The Courageous Destiny podcast takes listeners on an inspiring journey as Kristin Crockett interviews Bea Pedersen, a remarkable individual whose life story is a testament to resilience and faith. Bea's memoir, 'After Seven, When the Rates Are Cheaper,' serves as the focal point of their discussion, beautifully intertwining personal anecdotes with broader themes of perseverance, connection, and the transformative power of storytelling. Bea recounts a pivotal moment during a mission trip to Haiti, where she faced chaos and loss, leading to her brother's memorable advice about calling later when the rates were cheaper. This moment not only inspired the title of her book but also encapsulates the significance of maintaining connections during challenging times—a theme that resonates deeply throughout the episode.

As Bea shares her multifaceted background, from her days as an opera singer to her work in nonprofit fundraising, listeners are drawn into her narrative of overcoming adversity with humor and grace. The podcast transitions into a conversation about the importance of resilience, with Bea reflecting on her upbringing and the lessons she learned about perseverance from a supportive teacher. Her journey highlights that challenges are not merely obstacles but opportunities for growth, encouraging listeners to embrace their struggles as part of their unique story. Bea's commitment to writing daily letters to her son during his deployment underscores the power of connection, illustrating how even physical distance cannot diminish the bonds of love and support.

The discussion culminates in Bea's aspiration to become a motivational speaker, sharing her story to inspire others to find hope and courage in their own lives. Listeners are prompted to consider their paths and the potential for transformation, reinforced by Bea's belief that with faith, anything is possible. The episode serves as a beacon of encouragement, urging individuals to pursue their passions, cultivate resilience, and share their stories with the world. Bea's inspiring journey and her heartfelt message of perseverance leave listeners with a sense of empowerment, inviting them to reflect on their own lives and the connections that enrich their experiences.

Takeaways:

• Bea Pedersen's journey showcases the power of storytelling to overcome adversity and inspire others.
• The title of Bea's book, 'After Seven When the Rates Are Cheaper,' reflects a personal and poignant moment in her life.
• Writing daily letters to her son during his deployment helped to maintain a deep connection despite physical distance.
• Bea emphasizes the importance of perseverance, character, and faith in facing life's challenges and uncertainties.
• The podcast highlights the transformative effects of sharing one's story as a motivational speaker.
• Courage can manifest in various forms, including speaking openly about one's faith and experiences.

About Bea Pedersen:

Bea Pedersen has spent her life sharing her faith, her achievements, and her challenges through the delightful art of storytelling. Her whimsical, and sometimes acerbic wit, uplifts and inspires all with whom she has shared these delightful tales.

A second-generation Italian-American, Bea was born in Chicago, the last child of a large family. After relocating to the northwest suburbs, Bea was diagnosed with a congenital disease which caused a severe visual impairment. However, she persevered, being the first in her family to attend and graduate from college. She pursued her goal of becoming a professional opera singer performing on the stages of Orchestra Hall and the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Always prepared to face new opportunities, Bea relinquished her promising career to assist her family and secured a position as a professional fundraiser in the non-profit arena. Flourishing in this new line of work, Bea led her constituents on multiple mission trips to Haiti, Nicaragua, and Ecuador. In addition, she has given countless motivational presentations and educational sessions throughout the United States. Using her story-telling gifts to engage her supporters, Bea has raised millions of dollars in support of world hunger, higher education, and child abuse prevention, care, and advocacy.

A published author, Bea has turned her story-telling skills into real-life tales featured in her first book, After Seven When The Rates Are Cheaper. She is currently working on a sequel as well as several children’s books, and will be publishing her son’s first book, The Character of Success in 2025.

Bea lives in rural Northern Illinois with her husband, Marco, of over 35 years and her dog, Glory.

Hello everyone and welcome to the courageous Destiny build a business and life you love podcast.

I am your hostess, Kristen Crockett, business and life coach and podcast extraordinaire.

Today I have the incredible honor of interviewing a dear friend and colleague, Bea Peterson.

Bea is a woman of multifacets.

She's a former opera singer, professional non profit fundraising specialist, and now author of her first book, after seven, when the rates are cheaper, a memoir about overcoming adversity with humor and faith.

Thank you Bea for being on my podcast today.

I am so, so excited to interview you and get out to the world, you know what you're about and help give them a little bit of your inspiration, which I am just so honored to be able to get from time to time.

So welcome to my show.

