Speaker 1: 0:00

The Journey Talks Podcast, your favorite podcast to reconnect with gratitude and inspiration, hosted by Jorge Gonzalez. Trigger warning In this episode we discuss mental health topics, including anxiety, depression and other sensitive issues. Listener discretion is advised. If you find these subjects triggering or distressing, please call the NAMI helpline at 1-800-950-6264. Let's continue the journey together. Hello everybody, and welcome to Journey Talks podcast, your favorite podcast to reconnect with gratitude and inspiration. My name is Jorge Gonzalez Gonzalez and I am your host.

Speaker 1: 0:45

I am convinced that behind every gratitude, there's a powerful story waiting to be told, and I want to create a space where we can share these stories and inspire one another. As humans, we all share one thing in common, and that is the experience of being alive. We're all together in this journey we call life, and along the way we meet people, we go through situations, and some of these people and some of the situations linger for a little longer. Other times, these people are just a part of our lives for a very short period of time. However, the question here is who are the people? What were the situations in our lives that opened doors for transformation and helped us become the person we are today? Our willingness to reconnect with these stories will help us celebrate our shared humanity and give us an opportunity to reconnect with the unconditional love we all have access to from within.

Speaker 1: 1:54

I met today's guest about eight years ago, when we started working together at an elementary school in South Florida. She taught senior K and third grade, and I am the school chaplain. There are so many great things to say about her, but I will try to sum it up by saying that she's just one of those people that you need to have in your life. She's smart, funny, she's witty, she's creative, an excellent thinker, an amazing educator, a dog lover my favorite people and, should I say, an organizer virtuoso. After being a teacher for 15 years, she took a huge leap of faith and changed her careers.

Speaker 1: 2:37

Today, she is the owner of Marley Does it, a company specialized in organizing all kinds of spaces. Does it? A company specialized in organizing all kinds of spaces offices, home, kitchens, closets, garages, you name it. She is your person. She is an artist, an interior designer, a mural painter, with a unique give in maximizing spaces and functionality. Marley loves taking on complicated projects and turning them into amazing spaces with positive energy and efficient workflow. Without further ado, please join me in welcoming my good friend, the one and only Marley Benesra. Marley, welcome to Journey Talks Podcast.

Speaker 2: 3:18

Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited.

Speaker 1: 3:21

So what's going on with you lately? I kind of introduced you a little bit, but I would let you say a few words about who are you. What's going on in your life lately?

Speaker 2: 3:29

So I have been getting back into Marley Does it, my company that I started about a year and a half ago. I took a little bit of a break. I had a surgery recently. That's kind of reminded me that I need to slow down a little bit. But I've kind of gotten back into it. I'm working, I'm enjoying life every day. I'm just kind of going with the flow.

Speaker 1: 3:52

I'm so glad that you're here. This podcast is all about sharing stories of gratitude, but the kind of gratitude that comes from moments of transformation in our lives. I'm actually very interested in what's behind each other's stories and I think what you do actually is so special helping people and organizing their spaces and their daily lives that I'd be so honored if you could open your heart and share some of your stories of gratitude with me and our audience.

Speaker 2: 4:20

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 4:22

All right, let's go straight at it. Marlee, what is gratitude for you and what is your relationship with?

Speaker 2: 4:28

it. So I was a prior teacher for a very long time and part of what I taught to these children were values and being thankful and having gratitude, and you know, I always felt compelled to teach it a certain way. We are thankful for our family, we are grateful for what we have, for our health, to have a house and things like that, and I've always kind of just followed that myself in the same way as cliche as it sounds because that's just what I've been taught myself when I was younger of what being grateful is. When I was younger, of what being grateful is. But I feel like, truthfully, I didn't really understand what grateful meant until recently, when the little things started to feel like big things. I started appreciating those little things so much more, just like walking in the morning to get coffee with my husband rather than driving in an hour traffic to a corporate job that I'm miserable at. It's sad to say like I really only started finding things that I've been really truly grateful for recently and I'm 34 years old.

