How Living from Purpose Helps to Overcome Crises

Damianne: [02:02] In your bio, I just read that you miss DC. Where are you now?

Artisha: [02:06] I’m in Augusta, Georgia, about two hours East of Atlanta.

Damianne: [02:13] And so you used to live in DC I take it.

Artisha: [02:16] I was actually born here, but I did elementary, middle, high and college in DC. So I’m missing it so, so much. I don’t miss the cold weather that they’re about to get, but I miss my city.

Damianne: [02:32] So let’s get right into it. I’ve been listening to your podcast, Bold Journeyzz and reading some of your posts and you have a very strongly defined purpose. Share with the audience what is your purpose?

Artisha: [02:47] My purpose is absolutely to pull purpose out of others. We can get into a little bit of why I neglected my purpose for so long and I didn’t know that that’s what I was doing. I was told go to school, get a job, be a productive member of society, but I didn’t know what that entailed.

So I am now the chief empowerment officer at T Bold Media Group. As you stated, I am a certified life coach and I motivate women and entrepreneurs to birth their business, book or brand. And I use that birth terminology very purposefully because so many people are pregnant with promise or pregnant with potential, and they just need me, the mindset midwife, to bring that thing to life.

Damianne: [03:50] Your use of language is so beautiful and so deliberate. And you went through your own discovery journey, right? How did you discover your purpose? It’s quite an inspiring story.

Artisha: [04:03] My life’s mission was brought to pass in a hospital bed in the intensive care unit. In 2018, I was very, very ill. It actually started in the late fall of 2017. We didn’t know what it was. Doctors didn’t even know what it was and I would be hospitalized four times for a total of 26 days. They gave me a diagnosis, but they still couldn’t find what the root cause of it was.

And I have to tell you that I was absolutely miserable. And again, at the time I had a great job, I had great pay. I was driving, I liked where I lived but I hated my life. I absolutely did. I was miserable. And when I thought it was literally the end time, honestly, I didn’t know if I would walk out of the hospital or if I would be carried out in a bag or a box. That was the time that I was very still, very quiet and I had to get clear about what my purpose was and what my life would be if I was ever to actually get released from the hospital and try to build a life again.

Damianne: [05:31] I can’t imagine what that was like for you.

Artisha: [05:35] Miserable.

Damianne: [05:35] I’m happy that we could laugh about it today.

Artisha: [05:38] Yeah. Yeah.

Damianne: [05:40] Lots of people are going through, not the same level of crisis where they’re feeling like it’s life or death, but with COVID and with so much uncertainty in the world, I think maybe listeners can have a bit more empathy for what you were going through. Many people nowadays, I think are having an opportunity to be still, to stop and think about what next. In some cases they have no choice because jobs have disappeared, industries are changing. 

I’m not really sure where to go with this. I don’t know how much you want to talk about back then.

Artisha: [06:17] I’m an open book. You can ask me absolutely anything.

Damianne: [06:20] Thank you. What eventually happened? How did this all get resolved? Are you healthy, everything is sorted out now? What did you find out?

Artisha: [06:29] I am thankfully on the mend. Everything is on the up and up right now. I still have to take several medications. I still have an insane amount of doctor’s appointments, but guess what? I am thankful that I’m no longer strapped to an oxygen tank. So the final diagnosis, for anyone who’s curious and like what was really going on…

I went into at 38 years old with no medical history went into congestive heart failure and respiratory failure. At the same time, my major organs began to shut down. It was absolutely insane. And so the diagnosis that they gave me was pulmonary hypertension. That’s who I get continuing care from now is my hermatologist which, you know, he’s become one of my best friends. It’s because by the grace of God, he really absolutely helped saved my life.

And so things are much better now and I’m thankful for that. But I want to touch on something that you said, Damianne, because it’s so important right now with the state of things with COVID with so many evictions happening, job loss is happening, the government can’t make up its mind what kind of support it wants. 

You are seeing a resurgence of entrepreneurs. You’re seeing a resurgence of small business owners. Some folks have had to level up that side hustle, and it’s now their main hustle because guess what? We still have grocery bills. We still have electric bills. We still have obligations at home. 

