blossom, your awesome podcast, episode number 71 today on the show. Tracy Brown is here with us best selling author of Rescue to Recovery. It is a book about overcoming undiagnosed PTSD Tracy is a U. S. Coast Guard veteran, motivational speaker, director of rehabilitation and physiotherapist for over 25 years specializing in scar tissue therapy. She helps people overcome physical scars, emotional scars, trauma and works with people to show them how to stop playing small in life. I am so honored and delighted to have Tracy here with us sharing her wisdom and insights. Tracy. Thank you so much for being here. Welcome to the show. I am so excited to be here. I can't wait. Oh I cannot wait to get into your amazing story. Now let's start. I know you're a motivational speaker, you do all of this different stuff.

Let's start with a little bit of your background. Oh, how far back do you want to go? Well, you know, I know you suffered these really kind of have these life threatening injuries as a child and I'm assuming we're gonna get into that. But you know, that has got to do so much with the work you're doing today, right? Yeah, it's huge. Yes. Yeah. So tell us a little bit about that. You're a former, you're a veteran, you've done all sorts of things. So give us a little bit of that background and as far back as you'd like. Well yeah the Burns, I was burned when I was eight years old and uh it was this was a long time ago. I've been around the block a few times. So this is 1969 and they didn't really, they didn't have burn centers or anything like that. There was no 911. So, you know, when I talk a lot, I I speak to people and, and it's like, imagine, you know, you're at your babysitting uh Five kids and all of a sudden one of them is on fire and you can't call 911. And so it's, it was pretty amazing.

Our neighbors took me to the hospital. Um, there's three months in the hospital, about three months somewhere around there and then 10 years about patients. And so that created a lot of scarring, not just physical scarring, but emotional scarring. And so down the line when I was 21, I joined the United States Coast Guard. And in those days, that was 1983, there weren't a lot of women in the Coast Guard and there certainly were not a lot of opportunities for women to do uh, what I would consider at that time in life fun things, which was, I became a crew member on a small boat. And every crew on small boats would designate a swimmer. So whenever you went out, who was, who was going to be the swimmer on the boat because they didn't have a swimmer school then. And so they do now they started that in 1985, but we didn't have the benefit of that. So we were doing a lot of rescue operations um from learning in a three week course and you know, it wasn't I speak a lot on trauma and I speak a lot on PTSD because uh for the last you know 40 years I realized that I was living with and dealing with and navigating life with undiagnosed post traumatic stress disorder.

And now post traumatic stress is a normal thing for most people. Every person that has ever experienced trauma goes through post traumatic stress. The stress that happens after a trauma. What happens is about 20% of the population goes into what I call a trauma loop, which would be post traumatic stress disorder. And what happens with a lot of people. It is sometimes it's just one trauma. But a lot of times traumas build on themselves, they build on each other and so they kind of compound and it gets very confusing. And P. T. S. D. Is is a very confusing thing because you sometimes you just can't pinpoint it. And for the last 25 or so years I've actually I now work in scar tissue therapy physical and through my talks that we talk a lot about emotional scars and I found that there's a huge correlation, there's a very very similar way that the body and the mind works when it comes to trauma, the physical body really shuts down the minute you have a trauma, you know you get, there's an immobility, there's an inability to move, there's pain and so it shuts the body down, well, the heart does the same kind of a thing.

So we might get into that more. But that's kind of a progression if you will of where I've been in my life in a, in a real small nutshell, was a nutshell. Now tell me again, how old you were when this injury happened when I was burned? I was eight years old, wow. Oh my God. Okay, so now talk to us, let's talk about PTSD and what you found. I mean, at what age did you start kind of realizing, hey, you know, this thing really traumatized me and I need to start kind of doing some work, healing work around this. Right? Yeah, that's a, that's a great question. And I didn't really think, you know, for probably all my life, I felt as though I didn't react the way that other people did to certain situations, but I never really process that. I just kind of kept moving. Um, but probably 12 years or so ago, a friend of mine posted on maybe 10 years ago posted on social media, 16 characteristics of PTSD and I had 14 of them and I was like, oh wow, that, okay, that's, that's interesting.

