Podcasts about Slow Down

"Culture is what people do when no one is around… when people don't feel safe to speak up, give feedback, they don't really believe in each other, then you can have a really toxic culture, which impacts everything. If you don't have culture in place, you have no ROI." —Kerri Burchill, PhD   Leaders everywhere are stretched, anxious, and stuck in scarcity, while cultures quietly turn toxic. We talk about the shift from control and "I" language to trust, active listening, and modern leadership that actually unlocks team capacity and profit. Leadership Consultant, Kerri Burchill, PHD, shares a journey from fast-tracked leadership in education to rebuilding culture in the Caribbean and then launching a consulting practice that helps organizations slow down to go fast. Hit play for a grounded conversation on modern leadership and culture today, including: How leadership language shapes trust, safety, and performance The "I" problem and what it reveals about control Humble inquiry and the real skill of active listening Moving from helicopter leadership to true empowerment Scarcity mindset, anxiety, and leadership burnout Why slowing down decision-making can speed up results Practical ways to give teams power without losing standards   Be Inspired! with Daniel:  Website (Makings of a Millionaire Mindset) Website (Daniel Gomez Global) Facebook Facebook Group X Instagram LinkedIn Pinterest YouTube   Episode Highlights: 01:35 Meet Dr. Kerri: From Education to Leadership Consulting 02:24 How Structures Shape Behavior and Culture 07:21 The "I" Problem and Entitled Leadership 11:32 Holding Space and Creating Psychological Safety 16:11 Bottlenecks, Trust, and Profitability in Business 19:53 Leaving Comfort and Redefining Leadership Identity 23:54 Slow Down to Go Fast: New Leadership Mantra 26:09 Managing Scarcity and Mindset as an Entrepreneur 28:51 Transferable Leadership Wins 31:21 Practical Listening Shifts for Sales and Leadership

Today's poem is from Mosaic by Supritha Rajan.The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “When I see the word productivity, it's hard not to see the word product nestled inside it, reminding me again of capitalism. I think we should try to keep whatever we can from getting chewed up — and spit out! — by capitalism. Creativity included. Creativity, especially.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today's poem is Reverse Requiem by Ina Cariño. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today's poem inspired me to learn more about requiems — what they are, how they've evolved, and how we might think of them more broadly and metaphorically.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today's poem is After Dinner by James Ciano. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today's poem reminded me of one of my father's rituals when I was young, one of his ways of taking care of himself. He'd go to the driving range at the local golf center some evenings after dinner to, in his words, ‘hit a bucket of balls.' When we return to our rituals, we bring whoever we are that unique day, and we link it with whoever we've been before. In our rituals, we can find our own wholeness in a fractured world.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

The last regularly scheduled episode of The Boat Galley Podcast is a discussion between Nica and Carolyn on how cruising has changed. Summary Today's episode of The Boat Galley podcast is actually a little different. Welcome to a conversation between Carolyn Shearlock and Nica Waters on changes to cruising in the past few decades. But first, we have some news for you.  We've enjoyed recording this podcast for over 800 episodes over the past eight years. That's a lot of useful information available in short episodes--most less than ten minutes long. If you're new to the podcast, make sure you go back and check out our old content.  Thank you to all our listeners. And also, thank you to our sponsors who have supported us. We reached out to our sponsors because we use and love their products. We're not only grateful for their support of the podcast but also for how they've helped make our own cruising lives easier.  Changes in Cruising Nica first began cruising in the 1990s, and Carolyn began in 2002. Since then, we've seen a lot of changes. One of the biggest has been access to information. With access to satellite-based internet, it's easier to get information than ever. The new challenge is learning to differentiate between useful information and infotainment. GPS Of course, a huge game-changer has been the arrival of GPS. In the early days, it wasn't reliable. Early chart plotters made it appear your boat was on land, and GPS service included a warning that it would only be reliable to five miles.  