We have to take care of ourselves and our families. What I choose to believe is a good thing that has come out of this pandemic quarantine state, at home situation, is that folks realize, okay, if I want to be truly successful, that I have to have something of my own. So that sense of ownership has come back and folks have had to be still, be quiet and think about what it is that they can offer the world, what is it that they could actually make a living at, what will give them joy? Because for too many of us that nine to five job, that was just not cutting it. That was not giving us what we need.

Damianne: [09:04] It wasn’t satisfying that intrinsic desire, I guess, as opposed to just paying the bills.

Artisha: [09:10] Absolutely. You said it.

Damianne: [09:14] I’m still trying to wrap my head around how you came to your purpose because you were fighting for your life, but you were able to define your purpose at the same time. And that doesn’t happen for everybody. So tell me about what that was like for you.

Artisha: [09:32] The thing about it is I like what you said because some folks choose to be angry, some choose to be stubborn, some folks choose to be depressed. And as you could imagine, I actually navigated all of those emotions. I absolutely did. And I had two very distinct conversations during this time. 

My last and longest hospital day stay was 10 days. Five of those days were literally in the ICU. I was poked and prodded like you wouldn’t believe. All through the middle of the night, they wanted to run tests; I’m plugged up to every machine, heart monitor, oxygen. Candidly, if you can imagine the worst thing you’ve ever seen on TV, that was me.

 I had a conversation with my family, my three angels, my mom, my sister, and my husband, and I told them that they needed to begin to make final arrangements for me. I was very cut and dry. I felt like that was absolutely the end. And I said, hey, contact the family. If they want to come see me, they need to come see me because this is it. I’ll say goodbye and we’ll be done. I was very kind of even keeled with it. I am a woman of faith.

 I, you know, I follow Jesus Christ and I was settled because number one, I didn’t like the status of my life right then. And as a Christian, that’s what I’m working towards is heaven as my home. So I was actually, okay. Of course, I would miss my family members and everything, but I was okay because I felt like, you know what, I would finally be at peace. So that’s the conversation that I had in my head. And I said to them, you know, hey, let everybody know if they want to come say it and folks did.

I mean, there was literally a steady flow of traffic and the nurses were very, very kind to allow me lots of things. But the other conversation that I had was a two-way conversation with myself and with God who I believe is the author of all of our purpose. And I said to him, okay, If this is not the end, if you will not receive me and take me home, if I’m going to stay on this earth, then I’m going to do things differently.

And the longer I stayed in the hospital, and whenever I tell the story, I realize that it was right around day four all of my numbers started to change. Everyone that came around tried to be jovial anyway, but everything started to change for the better. And then it was about that time preparing to transfer me to a hospital room, as opposed to ICU high risk, uh, danger kind of place. That’s when I said okay, this is it. 

And so the conversation that I began to have with everyone changed from that moment on. I knew that it was my duty from that time on to spread a message of love and light and I did just that. I did it not only with my family members that came to visit, I began to make phone calls. I’m still plugged up to everything you can imagine. They’re monitoring the blood pressure and the heart. It’s all kind of junk in my nose and my arms, everything. But I’m making phone calls, I’m sending texts.

 The folks that are coming to visit me, they’re coming to check on me and I’m praying for them. I’m speaking life and positivity into them. I spoken to the doctors’ lives, the custodians, the nutrition folks, the social workers. I was determined that I would not look back and I would not go back to the young lady that was rushed into that emergency room. And I have to tell you it’s been amazing since then.

Damianne: [13:40] So once you made that decision and of course you also had to take care of your health, how did you then go about building T Bold.

Artisha: [13:51] That is a great question. I’ll have to say I was clear on my messaging and at least the initial steps of what I was to do, which was to use my words as power. So I had to use my words as power in my health situation, in my marriage and my family. In every area of my life, I had to speak positively. I had to speak the change that I wanted to see cause I’m a firm believer that we have what we say. So we have to be very careful with what we speak. So there was something to that speaking thing.

 I was actually following a young lady who I really look up to by the name of Tricia Williams. She’s the founder of Wife Talk Inc., which is also a faith-based group. It’s an organization that a ds Christian women who are married or engaged. Their mission is to abolish divorce in the kingdom. And so I was following her on live prior to and the things that she was saying, it was, I’ll never forget it was October 1st of 2018. And she was saying how it’s harvest season, it’s newness, it’s changing that this is the time to be bold and do something new. 