Well, thank you, Kristen.

I will tell you that the honor is truly mine.

When I first met you and heard your presentation, I was so inspired.

I knew you were someone I had to connect with.

And as a result of that, I think our friendship has just grown as professionals, but also just as personal friends.

And it's an honor for me and a privilege to be able to offer to share my story through this wonderful podcast opportunity.

Wonderful.

Well, I am so excited to have you.

You know I want to.

This book truly is extraordinary.

So just so everybody knows, I'm going to be posting the link on how you can purchase this book book into the show notes and I highly recommend everybody if you are looking to do something big in your life, if you're an entrepreneur, if you're somebody who needs some inspiration and somebody who likes to laugh, purchase this book.

It's truly extraordinary be what had you.

I love the story behind after seven when the rates are cheaper.

Can you share with my audience why you called it that and what inspired you to write the book?

Well, that was one of the initial inspirations for writing a book.

I consider myself to be a storyteller and as a storyteller it's helped me throughout my entire career.

When I sang opera, I told stories and music.

As a professional fundraiser, I tell the stories of my mission and share those partnerships with people to expand and support our community.

And all my life I told stories about what had happened to me growing up in a poor Italian family and all my mission trips when I was working for a Christian world hunger relief organization.

And just funny things in life like my first camping trip and sleeping outdoors for the first time, people seemed to enjoy my storytelling.

So on one of my trips as a missionary.

I wasn't a missionary.

I was leading a Group to missionaries who fed starving children.

And these were people that actually donated to the mission I supported on this particular trip.

And on the day we landed, the government decided to triple the price of rice and oil, two primary food staples in this devastatingly poor country.

Well, the people rioted.

They had gone over the edge this time.

And they bombed the United nations building.

All airplanes were gone and you were there.

We landed and they.

And the bomb went off.

Oh my gosh.

Everything in the airport was cra.

If you think it's a Port au Prince is a crazy airport anyway, let me tell you.

It's hard to get through, negotiate.

But it was really crazy that day.

Fortunately, our missionary was there with the truck and she picked us up.

But by that time, thousands of people were burning tires in the streets.

We had to go off the road to even get around the burning tires in this huge truck that there were 11 of us in.

And it was about 40 miles to the mission.

And even when we got to the mission, rioters from the villages were coming down with machetes and stones.

And we got into the mission, which was very well fortified.

It's a very strong mission down there.

They have schools and churches.

And this is in Haiti, correct?

Fond Parisian Haiti, yes.

Okay.

So we got there and the people, they were hungry, they wanted food.

And we were a feeding organization.

So the missionaries decided we had.

They had just received a shipment of our food, so they decided they'd go down to the gates and all of us, along with their staff were pouring these bags of pre processed meals that were packed by volunteers into these bags, into garbage bags, these huge like 50 gallon garbage bags, tying them in knots and flinging them over this nine foot steel fence to the crowd on the other side.

The guards were shooting shotgun shells over their heads.

No one got hurt.

But it was a crazy situation.

So we knew this was going to be a difficult trip and we knew.

We didn't know when we were going to get back or get out.

But eventually these villagers went away.

They were satisfied.

They were hungry.

And nobody's telephone worked.

I had not to prompt a product here, but I had AT&T Global.

And AT&T Global was the only carrier at that time.

So everybody used my phone to call home.

And I will tell you my phone bill that week.

It's a good thing my work paid for it because I'd still be paying off that debt.

That phone bill was so big.

I also received a call that night from my niece saying, auntie Rosie died.

My sister, who had been ill and in a coma for several months.

And she said, I'm just the messenger.

Call Uncle.

I said, you know, bats, I'm in Haiti.

I don't know what you guys are playing, but I'm in Haiti.

And she goes, I know.

It's all over the news.

Call Uncle Andy.

So my brother was taking charge.

So the next morning, beautiful sunny morning in the Caribbean, I go out into the terrace of the mission orphanage, and I dial my brother, and he picks up, and I said, andy, it's B.

Betsy called me last night, told me Rosie died.

You know, I'm in Haiti.

And I never got another word out.

My brother simply said to me, call me after 7 when the rates are cheaper.

Click.

Now, now, we just experienced a bombing.

We've just experienced tires in the street.

We've just experienced thousands of people rioting.

And he's worried about a buck 75aminute.

So the pastor who was on this trip with us, who was visiting with us, was standing next to me when I made this phone call.