Nica notes that in her current location in French Polynesia, GPS has made navigation much easier. However, she would not rely on it at night.   Ease of Setting Out Carolyn notes that it used to be typical for cruisers to begin by coastal cruising. They might stay just offshore for five years while they gain the skills required to travel farther afield.  Today, it's easier to set off more quickly. You can connect to the information you need farther from shore. However, it also means some cruisers don't have the experience and skills to rely on if things go wrong.  More cruisers set out with a big goal, like circumnavigating. Carolyn reminds us of Lin Pardey's advice: to keeping going as long as it's fun.  Nica notes that many cruisers are buying larger and more luxurious vessels. That means that they may not have a plan for when their freezer fails or their watermaker needs to be repaired. Skills like knowing how to keep food without refrigeration or how to gather rainwater can help any cruiser if equipment breaks down in a remote location. Redundancy of skills is as important as redundancy in equipment.  Returning to navigation, a cruiser needs to have a plan for if GPS itself becomes unavailable. With paper charts no longer being updated, this becomes a greater challenge.  Carolyn credits her experience as a small boat racer for having the skills to move her boat if something goes wrong. Although she feels self-sufficiency is important, she also expresses gratitude for fellow cruisers who suggested quick fixes when she and Dave were trying to make the perfect repair.  Advice for Cruisers The Boat Galley exists to make cruising easier and more fun. So it's time to share some advice.  Flexibility Nica and Carolyn agree that mental flexibility and the ability to slow down are among the most important traits for any cruiser. The theme music of the podcast expresses this key. It's titled "Slow Down." Stay Curious and Open to Adventure   There will be days when you feel tired or homesick. But if you keep that curiosity and sense of adventure, whether you're sailing in familiar waters or farther ashore, you'll be enjoying the best benefits of cruising.  Carolyn reminds us that you can't plan for everything. That's actually the definition of adventure--not knowing what will happen next.   Not everything will look like a YouTube video. You'll experience highs and lows. But most of cruising is the mundane middle--washing dishes, moving stuff around to reach other stuff, etc.  Farewell Carolyn and Nica are proud of all the work they've done on the podcast, providing useful tips for others. They love hearing from listeners and look forward to sharing more about this amazing lifestyle.  Subscribe to the Boat Galley Newsletter! - https://theboatgalley.com/newsletter-signup-2 Today's episode of The Boat Galley Podcast is sponsored by MantusMarine.com, maker of the Mantus anchor, now available in models with and without a roll bar. Proven to set reliably in the most challenging bottoms, the Mantus anchor digs like no other, making anchoring safer and boating more enjoyable. Mantus Marine brings to market practical, durable and affordable marine products, including: anchoring gear, scuba diving accessories, and rechargeable waterproof headlamp for hands-free lighting and solar charging Navigation light. Visit MantusMarine.com and see for yourself!  Links: Lin and Larry Pardey Books (Amazon) - https://amzn.to/4rw1B07 Nica email - nica@fit2sail.com Carolyn email - carolyn@theboatgalley.com Click to see all podcast sponsors, past and present. - https://bit.ly/3idXto7 Music: "Slow Down" by Yvette Craig  

Today's poem is If Night You Were a City by Adam Wiedewitsch. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I've always loved myths, legends, fables, and fairy tales. When I was young, the myth of Icarus was one that captured my imagination.”Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today's poem is Surety by Anna Zumbahlen. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Writing is a way of memorizing moments. I know this. I do this. Because a poem can act as a portal, taking me back to a specific time and place. So often, mid-experience, I start to sense the poetic possibility of the moment. I find myself making a metaphor or grasping for imagery and descriptive language. I'm half living in the present, half processing this moment's future on the page.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Ever feel like you're doing everything right — but still feel overwhelmed inside? In this episode, Anna talks with psychotherapist and anxiety expert Tati Garcia about the hidden experience of high-functioning anxiety. While it often looks like success from the outside, many high achievers quietly struggle with pressure, overthinking, and the fear of slowing down. In this conversation, Anna and Tati unpack what high-functioning anxiety really looks like, how anxiety can show up physically even when you're not consciously worried, and the first small step to breaking the cycle. Apply for a free time management coaching session: freetimecall.com. Full shownotes: abouttimepodcast.com/316