And so on October 1st, 2018, for the first time ever, I went live on Facebook. Now, mind you, I still have a nasal cannula. My skin is looking really crazy. Everything is just out.

Damianne: [15:29] But you are committed.

Artisha: [15:32] Well, what I did though, I rigged up so that I will have like hearts on the screen but not my face. It was really crazy and it was before they have all of the additional features they have now, like none of that junk was around. So…

Damianne: [15:48] You had to get creative.

Artisha: [15:49] I had to get very creative and position myself, you know, I was in the bed, still very weak in the bed with the iPad. And I went on for, it was between like six and seven minutes and I just spoke love and light into anyone who would come on. And I remember I had one of my loved ones saying, hey, do you know the screen is black, that we can only see these hearts. I said yes, I do know. But that was the beginning of what became the Bold Journeyzz podcast, where I talk about purpose and every situation that we face in our families, our faith and our finances in the civic arena; all of that has impact on our purpose.

I say that my show is a relationship podcast and I cover your relationship, you as a listener and me as the host, your relationship with the world around you, with your creator and absolutely with your purpose. So that’s about all those areas and it really just started from that mission in the hospital and, you know, a transition to Facebook. And then I said, well, I guess I’m going to do this formally and legit. And so I got the RSS feed and trying to work all of the technological stuff that I’m terrible at.

Damianne: [17:19] But you’ve been learning and you’re doing it.

Artisha: [17:21] Yes. And the rest is sort of history. And then, you know, out of that also came the books and other segments of ministry. So I’ve been very, very fortunate, very blessed.

Damianne: [17:35] We’re people of faith. You’re a Christian, I’m Baha’i. For many people of faith, when they start to do something, they look for confirmation at the same time. There are also barriers that we might encounter. And so I’m curious what challenges did you have to overcome once you decided to pursue your purpose?

Artisha: [17:54] There was a lot. And I now have transitioned into coaching. The number one thing that I see in clients is that self-doubt, that nagging inner critic that says you’re not good enough, you don’t have enough money, now’s not the time. No one’s going to want to hear you. Why are you even thinking of that?

Just that little voice that makes you want to doubt yourself. So I did deal with that and what I found is that, again, speaking back to that voice, not just listening. I’ve never been, if you can’t tell, I have a big mouth, I’m very vocal. I’ve never been one to entertain too many one-sided conversations so I’m not gonna let some little dumb voice in my head talk me out of my mission. 

So I began to speak back and I began to literally look in the mirror and tell myself you have something that the world needs. You have a lot to offer and you are on assignment. So I would do that and that just gave me a real confidence, a real glow. Folks would even comment to me when I would go to even the grocery store. I wasn’t doing a lot of outings at the time, but folks, even my family members, would comment that something was different about me. My appearance was different. Things were different, even though I was still ill. 

So navigating health challenges, navigating self-doubt and at the same time, Damianne, also rebuilding my marriage. And again, I’m so, so thankful for my husband. God bless him. We were totally on the outs when I became ill. We were living separately and I personally had planned to keep it that way. I made up in my mind that I had done all that I can do. This wasn’t going the way that I thought and that we needed to part as friends. And if we couldn’t part as friends, then that was fine too. 

Damianne: [20:02] You just knew that parting was in the books?

Artisha: [20:06] Correct. Correct. At least that’s what I thought. And when all of these things started to take place, my husband was at my side every step of the way, absolutely every step of the way, communicating with doctors, right there with my mom and my sister, just everything. 

I think we were both scared straight. We realized in those moments when we could lose each other forever, that that’s not what we wanted, that we wanted to be together. And it was that time that brought us to a place where we were willing to do whatever it took.

I think we had gotten kind of tired or lazy or both, but having to deal with a major medical crisis brought us to a place where we were willing to have those conversations again, willing to make those adjustments. And it’s worked in our favor.

Damianne: [21:02] Your work, since it’s faith based? Does that mean that faith is at the core of it? And so you only work with people who are Christians, for example.