And he was a real tall guy, you know, I'm short in stature.

And he put his arm around me and he said, poor B.

And I looked up at him and I said, chuck, if ever I write a book about my crazy, dysfunctional family, it's going to be called after 7 when the rates are Cheaper.

So that was the incentive for that story, which was the impetus for this book.

And I just felt it had to be the title of the book, even though it wasn't the lead story.

And it wasn't until several years later, if I can go on with how the book came about, because that was the whole crux of my life was that book, is that my son is a Navy lieutenant.

He was stationed to Sasebo, Japan, as a navigator aboard a mines sweeper.

And when he was leaving Chicago, and again, it was April, interestingly enough.

What is a Matabine?

Borderline Buddha binds Sweeper.

A.

A aboard.

He.

He was stationed aboard.

Like, you know, you're aboard a ship.

Oh, okay.

He was stay.

He was commissioned to.

To serve on a ship which is a minesweeper.

Minesweepers are the ships.

They're all wooden ships always.

Because they're that go out before the entire fleet and check for mines.

They've got this huge.

You know what a narwhal nail is?

Mines.

Like.

Mines.

Like mines in the water that blow you up.

Oh, my gosh.

Be.

Yeah.

Tell me about it.

So.

Oh, my gosh.

You know that, you know, narwhal whales have that long thing out the front, that's what a minesweeper has on the front of their ship.

And they, and they check to see if there's any steel or mine.

That's why the ships have to be wood.

So they're smaller ships.

They only have a contingent of 82.

They cannot, they cannot, you know, like, load supplies at sea.

They always have to go into docks.

They can't be at sea for more than seven days at a time.

So they never know where they're going to be or where they're going to reload for.

For supplies when they're out.

But they have to go in front of the fleet to make sure the fleet doesn't get blown up.

So it, it's.

And, and my son was the navigator, so he had to ensure the lives of 82 men every time he went out to make sure they got out of port, they got to their destination, they got in their destination, they got out of their destination and they got back safely.

And.

But Japan has a different telephone system than we do.

Right.

Was all Internet at that time.

So my son's phone didn't.

Wouldn't take any calls when he was.

He was gonna have to get a local call.

But my son landed in Sasebo and was.

Was flown out to his ship, which was already at sea because he had to go to duty right away.

So didn't have contact with him for almost six months.

And I knew that the only way to connect with my son was to write him a letter.

And I am the type of person that I just don't write one letter.

I write a letter every single day.

That was my promise.

And unfortunately, guys, please listen to this because it is so heartwarming.

So.

Well, it was.

It was heartwarming for me too, Kristen, because my son was stationed in Sassable during.

When Covid hit.

So a year, a year's deployment turned into two and a half years and 957 days.

Oh, my Lord.

And I wrote my son 957 letters every single day.

He was stationed in Japan.

And when I first started the letters, it was just, oh, I miss you.

I hope everything's going well.

Let me know how things are when you can.

Sometimes Ben wouldn't get a letter for 30, 40 days, and he'd get 30 or 40 letters at one time.

So I had numbered them.

And then I thought, well, you know what?

I'm going to start including pictures.

So I I put pictures of her home, changes of the seasons, the goslings in the spring, the dogs growing up.

I.

I put pictures of Christmas parties and family parties and the kids that were being born.

So.

And then, you know, as time goes on, you still run out of things.

And I thought, you know what?

I'm going to start to tell my son about my life, because Ben didn't really know much about my life.

I'd had a very difficult upbringing with a.

With unfortunately, a lot of abuse, and I'd never shared that with my son because I didn't want my son's life to be one of trauma or trials.

I wanted him to know that.

I wanted him to love me as I was.

A person with an optimistic spirit who believed that with God, anything was possible.

That was what I had taught my son every day.

With God, anything was possible.

Because for me, it was Kristen and I had the son I was so proud of.

And then during the midst of all this, my husband had a stroke.

My.

My son was shipped home because we thought he was going to die.

His coming home turned my husband's prognosis around.

And while he was home, he was told he had to go to Atlanta.

They extended his.

His leave so he could go to.

I'm saying.

I'm sorry, not Atlanta, to Rhode island and compete for ship Handler of the Year.

My son won that year.

He was the best navigator, best ship handler in the entire Navy.

And all because he came home from my husband's stroke, came home to see his family.

