Shownotes
Blair and Alana sit together, literally, and share a recap of their experience at their second Emmys week gifting lounge, how the gratitude challenge unfolded and what else is going on in their RESILIENT A.F. worlds.
Buy the books: https://theglobalresilienceproject.com/books/
⚠️ 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
We create this safe space, both the work that we do. And
Speaker:besides giving away books and journals, we had some really deep
Speaker:conversations. And we have a. We had a chair. Like, there's a chair
Speaker:with every table. And we actually had a few people sit down and,
Speaker:like, share their, like, what they were going through with us. And, like,
Speaker:you know, these are. These are big Hollywood people. And really,
Speaker:it's just a reminder, like, at the end of the day, we are all people.
Speaker:Like, that's just their job. Right. And, you know, it's
Speaker:just one of those things where, like, grief challenges trauma. Like, it's
Speaker:like an even playing field. It's the great equalizer. Like,
Speaker:no one's going to come out of life unscathed or
Speaker:alive. Welcome back to another episode of Resilient
Speaker:AF with Blair and Alana. And look, we're
Speaker:together. Not only are we in the same house, but we're basically on each other's
Speaker:lap. We're so close to each other. We're so close to each other
Speaker:right now. So we've had a bit of a
Speaker:busy few weeks. And let's recap
Speaker:them. First of all, let's do a check in. Alana, how. How am I doing?
Speaker:How are you doing? I'm good. I
Speaker:presented at a conference last week and got good feedback, so
Speaker:that was exciting. What'd you present about? I presented on how to
Speaker:work with young families where there's grief.
Speaker:And it was a conference for palliative care. It's my
Speaker:very first conference. And it was. Honestly, it was great. Yeah.
Speaker:And then Blair's in, so I'm happy we
Speaker:have some sister time. I'm gonna do this. I made her get up early. Yeah,
Speaker:I think you should talk closer to the mic. Okay. I made her get up,
Speaker:like, not early, but I made her get up at, like, earlier than normal.
Speaker:Yeah, we just went on. We went on a walk because my routine back in
Speaker:Kamloops is I hike every morning at 6am so. And
Speaker:so we went for a walk at 7am and while I'm here for the rest
Speaker:of the week, we're going to be doing that, hoping to build new
Speaker:neural pathways, new habits. We're going to try our best.
Speaker:Yeah. Well, I'm going to go every day. And she will also.
Speaker:Potentially. Yes, but it was nice. It was very nice today. Like, it
Speaker:was. It's sunny. It hasn't been sunny all weekend. Oh, and all the leaves are
Speaker:changing color. So we're in Winnipeg and I'm visiting for the Jewish New Year.
Speaker:If you're listening to this. Happy New Year, shanatova. Happy year
Speaker:5700 and something. 86 68.
Speaker:Oh, I can google it. But yeah, it's like the perfect time
Speaker:of year for me. Like, I love this time of year where like the sun
Speaker:like twinkles through the like yellows and reds and
Speaker:oranges of the leaves and they haven't all dropped yet. So I
Speaker:absolutely love this. So I'm gonna be outside as much as I can this week
Speaker:because I'm in Winnipeg and mostly don't have a car,
Speaker:so I'm gonna walk everywhere or just spend my free time outside,
Speaker:which is, It's. I just love this time of year here and like the temperature
Speaker:is nice. So that's good. What else? That's it? Yeah, that's, I
Speaker:think it for how I'm doing. How are you doing? Yeah, I'm good. I'm really
Speaker:tired because before our Emmy's gifting lounge, Shane surprised me
Speaker:with a birthday trip. And so we went to the hot springs and that was
Speaker:really amazing. And we, you know, I spent a lot
Speaker:of time just like floating in minerals, which was amazing. I had a couple's
Speaker:massage and it was just like a really perfect birthday trip that Shane surprised me
Speaker:with. But then literally we got home and like 5am the next
Speaker:day I left for LA. And it was so much work getting ready for that.
Speaker:And we're going to digest that in a second. And then as soon as I
Speaker:got back from la, not even a week later, came to
Speaker:Winnipeg. So I feel like the other night I. I had a couple of naps
Speaker:during the day and had a really good sleep at night. And I've caught up
Speaker:on that, which has been good. And then in work life just, you know,
Speaker:getting back into the groove from, you know, all the follow
Speaker:ups from Hollywood and we have a few projects that we're working
Speaker:on that is very exciting.
Speaker:I launched a grief and resilience expert training course
Speaker:training professionals in the navigating grief framework.