Speaker 1: 5:34

I totally get that. I really resonate with the fact of how, the older we get, we just gain a greater sense of awareness that allows us to appreciate life in the present moment in a remarkable way, and there's no way of explaining it other than going through it Totally. Get it. The gift because it's a gift of going for a walk with your spouse or with your partner and to grab some coffee, just to have that moment for the rest of the day. You might not have that opportunity, you know, and you get. To receive that gift and be impressed with one another is very, very, very special. Thank you for sharing um. So, marley, I have a bunch of questions for you and this question might be like cliche, like you say, but it's actually. I don't think it's superficial, I think it's, it's genuine, it authentic. My question to you is what are you most grateful for at this point in your life?

Speaker 2: 6:29

So I mean, I tried to really think of a good answer, but I think the ability that I now have to choose my own outcome in life, or to think that I have the ability to choose my own outcome, is really like fascinating to me. I recently had the surgery and I was able to choose that I wanted to rest. I'm able to choose when I want to work. I'm able to choose if I want to travel. I'm able to choose if I want to take on a new adventure. It's kind of like my independence and for me, independence is a core value that I have. I don't think that a lot of people have that ability or drive to be independent and I think it's based on their upbringing and things like that. I feel like my independence just is I'm able to do things on my own and I can create my own choice, my own path, and I'm just kind of like one of those people. I work, I'm determined, but I can decide if I don't want to.

Speaker 1: 7:32

Yes, we don't know the power of choosing. I think it's interesting that that's your answer. You know choosing my outcome in life, being grateful for that. I think this says so much about how in tune you are with who you are, your needs and how can you show up better in the world and how can you protect or care for yourself in ways that you can. It will prepare you to move forward and to grow. I don't know if that's the route that you're also taking.

Speaker 2: 8:04

Yeah, because even if I'm not necessarily making the right choice, it's just knowing that my choices result in an outcome, whether it's good or bad, and it's a new hurdle for me to accomplish, whether it's a challenge or if it's a success. You know, it's like I'm creating the path of my life and I'm not just going on this routine thing.

Speaker 1: 8:26

You know what I'm hearing your answer, Marley. I'm hearing that somehow you have access to, to grace, to self love, like you're giving yourself space for that, and I think it goes back to choosing. It goes back to the power that all individuals have I mean, ought to have right, Because the truth is that not everybody have those opportunities or find themselves in those circumstances but for whomever it's able to do that, or for us to help others to find ways to connect with that, I think that's fascinating. Thank you for sharing. Marley. Can you think of someone or remember a situation that you went through and now, looking back, you realize that you know yourself better because of it. You know who's Marley, at her core or at this very moment in your life. You know who she is.

Speaker 2: 9:18

Yeah. So a lot of people always ask me like how are you so organized, or how are you so creative, or how are you so, like, independent? And honestly, I grew up in a childhood environment where I needed to be self aware in order to survive. My mother was very ill physically and eventually mentally when I was younger, and she was very open with me about the reality of her maybe not being around forever and that I needed to learn to take care of myself and I needed to be able to do things without her help. And you know, obviously my father was there and I had other support, but for the most part it was just me and her.

Speaker 2: 10:01

So, you know, at the age of like seven, I was doing laundry, washing dishes, like even to the extent of getting groceries doing things that a seven, eight year old today wouldn't even fathom doing or nor any parent would trust their child to do, you know. So I feel like I am this way because of that. I was kind of just thrown into this environment and was like, all right, you got to do this, this is on you, and I've always compared myself to other people's childhoods and I've always said like, oh well, it's because they didn't have what I had, but everyone's outcome is a result of their upbringing, regardless of what they have.

Speaker 1: 10:45

Yeah, first of all, thank you so much for being so honest and sharing and being vulnerable, right, sharing such a deep part of your story. I can only imagine what was that like for Amalia being seven years old and carrying these responsibilities. Being seven years old and carrying these responsibilities, can you tell me a little bit more about the process of you looking back to that young Marley as a child or perhaps as a teenager? We said earlier that the older we get, we have a greater sense of understanding and self-awareness. Can you expand a little bit more about that relationship that you now have with yourself, with the young Marley that had to learn so many things at such a young age?