When he went back to Japan, he told the Navy guys he was going to quit because he wanted to help his mom.

You know.

You know, part of my story is I'm visually impaired.

I was born with a congenital disease which took almost 90% of my vision, and my husband now was stroke victim.

He'd also had a.

He was also disabled before that, so a lot of caregiving to do.

And the Navy said, what?

You're the best ship here.

What can we do to keep you?

And he said, I'm due for shore duty when I get out of this.

This tour.

Can I go to Great Lakes, which is near our home, Great Lakes Naval Base.

So they sent him there.

And when he came home and all his stuff came home a few months later, he had this huge box, and it was filled with all my letters, and I realized he'd kept them all.

And not only that, but he had.

He had pasted my letters onto the wall of his apartment, and I thought it was junk.

When I.

When I first ever Saw it on a video call.

After two and a half years, I said, what's all that junk?

He said, mom, those are your letters.

And my letters meant something to him.

And when he came home, he said, you know, mom, you've got a book in you.

And so I turned the letters and my stories and my early life and my theme that with God, anything is possible into after seven when the rates are cheaper.

That is incredible.

You have so many incredible stories.

And one of the, one of there's a few things and nuggets that I'd really like to showcase for my listeners today.

And one of them is when you have somebody deployed, right?

It was originally supposed to be a six month tour or twelve month tour and then ended up being two and a half years.

And I love the fact that you created connection with him instead of focusing on, I mean, I'm sure there was rough times, you know, around the holidays and I'm sure you missed him terribly.

But it was a way to create, even in the most heartbreaking of situations, you want that person to be with you.

You want them to be safe.

And here we've got, you know, Covid.

We've got.

And what a different perspective of COVID right?

We've got all that going on.

Your son's not there.

But you guys really created this amazing connection that was so important for him and you.

And I always say when you're going through it, one way to really, you know, you're going through a tumultuous part in life.

If you can find a way to create happiness, you can find a way to create connection.

It's really such a powerful thing to do.

So I really wanted to showcase that for my listeners.

And also just everything that you've been through, even have, I can't even imagine having, you know, being in the middle of Haiti, having bombs going off around me and then, you know, finding out that one of my siblings passed away and then having them say, you know, just call me later.

Yeah, call me after 7 when the rates are cheaper.

You know, just a story of resiliency.

And I love the fact that you have never in your book and as far as I've known you, you don't fall into victim mode, which a lot of us do.

That's what it's all about is when I was, when I was nine years old, and this is a story in the book too, when I was nine years old, we were finally going to leave Chicago and move to the suburbs to get a home.

We were always in an apartment very Small apartment, a lot of us.

And, you know, I am a survivor of child abuse in both sexual, verbal and physical child abuse.

I was also born with a congenital disease, so I was legally blind, even corrected vision, and I was epileptic and had a few other problems.

And so leaving Chicago, getting a home, this was a great, great opportunity for me.

And I.

And when I, when I was leaving, I had this one teacher I just absolutely loved, and I asked her to sign my little autograph book.

And, and this is what she wrote.

And it was right before Thanksgiving, and she wrote, dear Beatrice, remember our forefathers and how they persevered.

Remember, you, too, must persevere.

Now, I will tell you, at nine years old, I didn't know what persevere meant.

I had to look it up, you know, and it, it meant, you know, that you really had to, you know, like, stick to it and, you know, keep going despite problems.

But I looked at that word a lot differently back then, and I still do because I kind of broke it up, you know, to purr and sever.

And that meant to cut through.

That's how I saw it.

Purr to, through.

Going through something like perennial through the year and sever to cut.

And what it said to me was, I gotta cut all this crud that's in my life, and I gotta get through it.

Like God who parted the red seas for the Israelites, he was going to create a path for me, and I was going to take that path.

On faith, Kristen, because that's what it's all about.

Connection is all about faith.

Having faith in the person that you could no longer connect with on a daily basis.

You can't call or see.

Having faith that, you know, you have given them the tools to be the best person they can be.

In my son's case, a man of faith and integrity and to trust that.

That my words would still mean something to him and that he, too, knew that with God anything was possible.

Connection is about being resilient enough to know that even if I'm alone and not physically connected to somebody, I can stand tall because I'm connected to my God, whom I believe will keep me strong and faithful and resilient enough to go on in Romans.

And I always get the number wrong.

I should have it in front of me.

I'm sorry, I don't.

