Shownotes
Blair Kaplan Venables and Alana Kaplan are back with a fresh new podcast from The Global Resilience Project.
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.
⚠️ 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.
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Transcripts
Oh, hi, everyone. It's me, Blair Kaplan Venables, and
Speaker:we are here with the first episode of Resilient
Speaker:AF with Blair and Alana. Hello. Hello.
Speaker:Welcome, everyone. I don't know. Like, we maybe are
Speaker:a little rusty. Maybe we're picking up where we left off, but we haven't recorded
Speaker:or put out a new episode since August 2023, and
Speaker:that was over a year ago.
Speaker:So much has happened in that time. Wow. I
Speaker:can't even I mean, I can remember back to August 23.
Speaker:But wow. Yeah. Yeah. It's been a
Speaker:journey. So why haven't we recorded? Maybe let's
Speaker:just address that, and why is this a new podcast? My
Speaker:idea for radical resilience came when I learned our father was gonna
Speaker:die. It kind of popped in around March 2019
Speaker:when we launched the Global Resilience Project. And I started
Speaker:off over the pandemic with a video interview series, and then,
Speaker:on our mother's first birthday after she passed away, we launched the
Speaker:podcast. And so much in our lives and in the community
Speaker:and the movement has changed, and
Speaker:I realized that we went for, like, a year and a half almost every week
Speaker:with a few repeat encore episodes without taking a break.
Speaker:And I'm telling you, we launched this while navigating compound
Speaker:grief and trauma and all sorts of other complications.
Speaker:And, the summer that we stopped recording,
Speaker:that spring I had a midlife crisis, and I just it's like my
Speaker:brain broke. I started to feel really overwhelmed, and I had to let things
Speaker:drop off. And one of those things was this podcast. I was having
Speaker:trouble keeping up with the recordings. I was having trouble balancing
Speaker:my mental health with my client work with the podcast, and I
Speaker:know if something stops to become stops being fun, it's time to take
Speaker:a pause. And my
Speaker:gut told me it was time for a revival. It was time to come
Speaker:back with a fresh brand, with a fresh concept,
Speaker:and something to match our book series, which we'll get
Speaker:into. So I just wanted to start with saying, this is very
Speaker:similar to our last podcast, Radical Resilience. It's a similar format,
Speaker:but being called resilient AF with Blair and Alama Alama
Speaker:Alama Alama Alama Alama ding dong.
Speaker:Lamma Lamma ding dong. With Blair and Alana, it,
Speaker:it matches our book series because our anthology is now called
Speaker:Resilient AF Stories of Resilience. And we'll kinda
Speaker:dive into that, but I I feel, like, in my heart, this is this was
Speaker:the right decision. And I'm so excited because we've so many phenomenal
Speaker:guests. And we got a lot of feedback that
Speaker:people love listening to me and you, Alana.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, this might be a
Speaker:rebrand. We might be rusty in some ways, but I can
Speaker:guarantee that we still have the same back and
Speaker:forth banter as always. And even though we haven't been recording
Speaker:our conversations since August 2023,
Speaker:we've been having a lot, and there's been a lot that's gone on
Speaker:since that time. Yeah. So what Yeah. What have we been doing? I
Speaker:don't even know. Maybe, like okay. So I
Speaker:can't remember. What have we been doing since August 2023? So this
Speaker:is it's now, like, towards the end of 2024, and
Speaker:we've successfully made it a couple years without people dying.
Speaker:So, like, that's Yeah? Yeah.
Speaker:Why don't we go Like, why Did we? Yeah.
Speaker:What about Ash?
Speaker:That happened probably around, though
Speaker:that was the summer of 2023. Okay. So Ash,
Speaker:our beloved cat died. That was, my
Speaker:second experience with a pet death. That was also that was really
Speaker:sad. Have you ever lost the well, you lost a
Speaker:pet, Lana. We've lost 2. I've lost my
Speaker:rabbit. Yeah. Blackie. Blackie. The
Speaker:rabbit who I had oh my god. That was so awful. I have a
Speaker:quick story about this, actually.
Speaker:So Blackie, I had from and I realized the name now,
Speaker:but I was 9, and it was 1999 when I when
Speaker:or 10, I guess, when Blackie came into my
Speaker:life. I'm canceling you. Just
Speaker:kidding. Don't. And I had Blackie
Speaker:4 until grade 11.