And so, you know, I, I always felt that if I open that can of worms, I probably wouldn't survive. You know, there's this thing that happens with, with people in trauma that there's a fear, almost a fear of opening that that wound because you feel like there's almost another death that goes with it. And so I I filed that information away And then in 2018 I finally decided that I was going to write a book. I've been wanting to do it for a lot of years. A friend of mine actually posted and she said, Hey, you know, I can help you write a book in 30 days and like 30 days. I've been trying to do this for 40 years, right? So I'm like, sure I'm in um we started the process in 2018 and I was completely blocked. I couldn't I couldn't tap into the things that I wanted to write about. So I told my became my coach and I told her I said, look, I need to take some time here and uh look at some of these reasons why I'm not able to um tap in here.

So I did a year of therapy at the V. A for PTS specifically. And uh in 2019 I I wrote my book, my first book. So wow. And I want to get into that book with you now, let me ask you, you know. So I know people who I've had my own traumas as a child and I feel like we as Children when we go through this stuff, we kind of, we just innately developed this tough exterior, right? And it kind of makes us stronger in some, some, some people, Right, okay. Was that the case for you, where it's almost like you just, I mean life like will present things to us and we have this amazing ability to get through things we would never imagine we could get through. Um well, you know, it was very interesting. My mom, I, I tell people my mom is my first mentor, she was as a mentor, I mean she was amazing and one of the things, when I finally got out of the hospital, I went into December 19 and I came out some time and uh february March, something like that and that the christmas tree was still up and so my mom was, was very much into tough love, you know, this was an accident, this is not going to mar you for your whole life basically.

And so the christmas tree was up, there were candles throughout the house, there was a fire in the fireplace and for dinner we had fondue, so you had to reach over a flame literally to eat and I mean that was probably one of the greatest things that she could have ever done because it, it, you know, at first it was very, I was very trepidatious, I was very fearful and and she, she literally just in, in great love just said that was an accident, we're going to move on. And she literally walked me through the whole process of what I was dealing with now, that didn't, that didn't take away from a lot of the pains that came later, but it certainly gave me the impetus to to move forward through those kind of things. And she, I think my mom was very instrumental in allowing me to step into a strength that perhaps I could have stepped back from, you know, otherwise. So I'm very, very thankful for that, that she gave me that wherewithal. And she gave me those tools early early on to actually, you know, go, you know what rationally look at something, right?

Because what happens when we're in in a trauma, we're in fight flight or freeze. It's it's a natural thing that our that our psyche does. We either, you know, and it's it's an eight, it's like animals, you freeze because maybe they the predator won't see you or you run because that's a great thing. Horses, their their fight flight is flight. They run or or you or you get ready to fight. You know, you do whatever you gotta do. And I think she gave me that pause, That ability to pause and go, let's think about this rationally for a moment, it's not happening now, right? And so you can actually think critically through something. And that's something that I talk a lot about. And in some of my speeches, I talk, I give, you know, different tools, how you can calm yourself down if you're getting into this, this, you know, fight flight or freeze space, whether whether it be from trauma or whether it be from anger or somebody or whatever it is, car accidents, all kinds of things. Get us put us in fight flight or freeze and how do we get ourselves into a place where we can think rationally.

Mm and how much of this and that's amazing. Your mother sounds amazing. And I just, yeah, I mean that had to have just been the, all the difference right there in the world, right? I believe so, yes, wow. And so you have this attitude of, you know, I mean, we're gonna get into some of this other stuff. But how do you believe that this kind of exterior, I'm going to get through it. Overcoming obstacles. How much of that do you attribute to this experience as a child that you had to overcome? Oh, I think that's, I think that's a huge part of it. And and the interesting thing is, is it was also a hindrance to healing because my mom taught me that I can do anything that I put my mind to and I believe that I believe that with everything in me, but trauma is an interesting thing. Um when you have an injury, physical injury, let's say it was an ankle or something they have, you do certain exercises because and for lack of better words.