Romans, I believe it's Romans, chapter three, verse five, and it might be chapter five, verse three, so forgive me if I get the number wrong.

But it's in Romans, it says, suffering produces perseverance.

Perseverance, character and character.

Hope.

Well, I knew I had to persevere.

But now I had to build my character.

And a person of character is a person of integrity, someone you can trust to do what they say they will do, someone you can rely on to be truthful.

A person of character is a person of forgiveness, a person of joy, a person of gratitude, a person of hope.

I wanted to be that person at 9 years old.

I wanted the abuse to stop.

And I wanted to let them know that I could do anything, despite my disabilities, which, to be honest with you, weren't even diagnosed then.

They weren't diagnosed for another almost three years.

And when I found out that I was only blind and not stupid and my parents thought this was a revelation.

I can deal with being blind.

I can figure out how to help myself.

I can figure out how to read close.

I can maybe get better glasses.

I can seek out help.

Even as a child, I learned to seek out help because the people in our lives.

Honestly, Christian, I don't want to proselytize.

I'm not trying to make anybody a Christian or a faith person here, but I want you to know my God led the way for me.

But you can find whatever that force is within you, whomever you are and whatever you believe to know that you too can persevere.

You too can cut through, believe in yourself and find the help and seek out the resources to build those capabilities, capacities, Skills within you to forge on and to create your destiny.

For me, it's not a destiny.

It's a pathway.

It's a pathway that God has created for me and asked me to take.

Take the chance to take.

And through my faith, I've been willing and hopefully I will continue.

I haven't always been the most positive, great person in the world.

Sometimes it's been hard.

But I know that in the end, God will help me persevere.

God will help me build my character and find hope.

Oh, my gosh, Bea.

I have to.

I have to.

I want to just showcase a few things from what you just shared.

You are probably the easiest person I've ever interviewed on my show.

I.

I don't even have to be here.

It's so wonderful.

And I'm.

And I really hope my listeners are really picking up these nuggets.

And that's my intention and why I wanted.

You have to have you on the show.

So much, you know, you had broke apart per.

You had a.

I just want to really quick, you know, backtrack.

But you had this teacher and this teacher, when you were nine years old, taught you about, you know, gave you that word perseverance.

It became an intention for your life.

So even though you were going through abuse, even though there was, you know, mental and I believe, physical abuse happening, you were able to, you were able to get that word and create an intention for your life and know and have faith.

Leaning into, leaning into God, leaning into a higher power to be able to get through that situation, but not just get through that situation.

You also went on to become an opera singer.

You went on to.

And this is why I want people to hear it.

Like when you don't fall into, you know, a self.

I'm not saying that there's not plenty of reasons a human being can feel sorry for themselves or really have a powerless moment or two, becoming a victim because horrible things can happen in the world.

But when you don't live there, when you don't keep serving at tea, you don't keep serving.

You're going to create whatever direction you decide to focus on.

So if you, what you did and what that angel in your life, that nine year, you know, that teacher when you were nine years old, as far as I'm concerned, is a human angel, gave you that word.

It changed everything.

It changed everything.

First of all, let me tell you, I, I'm, I again, I'm just honored to, to talk with you.

You, you, you really listen and I appreciate your listening and picking up on these points and wanting me to share and I'm grateful for this opportunity.

I can't tell you how much, because I, I just admire you so much.

I really do.

Thank you.

I do.

It's, you know, it's, I have worked with, you know, abused women.

I've worked with domestic violence.

I've worked with a lot of child abuse victims in my career as a fundraiser when I, when I was in high school and I, and I started to overcome a lot of the abuse and stop the abuse, you know, taking, taking stands, there's in the story, there's stories about how that happened.

But, but when I had an opportunity to go to college.

So I would be the first in my generation to go to college.

I was the second of eight children to graduate from high school and my sister barely, barely made it.

She didn't even want to, but she did.

And I was the second.

But I got a scholarship to go to college and because I could sing, that was a gift from God.

But I knew that my gift had to be cultivated and worked out.

We're all given gifts, but we still have to work, we have to practice, we have to study, we have to educate ourselves, we have to build ourselves up.

Whatever your profession is, you're a physical trainer.

If you're a weightlifter, if you're a nurse, you have to learn your trade.

And I did.

And I was good.

And I had the opportunity to sing for some stellar opera singers at the time and be in some phenomenal competitions.