Speaker:And Blackie dying was very traumatic,
Speaker:not only for me, but for my mom who
Speaker:took a day off work as I took a day off school.
Speaker:But in my English class that year, around
Speaker:that time, we had to make an anthology of poems.
Speaker:And I found it, and I still have it. And
Speaker:it was a book about saying goodbye,
Speaker:different poems about saying goodbye, and I think it was titled someone
Speaker:said goodbye, which I believe is an Enya song.
Speaker:And it's interesting how that was inspired by the
Speaker:death of Blackie and apt timing because
Speaker:my first real big grief happened a
Speaker:few months later when we lost our auntie Heather, that
Speaker:year as well. I know this was very much a side
Speaker:tangent, but when we bring up pet deaths,
Speaker:I often think of that. And then we lost Zena. Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah. Pet deaths. But we had no human deaths that were super
Speaker:close to us, so that that was a win. Yeah.
Speaker:And so after the first book, the
Speaker:Global Resilience Project came out, wasn't sure what we're gonna do.
Speaker:We rebranded, the book to be resilient AF stories of
Speaker:resilience. And, when we
Speaker:were recording our last few episodes, some of those
Speaker:interviews, those people were featured in our book, which is absolutely
Speaker:amazing. And Alana and I were just kinda talking about, like, what
Speaker:have we been doing? So I was working really hard
Speaker:on getting the book out. So the book came out March
Speaker:2024, March 1. And,
Speaker:you know, it's such a process because we have around 50 stories.
Speaker:We have to meet people and, you know, see if they want to be in
Speaker:the book. Then we help them write their stories. They go back and forth. It's
Speaker:like having 50 clients, and then we have a team. We have an editor, and
Speaker:the editor goes back and forth with each person multiple times. And then we have
Speaker:a designer, and we have to review everything, plus there's other pages to write.
Speaker:And sometimes it's like the hurry up and wait analogy, and then sometimes
Speaker:it's everything at once. And we had to make deadlines because early
Speaker:March, we were handing out copies of our books to celebrities and media
Speaker:at an Oscar's gifting lounge in LA, and we did not
Speaker:wanna mock this up. And so,
Speaker:sure enough, in true cap plan planning,
Speaker:because plan's in our name, I had to
Speaker:work during grief week. So I wanna I
Speaker:wanna talk about this grief. Let's talk about grief week. And, you know, do you
Speaker:wanna remind everyone, like, what grief week is? Yeah. So grief
Speaker:week was inspired by the
Speaker:death of our parents. But, really, what happened is
Speaker:because our parents died within a calendar week of each
Speaker:other, we decided we would always be together during that week
Speaker:somewhere warm because it's better to be warm and sad than cold
Speaker:and sad, and we both live in very cold climates in Canada.
Speaker:And so this past grief week so I think you probably all
Speaker:recall if you've listened to our previous episodes about our
Speaker:debacle with, the Airbnb.
Speaker:So we decided we needed to be taken care of. And this
Speaker:past grief week, we Wait. Hold on. The Airbnb for grief week
Speaker:number 1. The official the first official The official first one. Because the
Speaker:one the, like, little taste of grief week we had the year prior
Speaker:was a good experience. Yeah. Anyways, so
Speaker:we decided to go on a cruise.
Speaker:I was able to convince Blair. I love cruises. I love being taken
Speaker:care of. I love everything about a cruise. And so
Speaker:me not so much. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:And then in true Kaplan form, the cruise,
Speaker:the weather was not great until, like, day 5.
Speaker:And it was it was fun despite some hiccups.
Speaker:Like, I was pretty sick. And,
Speaker:And it rained every And it rained. They will say. Like like and
Speaker:then one day it was hot. We went we got out we got up and
Speaker:we were, like, on the beach by 8 AM back on the cruise ship by
Speaker:11 super sunburned. Yeah. You were sick,
Speaker:like, barfing and I was barfing. And other things.