Artisha: [21:12] Thank you so much for asking because that is a common misconception. Because I believe and I know that my faith saved my life, it is the cornerstone of everything that I do. If you look on my social media, you will see that. If you listen to my show, you will see that. If you visit my website, you will see that. But I am all-inclusive.

 I am currently a spiritual mentor to several women. But if someone wants to talk about products and services, especially life coaching, empowerment coaching and purpose discovery coaching, no, they do not have to be a Christian. I will speak to them because this is all founded upon mindset anyway, and your words have power whether you know it or not, and whether you serve the God that I serve or not.

 If anyone would be wanting to work with me and they’re not a Christian or they don’t practice any religion or spirituality, they’re still welcome because my love and light is for them as well. I’m not selfish with it, and I want them to experience the joy and fulfillment in life that I do as well. It would just start as with my other clients; it starts with the mindset and that’s what we’ll center on, mindset and having a fulfilling life.

Damianne: [22:43] How do you help people find their purpose? What does it look like for somebody to work with you?

Artisha: [22:49] In my programming, I always start with a Bold assessment. My coaching arm is Igniting Minds Coaching. So it’s empowerment through mindset shifts. And like the old saying goes, you eat an elephant one bite at a time. So it’s not enough for me to just place an elephant in someone’s lap. It’s like, no, we’re going to cut this down into small, digestible bites.

And so I start with a Bold Assessment and I have two of them that I do within the first 30 days. One is centered on typology and it’s in the vein of like a Myers Briggs sort of a construct. It lets them know that behaviors they’ve exhibited and social activities that they do, that there’s something to that.

And so when they see that data, that tool that I have actually produces a report. When they see that it’s usually very, very mind-blowing for them cause it’s right there in black and white. And then the second assessment that I do is a personal needs assessment and that actually tracks their need for social acceptance versus their need for achievement.

And I’ll tell you this. I did that personal needs assessment with one of my new clients last week. And when I gave her the data, again the two actually gives it a score and let you know if you’re high, medium or low on both of these specific criteria. I told her, without sharing too much I told her that she had scored the lowest in social acceptance that I’ve ever seen. And I did the test on myself first, so she and I were kind of close and it was just amazing to her to know that she really didn’t give a lot of care, a lot of time and attention to what other people thought.

 She was like, okay, wait a minute. You have to translate something for me. What does that mean? 

Damianne: [24:53] Is this good, is this bad?

Artisha: [24:54] Yes. And I was just telling her, no, that is great because when you are trying to navigate a big life change, which she is, that’s what we’re working on, then that lets you know that you’re not going to have a blockage from, let’s say a coworker or even a family member. You’re not going to be very easily talked out of getting your goals accomplished. I told her that was amazing. 

And what I love about what I do is there’s no right or wrong answer. It’s just what you feel at the time and what your goal is for the future and how do we get you there? There are no right or wrong answers. It’s just guided along the path. So it’s absolutely all about mindset and having realistic, measurable goals.

Damianne: [25:44] That makes sense. I was interviewing David Hennessey two episodes ago and we had a similar conversation about how the people in our lives sometimes can actually hold us back if we care a lot about their opinions and what they think about us, because they’re looking out for us. Usually, they don’t want us to get hurt, but that can actually hold our progress back at times.

Artisha: [26:08] That is true because people can have the best intentions in the world and they can get us right along the wrong track. For instance, for me, my family has said for several years, trying to encourage me to have children. Well, I have 15 nieces and nephews. I don’t need any birth children.

 We have enough children running around here, you know, and it’s about just being clear and confident and willing to stand in what you believe is for you because we truly are the architects of our own life. We can build our own reality and we don’t need other things, people picking up the hammer and coming and trying to put up boards and nails for us. We are fully in control.

Damianne: [26:58] There’s a lot of noise and there are a lot of voices that we have to filter out, society, culture, community, many different layers. 

Do you often find that people are surprised by their assessment? Do they find it reaffirming or do they find it surprising when they look at the results of their assessments?

Artisha: [27:19] It runs the gambit. A lot of people are surprised. The report that is generated that I give clients that undergo these assessments is fairly lengthy. I usually take the assessment in one session and give them the results within a couple of days. And then by the next session, which is usually in a week or so, then we spend the whole next session talking about the results. 