And I knew that's where God wanted me to be.

I would share my voice and uplift and inspire people with the beautiful music that so many composers had created.

And then God showed me another opportunity to follow.

And my brother was a victim of diabetes and self abuse and smoking and he had to have his legs amputated.

He needed to be careful.

And my sister, one of them, you know, I come from a big family, said she'd take him in if, If I would help pay her to take care for him.

I never hesitated, Kristen.

I stopped my voice lessons.

I went and got a job.

I could type well, by this time I'd had, I had good lenses.

I was seeing well enough to at least get around, you know, being mobile.

I couldn't drive at that time, but I was, you know, getting around reading.

I got through college and I never hesitated getting a job.

And let me just say that a door didn't close on my life.

A new door, a new pathway appeared for me to take, to be courageous enough to take.

And I did.

And do you know what that pathway led to?

Even though I will tell you that my, my brother eventually died of this terrible disease that led to meeting my husband because the job I was at, I knew a person who introduced me.

We met, it was love at first sight.

We, we got together, we knew we were going to get married.

We did get married.

We did one, he, he opened up a new life for me.

I, I'd never gone camping before.

I'd never gone canoeing before.

I didn't even know what the outdoors was other than being out outside on the streets of the Chicago in my coat.

This was a wonderful, wonderful opportunity for me.

So it was by, by being willing to, to follow the path, take a chance, follow, be courageous enough to dare.

My life changed completely for the better again and a new career opened.

And let me tell you, Kristen, that's not the end.

You see, I believe that with this book and the opportunity to give motivational presentations for my book, which you were very kind to come and attend and hear me, then, another pathway is opening.

And God saying, be even at your mature Age.

And we won't go into the numbers, but we know they're big, and they're big even at your age.

It's not the end.

It's not a door closing.

It's another pathway I'm lighting for you to come to me.

And I just have to be courageous enough to do that.

And I believe I am.

You said.

I picked it out from what you said.

But I think this is so important for our listeners to really tune into this right now.

I believe a pathway is opening.

When you are creating perseverance in your life, believe a pathway is opening.

Perfect.

Right through all the crud.

You cut through the.

Through.

Cut through that pathway I made.

I always tell my clients, don't focus on what's not happening.

Don't focus on, you know, I know that we're.

We're.

We're trained to do that.

Like, I know that our human ego is designed to help us survive, but cut through all of the crud.

So let me.

Let me know and create that vision.

The vision will allow that pathway to unfold before you.

Right?

It's all about fear.

Kristen, let me give you an analogy here.

When I say parting of the Red Sea, cutting through that pathway.

Cut that for me.

That was the road.

Walls of water are still on either side of you.

Whatever destiny you decide to follow, whatever path you take, those walls of water, and you know what?

They may come crashing down.

I'm going to tell you now.

Learn to swim.

Because it doesn't mean the road is over.

It doesn't mean the pathway's done.

It just means you've got to find a different way to get to the other side.

That's right.

Learn to swim.

Go.

Be resilient.

Yes.

Learn.

Find within yourself the capacity.

Thomas Edison failed 10,000 times before he created the filament light bulb.

Do you know what he said about his failures?

I didn't fail.

I found 10,000 ways not to make a light bulb.

Exactly.

Exactly right.

And I love that you said, be resilient.

Remember?

It's B.

Peterson.

Be resilient.

It is B.

Or B, whichever you want to put.

I don't really care, but it's B.

Well, we're.

We're coming to the end of this podcast, but I will have be back.

Particularly, I'm going to do my first plug for the courageous Destiny Guided Moments podcast, and I am going to request that Bea come and join me for that podcast as well.

Because there's so many moments that we see, even in her short time here, where something happened.

It doesn't show up like unicorns and rainbows, but because that thing happened, it led to something extraordinary.

Even in the.

Being in the middle of a mission trip talk, you know, having her sister pass away and then having her brother say after, call me after 7 when the rates are cheaper is now a book, as you can see.

So that is truly extraordinary.

But I got two questions that I ask everybody who comes onto my podcast.

So I'm going to ask you these questions now.

The first question be, and I can't wait to hear the answer.

What is the most courageous thing you've ever done?

You know, there's so many.

So can I, can I answer that with two question, two things?

Because there's, I think, I think I'll bend the rules this one.

Okay, thank you.

So the most courageous thing I've ever done is so, you know, recently I, I, I was admitted into leadership of Greater McHenry County.