Speaker 2: 11:28

I mean, I am so proud of that, marley, because that's not an easy thing for any child to do more or less grow up with having a sick parent and having to experience that and watch that and the aftermath. She did pass away when I was younger and it was at a young age where I did understand it, but I almost felt that I was prepared for it because of her. It wasn't a shock, it was like gradually leading up to that. So, and me now as an adult, I feel that I come to terms with things much easier because I just kind of it's like a mental preparedness and I find myself or I try to think of myself as a strong individual because of all of that stuff I had to deal with when I was younger.

Speaker 1: 12:21

Yeah, you said something so beautiful and it's alluding to your relationship with your mom and that's what you said. You said that she prepared you for it. Can you tell me more a little bit about it.

Speaker 2: 12:32

We were very close I mean, as any young girl would be with her mom, especially when you're with her. Through this time of her being ill, I was exposed to a lot of things that I probably shouldn't have been exposed to, things that I probably shouldn't have been exposed to, but I think that's what makes me so like okay with hearing certain things. I am only human and I do have emotions, but I feel like I have the ability to control it. I did get along with her very well but, like I said, she did suffer things that kind of affected her mentally. So sometimes she wasn't the mom that I was accustomed to getting along with and she was a different person. Again, that's probably something that not a lot of people have to go with when they're younger.

Speaker 1: 13:20

Yeah, but it clearly shapes the person that you are 100% you know and I think I'm hearing that somehow at a young age you were able to develop some self-regulation skills and an ability to create room for that mom. That it's not the mom that you're used to, but whenever that other mom showed up you were in such an emotional stable place or in a particular place that you were able to handle it. And I think that's very interesting because I think it's it's fair to say that all of us experience different levels of trauma growing up, because life comes with that and it builds up.

Speaker 2: 14:01

Unfortunately, you know it was. It was trauma then and I did and do have later effects in life of what I went through as a child. That comes out now as an adult. But it's just a matter. I mean, it's part of part of the way that we adapt to life no-transcript it that all of us share that experience.

Speaker 2: 14:55

No one is better than anyone else. I always tell my husband, because he talks about how certain people he know like they don't have any problems in their life and they have nothing to worry about. I'm like, well, they do have something to worry about because no one has zero problems. That means that they aren't aware and they aren't adjusting or like regulating the problems that are, you know, like they're hiding behind things and I feel like I love being open with the fact that I am only human and I do have emotions and I do have a limit and I have been diagnosed with depression. I am I've been off of medication for a very long time, but there are those times where sometimes it wants to creep back in because I am human and because those emotions build up.

Speaker 2: 15:48

When my dog passed away a couple of years ago, that's when it got really bad and I think that was just like the icing on the cake.

Speaker 2: 15:54

I was still working in the school and I don't think I was necessarily at my happiest because I was coasting through, but it just kind of like threw me over the edge.

Speaker 2: 16:04

It was one of those things of like I felt alone, even though I have an amazing husband and friends and family and support system. You know you feel like you have no purpose or like what am I doing with my life? Or was this a waste of all these years that I did so like yeah, I get in these points in my life where I need to overcome something and I need to help myself and kind of snap me out of it and change my mindset, like in a weird way it's it sounds negative, but I'm always thinking of the worst case scenario. So it's like I'm almost always prepared for it. So even if with work, I think about like oh, if this person doesn't like what I did, or just so that it's like the possibility is there, but it's that I'm prepared for it. So I know how to react and I know how to overcome it, whether it's a challenge or a curveball or it's a positive thing.