And so one client in our followup session, I could tell she had not read the whole thing. And so as the weeks went on, we were discussing something and she was like, okay, wait a minute. Can we please revisit this assessment, because I finally read the whole thing was just like, I didn’t call you out but I know you didn’t read it. 

So they are often surprised at the depth, because again, the report that I give out, it talks about communications skills, it talks about, about strengths or weaknesses and working in teams. It’s really, really inclusive and so it’s really, really a good tool and a lot of times, there are surprises there as well as affirmations. I’ve had clients who, with the working teams part or even careers their typology will work well with and it was a career that they were currently in and they were very pleased with that. It’s just like, okay, I’m not too off base here.

Damianne: [28:55] What surprises you about coaching? What have you found out or what have you discovered in this coaching journey that you did not expect?

Artisha: [29:04] I did not expect to deal with… I don’t want to, this does sound too weird because of course I’m absolutely confidential but what surprises me is the depth of very personal, very sensitive information that clients share with me. And I always have them of course sign off on things and I’m very clear that I am not a mental health professional. Okay. I’m not a counselor. I’m a life coach; that’s completely different.

 But the things that are shared with me and I tell them, you share as much as you like, and they often share more. So that’s been a big surprise for me and they really want some guidance there. They really need me to pull the answers out of them. That’s the thing with coaching is you already have the answers. You just need a guide to help pull them out.

Damianne: [30:06] I’m happy you said that because coaching and psychotherapy, they’re a bit different. Have you ever found that you have to recommend therapy to somebody.

Artisha: [30:16] Absolutely. And I’m very clear about what my lane is and is not. And I tell them and say that is above or beyond my pay grade and so let’s look into getting you some other resources and I haven’t had any resistance there, which has been great.

Damianne: [30:35] Yeah, that’s good because I imagine that’s a great responsibility as well to get people the help that they need because with the focus on people achieving their purpose, if there are barriers to that that have to do with mental health, then certainly it’s necessary for people to find help. 

You emphasize the importance of pushing past pain and fear and tapping into personal power and passion. Why is that so important?

Artisha: [31:02] They are going to be some things that we’re afraid to do and we’ll be surprised at our own achievements, at our own strength if we simply push past the fear into reality. Fear is fake; it’s absolutely not real, but when we dive into what the truth is, the truth of our purpose, the truth of our giftings, our talents and the fact that it is feasible, it is doable to offer those, to provide those.

 And let me say also it may not be for income. If you are, for instance, a writer or even a singer, you may write and make books, pamphlets, information, and what have you for a youth group or church group; you might do that on a voluntary basis. A musician might do performances for the same youth group or church group on a voluntary basis and it will still bring about that fulfillment and that joy in life.

 So we just have to push past that self-doubt and that fear, which is absolutely fake. Be brave in those little moments, just step by step to achieving that purpose, that expected end.

Damianne: [32:21] To that end, what regular activities do you do yourself or do you recommend people do on their journey to overcome fear or to live their purpose?

Artisha: [32:31] Number one is working as though your words have power and being very cognizant of your words that you speak out loud, as well as your thoughts that you meditate on, those lingering thoughts. So, yeah, it’s hard for people to be conscious of it, but practicing mindfulness is very important. So the things that we’re texting, the conversations that we have with our girlfriends and our coworkers, the things that we say when we’re upset, your mind and your body hears those things. You’re always feeding yourself data so why not feed it the good stuff, the healthy stuff, because your word literally impacts what you see and what you can become. So that’s number one. So I practice speaking affirmation every day throughout the day. 

When I was more ill, I was very intent on doing it in the mirror and speaking it directly into myself. Now I’ve probably gotten a little lazy. I speak them out loud, but I’m not necessarily standing, I’m not necessarily in front of a mirror. 

And the other thing is journaling. I do it old school with pen and paper, but writing out those thoughts if you have anxieties and things that you are dealing with, blockages challenges, writing them out. Something about putting it down in black and white, even someone who’s using a device, it’s something about putting it down that makes it real. And then that way you can tackle it so being mindful of what’s coming in our ear gate and our eye gate. So speaking those things and then writing those things, journaling them out and then moving forward in a way to meet those challenges.