Speaker:A lot was happening within my internal system. And we did
Speaker:not share a room, but we shared a wall. Yeah. So Blair knew what
Speaker:I was not. Okay. Because we we
Speaker:tested out having our own rooms. And
Speaker:a fun thing about the rooms we had Hey. Hold on. I just wanna say
Speaker:that I love having my own room, but, like, I'm not a baller. Like, I
Speaker:don't have multiple millions, but we we did it. We tested it
Speaker:out. And if finances allow in the future, we're going
Speaker:to go back to that. But But for 2025,
Speaker:we'll be sharing a room. Yes. And not on a
Speaker:cruise ship. Not on a cruise ship. There was 8,000 people on that ship. That
Speaker:was a lot of people. A lot of people. Okay. But the fun things about
Speaker:our room, you can tell them because Alana and I do not have kids for
Speaker:those of you out there who don't know that. We do not have kids. We
Speaker:love children. But on vacation, I don't need to spend a ton of time with
Speaker:them. And on cruises, it's like they go they go buck wild. Like, the
Speaker:parents drink, the kids run free, and, we don't need that
Speaker:during grief week. It's chaos. It's chaos. And
Speaker:the week that grief week falls on is,
Speaker:I think, in the states, Presidents' Day week or school
Speaker:holidays are happening. So break. Yeah. No. I don't think it's spring break.
Speaker:It's like a pre spring break. I don't know how it works. But, basically,
Speaker:the ship had 6,000 people, and
Speaker:we lucked out. And by lucked out, I mean, we chose to have
Speaker:these rooms that gave us access to the
Speaker:thermal spas. And that's,
Speaker:like, the water cycle, steam room, saunas,
Speaker:whatnot, but the bonus is that
Speaker:we had our own private elevator. Oh my god. That was the best. We were
Speaker:on the 17th floor. And Like, our floor had a private
Speaker:elevator. We did not. But, like, there was only certain people who who knew about
Speaker:it. Only those who had the spa rooms because you
Speaker:had to use one of those access cards or There's one of those unbelievable
Speaker:conversations. Yeah. Long way short, we
Speaker:went to on a cruise Okay. For brief week. We basically
Speaker:hung out with, many senior citizens from around the world. We
Speaker:became best friends with a bunch of, like, people who
Speaker:would maybe be our grandparents. And,
Speaker:even a couple of them bought our book, which is cool, like, when it came
Speaker:out. But, like, you know, it was a great experience,
Speaker:and we decided, you know, maybe we do cruise, maybe we don't next
Speaker:year, and then Atlanta and I realized that we belong in Palm Springs. Like, that's
Speaker:our spot. So we're going back to Palm Springs for grief week. But so besides
Speaker:grief week being grief week, during grief week, the goal was for me
Speaker:not to work and to actually just be present. But because the book was coming
Speaker:out, I I had to basically print the book,
Speaker:edit the book. Like, it was it was intense because
Speaker:I was racing against the clock with this book and making
Speaker:sure that we had it out in time for the Oscars gifting
Speaker:lounge. But we did it, and it was, like, very stressful because I went
Speaker:from from from the cruise in Florida to speak
Speaker:at an event in Cabo, Mexico, to speak at an event in Vancouver,
Speaker:back to Kamloops, to back to LA for the gifting lounge,
Speaker:and it was just so chaotic. I am so grateful
Speaker:for this opportunity and all the opportunities and very privileged, but, like, it was a
Speaker:chaotic launch. And, I've learned a lot of lessons, and I'm
Speaker:I'm really doing my best to ensure that our next book that comes out in
Speaker:January 2025, Resilient AF Stories of Resilience volume 2,
Speaker:is less chaotic of a launch. Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah. It was very chaotic that time that period of a
Speaker:few weeks, especially because we went right to
Speaker:not right to, but pretty much right to LA after
Speaker:and hopped into our 1st gifting lounge
Speaker:experience, which Which was amazing. Amazing. Like,
Speaker:celebrities, like, our one of our favorite housewives, you know, we'll
Speaker:we've posted pictures. I'm gonna keep posting pictures, but, like, Sutton from Real Housewives of
Speaker:Beverly Hills, like Monica from Salt Lake City. Like, there's,
Speaker:you know, some of the actresses from soap operas that were our mom's
Speaker:favorite, musicians, producers. That was
Speaker:cool. So it's it was really
Speaker:it was a really cool experience. I think we should do a whole episode about
Speaker:the gifting lounge because I don't wanna use this time, but we're we're doing kind
Speaker:of a recap on, like, what we've done. So we went from, like, cruising
Speaker:and, to Hollywood, which was bananas.
