Nobody Knows Your Story

Richard Deming discovered music at an early age. He played drums. Like many, he thought it would be great to be in a band and play music for a living. Today Richard teaches at Yale where he also directs the creative writing program. Sometimes in life, you must take the other fork.

The fact that Richards dream of playing drums for a living didn’t pan out doesn’t mean that he didn’t excel in music, and he did play in a band, a really good band. As Richard tells his story, his interest in music is discussed, and he also talks about why he switched from music to writing. (We do discuss various music interests which is always fun.)

Richard discusses loneliness and talks about being lonely at times himself. We discuss his latest book, This Exquisite Loneliness and look at loneliness a bit differently than one might expect. 

At an unprecedented rate, loneliness is moving around the globe—from self-isolating technology and political division to community decay and social fragmentation—and yet it is not a feeling to which we readily admit. It is stigmatized, freighted with shame and fear, and easy to dismiss as mere emotional neediness. But what if instead of shying away from loneliness, we embraced it as something we can learn from and as something that will draw us closer to one another? We talk about this as well.

Book: This Exquisite Loneliness https://a.co/d/bUO3tLM

Website: https://www.richarddemingbooks.com/

Often as I sit and talk story with my guest, I have such a fun, therapeutic experience that before I know it twenty, or thirty minutes have flown by. This is how it was as I visited with Utkarsh Narang.

Today, Utkarsh is a happiness coach but as he tells his story, he recalls just how his life path took him from New Delhi, India to Melbourne, Australia with a detour or two along the way.

When I say Utkarsh is a happiness coach I should say that he feels everyone needs a little happiness in life and he's just around to provide the necessary nudge to get folks on their journey.

He's a fan of the following quote from Mahatma Gandhi which I too fully embrace, "Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”


https://www.facebook.com/ignitedneurons

Zoey Rana grew up in Southeast England in the community of Crawley. As a Muslim, she was raised with strict parents, especially a strict father. Her parents had her life all mapped out but from an early age, Zoey wasn’t interested in the life they had planned.

It took moving to another country to free herself of the religious oppression she felt in Crawley.

Zoey also has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder which she openly discusses as she tells her story. She feels she has benefitted greatly from the podcast, From Borderline to Beautiful: Hope and Help for BPD with Rose Skeeters.

Patricia Malanga was born in Africa more specifically, in Zaire which is now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was not a safe place and her family wanted to leave. They spent six years in a refugee camp hoping to relocate to a country that would provide a better opportunity for her parents and siblings. 

As I visited with Patricia, she talked about those difficult first thirteen years of life in Africa. She talked about the culture shock it was when her family arrived in the United States and how she adjusted to her families settling in Utah with its one percent black population and Mormon majority. 

 

Edward Di Gangi was adopted at birth in New York City. An only child, he made no effort to explore his heredity until, at age 69, a visit to a cemetery where members of his adoptive mother's family were buried stirred his interest.

The above paragraph from Edward’s website speaks to what Edward has been up to these past five or six years. We talk quite a bit about his search, and about his discoveries along the way.

Website: digangiauthor.com

Jacia Kornwise has a life story unlike any told here on NKYS. Before listening, I want to issue a trigger warning for those who may be affected by sexual assault.

Jacia is a Master Embodied Soul Coach, Transformational Experience Facilitator, and TEDxSpeaker, with an impressive 31-year career dedicated to helping individuals, couples, and groups transform their stuck points into resilience and embodied resourcefulness. She has also taught at festivals as well as led retreats and corporate events with her skillsets. As a multiple trauma and grief survivor, Jacia has inspired her students, clients, friends, and loved ones for decades.

As we talked a bit prior to our interview and even more after, Jacia explained that she has had sensitivity and practice working with anxiety, grief, loss, trauma, health, body image, creativity, self-esteem, and motherhood, as well as being an explorer of consciousness. She specializes in somatic, trauma-informed embodied mindfulness coaching, conscious dance, 5 Rhythms and movement facilitation, breathwork, and shadow work to create life-altering experiences.

This past November, Jacia became an author and her book, The Love Ball Game: Embracing Yourself and Embodying Your Soul has already won a number of awards.

https://linktr.ee/jaciakornwise?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR3F1EqrjRpUJfkCMW3-gKbkeH6sPlB4yn9dWc-dnQO0piV2vFo-5MZ0WEQ_aem_AX9jEfhIQDRGUfiWqMGfZBWGLVMglzaFxBvcA08vohKjEgQ604IOSyTbIyfP1RX9y0SIgYz0Wh6azZ1hjPzCrUw9

James Phelps was the first guest to appear on Nobody Knows Your Story. In this episode we find out what has changed in James life over the past four years. (It's a lot!) We also asked James wife Jolene to sit in and share her story.

In the April 28, 2020 episode with James he talked about leaving Mormonism. Lots of folks are doing that these days but unlike most; James and Jolene have found religion to still be an important part of their lives. So important in fact that they are making a big move to the St George, UT area to...
You'll need to listen to their episode to hear; the rest of the story. (Yeah, I always liked listening to Paul Harvey.)

Jolene has a book on Amazon you may wish to check out; especially after hearing her tell her story.

 Into God's Arms
https://a.co/d/366bi0F

James website: https://www.askldsquestions.com/
 

Josh Coffin grew up as a pleaser. He loved the praise he received for doing what others wanted him to do. He also grew up in super conservative southeastern Idaho and as he states, "In high school 75 to 80% of the students attended Mormon seminary. I assumed the rest were just inactive Mormons." As Josh relates his life story, he recalls a happy childhood which included working a variety of jobs and checking all of the Mormon boxes including going on a two year mission to Mexico at age nineteen.
 
Josh is a funny dude and that's a big reason he and I enjoy conversing. We play poker together and share several interests from our take on sports to our fondness of tattoos and living authentic lives.   

The last twenty minutes or so are powerful as Josh talks about how he has benefited from therapy. The therapy has helped him to better understand himself, but also helped him to be a better husband and father. 

Let me start off by saying that Joe Elder tells his story in a way that I believe anyone who has battelled alcohol or drugs would find not only relatable, but inspiring.

 Like many, Joe Elder has had challenges in his life. In his youth, Joe's family moved often which made it hard to make and then leave friends. But he also experienced differing ideas and views he might not have seen had he grown up in one place.

Family has always been important to Joe. As he tells his story he talks about "family life" and how choices at times were affected by family decisions. Joe also talks about how during a tough period he succumbed to alcohol and ended up an alcoholic; but how this experience helped him decide what he wanted to do with his life.

 He wanted to help others.


Favorite book-
Living Fearless: Exchanging the Lies of the World for the Liberating Truth of God

Podcast Joe hosts with Chris Wilkins-
Do Your Dailies

Confidence is Contagious is a podcast hosted by Sharon McLaughlin. It's similar to Nobody Knows Your Story as the episodes contain insightful conversations and thought-provoking discussions from women who have confidence and inspire others. Guests share personal stories of resilience, mental fitness, and leadership, providing practical advice and motivational lessons. Each episode is meant to inspire, empower, and celebrate women.

As you listen to Sharon's story and she recalls her life, there was a drive to work hard to become a doctor. Then, after achieving a respected position, she experienced burnout. Now she peaks to others about not just burnout, but how to move on.

Recovering from burnout is a gradual process that unfolds over time.

The journey toward recovery involves recognizing and acknowledging the signs and symptoms of burnout, understanding the underlying causes, and implementing sustainable changes to mitigate stressors.

Author: Thriving After Burnout

Website: sharonmclaughlinmd.com