Speaker:And it like I have about 10 students, we have
Speaker:four really phenomenal practitioners, including this one right here.
Speaker:Alana. Yeah. And what's really cool is that we have
Speaker:a teacher, we have an occupational therapist, we have a publisher of a grief
Speaker:publication, we have a psychologist, we have
Speaker:a dentist who also is a grief coach, who is an oral cancer
Speaker:advocate. Else am I. Who else is in? Oh, and then we have
Speaker:Ann. We actually kind of did a quiet launch,
Speaker:but Ann is our Nashville community director
Speaker:and so she's our first community director. And we'll talk more about that later, because
Speaker:we're just, you know, we're finding a groove. But essentially she's helping us spread
Speaker:the word in Nashville. That's where she is. And so she's going through this training
Speaker:program as well, because she's going to represent us in Nashville and she's learning
Speaker:the framework and how to deliver workshops based on what
Speaker:we teach. So very exciting. That is really exciting. Yeah. So
Speaker:that's exciting. And it's really nice to be in Winnipeg and spend time with my
Speaker:friends and their kids and family and Alana's
Speaker:cats. Lenny has taken a love to me. He's obsessed with me
Speaker:and that feels really good. And then so. And I've, you know,
Speaker:like, I have a lot of travel coming up, but this where I am, it's
Speaker:like not tiring travel. And so from
Speaker:here, I'm flying from Winnipeg to Vancouver with my girlfriends for a
Speaker:girls weekend that we've been trying to plan for years. And then
Speaker:I'm in Kamloops. I have some speaking engagements in Kamloops.
Speaker:I actually am going to take five full days off
Speaker:after Canadian Thanksgiving, so the week of the 13th of October, and I'm
Speaker:going to a yoga retreat on Bowen island. And I'm going to keep my phone
Speaker:in airplane mode most of the time. I think I'm going to have to delete
Speaker:my social media app, so I'm not checking them. I
Speaker:hope I could log back into everything.
Speaker:Yeah. But I'm just like, I'm gonna take that time for me, because everything, every
Speaker:time I do something, it's like I add me time into everything I do. But
Speaker:this is just solely for me to, like, just give me a recharge
Speaker:before I fly to Australia for a grief trip and go to LA for a
Speaker:grief conference and filming a documentary and we're working on a project that,
Speaker:you know, in tv and just there's a lot happening.
Speaker:And so taking this time to disconnect for me, I think is going to be
Speaker:so important and to fully be present and in the forest and
Speaker:whatnot. So Winnipeg is. Yes, I'm away, but it's really restful.
Speaker:And I think, you know, wrapping up that restful period
Speaker:with this yoga retreat is going to be good. But. And, you know, like,
Speaker:this event, this Emmy's event, like,
Speaker:nearly broke me. Yeah, it was.
Speaker:There was a lot of things that. Didn'T go as smooth
Speaker:as other events. Lots of roadblocks. So this was our
Speaker:fourth event and we love them. So we've did one Emmy's
Speaker:event. No, we did an Oscars event, An Emmys event.
Speaker:An Oscars event. And then we did this event, which was an Emmys event.
Speaker:And Heather, Mariana puts them on. They're amazing. I
Speaker:recommend brands to be there. And like the benefit of going to events, multiple events
Speaker:is like there is a consistency of the same, some of the same celebrities
Speaker:and media that comes and then there's always other new people. And
Speaker:so this event leading up to it was a lot
Speaker:of work and there was a lot of logistical issues.
Speaker:And so. But like once we got there and set up
Speaker:and everything, it was obviously so worth it because we had celebrities like
Speaker:coming to us, remembering us, you know, like we're basically on a first name basis.
Speaker:We're texting with some, you know, some that couldn't be there sent their
Speaker:people to come to us to get these shirts. So leading up to
Speaker:the event, like we decided last event to create specific shirts, the black
Speaker:shirts that say Resilient AF with our logo across instead of having a
Speaker:broidered. It's. What's this called? Screen printed. Yeah.
Speaker:And they were so popular, like Paul Oakenfold, like dj, like a very big dj.
Speaker:Like celebrities were just coming to our table and like loving the shirts. And so
Speaker:we're like, okay, well we're on to something because we have a clothing company. So
Speaker:we knew this, this event we're going to have similar things there, like our
Speaker:book, but let's have a different shirt. So Alana was in charge
Speaker:and she chose this 3/4 zip, forest green
Speaker:sweater fleece. Americans call it that say Resilient AF over
Speaker:the heart on the left side. And like our
Speaker:uncle, like he helps us make them a Raiko. Shout out,
Speaker:Raiko. And so we order
Speaker:a hundred because we know, we know
Speaker:that that's a good amount for us because any more like
Speaker:any more than that, we would have had leftovers because we don't. Not everyone
Speaker:gets them. They're safe for like celebrities and media and potentially like
Speaker:other people's other relationships. We make and
Speaker:we got them, we get them done well ahead of time. And then
Speaker:also with the books we do print on demand and there's a way
Speaker:that you can order them as an author at cost ahead of time.