Speaker:And the project yeah. Like, as soon as the book came out March 1st, immediately
Speaker:people are like, Blair, how do we get in your next book? So I said,
Speaker:okay. People wanna be in the next book. We started working on the book. We
Speaker:filled about 50 spots in the next book, and it comes out in January. And
Speaker:that's been a really cool experience because now I have systems
Speaker:and processes because this is our 3rd anthology. And, you
Speaker:know, we have 2 more books that we've announced. We're gonna, once a year, put
Speaker:out the resilient AF stories of resilience. Volume 2
Speaker:is coming on January 2025. Volume 3 will come out in
Speaker:January 2026. And we're gonna do a new concept book
Speaker:called resilient AF skin deep stories, where we're
Speaker:showcasing really like, your really beautiful tattoos are not
Speaker:so beautiful. Maybe there's a story behind it. And the story of resilience behind the
Speaker:tattoo, and I'm really excited to dive into that in a future
Speaker:episode. But, you know, people wanna share their stories and that's
Speaker:super cool. And then I I've just been speaking a
Speaker:lot more. I've been speaking, locally where I live. I've
Speaker:been speaking online. I've been helping people strengthen their resilience
Speaker:muscle. I gave a TED talk, which was like a multiple
Speaker:decade bucket list goal, which was super exciting. So
Speaker:the the project's needle is moving towards empowering
Speaker:888,000,000 people by August 20 30, which is our goal.
Speaker:By the time I'm I'd say fed, be 45. Oh my god. That makes me
Speaker:feel so old. Wow. You'll be 40.
Speaker:2? 41. 42. Depends when I hit
Speaker:it. We hit it. But I also think what one of
Speaker:the biggest changes in my life has been since August 2023
Speaker:is that I announced my retirement from my public relations company.
Speaker:And, I I still offer coaching. I still help
Speaker:entrepreneurs who wanna be seen as thought leaders, but about
Speaker:90% of my work is now in the grief and resilience space.
Speaker:So that to me is really exciting stepping really stepping into
Speaker:the space as a grief coach and a resilience coach.
Speaker:Mhmm. Yeah. It's so exciting. I'm I'm excited that you
Speaker:took this leap and transitioned. And
Speaker:I guess for me, the biggest change is I've also
Speaker:entered the grief space
Speaker:in that I had been working with children, adolescents, and
Speaker:families for the past decade, which I love doing.
Speaker:But for the past couple of years, I've really felt called to
Speaker:work in the end of life,
Speaker:palliative area, and an opportunity came
Speaker:up. And so in September, I
Speaker:started working, in the end of life palliative
Speaker:space and grief space, and, I
Speaker:am loving it so far and, learning
Speaker:so much from my colleagues and also from the people
Speaker:I'm meeting and learning about their stories. And I love that.
Speaker:I I love that you've done that because it's like it brought life
Speaker:back to you, which is quite the anomaly for what the
Speaker:work is. But I get it because I've also been through so much trauma that
Speaker:I feel that my place is in doing death work,
Speaker:and it's helping those that are still with us to
Speaker:navigate life after losing someone they love.
Speaker:Completely. And also just as people are
Speaker:they know they're dying, having giving them a space
Speaker:to reflect on the life they live, what their worries are,
Speaker:and just giving them that space. It's, yeah,
Speaker:it's wonderful. And I I have to say, like, I wasn't
Speaker:necessarily burnt out from the work I was doing.
Speaker:I just needed to reignite my
Speaker:passion, and it doesn't mean I am
Speaker:forever not gonna be working with children and adolescents.
Speaker:That's just been my whole career so far, and here I am
Speaker:and loving it. Yeah. That's amazing.
Speaker:And what I love, Alana, is that you're in it, and then I because I'm
Speaker:I'm like, what I'm doing is so different than public relations.