It's almost as though that joint forgets how to do what it does because there's there's that, that injury to the nerves and all that kind of stuff and they almost forget and that's that's the way I describe it, that they forget how to do what they normally do. So we put you through a lot of different exercises to help it remember to remind it what it does. Well, trauma does the same thing to the soul. You know, I had these amazing things that these tools that my mom gave me, but over time and over with the traumas that that were after that I didn't I wasn't able to implement, it was like, I forgot that I could do things. And then when I started remembering it's like, okay, I can I can do anything. I put my mind to, the problem is as a great friend of mine, she's that she's also a speaker. We can't see outside of our jar. So I was trying to do a lot of things to heal myself or fix whatever was going on that I thought was wrong, but I couldn't see outside of myself. And one of the things that I encourage people these days to do is if you've had trauma, if there's been a pain that that you think has altered you in some way.

Reach out. Yes, you can read has self help books as burn a brown says nobody really helps themselves. Although we can gather a lot of great information. But I I really encourage people talk to somebody that you trust and tell them, hey, I'm feeling different. I'm feeling I don't know what's going on, but something's different. Something's offer. I don't feel right. Um, or talk to a professional but to talk to somebody because we can get really lost in ourselves and I was lost for decades and I don't want to see people have to do that. There's no reason for us to have to suffer alone in our confusion or in our pain when there are so many outlets in so many ways that we can really reach out and one of them simply is find somebody that you trust and talk to. Mm I love that. That is such great practical advice. Um you know, know for people who are stuck, you're just you've had some obstacle or challenge or struggle and you just are stuck in this or whatever. What is that advice for those people to kind of just begin to overcome it.

You know, one of the things that I did and one of the things that I teach, it's it sounds really simple, but you know, sometimes it's the simple things that help us the most. But what I did is uh because one of the one of the characteristics of post traumatic stress is depression and and and take a pause for a moment in the last 2.5 years the whole world has experienced a trauma. Every single person on the planet that has experienced a trauma with this pandemic. And this is an opportune time for us to look at things and say hey wait a minute, maybe maybe I can improve where I'm at, maybe I can maybe I can take a look at some things. And so one of the things that I did, the first thing that I did because depression again is one of those things that that is a characteristic of P. T. S. D. Trauma and so exercise, this sounds so simple but exercise getting out and walking for 20 minutes or 30 minutes a day or every other day or whenever you can exercise is eight times more effective against depression than any medication on the market right now.

That's a huge number and I so I really I I learned that and I was like oh man okay so I don't have a lot of money right? But I can go I can certainly exercise, I can work. And that was something that was really sustaining for me in life life healing. So exercise and diet, you know getting away from foods that are depressing to the body sugar. You know keep our sugar and takes down those kind of things. I teach a lot on on exercise, nutrition and sleep sleep is another characteristic lack of sleep. The inability to sleep or to get to sleep or stay asleep or night terrors or nightmares. Those are all characteristics of PTSD and so I really help, I hope to help people balance their their their exercise nutrition and sleep. And those three things got me to a place where I could actually think more clearly and then start seeking help. Mm I love that.

Okay, and now so talk to us about the book, the book, a book, I love the title of the book. It's so amazing. Rescue to recovery and um it must have been healing for you to write it. Yeah, yeah, super. You know, somebody told me once that because I I was also a lyricist, a poet and you know, I've been writing all my life but somebody told me a long, long time ago that when you write whether you're writing a song, whether it's you know, a celebrity or something writing a song, um you're writing it for yourself first and I always remember that because we do because it's cathartic. It's it's it's very healing. It's very, very therapeutic. And so yeah, that was it was extremely therapeutic. And the funny thing is that before I did the therapy, I thought I was going to write a completely different book, which was very interesting. But this is the one that came out and I truly believe it's like um Michelangelo, he has a thing in, in Italy called the prisoners and he always believed that in these solid blocks of marble, you know, pieces of marble, there was something that was trying to come out, there was a sculpture that was kind of trying to come out, it was a prisoner until you broke away all the the other stone to make it this this amazing sculpture.

