Here’s a classic Would You Rather: “Would you rather be blind your whole life or go blind gradually?” For Lindsey Blankenship (Siegel), she didn’t get to choose, but she has a rare eye disease that is slowly making her blind. As a teenager, she skied regularly; as a 41-year old mom, she has to look carefully at her feet to make sure she doesn’t walk into her 4-year old son. When your peripheral vision drops to 3 inches in either direction and you’re effectively night blind, it’s almost like your skiing days were a dream.

OK, so here’s another one: “If you were going blind gradually, would you rather spend your seeing days going to the Seven Wonders, or watching youth baseball and building a website for people with other ailments to tell their story?” For Lindsey, she chose the latter and happily so. Between mom-ing and soaking up her son’s baseball games, Lindsey has chosen to create ThrivewithDisability.com, a storytelling platform that connects the differently-abled and shares the unvarnished stories of their journeys with the world. 

One last one: “If you were gradually going blind, would it better to live with high hopes or low expectations?” Powerfully, Lindsey has chosen both because she believes it’s the only way to live her ‘normal’ life. Her challenge to us is do the same.

Here’s something of a truth: ‘normal’ people don’t make commercials for a living. They don’t write 30-second spots featuring Muppets talking on a Facebook Portal, they don’t have their words read by Arnold Schwarzeneggar, they don’t direct actors in Romania over Zoom, and they definitely don’t have their work seen by millions of people watching March Madness. 

Husband and wife duo, Andy and Elly Holdeman, are two normals that do these very things. They market some of the most recognizable brands in the world--AirBNB, Facebook, XBOX--and, not surprisingly (given what we learned about their job to find human truth), they shared some very recognizable (even normal) facets about their lives: insecurity about your ideas, struggles for inspiration, frustration with clients, bosses/coworkers who just don’t get it.

As Andy and Elly share bits of their creative process, they drop truth bombs (as Andy is wont to call them) that are accessible and useful no matter what you do. Take “Underthink”, which is salve to the weary souls of we anxious, neurotic, or perfectionistic types; sometimes, we just need to take a “less is more” approach. Another pearl of wisdom was “If you’re going to do it, you better enjoy it” because...life’s too short, man.                                                                              

Finally, everyone should take heed to the Holdemans’ #1 axiom: “Take long walks.” So, download this pod, get your sneaks on, and take that stroll these creative genius normals ordered up.

In the Summer of 2008, Tory Leggat took the leap to move from Seattle to NYC with no job and no real friends, but all the optimism and pluck of a 22-year old ready to live out a dream of a year in the Big Apple. But when the (financial) world crumbled within days of her arrival to NYC, Tory had to recalibrate her expectations for work, personal finances, and community—and also her perspective on living out her one-year ‘passion project’. Being lonely, jobless, and aimless in NYC, Tory learned the value of being pot-committed on scary things, saying ‘yes’ to everything and going all out to live the biggest life possible. 

Throughout this journey, and many others since, Tory thoughtfully reflected on these life lessons and others, and began articulating them as ‘guidelines’ for her life. Accumulating these rules for living—like “Remember what YOU are trying to do and forget others’ commentary on it“, “Don’t stress spending money on great experiences” or “Appreciate your job”—she’s created a wise-beyond-her-years framework for big-life-living.

Listen to Tory as she shares this framework, being challenged by the realization that the wonderful, big-life she had lived (happy, comfortable and optimized for fun) was coming up against the even-better life she wanted to live (sacrificial, meaningful and bigger than herself). 

Takeaways:

• Remember the variables
• Spot the opportunities
• Don't take too much advice
• Own what you're trying to do

Question of the Day

What variables do you have in your life that you're overlooking?

What's true for your Experience Self at this point in your life? Describe what you see for your Narrative Self?