Speaker:And I'm so passionate that, like, I've just fully immersed myself in different
Speaker:courses and readings and trainings and books that, like, I love that we
Speaker:get to share resources about it. Mhmm. You know, we might even get to
Speaker:be conference buddies next year. Yeah. Hopefully,
Speaker:2020 5. Yeah. And, I mean, I'm getting some really great ideas of who I'd
Speaker:like to invite on this podcast to who are, you know, in the resilience and
Speaker:the grief space. So, yeah, I I'm I'm really proud of you for
Speaker:that. And actually, that's a great proud of you. That's actually really great. So I've
Speaker:gotten a I've gotten a new tattoo since we we spoke last.
Speaker:Not me and you, Alana, but me and the people listening. Yes.
Speaker:I took people dying to bring me back to life and to realize I wanna
Speaker:live a life I don't wanna retire from, and that includes
Speaker:working on my bucket list. And I don't need to do it all at
Speaker:once because I don't have endless amounts of money. And if I
Speaker:did, it'd be a different story. But this year, so far in
Speaker:2024, I've I've ticked 2 big things off my bucket list.
Speaker:And one of them was a a 100 kilometer
Speaker:hike on Vancouver Island called the West Coast Trail,
Speaker:where you basically carry your backpack, your food, your tent, everything
Speaker:with you. And every day you're hiking for, like, 8 to 15
Speaker:hours going up and down ladders, climbing, you know, climbing
Speaker:over, boulders with barnacles. And, basically, it's, like, one
Speaker:of the most beautiful things I've ever done, and it was on my bucket list,
Speaker:and I did that. And that was crazy. And and then I also the TED
Speaker:Talk was a huge bucket list thing. But what what I what I wanna share
Speaker:is that when I'm feeling really griefy and sad,
Speaker:I look at pictures. And I was feeling griefy
Speaker:one day, and I was looking through all these photos. And I found one of
Speaker:me in grade 5 winning an award. And I'm gonna go into this later because
Speaker:it's kinda what stemmed the idea for the Skin Deep Stories book, stemmed the
Speaker:idea. Is that even a thing though? Ignited the idea.
Speaker:The idea stems from Yeah. Yeah. STEM,
Speaker:grow, it came from. And, I was so excited
Speaker:to show Alana this photo because it was me in grade 5 and mom took
Speaker:time off work and she took a photo of me winning this award for being
Speaker:a mensch, which is Yiddish for a good person.
Speaker:And, I FaceTimed Alana, and I I turned the picture
Speaker:around to show her. And on the back was a note that my mom must
Speaker:have written almost 30 years ago, and it was proud of you in her
Speaker:writing. And I burst into tears because it was like, what I need to hear,
Speaker:what I'm missing from her. And, immediately, I was like, I'm gonna get this tattooed
Speaker:on my legs. So when I wanna give up on that hike, I can just
Speaker:see that she's proud of me and keep going. And sure enough, within a couple
Speaker:hours into that hike, I was halfway up a ladder that seemed like it was
Speaker:never gonna end, and I started to cry. And I remembered, you know what? You're
Speaker:you buried your mom. This isn't that hard. Your mom's proud of you, and I
Speaker:kept going. I kept on going. So bucket list
Speaker:stuff, I've I was kind of you know, I'm very proud of myself. That hike
Speaker:was a really big deal. Like, that everyone's like, what are you gonna do next
Speaker:for a hike? I'm like, I don't know. Rent a yacht? Not everything's
Speaker:sporty on my list. Yeah. And I was just happy
Speaker:you survived. I think that just speaks
Speaker:to, like, the trauma of our past few years is, like,
Speaker:anytime flares off the grid for an
Speaker:extended period of time, even if it's just a couple hours, I'm like,
Speaker:she okay? Yeah. But I go off the grid a lot because, like Yeah.