Damianne: [34:27] I think some people are afraid that if they write it down, if they speak it out, it becomes more real. And I think what I’m hearing you say is it’s already real. You’re letting it nag you anyway. So by writing it down you’re also giving it less power when you do that than having it on a constant stream running through your head.

Artisha: [34:52] Very well said. That is exactly right. Because like I was saying, that is the point you want it to be real. You didn’t pick your parents. Okay. You didn’t pick what happened to you in your childhood. You didn’t have any control over what happened at that dead-end job or that dead-end past relationship. You felt like you invested time and emotion and you can’t believe this is your life. That’s okay. The good news is it’s a brand new day and you’re in control of the decisions that you make today. And moving forward, you can make a difference. And so speaking those things and writing them down is a very, very powerful activity to make the changes.

Otherwise, we’re just going to have more of the same, right.

Damianne: [35:41] And I think a lot of people nowadays because they hear often about meditation, people might confuse meditation and mindfulness. And so with meditation. I think it’s more about doing things with intention, doing things deliberately. It’s a very silly example, but sometimes you might be eating and all of a sudden you’re like, did I already finish my meal?

What happened to the rest of that sandwich that I was eating. And that is the perfect example of what we don’t want to do. That is the opposite of being mindful, to savor, to experience, to be with the experience.

Artisha: [36:18] Yes. Yes. Mindfulness is absolutely all about intentionality. And that, that was perfect. That was a perfect example. And I’m laughing because that happened to me a couple of weeks ago. And I looked at the plate and I said to my husband, I said, did you eat the rest of my fault? He said, no, you did.

Damianne: [36:38] Well, why do you think I came up with that example? Cause it happens to me too.

Artisha: [36:45] Oh my gosh. That is so funny. Yes.

Damianne: [36:47] So Artisha what resources besides your books, and you have two books Journal for Your Journey and Induction to Power that people can check out. What other resources do you recommend for people interested in change and living a purposeful life.

Artisha: [37:02] I highly recommend anything that – I hope I’m not putting myself out of business – but anything that Brene Brown puts out. Follow her on social media. She’s on our LinkedIn. She has wonderful resources. I borrow things from her a lot.

Damianne: [37:21] And she has a podcast too.

Artisha: [37:22] Yes, and she has a podcast as well. You don’t want any part of the process of mindfulness or starting out on that purpose discovery journey, you don’t want it to be a dredge. You don’t want to be dragging like, Oh God, it’s just one other thing; I hate this.

Damianne: [37:38] Yeah, that sounds so uninspiring. 

Artisha: [37:42] Yes, exactly. It’s supposed to be motivational, inspirational. It’s supposed to be the thing that fires you up, not puts you down. So things that you’re interested in, whether you’re interested in music, art, writing, whatever it is, whether you’re really interested in faith based things, or it could be crafting. One of my colleagues was in a coaching group with me. She is an amazing knitter. So she’s in all kinds of yarn communities and things like that. So there’s literally something out there for everyone. And then in the podcast community, Damianne, you and I have some amazing fellow podcasters out there. If there’s something you’re interested in, I promise you there’s a show about it.

So keeping those things in front of us and getting ideas from folks, that could be something that you’re interested in. You could find a new technique, new terminology, things like that. So I recommend those resources, looking into a podcast or there are so many other free resources for things that you’re specifically interested in.

 Start with Google and just go from there.

Damianne: [38:55] Do you have an invitation or a challenge for listeners, one small step that they can take that will help them live a life in alignment with their purpose or start them on that journey.

Artisha: [39:06] Yes. And this is another one of my kind of mentors in my head that I love, Shark Daymond John??. He says that you have to spend time on your goals every day, whether it’s the first thing in the morning or the last thing at night. So you have to spend, I would say minimum of 15 minutes. I think he recommends more, but keeping your goals before you, that’s one thing that you can do. 

You could be 50 years old out of shape and you always had the dream to be in the NBA. Okay, now we know that that’s not necessarily realistic, but give an honest thought of okay, if that were in my grasp, what do I need to do to get there?