Speaker:And for some reason the time, the amount of time that it has been
Speaker:taking for the last six years of me doing printing on demand,
Speaker:when I went to order them in the time allotment that I thought
Speaker:was possible because we couldn't have things shipped to the hotel until a certain date,
Speaker:it was telling me instead of it taking 10 days, it was taking three to
Speaker:four weeks. So the amount of money budgeted ended
Speaker:up being a little bit more for books because I had to buy them on
Speaker:the front end and even some of them on the front end weren't going to
Speaker:arrive on time. So that was
Speaker:very logistically stressful. The shirts. So we ship they, so they,
Speaker:they get made and shipped to me in Kamloops and then we send them to
Speaker:la. Like I send them to la and we used UPS and I,
Speaker:we had no trouble the first time. And this time the guy at
Speaker:UPS was very friendly and very distracted and
Speaker:he was great. But he misunderstood me when he
Speaker:asked for the value. And when I told him the value of all of them,
Speaker:he put them on each box. And so when the,
Speaker:the shirts made it to the border to customs, it got
Speaker:flagged and I got a message saying it's being held.
Speaker:We, you put this value, but we think it's probably a lot less. And
Speaker:so I had to like chase them trying to get a hold of them on
Speaker:the phone. You know, they, they eventually were like, okay,
Speaker:like you need to get a broke, hire a broker and the broker will
Speaker:help you get these cleared and you're going to have to pay the broker.
Speaker:I'm like, no problem, we need these there. Like let's go. Like whatever you, we
Speaker:need to do. So and basically that later that day I got a notification,
Speaker:they were being let through and I was like, oh, we didn't even need a
Speaker:broker, that's amazing. And then we got dinged with like
Speaker:a bill which was 30, like around, around with
Speaker:the broker fee and tariffs, a
Speaker:400 US dollar bill extra. And that's actually a lot of money in
Speaker:Canadian. That's like what probably like 600,
Speaker:650ish, like, and so like we are like this is
Speaker:a startup. I fund most of, I fund a lot of this from my business
Speaker:and all any money made from this goes right back into it because we have
Speaker:a team. And so like it's not like we are
Speaker:investors. Like we bootstrap. And so that was kind of
Speaker:gutting. And because of the delay they were, they should have been there on
Speaker:September 4th. They got there the day before the event in the
Speaker:afternoon, which is very stressful because then we need to go through the boxes and
Speaker:organize them by size and like there's lots of work to do ahead of time.
Speaker:And so for us organized planners, that was
Speaker:annoying. But everything made it. The other thing we had there was our
Speaker:journal, my journals, our journals. And like I didn't know if people
Speaker:were gonna like them or not. So I only brought a few, and they seem
Speaker:to be very popular people, really. The journal. So that was really cool to see
Speaker:because that's a tool that I created for our clients. So the event itself,
Speaker:like, everything we have, we got our setup dialed. We, you know, we had a
Speaker:rack with shirts hanging, and we had books out, and we had
Speaker:books, shirts displayed in a basket and, you know, some fake fall
Speaker:flowers. You know, a really simple, beautiful display that
Speaker:looks really nice in pictures. I'm sure you can check. Well, you can check them
Speaker:out on any of our social media, and soon our website will be updated with
Speaker:them. And we had a steady flow of people
Speaker:coming through, which was really great. So it was cool because we had, like,
Speaker:celebrities who knew us and recognized us, you know, coming up to us, giving us
Speaker:big hugs. I thought a huge highlight was Jill. He was the guy
Speaker:from Sex and the City. He, like, played the hunky, like,
Speaker:surfer guy that was next door to Samantha. I
Speaker:don't know if it was. I think it was one of the movies anyways. And
Speaker:he look. Look happy.
Speaker:Anyways, he has happy. I'm just resting
Speaker:my face. She's on low power mode. Yeah. Anyways, he has our first resilient
Speaker:AF shirt, and he came up to us. He's like, your shirt is so popular.
Speaker:Every time I wear it, people are asking, like, where do I get that? And
Speaker:we got that feedback throughout the, like, whole time. Can I share something?