Speaker:Also this summer, spring, summer, fall, I did something new,
Speaker:and is called Flow Fridays because I'm anaholic. I'm a workaholic,
Speaker:and I've been working my ass off since I started my
Speaker:business in, you know, when I was 23. And so I decided, you know
Speaker:what? Fridays, I'm not gonna take meetings. I'm going to only, like,
Speaker:do whatever I want. And if I have personal projects, I feel inspired to
Speaker:do great. I'm not gonna set my alarm, and I'm gonna let my day
Speaker:flow. And we have a spot at a lake where we have a trailer
Speaker:parked. And spring, summer, and fall up until recently,
Speaker:every Thursday, Shane and I would go out to the lake, and we would be
Speaker:there till Sunday. And doing that
Speaker:literally was so integral to healing
Speaker:my heart and my mental health. Like, this is the best I have felt
Speaker:since, like, before everyone died, before we knew dad was gonna
Speaker:die, which was a long time ago. Like, this is probably the best I felt
Speaker:since 2018, and that's when I went on my honeymoon with Shane
Speaker:to Europe. And and I owe a lot of it
Speaker:to really prioritizing, you know,
Speaker:my nervous system being a priority for me and relaxing
Speaker:and resting and not escaping and well, and escaping to not
Speaker:escape. You know, going off the grid to really be with my thoughts.
Speaker:But we have Wi Fi, so I would be able to check-in with Alana.
Speaker:And if I did feel empowered to, you know, work or write, I could. But
Speaker:that was huge for me. And you started doing something, and you just
Speaker:hit a huge milestone. Oh, yeah. And I wanna
Speaker:talk about what you got into and, like, the big milestone and what the
Speaker:prize is. Okay.
Speaker:So, Pilates studio opened up, dear
Speaker:me. And I dabbled in
Speaker:Pilates when I lived in Toronto and loved it, reformer Pilates.
Speaker:That's, like, with the machine. And I was part of this yoga
Speaker:studio in Toronto, and it felt like community. And ever
Speaker:since COVID and moving back to Winnipeg, like, I haven't felt
Speaker:connected to anything. And then this Pilates studio
Speaker:opened up. And last Sunday, doesn't really
Speaker:matter because I'm not sure when this is actually coming out, but,
Speaker:last Sunday, I hit my 100th class.
Speaker:And at the studio, it's a chain, you get
Speaker:to you get a, like, a little certificate that says that you've
Speaker:reached a 100 classes. You get to sign a board that hangs
Speaker:in the studio with all the people who've reached a 100 classes, and then you
Speaker:get because because you have to wear a grip socks, and
Speaker:you get these grip socks, and they are toe socks.
Speaker:And they're they have they're, like, bedazzled and say 100
Speaker:on them. And Have you worn them yet?
Speaker:Toe socks. I just have this, like, love hate kind of, like, bar from my
Speaker:mouth. It's the sensory. Yeah. What is
Speaker:toe socks. Like, my toe socks. You know, I think it's I think
Speaker:it's actually a good thing for Pilates because so
Speaker:you can, like, focus on how you stand and whatnot.
Speaker:But no one wants to wear gloves on their feet. I mean and those
Speaker:that do wear the open ones. Like, I don't often see You mean the open
Speaker:ones when the tips got off? Yeah. I Socks would
Speaker:go to the studio. Yeah. I hate feet. I can't.
Speaker:I can't. Socks are are they're, a
Speaker:choice, and maybe I will make the choice to wear
Speaker:them. But it's a really big deal because I haven't found anything that I've
Speaker:been passionate about. Like, it is a huge deal,
Speaker:Alana. Like, a 100 classes? That's amazing. That's commitment.
Speaker:Wait. We're missing a really big a really big Let's not wrap up
Speaker:celebrating you. No. This is also celebrating me. Okay. Okay.
Speaker:Okay. But, yes, I hit a 100 classes. The next milestone's
Speaker:250. Maybe I'll make it before June. Who knows?
Speaker:Anyways, I can't believe I forgot because this was my whole summer.
Speaker:I took pottery classes. Yes. You did. You did pottery.
Speaker:And Alana urgently texted me yesterday, and she was just
Speaker:like, call me back or something. And I was I had something to say.
Speaker:Answer. How Sharon of you. That was totally Sharon thing.