Speaker 1: 16:56

Right right, right right. I love. First of all, I love that you're normalizing the experience of depression. I am grateful that nowadays we can talk about it with less stigma. It's a part of a human experience for many people. I think it'll be elusive and irresponsible to discredit it and to ignore it and to pretend like it's a quick fix. And then you talk about how you are prepared for the worst case scenario and that clearly you know, for better or for worse, it's a skill that you developed as a result of your upbringing. All of us somehow we develop these coping skills as a result of our environment and they help us go through life, and I think it's fair to say that there are moments in which you know studies have shown that humans have the number of thoughts that we have in our minds going through our minds throughout the day. They tend to lean on the negative side rather than on that.

Speaker 2: 17:56

rather, than on the positive.

Speaker 1: 17:58

And so that's part I think that's part of being human, we, and so the truth is that we are in survival mode, you know, in many ways, and so having the self-awareness of understanding, oh yes, I am prepared for this. But this preparedness or this readiness that I have, I am very aware that comes as a result of X, y, z in my life, and so when it shows up and when you have to use that tool, you have a better relationship with that part of your personality, and I love that you're so willing to discuss this with me and to share this with the audience, because that's part of a journey. Beautiful stories of oh, life is beautiful and my life is going well.

Speaker 2: 18:48

No.

Speaker 1: 18:49

I've been very fortunate to have guests like you that are willing to bring also the areas that have been challenging in their lives and they're willing to make them part of the whole package, and I think that when we do that, we give ourselves a gift, and so I just want to commend you, I want to thank you for being so willing to do that with me. Then, going back on the normalizing, the faces of depression, I hope that those listeners out there give themselves permission to seek help. There's nothing wrong in seeking help. There's nothing wrong in recognizing that perhaps you need guidance, perhaps you need a space where you can just put everything on the table or perhaps entertain that for the very first time in your life, there's such a beautiful gift to being willing to explore what's behind your emotions, explore what's behind your experiences, and that was the wisdom that comes out of that is such a beautiful insight and guide. I'm curious if you have felt something like that in your journey, as you continue to move forward with your life, with your business and everything.

Speaker 2: 19:57

I have. Yeah, you know, like in terms of like connecting with myself. It's just it took me a while this journey that I'm on right now. I got used to comfortability. I was a teacher for a very long time and I was just used to the same old routine every day. I wasn't happy and I knew I wasn't happy, but I wasn't making that decision to change my happiness. One of the biggest things I feel that people have trouble with is getting to that point of asking for help, whether it's with your depression or asking yourself are you happy, can you make this change? Yeah, I got to the point of depression where I needed to start taking medication and I went over the edge. But had I have asked for help sooner, it would have been a totally different ballgame. Not everyone ends up getting to the point that I got to.

Speaker 1: 20:55

Right. So I think I want to say it once again, and I think you will join me in this For anyone that is listening out there if you find yourself struggling with this, please do not hesitate. Look for a friend, look for professional help. It does help. You deserve it. Each and one of us are a beautiful gift here on earth. We hope that you can take that huge leap of faith and believing that you are truly a beam of light that has beautiful things to offer in this earth. Thank you so much for sharing that, marley. Why do you do what you do? You change from being an amazing teacher. I've seen you, I've seen your magic as an educator. We work together. We did a lot of projects together. We have a lot of fun together, but why do you do what you do? You decided to change from being an educator and organize spaces. I know that you're amazing at what you do, but I love to hear why, marley, and what you do. But I'd love to hear why Marley?

Speaker 2: 21:54

what's behind this decision? I've always been that person in my group of friends who is called whenever someone is moving or when someone has an idea to make a change in their house or whatever. I've always been like I'll do it the volunteer, you know but honestly, it's the easiest answer. Why do I do what I do? It's because it makes me happy. It's genuinely such a release and like such constant satisfaction and I feel like it gives others a sense of release and happiness and one of my biggest character traits and my biggest love language is like acts of service. I genuinely love to do things for other people.