The internet loves fast success stories—photographers hitting six figures in their first year, booking out their calendars overnight, or going viral from one random post. But what if building a photography business slowly is actually the better path?Alyssa talks honestly about the pressure photographers feel to grow quickly on social media, the unrealistic expectations often promoted in the photography industry, and how chasing rapid success can lead to burnout—especially for moms raising young children or homeschooling.You'll hear practical encouragement for photographers and creative entrepreneurs who want to build a sustainable business without sacrificing their families. Alyssa explains how redefining success, setting boundaries around sessions and work hours, and building a business that fits your season of life can create long-term stability and peace.If you're a photographer, creative business owner, or mom entrepreneur feeling pressure to keep up with the internet's definition of success, this episode will remind you that slow growth is not failure—it's often the foundation for a meaningful and lasting business.Topics discussed in this episode:Slow growth in a photography businessWork-life balance for photographersBuilding a sustainable creative business as a momAvoiding burnout in the photography industryRedefining success while raising childrenHow motherhood changes entrepreneurshipSometimes the goal isn't building the fastest growing business.Sometimes the goal is building a life that actually matters.Follow along on Instagram HERE

Emotional Anger After Stroke: Trisha Winski’s Story of a Carotid Web, Aphasia, and Learning to Slow Down Trisha Winski was 46 years old, working as a corporate finance director, with no high blood pressure, no diabetes, and no smoking history. By every conventional measure, she was not a stroke candidate. Then one morning, she stood up from the bathroom, collapsed, and couldn’t speak. Her ex-husband, sleeping on her couch by chance the night before, found her and called 911. The cause was a carotid web, a rare congenital condition she never knew she had. Three years and three months later, she’s living with aphasia, rebuilding her sense of self, and navigating something that doesn’t get nearly enough airtime in stroke conversations: emotional anger after stroke. What Is a Carotid Web — and Why Does It Matter? A carotid web is a rare shelf-like membrane in the internal carotid artery that disrupts blood flow, causing stagnation and clot formation. It is a form of intimal fibromuscular dysplasia and affects approximately 1.2% of the population. Most people never know they have it. Unlike the more commonly cited stroke risk factors, such as hypertension, diabetes, smoking, and obesity, a carotid web is congenital. You are born with it. There is no lifestyle adjustment that would have prevented Trisha’s stroke. That distinction matters enormously when you are trying to make sense of what happened to you. “I have nothing that could cause it,” Trisha says. “No blood pressure, no diabetes. It’s hard.” The treating hospital, MGH in Boston, caught the carotid web, something Trisha was later told many hospitals would have missed. It is a reminder of how much diagnosis still depends on the right clinician, the right technology, and a degree of luck.   Why Am I So Angry After My Stroke? One of the most underexplored dimensions of stroke recovery is emotional anger, not just grief, not just fear, but a specific kind of rage that has no clean target. “Why me? Why did I have to have it? It’s frustrating. It’s so frustrating,” Trisha says. “I’m just mad. I don’t know who I’m mad at.” This is a clinically recognized phenomenon. Emotional dysregulation after stroke can have both neurological and psychological origins. The brain regions that govern emotional control may be directly affected by the injury. At the same time, the psychological weight of sudden, unearned loss of function, of identity, of a future you thought you understood is enough to generate profound anger in anyone. For people like Trisha, who had no risk factors and no warning, the anger is compounded. There is no behaviour to regret, no choice to unwind. The stroke simply happened. That can make the anger feel even more directionless and, paradoxically, even more consuming. “Why me? Why did I have to have it? It’s frustrating. It’s so frustrating.” Bill’s gentle reframe in the conversation is worth noting here: “Why not me? Who are you to go through life completely unscathed?” It’s not a dismissal, it’s an invitation to move from the question that has no answer to the one that might.   