Links from the Episode

Lehman Brothers Declares Bankruptcy

Alexander West: custom men's dress shirts

Yuval Harari on the Armchair Expert podcast

Book: 'Principles' by Ray Dalio

Book: 'A Million Miles in a Thousand Years' by Donald Miller

Book: 'Shoe Dog' by Phil Knight

Book: 'Ride of a Lifetime' by Bob Iger

Book: '12 Rule for Life' by Jordan Peterson

Music by Hygge - "Quarantrap". Please follow her on SoundCloud

Highlights and...

Stephanie LaFlora is a disco ball inside of a kaleidoscope.

On one hand, she’s a mom and a wife, she’s got a house in the burbs and a 9-5pm. She’s admittedly scattered, prone to quitting when things get painful and encounters impostor syndrome. She’s even got a 401k.

On the other hand, Stephanie is black female in tech who has sang with Hillsong at the Staples Center, and been on the TV show Chicago Fire, and started the following ventures:

• SwimXL—a plus-size women swimsuit line 
• CrownHunt—a tool to connect textured hair dressers
• The Pep Talk Hotline—the place to go when you need a pick up

A disco ball inside of a kaleidoscope.

What you notice about Steph LaFlora at first—and this is clear in the conversations we were lucky to have with her—is that she clearly lives her life with some charming but intense I-can’t-sit-still wigglyness. 

Amidst this chaos, she lives her everyday life with the wisdom of a sage philosopher. She lives her life by some simple mantras for the here-and-now (“There are no trophies in the end, so life better be fun”); at the same time she carries a generational perspective about what it means to be Black in America. 

In this conversation, you’ll hear Steph take on tech for not being as woke as it thinks it is, fragile white people for getting so offended all of the time, and everyone who takes life too seriously. Buckle up!

You can find the transcript for this episode here. Find transcripts for all episodes here.

Question of the Day

When have you created magic in your life? What's a story where you took a risk and created something magical that brought joy to you and others?

Share your story in the comments below

Subscribe to the Interesting Lives of Normal People podcast on iTunes

Subscribe to the non-iTunes RSS Feed

Subscribe on your Podcast platform of choice

Links from the Episode

StephanieLaflora.com

Crownhunt.io

SwimXL.com

The Pep Talk Hotline with Stephanie LaFlora

Queen & Slim movie

Cheryl Strayed podcast interview on Design Matters with Debbie

Music by Hygge - "Quarantrap". Please follow her on...

In our second episode, we talk to Dr. Jessica Stern, a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist. She has spent many hours sitting with people, helping them sort through what is true in their life, and guiding them as they name what they want to be true. 

We asked Dr. Stern to help us discuss passion and the longing for meaningful work. In this conversation, we cover passion projects, the drive to make a difference in the world, what drives people on a journey to create - like this podcast - and why people often fail in their endeavors. 

It’s a privilege to have the opportunity to pursue projects of passion. Dr. Stern helps us unpack the components of modern privilege, both in time and resources. These things put us in a position to create and build - whether it’s a new business, a non-profit, or a podcast. 

What is this “itch” many of us get -- the itch to venture out into new projects, often propelled by the question “am I doing enough?”

This is a great conversation. We hope you enjoy it! And make sure to throw us some stars!

What is the greater good you focus on that helps you rise above the scarcity mindset? Where are you helping others in a way that fuels you rather than depletes you? Who are the people living lives you'd like to emulate? 

JessicaSternMD.com : Dr. Jessica Stern's website

VeryWell Mind gives an overview of Erik Erikson: Psychosocial Development

Khan Academy teaches Erik Erikson: Psychosocial Development

The Last Dance Documentary on the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan

How I Built This podcast with host Guy Raz

Armchair Expert podcast with host Dax Shepard

WTF podcast with host Mark Maron

Career Rocket Fuel: Whether You're a Millennial of Eyeing Retirement, Here's What You Really Need to Get Right About Work

Music by Hygge - "Quarantrap". Please follow her on SoundCloud

Atomic Habits by James Clear

The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris and Steven Hayes

The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt

Disconnected by Thomas Kersting

Rare Air by Mark Vancil

[4:09] Modern...