Speaker 2: 22:37

I'm a people pleaser and as a teacher I was getting some sort of satisfaction because I was educating these young minds, but it wasn't giving me that same kind of relief and I just feel like having the organization in my own life. I feel so happy and so constantly calm and not stressed that it's like why would I not want to do this for other people? And I really work with a lot of people in so many different kinds of situations, like single moms who are just totally overwhelmed with their situation because they're focused on taking care of their children, because they're the primary care taker and they let everything else go. Sometimes I just do it for free or like for next to nothing, because I want them to feel that sense of ease, because it's just such a good feeling and to have a peaceful environment really matters. Some people don't have that or don't care and it doesn't affect them, but I think it really does. They just don't have that. You know, they don't know of one way compared to the other way.

Speaker 1: 23:41

Right, I'm so glad you mentioned that and you finish it with that, because what I was going to say is I experienced that myself.

Speaker 1: 23:47

My wife is also an interior designer and involved in that line of work, and prior to that she was a family therapist, and she would talk about how, when victims of violence and abuse will come to the shelter, that those spaces were so cold. I remember going on the weekends with her and go and paint the space where these people were coming after being victims of abuse and we were just trying to beautify the space. So the experience of coming you're already in a vulnerable position and then you're placed in a space that is just cold. It's this awful lighting, the chairs are cold, the AC is cold and you just need to feel secured and warm and taken care of. And so the image that you offer of helping single moms I totally get that image, because there's nothing more beautiful than to get to a space that you know is your safe space. There's nothing more soothing than getting home and understanding that your living space is not in chaos, because it allows your mind and brain to slow down and come at ease and to recharge.

Speaker 2: 24:59

For the people who are unhappy with their work life and have to come home to something else that they're unhappy with. It's like when do you have that mental break of just calmness, when do you have the time to just sit and be at peace? I feel for those people it sounds so horrible like oh, who have to go to a corporate job and then come home and cook dinner. I know I don't have kids and I don't have any of those responsibilities when I come home from work, but it's like why not add something positive to your day if it's just some sort of organization? Yeah.

Speaker 1: 25:33

And there's, I think it also. I think there's so many things to connect with these. As a former educator, I'm sure that you're still connected to the importance of providing the perfect setting for students to thrive, for them to develop executive function skills that allow them to make better decisions, to self-regulate, and all of these things. How has that informed your approach to what you do?

Speaker 2: 25:58

Just like in the classroom. If you have too many options, too many things, it's overstimulating, you can't make choices, you can't function, you can't plan your day. I start my day every single day, making my bed. Even if I don't want to, I do it and it's setting the intention for the day. When I get dressed in the morning, knowing where everything is, I can already plan what I want to wear that day, whether it's workout clothes or maybe I want to dress up that day. But if you start your day off in a closet, that is all over the place. How can you get your thoughts together? But it's the same way in teaching with kids. If you've got too many options, you get overstimulated and you get frazzled and you get stressed. And then we know what happens when we get stressed. It's just like a chain effect.

Speaker 1: 26:43

And for those people, marley, that find themselves in such a stressful situation they don't even know where to begin, how to start this what will be your, your words of guidance for them?

Speaker 2: 26:55

Little by little, baby steps. A lot of times people try and do what I do and they say, oh, I love organizing and I really, I really want to do it, but I don't have the time to do it. So it's just I tell them like, well, start small, start with one area, take out these things, look at each item one by one, think about it. And it's just I tell them like, well, start small, start with one area, take out these things, look at each item one by one, think about it. And it's kind of like Marie Kondo, like does its part joy in your life? You don't have to go to that extent, but it's like do I really need this in my life? Is this attributing to my happiness? If it's not get rid of it, it's things. It's not get rid of it. Yes, it's things, it's material things.

Speaker 2: 27:32

I also think that this attributes to my childhood as well, because everyone has sentimental things and that's one of the hardest things that I feel that people have.

Speaker 2: 27:44

They have a hard time getting rid of.