Aphasia: The Deficit That Hurts the Most Trisha’s stroke affected her left hemisphere, producing aphasia, a language processing difficulty that affects word retrieval, word substitution, and speaking speed. Her numbers remained largely intact, which helped her return to her finance role. But the aphasia has been, in her own words, the hardest part. “If I didn’t have that, I wouldn’t be normal, but I could be normal,” she says. “The aphasia kills me.” One of the quieter consequences of aphasia that Trisha describes is self-censoring, stopping herself from communicating in public because she fears taking too long, disrupting the flow of conversation, or being misunderstood. She has developed a workaround: telling people upfront she has had a stroke, so they give her the time she needs to get her words out. The frustration-aphasia loop is well documented: the more stressed or frustrated a person becomes, the worse the aphasia tends to get. The therapeutic implication is significant. Managing emotional anger after a stroke is not just a well-being issue for someone with aphasia; it is directly tied to their ability to communicate. “Whenever I’m not stressed, I can get it out. When I get nervous, I can’t,” Trisha explains.   The Trauma Ripple: It’s Not Just About You One of the most striking moments in this episode is when Trisha reflects on her son Zach and ex-husband Jason, both of whom were visibly distraught in the days after her stroke. “I had a stroke. Why are they traumatized?” she says and then catches herself. “I forgot to look at it from their perspective. They watched me have a stroke.” This is something stroke survivors frequently underestimate. The people around them, partners, children, friends, even ex-partners like Jason, carry their own version of the trauma. They watched helplessly. They made decisions under panic. They grieved a version of the person they knew, even as that person survived. Acknowledging this doesn’t diminish the stroke survivor’s experience. It widens the frame of recovery to include the whole system and opens the door to conversations about collective healing.   Neuroplasticity Is Real — Give It Time Three years and three months after her stroke, Trisha’s message to people in the early stages of recovery is grounded and honest. “Neuroplasticity really does exist. My brain finds places to find the words I never had before. It takes longer, but it gets there. Just give yourself time.” She also reflects candidly on going back to work too early, returning before she was medically cleared, crying every day, and unable to follow her own cognitive processes. “I should have waited,” she says. “But I did it. It taught me that if I ever had it again, I won’t do that.” Recovery after stroke is non-linear, unglamorous, and deeply personal. But the brain is adapting, always. Trisha’s story is evidence of that and a reminder that emotional anger after a stroke, however consuming it feels, is not the end of the story.   Read Bill’s book on stroke recovery: recoveryafterstroke.com/book | Support the show: patreon.com/recoveryafterstroke  DisclaimerThis blog is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please consult your doctor before making any changes to your health or recovery plan. Why Me? Navigating Emotional Anger After Stroke When You Did Nothing Wrong No risk factors. No warning. Just a carotid web she never knew about — and three years of emotional anger, aphasia, and finding her way back. Tiktok Instagram Facebook Highlights: 00:00 Introduction – Emotional anger after stroke 01:36 The Day of the Stroke 07:05 Post-Stroke Challenges and Rehabilitation 13:06 Ongoing Health Concerns and Medical Appointments 22:40 Navigating Health Challenges and Medical Support 30:20 Acceptance and Coping with Mortality 38:36 Communication Challenges and Aphasia 42:09 The Journey of Recovery and Self-Discovery 51:51 Facing the Aftermath of Stroke 59:22 Emotional Impact on Loved Ones 01:04:57 Navigating Life Changes 01:13:25 Finding Joy in New Passions 01:25:12 Trisha’s Journey: Emotional Anger After Stroke Transcript: Introduction – Emotional anger after stroke Trisha Lyn Winski (00:00) I don’t have anything that could cause it. I have nothing that, no blood pressure, no diabetes, It’s hard. It’s hard. don’t… It makes me mad. Really mad. Really, really mad that I to stroke. And like, everyone that has it… Bill Gasiamis (00:07) Yeah. Trisha Lyn Winski (00:21) or every dozen. I’m like, why me? Why did I have to have it? It’s frustrating. It’s so frustrating. Bill Gasiamis (00:28) Yeah, mad at who? Trisha Lyn Winski (00:30) I don’t know. I’m just mad. Like, I don’t know who I’m mad at. Bill Gasiamis (00:35) Before we get into Trisha’s story, and this is a raw, honest, and really important one, I wanna share a tool I’ve been using that I think can genuinely help stroke