And I think you know, I feel the same way about books and I feel the same way about our stories, every individual, I think we all have a great story. I think everybody has an amazing story to tell. And I believe that it's really important that they tell those stories because some people are gonna listen to me, some people are gonna listen to you, but not everybody, but there are people out there that will listen to somebody out there that has a story that's that's needed to be heard. And so I, you know, when I sat down to put pen to paper, this is what came out. And it was really my story of my journey of pretty much 40 years, 30 plus years of undiagnosed post traumatic stress, how you know, the things that I went through, the things that I was feeling, things that I was thinking, um and you know, there's stories in their Coast Guard stories, there's some stories when I was burned, there's you know, different, I take those stories because I believe that the things that happened to us, we can we really can learn from them. There are so many great lessons and things that happened to us. And I like sharing those Because I don't think it was just for me it was initially and now I get to share it and hopefully it helps others.

Mm And now, what would you say? Tracy has been the lesson for you in your own story, Your own trauma. You know, that is the question. That was the first question I I really sat down and answered with my my coach and it was really um my messages, you know, it's kind of two fold but it's stop hiding. You know, I was hiding so much of myself because I wasn't able to express that I wasn't able to um really expressed how I was feeling the traumas that I had and I would never tell anybody because why would I, because I knew it had done to me and why would I why would I put that on somebody else? So I would never talk about the pains that I had or the traumas that I had. You know, it was just it was almost like before social media, I was just always putting on a happy face, you know, and it's like, no, no, everything's well. And if it wasn't, I just wouldn't go out and so my world became smaller and that's the second part of it. Stop hiding. And and you know what there is a dis ease. That's my signature speech on amazon prime the dis ease of playing small when we're not doing the things that we know that is in us to do, or the things that it's like, I just I so want to do that.

I need to do that. There is a discomfort when we don't do it. And so, you know, my message is really, it's like, show yourself, stop hiding and and play as big as you possibly can. And if you can't find out why you can't. I love that. So, I can't wait to get into this part of this with you. But, you know, really quick talking about PTSD. So, do people, so many people just kind of live with, it may not even know they have it, right, or that's their own diagnosis for it, or we just bury things and then, like you said, it's just layered upon the other. But can you actually do people actually overcome PTSD? Like, can you actually overcome it completely? Um, you know, that's a really great, great question. I know that the, when I went through therapy at the V. A. I think one of the greatest things that that they gave us was tools, you know, it's like, it's like anything, any great loss or anything that happens to us.

I don't I don't know if getting over it is the term that we would use, but but you get through it. And and and if all goes well, you get through it with some great tools on the other side. So when certain things might trigger or might might, you know, affect you, you have a tool to deal with it. And that's one of the things that, you know, they gave us a lot of great definitions and tools and I think that was one of the greatest gifts uh because I was, I didn't have those tools, I didn't, I didn't know how to deal with things, so I just shut down, I would shut down and until I could function again. The problem is that I was self employed most of my life. So it's one of those things that like, you better get up and get on with it. And I think, I think that's one of the reasons why a lot of people don't deal with trauma is because especially these days, I mean, we're all just, we're hustling, you know, everybody's just, we're just moving, moving, moving because we've got to keep moving and in order to keep up and stay on top of things and so, you know, there's this thing in our mind that, oh my gosh, if I do therapy, I'm gonna have to shut all that down and I won't be able to function, I won't be able to pay my bills.

This is what went through my head, you know, I'm not gonna be able to, you know, function in society, I won't be a functioning person in society. So I can't look at those things right now because it's never really a good time to look at stuff like that, right? But but it's it's always a great time because you know, if if if you find a great place and and if if there's any veterans listening to this, the V. A. Is there for you, no matter what, whether you think it or not they are. Because I was told in 1989 that that I was not in their system that I had no benefits and that they were just pretty dysfunctional. Then we'll come to find out every single person that has ever served their country has benefits. So that was one thing that was like, oh I just had to jump through a few hoops once I did that I was like, oh well look at here, I'm gonna be a um so I think I don't think we get over it. I think we get through it because it it's always going to be a part of our life, which which is not necessarily a bad thing.