Speaker 2: 27:46

And I don't have a lot of sentimental things of my mother's and it's not like I'm heartless and I don't have a lot of sentimental things of my mother's and it's not like I'm heartless and I don't care about sentimental things, but to me, just sentimental is different. I have memories that are sentimental, I have experiences that are sentimental. I didn't get to keep a lot of things when my mom passed away. So when I see these people who have hordes and hordes and boxes of sentimental things, I try and relate to them and to make sure that, like I'm not being disrespectful of, like we don't really need to keep this, but try and like come to terms with is this a sentimental thing worth keeping? Or is this a sentimental t-shirt that you wore one time in college that's rolled up at the bottom of your closet? You know, let's really talk about the value of these sentimental things. So I always just try and really tell people to be mindful of the things that they're keeping, because in the end it doesn't come with us, it's just there.

Speaker 1: 28:44

Right, right. And would you say because I've heard this in the past that those are, they're only, they're not only taking physical space, but they're also taking energetically and mental space for you as well?

Speaker 2: 28:57

What would you say about that. Yeah, I get that, because there's people who they feel bad and they feel guilty for getting rid of something that they've held onto for so long. And just because you're getting rid of something or making space for a new memory doesn't mean that you're forgetting that thing. You know you don't have to just keep this item to keep that memory, that sentimental thing. I just feel like sentimental is so much more than an item well, you know this.

Speaker 1: 29:27

I want to, I want us to reel us back to this whole theme of gratitude. Do you have any gratitude stories from your clients, perhaps testimonies, or personally yourself, that you can connect with gratitude as a result of what you?

Speaker 2: 29:41

do. I always go in with an intention of, okay, I know that I'm going to impress the person who reached out to me to fix whatever, but it's always one person it's never like both of them who are like we want this. So there's always one who's like really into it and really excited, and the other one is kind of like eh, we could do this ourselves. So whenever I go into these projects, my goal is like I want to impress this person that isn't about organizing or who doesn't really get it. 100% of the time when I finish, that person is like so when are you coming back? And it's like so rewarding because they just get it. You know, like I said, there's some people who don't know the before and the after. They've never experienced of what it could be, so they're just like eh, I'm okay with how it is for now, because they're with that comfortability. They're used to being comfortable in the same environment and they're not accustomed to changing it, always like it just. It makes me feel so good when I get everybody on board and everybody's super happy because what I do is hard, like it's not just going in and just like shifting things around, like I go through every single item. I categorize every single thing. I look at everything. It's really nice.

Speaker 2: 31:02

I mean, I was talking about the single moms that I've worked with. I've worked with more than one, but there was one that was so grateful because her life is her daughter and you could just see the love that she has devoted her entire life to her daughter. But she forgot about herself. It was the silliest thing of just doing her closet, but when I finished she was like I see clothes in here that I haven't worn in forever and I'm like you get to dress up yourself every morning instead of wearing the same things, you know. And she had beautiful clothes and she's a beautiful woman. Now you've got your personal space and you're not taking away from the love and the time that you want to give to your daughter, but now you can still give yourself love. I really felt that I helped her a lot and she made me feel that I helped her a lot, you know.

Speaker 1: 31:50

That's so powerful. Thank you for sharing. I think there's something special to allowing yourself to shift the energy. Do it, otherwise the energy and the vibe gets stagnant, and then we find ourselves stuck or with lack of motivation, when perhaps just shifting a thing or two in your living space can just spark. All right, we've talked a little bit about this, but I'd love to ask you what do you do to connect with yourself? What do you do to connect with the core of Marley?

Speaker 2: 32:21

So, because I revolve my day to day around doing things for other people, I tend to like overbook myself and I try really hard to make time for myself. And it's not like spending time with my husband or with my friends, it's genuinely just being by myself, because that's when I really get into my head. I create scenarios in my head and I kind of talk to myself and it's like I talk myself up, I talk myself down, I work on game plans, I think of my next moves, I think a day away, a week away, a year away, even if it doesn't happen. It's like I'm just kind of getting it into my head, like I said before, like thinking of the worst case scenario. I just kind of like do a play by play of what's happening in my life right now.