survivors get better answers faster. It’s called Turn2.ai. It’s an AI health sidekick that helps you deep dive into any burning question you have about your recovery. It searches across over 500,000 sources related to stroke, new research, expert discussions, patient stories and resources, and then keeps you updated on what matters each week. I use it myself and it’s my favorite tool of 2026 for staying current with what’s happening in stroke recovery. It’s low cost and completely patient first. Try it free and when you’re ready to subscribe, use my code, Bill10 at slash sidekick slash stroke to get a discount. I earn a small commission if you use that link at no extra cost to you. And that helps keep this podcast going. Also my book, The Unexpected Way That a Stroke Became the Best Thing That Happened is available at recoveryafterstroke.com/book. And if you’d like to support the show on Patreon and my goal of reaching a thousand episodes, you can do that by going to patreon.com/recoveryafterstroke. Links are in the show notes. Right, Trisha Winsky was 46 years old, healthy, had no risk factors and then a carotid web. She never knew she had changed everything. Let’s get into it. Bill Gasiamis (02:06) Trisha Winski, welcome to the podcast. Trisha Lyn Winski (02:09) Thank you. Bill Gasiamis (02:10) Also thank you for joining me so late. I really appreciate people hanging around till the late hours of the evening to join me on the podcast. I know it’s difficult for us to make the hours that suit us both. I’m in the daytime here in Australia and you’re in the nighttime there. Trisha Lyn Winski (02:27) Yeah. Yeah. It’s okay. I can come to you later. Yeah, it’s late. Bill Gasiamis (02:34) As a stroke survivor, is it too late? Trisha Lyn Winski (02:36) No, no, not at all. Bill Gasiamis (02:38) Okay, cool. Tell me a little bit about what you used to get up to. What was life like before the stroke? Trisha Lyn Winski (02:45) I just get up and get to work. deal with it all day, come home, I’d go to the restaurant, the bars, my friends, and then like I had a stroke and everything changed. Everything changed in an instant. Bill Gasiamis (03:00) How old were you in the district? Trisha Lyn Winski (03:02) I was 46. Bill Gasiamis (03:04) And before that, were you in a family, married, do you have kids, any of that stuff? Trisha Lyn Winski (03:08) I have a kid. Now he’s 28. He was 25 when I had it. I was married before, but like a long time ago. Actually, my ex found me when I had a serve. So he’s the one who found me. But so yeah, that’s all I have here. My mom passed away in November. So it’s been challenging. Yeah. Bill Gasiamis (03:30) Dramatic, ⁓ Sorry to hear that. how many years ago was a stroke? Trisha Lyn Winski (03:37) ⁓ It’s three years and three months. Bill Gasiamis (03:41) Yeah. What were you focused on back then? What were the main goals in your life? Was it just working hard? Was it getting to a certain time in your career? What was the main goal? Trisha Lyn Winski (03:50) I think I working hard, but I just wanted to get to a good place in my career. And I think I was in a good place. Now I second guess at all time because I’ve had strokes now, it doesn’t matter what happens. I’m always second guessing it. But I was in a good place. I just felt like I needed to make them better. And the stroke happened and I so didn’t. Bill Gasiamis (04:17) What kind of work did you do? Trisha Lyn Winski (04:18) I was the corporate finance director for an auto group. Bill Gasiamis (04:22) A lot of hours was it like crazy hours or was just regular hours. Trisha Lyn Winski (04:26) No, I worked a lot of hours, but in the end he wanted me work like 40, 50 hours a week. I couldn’t do that. 50 hours a week was killing me, but 40 was enough. Yeah. Bill Gasiamis (04:37) Yeah. Were, did you consider yourself healthy? Was there any signs that you were unwell, that there was a stroke kind of on the horizon? Trisha Lyn Winski (04:46) No, nothing, The day before this, had, my eye was like, I want to say it’s twitching, but it wasn’t twitching. It was doing something like odd. And I didn’t realize that until I had a TIA recently, but I realized it then. It’s, how can I explain it? It’s like a clear, a blonde shape in my eye. it, when I move, it goes with me. And I try to see around it, I can’t see around it. And I said to Gary, I worked with him, was like, I’m gonna have to go to hospital. This continues. can’t see.” And then it went away. And that’s the only symptom I had. Only symptom. And he said, no, I should told you that you might be having a stroke. like, even if you told me that, I never believed him. Never. Bill Gasiamis (05:23) Hello? Yeah. When you’re, and it went away and you didn’t have a chance to go see anyone about it. Trisha Lyn Winski (05:37) Yeah, it went away in like, honestly, like five minutes. So I