Speaker:So someone who we gave the sweatshirt to last time,
Speaker:I don't want to say their name because I, um.
Speaker:Anyways, they. They told me that they have
Speaker:a friend with cancer. And they were like, well, why am I wearing this
Speaker:shirt? They need to be wearing this shirt. And so for
Speaker:their friend's cancer treatment, they gave them the sweatshirt, which I thought
Speaker:was really nice, and we gave them another one this
Speaker:time. And they'll probably end up giving it away again. As long as they're being
Speaker:out in. The world, as they're being worn, it doesn't matter who's wearing them, right?
Speaker:And I think, yeah. And also, what. Like, we create this safe
Speaker:space, Both the work that we do. And besides giving away books and
Speaker:journals, we had some really deep conversations. And
Speaker:we have a. We had a chair. Like, there's a chair with every table. And
Speaker:we actually had a few people sit down and, like, share their,
Speaker:like, what they were going through with us. And, like, you know, these are. These
Speaker:are big Hollywood people. And really, it's just a reminder, like, at the
Speaker:end of the day, we are all people. Like, that's just their job. Right. And,
Speaker:you know, it's just one of those things where, like, grief challenges trauma.
Speaker:Like, it's, like, even playing field. It's the
Speaker:great equalizer. Like, no one's gonna come out of life
Speaker:unscathed. Or alive. Or alive. Yeah. Or
Speaker:alive. So. Yeah. And so
Speaker:that was. Yeah, it was really successful. We made some great conversations. There
Speaker:were some other brands there that there's potential partnerships that once, like, the
Speaker:deals are signed, we'll share. You know, we made some new friends
Speaker:with, you know, some of the other brands. And so, like, it was. All in
Speaker:all, it was really awesome. And we can't. Like, it doesn't work for us to
Speaker:be at the Oscars gifting lounge because we have our book launch that week, but
Speaker:we will be at the Emmy's gifting lounge next year. So
Speaker:I'm hoping that. I mean, I might be there in a different capacity, but who
Speaker:knows? But so that event, we ended up
Speaker:giving all of our shirts away, and we came
Speaker:back, we still had a couple books and journals, which is fine, because I do
Speaker:a lot of workshops. And I. I mean, like, there I have someone to
Speaker:always sell them to or give them to. And. Yeah, so
Speaker:that was amazing. And we also, you know, Heather was really gracious. She
Speaker:took us for dinner. We went to sir, which is a Vanderpump restaurant, which, like,
Speaker:reality Blair loves that. And we. It was really fun. It was a
Speaker:fun night. And we spent some time with a friend. Yeah,
Speaker:we, like, pedaled around. Swans. Yeah, it was like a swan
Speaker:boat in Echo park is what it's called. It
Speaker:was really cool. Then we went for a really good dinner. Oh, yeah, that was.
Speaker:What was it called? Ceviche. No.
Speaker:Okay. Well, we went for a really good. Dinner for a really good Italian, if
Speaker:you're in. It was, like, in house, made pasta, Like, Los.
Speaker:Los Feliz Silver Lake. There's a really
Speaker:good restaurant, and you. Have to figure out what it is.
Speaker:It has the numbers 2064 in it. That might be the address.
Speaker:Now you solve this problem. Yeah. This puzzle. But, yeah. So LA was,
Speaker:all in all, really successful. We're gonna be back in LA at the end of
Speaker:November for End well, which is a grief conference. We are there as
Speaker:attendees. It's really cool that Alana and I, our work intersects and that
Speaker:we can do things like this together. And also, we're gonna get to meet a
Speaker:lot of people in the grief space that we are just friends with online
Speaker:and Then there's also another event called Grieftastic that we have tickets to. It's like,
Speaker:like, Scholastic Book Fair Grief. And I think they have speakers as well.
Speaker:And so we're really, you know, I think it's gonna be nice to be there
Speaker:as attendees because we just need to show up and learn and network instead of
Speaker:also be putting on, like, I would love to speak at end well
Speaker:eventually, or Grieftastic. And maybe this year there is, you know, there's
Speaker:other opportunities while we're there. We're going to be working on some things, but
Speaker:we'll be back in LA in November, so shout out. And if you're listening to
Speaker:this and you're gonna be at end well, let us know so we can meet
Speaker:you. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker:And, yeah, I think, like, that's pretty much the recap. Like, the tariffs
Speaker:really bummed me out. Oh, the hotel that. We got a good deal on the
Speaker:hotel, but there was all these extra fees and, like, I don't know, it was
Speaker:just one of those things where, you know, sometimes things go really smooth and sometimes
Speaker:things really test your patience. And this really tested
Speaker:my patience and my, like, positivity. Like, I'm a fairly
Speaker:positive person, especially given everything I've been through that we've been
Speaker:through. And, like, it was. It was a. It was hard. Yeah. I actually had
Speaker:to, like, find a Pilates studio while I was there
Speaker:because I was like, I have this, like, energy and I need to go
Speaker:plot. Pilot is that you do a Pilates.