And you just start off by writing five small steps. So it’s like, okay, maybe I’m going to lay off the cheeseburgers, maybe I’m going to actually join the gym. I’m going to go purchase a basketball. It could be that small, but spend some time every day really being mindful and intentional about your goals, preferably writing it down.

Damianne: [40:15] Yeah, I think that’s such important advice because sometimes we put things off until we have more time, until we feel more inspired, until we, we can find a thousand different reasons to put things off. But we see that consistent practice over time yields results. And I’ll give an example from myself.

I’ve been living in the Czech Republic for seven years and I started learning a little bit of Czech my first year, but I thought, Oh, I’m only going to stay here for two years. And I didn’t really bother learning the language. And then I don’t know how, but all of a sudden it was five years, you know how time creeps up on you?

And then I was like, okay, Damianne, this is not two years anymore. You’re still in the Czech Republic; we’ve got to do something about this. And so I started taking classes and part of the barrier is that people told me how difficult Czech is, how difficult it is to learn the numbers, how everything is difficult.

And yes, I find it extremely difficult. Languages do not come naturally to me. It takes a lot of work. Sometimes I feel like I’ve made two steps forward and three steps backward, but guess what? Learning numbers was not that hard.

Out of all of the things that I’ve learned and forgotten, I still know my numbers. And so I have to remind myself that if I do a five-minute lesson as a bare minimum, there are a few words that I learn every day that I did not know the day before.

And every progress is good progress because it’s progress. So I really appreciate that advice to make a list and work on an action towards that goal every day. Thank you for that. 

So now you’re in a situation where you have a captive audience, if you could imagine that with me. What would you recommend that they read, watch or listen to and why? And this could be anything on any topic.

Artisha: [42:25] Oh man, that’s a great question. Um, Hm. Well, of course, I’m going to recommend that they read my books, especially if it’s not necessarily someone who is a faith person, Induction to Power is a personal development book. And if you have ever thought about seeking guidance from a coach, or if you’ve ever worked with a coach before, it is really just a great book to help you think about navigating big life changes and doing something new in your life. 

But outside of that, I’m a big Stephen King fan. One of my favorite books of all time is Misery. And I always tell folks that the movie didn’t do it justice. So that’s like on my recommended reading list; it was just a fabulous book that just pulls you in and it plays like a movie in your head.

You really just get into it. He’s a great writer.

Damianne: [43:25] I’m going to ask the newbie question here. Is it scary?

Artisha: [43:29] It’s more thriller than horror. You’re kind of like, Oh, what’s going to happen next, what’s going to happen next. So you’re not gonna be afraid to go to sleep at night, but you’re going to be kind of shocked, like, Oh my gosh.

Damianne: [43:44] Okay, good to know. I have to confess, I haven’t read any Stephen King. I’ve had a few recommended to me, but I have that idea that Stephen King writes scary books and I haven’t delved in, but I’ll take that recommendation.

Artisha: [44:00] It’s like just enough. You won’t be too freaked out, I promise.

Damianne: [44:03] So you are a podcaster with lots of resources online. I encourage people to check out your podcast, to visit your website. All the links will be in the show notes, as well as all of the links to your social media accounts. What’s your favorite social media platform for connecting with listeners. If people only follow you in one place, where should they go?

Artisha: [44:27] If people only follow… That’s a hard question, Damianne. Because I get the most engagement and I spend the most time on Facebook, folks that really want to engage with me and, you know, want to know what it’s like as far as with the coaching and other things that I personally have going on, it’s definitely Facebook.

 However my, I call them pod fam hashtag pod fam, all of our podcast folks are on Twitter and that’s where I’ve linked with an amazing group of people. And we recommend each other’s shows on a regular basis. But like I said, I spend more time and more engagement on Facebook.

Damianne: [45:14] Any last ideas or thoughts that you would like to share before we end our conversation today?

Artisha: [45:20] As a final thought. I’ll just say that in addition to pushing past fear and tapping into personal power and passion, don’t let anyone at anytime guilt you into doing something that you don’t want to do or guilt or shame you into not doing something that you feel passionate about. Remember you hold the pen, you write your own story.

Damianne: [45:58] Wonderful. Thank you so much for chatting with me today. Artisha 

Artisha: [46:02] It’s been a pleasure.