didn’t see anybody, but I thought it was okay. I mean, I guess now that I’m looking back at it, it’s kind of odd. It’s one eye, but I felt like it was gone. I don’t know. yeah. No, you don’t. Bill Gasiamis (05:55) Yeah. How could you know? mean, no one knows these things. And, and then on the day of the stroke, what happened? Was there any kind of lead up? Did you notice not feeling well during that day? And then the stroke, what was it like? Trisha Lyn Winski (06:09) No, so I get up like every other day to go to work. I went in the bathroom and the night before that Jason said Jason’s ex-ad he stayed at my house because he needed need a place to stay because he couldn’t go out Zach again. I was like okay we’ll sleep in my couch I’m gonna go to work tomorrow but you can sleep here. So he was there and I think if he wasn’t there I would have died. Post-Stroke Challenges and Rehabilitation Makes me sad. Um, anyway, so when I woke up I went to bathroom and I stood up from the toilet and I like I fell over and I I didn’t even realize it. So I fresh my face in like five places when I fell and I didn’t even I didn’t even know it my whole side was numb. So I didn’t feel it. And Jason, you know, helped me to bed. I thought he helped me to bed. He didn’t he like drug me to bed. He got in the bed and then I… He came back in like five minutes later, are you okay? Like he knew something was wrong. And I couldn’t articulate to him. So I said, I’m fine, I’m fine. I’m gonna go to work. So he put the phone in my hand to call my boss. And he came back in like five minutes later and I… He put it in my right hand so I didn’t call anybody. And he said, my God, I’ll never forget this. He said, my God, you’re having a stroke. And I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t talk. I just… Yeah, I could hear him say that, but I couldn’t talk to him. It’s… It’s really scary. Like, even talking right now, like… It upsets me. Bill Gasiamis (07:37) but you can hear him say that. This is really raw for you, isn’t it? Yeah, understand. went through very similar things like trying to speak about it and getting it out of my self and trying to, you know, bring it into the world and get it off my shoulders. Like often brought me to tears and made it really difficult for me to have a meaningful conversation with anyone about it. Trisha Lyn Winski (08:07) It does. Bill Gasiamis (08:09) There’s small blessings there with you, okay? All happened when for whatever reason your ex was in the house and was able to attend you. It’s an amazing thing that that is even possible ⁓ considering how some breakups go and how possible. Yeah. Yeah. And so he called 911 and got you to hospital. Is that how you ended up in hospital? Trisha Lyn Winski (08:15) I know. We’re good friends, it was a challenge. Yes. So they ended up taking me to MGH, it’s a hospital right down the street from me. ⁓ But he’s not from here, he’s from Pennsylvania. he didn’t know where to me, like, just has to go to the hospital. So they knew when they came up. So MGH is like known for their strokes, they’re like really good at strokes. ⁓ And so that’s where they plan on taking me. Bill Gasiamis (09:01) Yeah. And do you get a sense of what happened when you were in the hospital? Do you have any kind of recollection of what was going on? Trisha Lyn Winski (09:11) I honestly, in the first week, no. I remember seeing, in the first day, I saw Zach, my son, and Zach, his brother Connor was in there too, and Jason, they all were there with me when I woke up. But I saw them, and I saw my friend Matt, and then that’s all I remember seeing. I remember seeing my mom on the third day. I’m in jail on this third day, but that’s about it. Bill Gasiamis (09:41) Yeah. And then did you have deficits? couldn’t feel one of your sides? Did that come back, whole problem, that whole challenge? Trisha Lyn Winski (09:50) So the right side, it came back, but it came back like sporadically. So I just kind of want to come back. So the first day I saw Matt and I put up my arm to talk to him and I couldn’t like put my arm out. So I just like tap my arm. ⁓ Now I can move my arm fully, but I can’t, I don’t have the dexterity in my arm. So I can’t like. I can’t flip an egg with this hand. it’s like this and then this is like that. I can’t do this. ⁓ And my right foot has spasticity in it. then the three toes on the side, I could curl them up all the time. Bill Gasiamis (10:36) Okay, next. Trisha Lyn Winski (10:37) and I did botox for it, nothing helps. Bill Gasiamis (10:40) huh. Okay. Have you heard of cryo-neuralysis? Trisha Lyn Winski (10:42) yeah, yeah, I got that back. Bill Gasiamis (10:45) You got cryo-neuralysis? Trisha Lyn Winski (10:47) No, what are you saying? Bill Gasiamis (10:49) That’s spasticity treatment. Cryo-neurolosis, it’s a real weird long word. There’s a dude in Canada that ