good. So good. I learned about
Speaker:muscles I didn't even know existed because I was sore the rest of the weekend.
Speaker:But, like, I don't know, I'm really excited that Your Life Week
Speaker:2026 is coming back. Or I mean, I guess. And you know what
Speaker:is, like, pretty kismet about it, but it's the fifth
Speaker:anniversary of mom dying that year. Oh. And okay, so
Speaker:to. To wrap up the base coast portion of this. Yes. On mom's
Speaker:deathbed, she said to me, you're the older sister.
Speaker:You have to take care of Atlanta now. And I was like, that's a lot
Speaker:of pressure. I didn't say that. But in my head I'm like, that's like, not
Speaker:fair to put on me because we're both adults and took me a couple years
Speaker:to bring it up to Atlanta. But we had this epiphany. We had this epiphany
Speaker:over the weekend that, like, that's the way I'm taking care of her is like
Speaker:bringing her to my, like, happy place, getting her an inflatable couch,
Speaker:making sure she's comfortable. And like, I took care of her
Speaker:mom. I showed her my world and I made sure she
Speaker:was always sitting and. Lying down and that was her post surgery
Speaker:care. Yeah, so. So, yeah. And
Speaker:like, so that was the kickoff to my birthday, my August 8th. So wait, wait,
Speaker:wait, hold up. Before we move on, what was your favorite
Speaker:part of base Coast? I think showing it to you.
Speaker:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I got to. And I got to
Speaker:reunite with people like, I haven't seen in decades or years. Friends from
Speaker:Pemberton and Whistler and Vancouver and
Speaker:yeah, our cousin from California. We had a family reunion. So,
Speaker:so nice. But yeah, like, being able to bring you there because, like, we do
Speaker:live very different lives. And so, like,
Speaker:it's. I didn't know how it was going to be for you,
Speaker:but, like, yeah, I'm excited to see you in full health. So you cannot say
Speaker:yes to any more surgery before base coast. No. Okay.
Speaker:No. I need like a good few month buffer.
Speaker:Yeah. So I'm turning 40 and like
Speaker:August 8th, 8th of the 8th. I was born at 1:43pm which is like the
Speaker:code I love you, which is super cool. Like, I think it's a Lionsgate manifestation
Speaker:portal. I used to really love my birthday. Like, now I like
Speaker:my birthday, but I used to love it. But since mom and dad died, it's
Speaker:a bit harder. But for me it signifies like a new decade. Like,
Speaker:30, 30s were great, but also really, really hard. Like,
Speaker:I got married, I got engaged. Like, I had a lot of adventure, but it
Speaker:was a lot of dark night of the soul, a lot of grief, a lot
Speaker:of challenges. You know, the pandemic and the miscarriage and a lot of death.
Speaker:And for me, 40s, like, I'm never gonna have a miscarriage again.
Speaker:My mom and dad are never going to die again in this lifetime. I'm never
Speaker:gonna have to bury them. There's a lot of things that were so challenging that
Speaker:I know I'm never gonna have to do again. And I know more challenges are
Speaker:coming, but for me it's like 40 signifies like, okay, next decade,
Speaker:let's see what we got. And I'm walking into it with like a flexible
Speaker:nervous system and my main goal is like always looking for peace and like living
Speaker:a peaceful life. Like I want the rest of my life. And on the outside
Speaker:it seems like I'm very like full on and chaotic, but like internally,
Speaker:because everything I'm doing I love. Like I have a crazy travel schedule coming up
Speaker:starting September for like grief trips and grief stuff and book stuff. But
Speaker:like I love that and to me that's not really chaotic. I want my compass
Speaker:to be peace. Is it getting me closer towards peace and happiness?
Speaker:Yes, keep doing it. And so my 40s, for me it's like
Speaker:the sign. It's not even like a new chapter, it's like a whole new book.
Speaker:So I'm really excited about that.
Speaker:That's exciting. And it's only a couple weeks away.
Speaker:Woohoo. Woohoo. Yeah. So I guess this is a good time to mention
Speaker:like what you're listening to is I guess like we're not really doing seasons, but
Speaker:this is like a summer break. Yeah, a summer
Speaker:break. We're taking a break. There's going to be a couple reruns of some really
Speaker:great episodes and then we have a couple episodes about something coming up.