Speaker:Answer. That's what our mom would do, because my phone's always on do not
Speaker:disturb. And, anyways, like, I called her back because I thought it was an urgent
Speaker:thing, and she's like, do you wanna see my pottery? I got all of my
Speaker:pieces back. Do you have them marry you? I have my
Speaker:Like, can you reach them? She wants to look at your coaster. Well, she'll show
Speaker:one coaster. Okay. So let me just tell the story. So
Speaker:it's a pottery wheel class, and I'm left
Speaker:handed. So that's a strike against me. 2nd strike against me is I
Speaker:have hypermobile joints. So, like, anything where you need to be, like,
Speaker:steady, like, my fingers just don't steady. Like when
Speaker:people say fingernails it's like or being on your fingertips like I just can't
Speaker:do that. Anyways, I really struggled with the
Speaker:wheel. I had made a couple of things but then about the 3rd class my
Speaker:teacher introduced us to slab, which is
Speaker:basically hand building. And, I mean, I'm still not
Speaker:amazing at it, but with slab, I was
Speaker:able to do a mix of wheel, like,
Speaker:plates with, like, edges from the wheel or,
Speaker:making coasters with different, things in
Speaker:them or embossed. I'm not sure what the word is.
Speaker:And so here's the coaster I have nearby. So those of you who can't
Speaker:see this, we are also, these videos are on YouTube.
Speaker:The link is in the show notes. So this is Alana's showing us for those
Speaker:of you who can't see. It's a really beautiful flower that looks like,
Speaker:a tire tire marks, like, nice tire marks. And,
Speaker:it's not tire marks. I don't know what it is. But it's fun. Guess
Speaker:so. It's fun. And you know what's cool about pottery?
Speaker:This isn't a pottery podcast, but I will say glazing
Speaker:is fascinating because fun. And fun because you
Speaker:actually have no idea what it's gonna look like when it comes out because it's
Speaker:all about where in the kiln your stuff is and how hot it is
Speaker:and whatnot. And so, whatever color I
Speaker:chose, I was told to write them down, but I did not,
Speaker:oxidized in a really cool way. Yeah. I'm proud of you.
Speaker:Thank you. That's good. Yeah. I can't believe I forgot about it. It was my
Speaker:whole summer. Alana did pottery. She's has toe socks from
Speaker:a 100 classes of Pilates. I wonder what you get for, like, 250.
Speaker:Well, it's all the peas, pottery, palliative, and Pilates.
Speaker:Oh. That's been my past few months. But if but if mine
Speaker:yeah. I'm just well, no. I don't have a fun little
Speaker:listy thing of letters, but I'm really excited that this podcast is
Speaker:back. And well, not back. It's here. But that we're
Speaker:back podcasting. Revived. Yeah. And I I feel really,
Speaker:like, inspired because I have been working with everyone that's gonna
Speaker:be in our next book. And we're launching this
Speaker:book in New York at the end of January in Times Square
Speaker:with a billboard. And it's just I'm just so pumped and, like,
Speaker:I've really gotten to know all of our authors over, you know, the past three
Speaker:books. And I just I'm so just in awe
Speaker:with the ability for people to want to share their stories to help
Speaker:people, and that's why we exist. That's why this podcast is here.
Speaker:Storytelling is so empowering, and, I'll talk more about the
Speaker:science behind it when we talk, you know, maybe about my TED Talk and my
Speaker:experience with that and maybe that, you know, maybe that's coming up soon.
Speaker:But I I am just so grateful
Speaker:for everyone out there who has shared their story on our podcast
Speaker:before or coming up or with me over coffee or
Speaker:with Alana or in our books. We wouldn't exist without
Speaker:everyone that's here. And, like, I am just so excited. Like,
Speaker:we're wrapping up 2024 with a bang. Mhmm.
Speaker:Do you have anything else you wanna, like, add or share?
Speaker:You know, I think you just summed it up so nicely.
Speaker:I don't have anything else to add. Amazing. Well, you know
Speaker:what? Thanks for tuning in to our first
Speaker:episode of Resilient AF with Blair and Alana. Not
Speaker:every episode is gonna be me. Might also not every episode will be
Speaker:Alana. Sometimes it'll be Alana. Sometimes it'll be me. Sometimes it'll be both of us.
Speaker:Sometimes it'll only be the both of us, and maybe it'll be with a
Speaker:guest. You never know. Every episode is gonna be
Speaker:a mixed bag of goodness, and we are so excited to empower you to
Speaker:strengthen your resilience muscle. So thanks for tuning in.
Speaker:Thanks for listening, for watching. And, Alana,
Speaker:thank you for being my sister and for listening to me when I
Speaker:cry my eyes out, which happened earlier today. You are welcome. It
Speaker:is my honor. Peace.