I mean I look at I look at my life now had I not had those traumas, I would never be able to share the things that I share. I would never be able to help the people that I've helped and I'm so very thankful for that mm. I love that Tracy. So now let's talk about this notion of playing small versus not playing small. I love this. Um, you know, I love it. Disease versus dis ease, right? That just Oh, profoundly. So, do you believe that those who are, does everyone have a bigger game they should be playing? I mean, people who are playing small or hindering themselves in some way, right? Because there's something greater. They could be doing well. And and here's the caveat. The caveat is if there's discomfort. You know, I I know there I I love the fact that I've got people in my life that they are just beyond happy with, right where they are.

And that's awesome. And and and there's no discomfort. There's no disease there. They're just and and that's amazing. I know for me I had other things that I needed, I knew I needed to do. I I knew that I, there was a book and me too, right. I knew that I knew that there were things that things that I had been through in my life, that I was, I'm here to share those because I think they can help others. There's, there's something in me that just desires to help. You know, I think it's something my mom used to tell me when I was little, I used to say, what can I do to help? You know, it's just the little person and it's usually grows up to be the big person in us, right? And we're just always that little person. Um, so I don't, I don't know that everybody has discomfort. But my my my question to you is if there is discomfort, if there is a dis ease in where you're at right now because you're not doing something that you know that you are to do then how do we get to that? How do we get to that place? And I don't know that everybody has that this, this comfort. But I know that there are those that do. And when you feel that, okay, let's move forward.

Let's let's let's break this prisoner out of this marble and see what sculptor their sculpture there is to present to the world? Mm hmm. And now this idea of discomfort there. So really we should be looking deeper for those people who are feeling that, right? Is that security? It's a series of things, right? It's potentially trauma. We're holding its fear, its whatever. Yeah. You know, and and for me, you know, my grandmother, God bless her. You know, when I was 14. So we're going back a lot of years. I remember a conversation that she and I had and and she's like, what do you really what do you want to do when you grow up? You know, what do you really want to do? And I said really? Because you know when you're that age you really want to make sure somebody is interested. You know, I'm like really, really? And she's like really? And I'm like, okay, I want to be a writer? And she in her love and her care and her fear and her fear. She said, oh, you'll starve, what do you really want to do? Mm And that shut me down for years because my grandmother was everything.

I mean she was like my best friend as a kid and it's like, oh I'll starve. So I can't do that even though that was that was something in me to do, you know? So, so you know, sometimes it's a person that has shut us down. Sometimes sometimes somebody put a suggestion, that little thing in the back of our head that I probably shouldn't do that cause I'm gonna starve I mean, you know, that's life threatening. So, so in our, in our minds how we, how we mix things up and so um you know, it could be something as simple as that somebody basically making a suggestion to you because the brain really functions well on suggestions. I talk a lot about that too. But um you know, it grasps onto a suggestion and so to break out of those things, it is that that what you're saying is that deep diving in a little deeper, take a look inside and say, you know, what is it? And and one of the things that I do in all my speeches, the and everyone, every one of them with, no matter where we are in life.

The great question to answer is what do I want? You know, what do I want And what am I willing to do to get there legally ethically and morally right? But but what do I really want? Because I'm telling you that thing that you really really want? That deep thing. That motivational gift that's in you. Is there for a reason. Mm hmm. And now talk to us about personal discovery. This kind of is you know just another you know flip side of this coin right that you're talking about figuring out what it is I want to do. So where can one kind of start with that? Because I find you know everyone I think and maybe not everyone laying that out as a blanket statement but people do have things they love and passions but struggle with. What is it I really want to do? So how does one find themselves or figure Yeah that's a great question. What I have people do is it's they call it 77 wise deep W.