Speaker:Actually this is a good time to talk about it. Mark your calendars,
Speaker:save the date. September 1, we are launching our
Speaker:first gratitude challenge. There's a whole neuroscience behind
Speaker:a specific way to practice gratitude that rewires your brain to see the world in
Speaker:a more positive way. And we're doing a challenge, a free challenge for our
Speaker:community. Like you just need to sign up for it, be a part of
Speaker:it. And there's a daily practice that will take you probably under a minute.
Speaker:So. Yeah, so. So towards the end of summer, a couple episodes are going to
Speaker:be focused on how to get ready for that. And
Speaker:so yeah, so the. So August is going to have some light content and then
Speaker:September 1st we're starting a gratitude challenge. So who is
Speaker:excited? Me. Me.
Speaker:Yeah. That was such a little sister thing to do. Yeah. And you know,
Speaker:I think behind the scenes we're working on a lot of different things and
Speaker:you know, hopefully in the fall. Well, no, in the fall we will have a
Speaker:really exciting update. I. I could feel it. But until then, you
Speaker:know, we've basically closed SP for Skin Deep Stories.
Speaker:Resilient af Skin Deep Stories. This is a book showcasing your tattoos of
Speaker:Resilience. This will be our fourth anthology and the first one Alana's
Speaker:actually sharing a story with in. Yeah. And like,
Speaker:the people's tattoos and we have one scar are
Speaker:just like, the stories are so powerful, the ones that are coming in. And
Speaker:I'm so excited about this. It comes out December,
Speaker:early December, the first weekend of December, we're doing a big launch in New York
Speaker:worth of Billboard and we're going to have like an art exhibit brunch. It's going
Speaker:to be amazing. And so that's exciting. And that's pretty
Speaker:much like, if you want to be in it, you're going to have to wait
Speaker:till the next one. And we're also working on Resilient AF
Speaker:Stories of Resilience, Volume two and
Speaker:volume. Sorry, Volume three. I mean, I got distracted by Lenny.
Speaker:That's her cat. If you're not. Not watching and you're listening. And we're
Speaker:still accepting spot stories for that. So do
Speaker:you have a story of overcoming life's greatest challenge? It doesn't have to do with
Speaker:a tattoo or anything. We want to share your story. And this is going to
Speaker:last book of the anthologies for now, we're
Speaker:taking a pause and we don't know when we're going to be coming back with
Speaker:them because of some of the other things that are happening in our community. So,
Speaker:you know, reach out. The links are all below. You know, if you want to
Speaker:be a part of this, set up a call. Have you
Speaker:read my story yet? No. Oh, okay.
Speaker:I was just excited. I don't even have time to respond to your text messages
Speaker:right now. That's true. I. When I wrote my story,
Speaker:I was just like, really inspired and did it all at once. And I'm very
Speaker:proud of myself. And then you made 45 tick tocks and I love it. Yeah,
Speaker:I had like a very good spurt of
Speaker:creativity. You know, I love where you're at now. Like, I think like, with like
Speaker:your surgery and your healing, you know, in Base coast, which it kind of like
Speaker:rewired your brain because that's what it does. It's like a reset. You came
Speaker:back more inspired and invigorated and like, maybe you can share with
Speaker:our listeners what you've been working on,
Speaker:like with the blog and the thing. Yeah.
Speaker:So I have started to
Speaker:write blogs again. The goal is to
Speaker:release at least one to two a week.
Speaker:So I'm in the middle of my third. We released two
Speaker:last week and that is exciting.
Speaker:Another thing is we're. We're bringing Pinterest back. I know Pinterest never went
Speaker:away but it kind of laid in the back burner for me for
Speaker:quite some time. But if you follow the it's
Speaker:global resilience community on on
Speaker:Pinterest then you get to see some pretty cool things.
Speaker:And then on TikTok on our griefy gals.
Speaker:Griefy gals. I've started
Speaker:to be motivated to post
Speaker:more. Some funny, some sweet, but no, it's good, it's
Speaker:all griefy. So please like follow us, engage, share, please do.
Speaker:Yeah, I think it's the more people that know that we exist, the
Speaker:more we can spread our word and hear other people's
Speaker:stories. Yeah, exactly. And so like,
Speaker:yeah, so we have a lot going on in the background and this is
Speaker:I think a good time in this season for us to to
Speaker:pause to have a, you know, a few weeks to decompress
Speaker:because coming back in September we have a lineup of like
Speaker:some, I'd say like famous people that are going to be on the show
Speaker:and new authors who are in Skin Deep
Speaker:Stories who are in volume three and there's going to be, you know, more
Speaker:of us. And what I have also like something
Speaker:that I really love being a grief and resilience expert. I'm a coach,
Speaker:founder of this community, but something that I
Speaker:love like besides motivational speaking, which is like I love
Speaker:it so so much. Like when I'm standing in front of one person or a
Speaker:whole arena or stadium or theater and
Speaker:everything in between, it feels like I am standing in my purpose.