And I, I knew I was going to be facing a lot of challenges that I would never have faced before in my life.

So I told my husband I want to do something I've never done.

So I went to a, a high ropes adventure course on my own and did this entire course of high ropes adventure and ziplining all by myself and that.

And as an almost 70 year old woman, I gotta tell you, I was thrilled when I got to the end of that I had done it.

I was so proud of myself.

So that was, in terms of physical daring, that was the most courageous thing.

But the most courageous thing I've probably ever done is I was at a women's meeting and we were all talking about, you know, things we, we liked and things we didn't.

And I simply stood up and said, I am a woman of faith and I believe that everything I do is offered to me as an opportunity to show God how much I love him.

And that's what every challenge in my life has been.

And a woman came up to me and said, I just want you to know how excited, how proud of you, how stunned I was that you said in front of all these professional women, I am a woman of faith.

You know, Kristen, it takes more guts and daring in this world today to say I believe than anything else we can offer another person because that is the testament that we can overcome anything.

That is so true.

Oh my gosh.

And I really appreciate that because I often say, you know, one of my favorite ongoing coaching assignments I give every single one of my clients is do a courageous action every day in the direction of what you want and you'll be surprised how fast you get there.

And you know, to me, courage means core is French for from the heart.

Rage, destiny, you know, so one courageous thing from the heart and I want people to be able to stand in the power of their heart and their truth, no matter what it is or whether it's popular to somebody else.

And that's what I love so much about that story you just shared, is how you're standing in your heart, your belief system and it isn't reliant on its full self expression.

Right.

You can think that's why we're kindred spirits.

Yes, yes.

Like, you know, you go through all these things, you go through bombings, you go through this, you go through that.

And the most when you're fully sick, I was like, but when I'm fully self expressed about, when I'm fully self expressed about my love for the Lord, look at this.

You know, so I want to point that out for people because courage comes in so many different ways and forms.

The second question I want to ask you is what is left on your bucket list?

What is the most courageous thing left on your bucket list that you want to make sure happens?

So I'm, I'm.

I've never really iterated this before, so this will be the first time.

I love my job, I love my work, but I really believe with my whole heart God has opened a new door for me to share my story through motivational speaking.

The responses I had just from that first day that you were there and that first time I did it.

I have four bookings already for next year to share my story.

Because my hope is that my takeaway will be for me, it's always with God anything is possible.

But with you, if you can find within yourself the belief, the strength, the courage to persevere, that hope is yours and success can be yours.

Not necessarily in the number of dollars in your bank account, but in the number of people who call you friend.

Because you see, Kristen, in that I am rich beyond measure.

And if I can share that story with others, if God will allow me to pursue that as a career so that I can continue to support my family and our home, then I know I'll do both fulfilling.

And if I can't, if I still have to work two jobs and do it, if you will allow me still to share, it will still be enough.

That's the courageous destiny I'm looking for to, to create this new way of offering hope to others.

And with that I say that is an amazing mic drop.

Bea, thank you so much for being on my show.

Thank you for so much for being here.

I truly hope that this, you know, my intention is that this recording that we've done today makes its way into the hands of whoever needs to hear and be uplifted.

And to know that even by practicing belief, by.

By taking something, a word like perseverance and turning it into an intention, it can really make such a powerful difference in life.

And by the way, you can reinvent yourself at any age.

You can.

Exactly.

You can have a completely new courageous destiny.

Nobody said that.

You have one career your whole life, and then you, you know, you retire and play golf and that's all there is, you know, or you retire and you watched Wheel of Fortune, eating, you know, TV dinners every day.

You get to keep growing.

You get to keep, keep creating.

And I love so much that you had my very favorite saying, maybe a little crass the brass ovaries to write your book, get out there, declare yourself as a motivational speaker and be on my podcast today.

So thank you so much.

And with that, everybody, is there.

Is there a few extra words that you would like to share with my listeners today?

Only that I am so grateful for this opportunity to share and you might add one more word to that list.

Keep connecting.

Oh, yes, your connections.

It's how we share with each other.

So thank you for allowing me to connect and share.

Well, thank you so much.

And until next time, everybody, this is the courageous destiny.

Build a business in life you love podcast.

And that was B.

Peterson.

Please feel free to download her book in the show notes.

You guys will not be disappointed.

Thank you.

Be.

Thank you.