H. Y. Seven Y. Is deep. And so it's like what do I want? Well I used to work a lot with people with weight loss and so somebody say oh I want to get in a bikini okay well why? Or I want to lose weight? Okay why? Well I wanna be able to get a bikini. Well why? You know Well because then I'll look at well why? Well because then I'll feel good oh you know, the deeper you go into your why of what you want to do is really going to get to the core of what it is that you want. And so, you know, I'm I'm constantly asking people, you know, take different sections, take business, take your, take your relationships, take your fun or your leisure time, take your health, and each one of those, you know, take a piece of paper and and here's the thing, this takes time. I I really encourage people to take time to sit with yourself and figure out what you want because when you really know what you want. Yeses and nos become very easy when I know what I really, really want, where I'm going in my life, I can get a lot of opportunities, but I can say no to the ones that I really don't want because it's easy because that's not what I want, but you have to know what you want in order to say no to the things that you don't want.

Otherwise you're gonna say yes to a lot of things or you're going to say no to a lot of things that you might have wanted to say yes to. So getting to know you understanding what it is that you want is really imperative to a full life, in my estimation. You know, some people might contradict that, but in my, in my world, in my estimation, understanding what I really want in my relationships and my health and my business and my fun, uh those are important to me because it makes me, it helps me to make a better decision for me in a happier life. You know, that is beautiful now. Talk to us about emotional scarring, something I know with the work you're doing a lot of times. I'm I know with the physical scarring obviously there's emotional scarring, right? People. That's just I think something that a lot of us have some sense of or form of that. So what is some advice to those people who are kind of carrying some emotional baggage or turmoil?

Well, one of the things is, you know, if you know it um don't hesitate to reach out. There are so many, there's there are many, many places online and and I don't have them on the top of my head. I've got a few places in the book, forgive me, I got a little frog in my throat, but there are great places to, to get support. Like I said, if you're v a uh get via support, I'm gonna clear my throat real quick. So I'm gonna put me on mute for a second. There we go. Um so uh you know, being diligent to find out where you can get guidance because like my friend carol says, you know, it's really hard to see outside of our own jar. We can't read our own label if we're in our own jar. Right? And so if you, if you know it, reach out, find somebody that you trust. If you don't know it, pay attention to yourself. That's what I started doing early on. It's just like I started noticing that, you know, I started observing, observing other people and how they reacted in certain situations.

Um you know, I, I used to have friends that they said that I had no fear because I I would do that like crazy daredevil kind of things. You know, um Coast Guard, I jumped out of boats and all kinds of fun stuff and as a kid, I jumped off the cliffs into water because it was just, you know, I was a thrill seeker and back then adrenaline junkie wasn't really vernacular, but it is now and I was a total adrenaline junkie. But part of it was because I was trying to get a reaction from a very dull emotional space that I was in Because I would, I wouldn't allow myself to feel because that was just bad. You know, feeling was bad in my mind. And so, you know, getting to a place where you can actually express a safe place where you can express your pains. I I believe is a huge, a huge step forward. So if you know that you have emotional scars, what I call the, the the, the insults to our soul. If if we can, if we can express those to somebody that's that's a big part of healing.

Mm that is beautiful. I love that advice now, talk to us about women who boss up How women who boss up. I love these women. This was my writing coach, put this together. This was my second book, but it was a collaboration with 12 other artists or writers and it was it's an amazing group of women there. They have a group on Facebook and they have all kinds of great things going on summits and stuff. Um but it's it's basically the book that that we wrote that I collaborated on because she has a series of books, Women that boss up in different arenas, ours was women who boss up in in lifestyles, creating the lifestyle that you love in health and wealth and whatnot. And uh it's it's basically women who bought up, it's a place of encouraging other women to step into the power to step into, You know, that that place if they've been playing small, that's stepping into that, playing big and it's playing bigger and it's a really great support place.