Speaker:But in April when I went to Bali and helped Rachel co facilitate a
Speaker:grief retreat, I was like, this is, I am right
Speaker:where I meant to be. This is what I'm supposed to do. And so her
Speaker:and I have secured the next chunk of grief trips.
Speaker:And so if you are listening to this and you want to join us
Speaker:in Australia this November, please do
Speaker:they. It's a two week grief trip. It there's
Speaker:itineraries on the website. I'll put the link in the show notes for the grief
Speaker:trips. If you're concerned about the price there is
Speaker:increasing access so there are options to help you financially
Speaker:be on that. We still have a few spots left and
Speaker:then I've been invited to also co facilitate the
Speaker:Maldives. Is it Maldives or Maldives? I
Speaker:don't know, the Maldives. The M A L
Speaker:D I V E S Maldives. Anyways, I'm gonna say Maldives
Speaker:before mine and Alana's official grief week. I'll be doing a grief trip in the
Speaker:Maldives which like is super exciting this February. So those are the
Speaker:next two trips that you can join me and Rachel on together.
Speaker:And then we also have a end of March, early April Bali trip we're doing
Speaker:together end of next summer. So in a year, end of
Speaker:August, a Portugal trip and we're working on building out a Morocco
Speaker:trip. Oh boy. So it's to me like,
Speaker:it's amazing, like healing and community healing with adventure. I mean,
Speaker:I went on my, my own unofficial grief trip, my
Speaker:Sikh plesle. It's like Eat, Pray, Love where I like helped open
Speaker:a children's center for at risk youth in Ghana and saw a voodoo healer and
Speaker:did spells and then went to Uganda, to Batwa and track
Speaker:gorillas in the jungle and then went to Croatia for a business event and
Speaker:Atlanta met me and we pretended we were millionaires. And I'm still digging myself out
Speaker:of that debt. But by the time you hear this, maybe I'm going to be
Speaker:out of it. I don't know. So that was like a
Speaker:really stacked trip. But I was trying to find the meaning and like it wasn't
Speaker:necessarily directed towards grief and healing where when I went on our first
Speaker:grief trip in Bali to co facilitate, it was very special because it was tailored
Speaker:to community, to healing, to navigating grief. And it was just really
Speaker:amazing. And There were ages 23 to
Speaker:61, all different types of grief, all different. You know,
Speaker:some were very recent, some were many years ago. And it was just such
Speaker:a beautiful experience. Wonderful.
Speaker:Anything else? Oh, let's talk about. Let's quickly do a cat update. Cat. A cat
Speaker:chop. A cat chup. Okay, so I'll. Do you want. You
Speaker:start? Okay, I'll start. Molly was sick.
Speaker:Now she's better. But it was really scary. They thought she might have a
Speaker:tumor. The X ray didn't show anything.
Speaker:I think it was just an upper respiratory infection. But even if it is
Speaker:a tumor, there's nothing that can be done. So, you know, I'm
Speaker:just hoping it is what it was. It was what it was.
Speaker:And Lenny is being a little lenser
Speaker:and he is currently, if I look behind me,
Speaker:he sleeps like in a loaf position sometimes. It's really funny.
Speaker:He's been wonderful as usual and
Speaker:doesn't know boundaries and is a little
Speaker:bit of a food goblin. But he's a sweetie
Speaker:pie and I just like lift him up every day and like
Speaker:nuzzle his tummy. That's my quick catch
Speaker:up. Quick. When Xena died,
Speaker:Xena was the first queen zine. Xena was. I got got
Speaker:her from a friend's barn when I was 19. Then I moved away at
Speaker:21 and mom kept her. And then when mom was on her
Speaker:deathbed was like, you have to take Xena. And I was like, I already have
Speaker:two catches. You have to. And so I brought Xena all the way across Canada
Speaker:to Pemberton and then like moved her to Kamloops. Anyways, I
Speaker:was. I'm cleaning. Like I'm getting my life in order. Like, hello, ADHD
Speaker:meds. Thank you. Like the peace and the clarity I have. You know, I'm
Speaker:getting like. I got rid of paperwork from 2019. A lot of estate
Speaker:stuff. Hopefully I don't need it again. It's
Speaker:now gone. But anyways, look what I found. I found the piece of art
Speaker:you got of Xena. Oh yeah. My friends got me that when
Speaker:Xena died. Because Xena died like six months after
Speaker:our mom did. And I was obviously very distraught. So my friends got
Speaker:me that. And mine lives in a frame and. Mine lived in the bottom of
Speaker:a drawer until yesterday. And we'll hopefully go into a frame. I
Speaker:have a pile of like art I want to frame. Like paintings like that.