Speaker 2: 33:04

Am I happy with this? Do I kind of want to change? Like I, literally I talk to myself in my head and I just I go for walks. I really try hard to disconnect. Even if I'm not disconnected and I am on my phone, I'm still in my head and I'm thinking like my next move. The whole thing is asking myself am I happy? Because for a very long time I wasn't happy and I was just doing it because I felt that that was what I was given in this life, or what I was supposed to do. That was my calling. And so now I'm just constantly checking in with myself Like are you happy? Are you doing what you want to do? Are you going to keep going with this? Do you need to make a little change? Do you need to tweak this? And it's just kind of like that playing scenarios.

Speaker 1: 33:51

Yeah, it's. You know. I'm sure you've heard it before and our audience have heard it before, but it goes back to the expression that the most important relationship is a relationship with yourself. Journey Talks is precisely about that. I want to create spaces where we can just have these kinds of conversations, and I love to ask people questions about what do they do in order to find that balance in life, because I think it's fair to acknowledge and respect that we will have different answers and that people will develop certain practices.

Speaker 1: 34:24

What's interesting, in my opinion, is to notice how there are certain practices that deliver something special, how there are certain practices that deliver something special, and by that I mean the importance of breath work, meditation, going for a walk. These are practices that ultimately help you to connect with the deeper aspect of your psyche, your heart, your energy, and some people find that through spirituality, other people find it through physical activity, other people find it through the arts, reading, intellectually right, but I think it's just so fascinating to see the similarities, because you answering me this question is just once again reaffirming the importance of cultivating that personal relationship with yourself that is so important. The other question that I have for you is how do you access self-love in moments Um?

Speaker 2: 35:14

I mean, I try and remind myself that I've been in lower places and that I have been at a like you can only go up from here, that kind of thing. So I just it's kind of like snapping myself out of it and telling myself you are strong, you have been in a higher place, you have been successful, you have been this. It's like positive affirmations, not necessarily saying them in the mirror every morning, but it's just like getting that quick little thought of like okay, I was at a bad place. I have been better, though, and I did get better, and it's just constantly reminding yourself that you have the potential to be in a good place.

Speaker 1: 35:54

Do you try to put some protective factors in place? I mean, life happens, but do you try? Now, after going through different experiences, are there certain things that you try to and you kind of do mentally, looking at the scenarios in your mind, at the scenarios in your mind, but there's certain ways in which you try to protect your heart. Now that you have an understanding of who you are, what are some of the protective factors or boundaries that you try to implement in order to continue to put yourself in a position of growth?

Speaker 2: 36:27

I do have a tough barrier around me, and I have always since I've been younger, and I say that that's what protects me in a way, but sometimes it prevents me also because I have that guard up and to break down and to feel afraid and because that is part of self-love too is knowing that your body has its limits and your emotions do have to come out eventually. So, even though I try and pride myself as this really strong person and you know I've got an under control now, like I really don't no one has it under control. Am I aware of it? Am I now like able to try and talk myself out of things or talk myself up to things? But it's scary though.

Speaker 1: 37:18

Yeah, you know what that reminds me of Marley? It reminds me that growth is not linear. We still operate with the mindset and the idea that growth is linear and that it should go up all the way, but life is not like that.

Speaker 1: 37:33

No, life is not like that. The journey is like a wave. It's going to knock you out and you're going to have to come back again, but you're still riding that wave and I think, if we all give ourselves permission to explore that, I think our world would look better. I think our relationships will be better, and I love to hear stories like yours because they're not again. They're not separated from the struggle. On the contrary, the struggle is what makes us access that truth. And here you are and I think what you do is phenomenal.

Speaker 1: 38:08

Well, marlene, saying thank you is not enough, but thank you for this amazing opportunity. Thank you for this great conversation, for being vulnerable with me, for trusting me and for being willing to share your story with other people, your stories of gratitude, friends. This is another episode of journey talks podcast, your favorite podcast to reconnect with gratitude and inspiration. I look forward to connecting with you in our next episode. Thank you and take care. Thank you for watching, make sure you like and subscribe to our channel, share your feedback, hit that notification bell and let's keep the conversation going.