It's a place with women that are all in the process of uh you know, movers and shakers, really, people that are that are about something they're they're they're moving towards into something and and something big, something they're bossing up into and it's a great it's a great phrase, you know, just bossing up and it's it's kind of, you know, the other one is you know pull up your big girl pants and go and do it, you know, figure it out and do it boss up and and it's really a very cool uh supportive place. I highly encourage people find them on facebook, They're a great group. Women who boss up um tam luck is the head of it, T A. M. L. You see, she is an amazing human being, she was my writing coach and uh it's just a wonderful space for women to get together and be encouraged and and and gently and lovingly pushed forward into their into their greatness, mm I love that. Now Tracy. What is your advice to women who want to boss up but are scared to boss that bird, you know, just don't know where to start.

I mean other than the group, but right, just day to day practical guidance. Um Gosh, everyday practical guidance to bossing up, You know, when when when you see a challenge step into it, don't step back from it. It's it's kind of and and if you have to stand and observe it for a moment, that's alright, you know, take a look at it, observe it, sum it up, suss it out, whatever you gotta do. But step in. You know, my encouragement is that that and these days I'm in a place I'm I'm just saying yes, you know, say yes, that would be my great encouragement, say yes and figure it out. You know, even if you don't know what you're doing in it, just say yes, you'll figure it out. You know, if it's something that you really want to do, don't be saying yes to things that you don't want to do, but, you know, that goes back to, you know, figuring out what you want, right? If I want something, I'm gonna say yes, it might scare the crap out of me, but I'm gonna go do it because that's that's gonna that's gonna move me forward in the things that I that I truly am about doing, and you know, that's the podcast every podcast that comes up, I'm like, yes, I want to I want to talk, I want to get to know the host.

I want to get to know people, you know, I want to be a part of this. I want I want to be a participant in my life. And I think when I had PTSD, I was not participating, I was observing. And so being a participant in your life means saying, yeah, I'm gonna go for it. And and I'm telling you, there's so much joy so much life and and happiness and so many great things in stepping into these things that you really want to do. And and I'm I want to encourage people yes, do the things you want to do because you are, you are serving society and a greater capacity when you know who you are and you know what you want and you go for it and there's no selfishness in that, that is absolutely the greatest gift that you can give is giving who you are but being present in doing it, I love that. Now what do you, you have such a great positive attitude, I'm feeling so inspired, just like talking with you, what do you attribute that to?

You know? It probably goes back to my mom. She really she really I tell people she created a hopeful optimist, she created this, the glass is always half full and actually it's not even half full, it's just refillable, you know you can just just keep just go refill it, you know if it gets low, fill it up um I believe that I've been that was a gift, a gift from my God from God and gift from my mom, you know that that I've always been you know, I'll make it, I'll be okay, you know and and just I don't know it's a gift I guess mm I love that um Now Tracy. Okay, so in closing a couple of things, one you have been amazing and I just love everything you've shared here and I know people are gonna have so many great takeaways. So yeah, thank you so much for your time today, it's just I'm so honored and um inspired.

So and secondly in closing, if there were one message I know you kind of just said something really powerful and that would have been a perfect place to close what I had. That um if there were one message that you'd want to leave us with just some words of wisdom, your hope for the world, what is that message that you'd like to leave us with? You know, I I would really like I would love it if people would take a little bit more time to literally look inward and and and be kinder be kinder to yourself. So looking at yourself and looking at the things and and and speaking more kindly to yourself because our words to ourself are hugely powerful. What somebody says about me is one thing what I say about me is huge, right? That's that's T harv Eker. So so if we take the time to really figure out who we are and what we want and be nice in the process to ourselves, I really believe that we will actually be more attentive, more kind and more empathetic to others because we're all going through stuff.

Every single human being is going through something, you know? Yeah, I might say things like buck up or boss up but but we have to look inward before we can do those things, we've got to cap into who we are and find out how we function and in doing that I think we've become kinder and more empathetic people. I know I became a much much gentler soul because I I was able to be kinder to myself because of my traumas. Mm I love that Tracy. You've been so awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. This what a what a beautiful space. Thank you for inviting me. I appreciate it so much. Oh you've been wonderful. Thank you. Yeah.