Speaker:Postcards, things I've bought for my travels. I have a stack and I want to
Speaker:actually do a gallery wall. And like, you know,
Speaker:basically like decoupage. I want to basically cover my walls with all
Speaker:my memories, you know, like a teenager. Yeah, like I like but
Speaker:in frames. I like a good gallery wall. But Shane is like
Speaker:opposite end. He'd like one piece of art. So my office, my rules.
Speaker:My office has a gallery wall right here. You can't see it.
Speaker:And so our. Our cats. Duffy's good. Duffy had a bit of a health scare,
Speaker:but he's fine. He like, I guess rebelled
Speaker:against like getting Frey. Not Frey. Teddy free
Speaker:is the dead cat Teddy. And like Teddy was
Speaker:jumping in plants and like plant parts were falling off. And I think like Duffy
Speaker:just like ate a cactus and poisoned himself. But he's fine. And
Speaker:Teddy is an adventure cat. She like, we got really lucky. She has
Speaker:a pretty cool demeanor. We take her to and from the lake. So she'll ride
Speaker:for two and a half hours in the car. And a mix of. On my
Speaker:shoulder, on my lap. And her carrier, I call it her basket. It has a
Speaker:patio, like opening patio like a pop out. So
Speaker:it makes like the carrier like bigger. And at the lake she like
Speaker:has her spots. She likes to hang out. She sleeps in the bed with us.
Speaker:And if we take her out, we don't leave her Out. But if we take
Speaker:her out, we put her on a leash and she just sits in the grass,
Speaker:chase chases bugs, hangs out. And you know, our neighbors,
Speaker:they all love. They come over and hang out, or we pat, you know, she
Speaker:goes and hangs out with our neighbors. And so cat life is great.
Speaker:Teddy had, like. We're lucky with Teddy's personality. So she's a. She's been a gift.
Speaker:She's been medicine for me. Healing, you know, healing the broken heart. From,
Speaker:you know what it is? It's the British cats. Yeah,
Speaker:them Brits. Them Brits. Lenny, the British short hair. I
Speaker:love that. So any final words for
Speaker:this season? This chapter. This chapter. Happy
Speaker:summer. Hopefully it is filled with whatever need
Speaker:it needs to be filled with in the next little bit.
Speaker:And if you're like, whoa, I just discovered, you guys, like, we have
Speaker:many episodes you can go back and listen to, and we invite you to do
Speaker:that. And if you really want to go back, go look up
Speaker:Radical Resilience, our very first podcast. Yeah. And the only
Speaker:reason Deep Grief, the. Only reason we started this one was because we kind
Speaker:of changed our branding. But, yeah, we have Radical Resilience. We have this.
Speaker:We have many episodes coming up. So we're still showing up every week.
Speaker:We're not going to be showing up with new recorded full
Speaker:episodes until September.
Speaker:But, you know, we're here for you. We have stories
Speaker:of resilience on our website, on our social media. We, you know,
Speaker:griefy gals on TikTok, you can buy books on Amazon. We
Speaker:have Kindle. We have the print version.
Speaker:We're here to provide you that inspiration. We have clothing. We have
Speaker:so much to offer. And even more is coming down the pipeline, which has been
Speaker:very exciting. And so I guess a final note for me
Speaker:is, like, find your peace. Like, what do
Speaker:you need to unwind? Like, what would life be be like for you if you
Speaker:woke up feeling calm with no stress and anxiety?
Speaker:Do the things that bring you that and remove the things that you can that
Speaker:trigger the opposite feeling. And I invite you to try and find
Speaker:some peace this August. Nice. Yeah. And
Speaker:so thank you for tuning in to another episode of Resilient AF with Blair and
Speaker:Alana. We are so grateful for you. It is okay to not be
Speaker:okay. You're going to get through it. We are that lighthouse in the storm for
Speaker:you and friends. Just remember, you are Resilient
Speaker:af.
