Please ignore.

Hi everyone,

"Life can happen - just because.  Accept what you have for the moment and learn to appreciate it." - Kate Maurice

The above quote is a good reminder to just lean in when things feel difficult and to be okay with having to rearrange things when life does not go as expected.

My beautiful baby boy is 5 months now and I had originally planned to launch season 2 of this podcast this month.  Unfortunately, having a 5 month old and the unpredictability that comes with it have made it really difficult.  So after much thought, I've decided to continue my hiatus until things have settled.

I've actually already begun recording for season 2 and am really excited about the guests I'll be bringing on so stay tuned.  When I have a firm launch date, I'll post about it so continue to check the website and social media.

In the meantime, you can always email me at [email protected].

Until next time...take care.

Episode 9: This is my final episode of the season😢! While I've tremendously enjoyed this process, as my due date looms closer, I need to take some time to get ready for baby #2! In this episode, I share what lessons I've learned throughout my podcasting experience about myself and life in general, what my original motivations were for starting this podcast and whether I feel like they have been achieved and talk about what's next for this is you.

While I will be on hiatus, you can still connect with me over Facebook, Instagram or over email, I will be checking intermittently and would love to hear from you. 

The This is You Blog will be active from October - December 2019 as well and applications are open now.  Please visit bit.ly/thisisyoublog to apply to submit a blog post about one thing that's really affecting your life right now or has affected it in the past.  It could be a current life experience, one from the past or just a theme or concept that seems to play a role.  Applications will close July 30, 2019.

Season 2 starts January 2020. Interested in being a guest?  Apply now!

Episode 8: In today's episode, I talk to long-time friend Jawad Shuaib who is the founder of Budget Electronics - a company he runs alongside his wife.  Jawad is an avid reader, and is interested in learning everything; from science, mathematics, economics to anthropology, philosophy, and religion.⠀

We explore character, how it develops, from where it's shaped and tackle a whole bunch of interesting questions like:⠀

• Is character defined primarily before the age of 5 based on your parents and your environment?⠀

and much, much more.

We also invite you to listen to the episode and tell us what adjectives you would use to describe Jawad's character. It can be so hard to say positive things about ourselves, so what traits do you see in him?  Feel free to message me on Facebook, Instagram or email me your thoughts.  This conversation gets very philosophical.

Jawad also recommends a bunch of books throughout the conversation which are linked here for your convenience!

Recommended Books:

1. Brag!: The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn without Blowing It by Peggy Klaus 

Mentioned Movies:

1. Jurassic Park

Episode 7, Part 2: In today's episode, I continue my conversation with Jenn Taylor, Mom of 18 but switch gears a bit to focus on taking back control of our lives.  We continue the conversation with Jenn responding to my comment that each generation tries to do better than the generation before when it comes to parenting and how we can overcompensate at times without even realizing it. 

Jenn talks about how she's very deliberate about how she chooses to parent, describes her eureka moment when she realized that the traditions she started with her family could be anything she wanted it to be and when she realized she does have control over her attitude and how much she let's the past influence her actions today.  We talk about the challenges of parenting in the current age of electronics and why it can be so hard to set rules and stick to them.  Jenn shares how she works backwards from what tools she wants her kids to have and then looks for ways to build them as well as how giving her daughter the choice to cut ties with her during a particularly challenging time actually led to her daughter opening up about how she was feeling and them coming closer together.

In my mind, two quotes kept coming up, one is the serenity prayer, which I almost always butcher in the moment but goes like this: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference." by Reinhold Niebuhr and "“I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.” by Carl Jung.

You can connect with Jenn by:

• Visiting her blog: Mom of 18 

To connect with me, feel free to message me on Instagram, Facebook or send me an email.  I'll actually be featured on Jenn's podcast in the upcoming weeks so check that out too!  

Episode 7, Part 1: How does trauma change us and how can people through the simplest of actions be our shining light? Today's guest is blogger, podcaster and virtual assistant, Jenn Taylor who is a mom of 18 kids as well as a published author. In this special 2 part episode, part 1 focuses on three influential people in Jenn's life: her third grade teacher, her mother and someone she lovingly refers to as her adopted dad. These three play a profound role in how Jenn chooses to parent her 18 kids and her blended family, how she establishes boundaries for herself and in experiencing as well as dealing with past trauma such as rape, infertility, molestation, and more.  Listen in to part 1 of this inspiring story.⠀

You can connect with Jenn by:

• Visiting her blog: Mom of 18 

Episode 6: What makes us who we are and how does who we are change when we move from one environment to a completely different one? How much of our identity is influenced by the places we live, the routines we have, the things we do? And if those routines and things are no longer an option...who do we become then? How do we hold on and let go at the same time?⠀

In this episode, I talk to Becky Hellwig, self-professed city girl from Silicon Valley who 3 years ago for various reasons moved from Silicon Valley to a small rural town in Germany. Feeling like a fish out of water, she talks about the challenges in transitioning from a big city to a rural village, how she felt so disconnected and her struggle to figure out how to keep who she was while embracing who she could be in this new environment. So much of what Becky equated with her identity was no longer an option. No one dressed up or went anywhere in rural Germany - there was no place to go. For a blogger who would go to big parties in Silicon Valley and served as a quasi-tour guide for people visiting the city, having nowhere to go really impacted her sense of belonging. Hear her story as she talks about her initial days, her life in Silicon Valley compared to rural Germany and what she ultimately had to do to embrace where she was instead of where she used to be.⠀

Episode 4, Part 2: Have you ever gotten caught up in what concepts like "good", "honour" and "respect" mean?  We have and what's been most puzzling is that it seems like everyone knows but us!

Today's episode is Part 2 of Diary of 2 Middle Children where Sania and I pick up our conversation from last week and talk about being judged, pivotal moments in our life that changed how we view ourselves, giving ourselves permission to make our own choices, people-pleasing and our tendency to think that at some point, things would make sense.  Spoiler alert: this never happens!  We talk about loving and accepting who we are and what it means to be a good person.  Further, how do we instill good values in our kids?

We conclude with a question to the audience: are we just the sum of our actions or is there inherent goodness in all of us?

Lastly, there's a call to action, if anything in this episode resonated with you, please comment on Istagram, Facebook, or send me an email at [email protected], I'd love to hear from you.

Episode 4, Part 2: Have you ever gotten caught up in what concepts like "good", "honour" and "respect" mean?  We have and what's been most puzzling is that it seems like everyone knows but us!

Today's episode is Part 2 of Diary of 2 Middle Children where Sania and I pick up our conversation from last week and talk about being judged, pivotal moments in our life that changed how we view ourselves, giving ourselves permission to make our own choices, people-pleasing and our tendency to think that at some point, things would make sense.  Spoiler alert: this never happens!  We talk about loving and accepting who we are and what it means to be a good person.  Further, how do we instill good values in our kids?

We conclude with a question to the audience: are we just the sum of our actions or is there inherent goodness in all of us?

Lastly, there's a call to action, if anything in this episode resonated with you, please comment on Instagram, Facebook, or send me an email at [email protected], I'd love to hear from you.