Speaker:You plot, we plot. So. But
Speaker:anyways, on a different note, yesterday Alana and I went to our parents. They're doing
Speaker:good. They're still there in the cemetery. Their headstones. We gave a little
Speaker:cleaning to. We gave them rocks. Why do we give rocks
Speaker:in Judaism? Oh, maybe to show that we were there. I
Speaker:don't know. I have to look that up. And. Yeah, and we're just
Speaker:gearing up for some. Some Jewish New Year stuff. So that's a
Speaker:recap on la. And, yeah, I don't know if I have
Speaker:anything else to add. We went to Earth every day,
Speaker:as. Per usual in la. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Earth Cafe.
Speaker:We went to Try and we went to Target, like, as soon as we landed.
Speaker:Yeah. And then again, right before we left. As usual,
Speaker:the only place we didn't make it to was Trader Joe's or Erewhon.
Speaker:Yeah. If you've ever been to Erewhon, it's very
Speaker:bougie. But they have this smoothie which is a million dollars and
Speaker:it's The Hailey Bieber smoothie. And it's really delicious. I didn't
Speaker:have it because last time I was sick. Yeah. So on that note,
Speaker:we. We'll keep you updated and the next time we're here, we'll have more to
Speaker:add to our adventure and our topics and. Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah. Oh, and one other thing, Case. The other challenge is that everyone wants to
Speaker:buy the new shirt. Yeah. But the
Speaker:original shirt is out of stock and they're not making it anymore.
Speaker:So we're trying to find an alternative. That looks like the shirt. The
Speaker:forest green 3/4 zip fleece that says resilient half over the left side
Speaker:so that you can own one too, because there was only a hundred
Speaker:made and they are with the celebrities in the medias and some other people.
Speaker:But a lot of you have expressed that you've wanted them. So we're trying to
Speaker:find us. We are going to find a solution. It's just not as simple as
Speaker:snapping your fingers. And we're not clothing designers, so, like.
Speaker:Yeah. So this is. Just follow along. So hopefully by the next time
Speaker:we're podcasting, we have an answer for the shirt. And if not, we'll have a
Speaker:different thing to tell you about because we're. All full
Speaker:of surprises all the time. Surprise.
Speaker:Final words. Oh, we wrapped up the gratitude challenge.
Speaker:We wrapped up the gratitude challenge. We did a 21 day gratitude challenge, September
Speaker:1st to 21st, every single day. Anyone that signed up, we practice gratitude
Speaker:together online in a group. And we're going to
Speaker:be picking the winner soon. And it's amazing how many people showed up every
Speaker:single day and are building this new habit. And what's really cool is that I
Speaker:didn't know. But yesterday, the final day, the 21st,
Speaker:was actually like World Gratitude Day, which I think is like, very
Speaker:serendipitous because Alana's like, didn't you plan it like that? I was like, no,
Speaker:I thought she did, because that is something she would do. That would be something
Speaker:I would do. But I didn't. I didn't know about it until I saw a
Speaker:post on social media. So if you are listening to this and you did the
Speaker:gratitude challenge, like, congratulations. And you know what? If you didn't do it, it doesn't
Speaker:matter because you can still start doing it. Pick a time, set an
Speaker:alarm in your phone, have it go off every single day. And when it goes
Speaker:off, list three things you are grateful for from the past 24
Speaker:hours and do it in as much detail as you can. And
Speaker:if you do this for at least 21 days, your brain starts to rewire to
Speaker:see the world in a more positive way. I've been doing it since 2016,
Speaker:and I think it's a big contribution to how I've
Speaker:survived the trauma I've survived. So
Speaker:congratulations to everyone who contributed, and welcome to your new
Speaker:routine. If you're going to start Today, I choose 9pm and I call it the
Speaker:Gratitude Alarm. And without further ado,
Speaker:thanks for listening. It's been a slice, little slice
Speaker:of. Having us right next to each other. And it's okay to
Speaker:not be okay. You can get through it. You're not alone. We are that lighthouse
Speaker:in the storm for you. And just remember, you
Speaker:are resilient, afraid.
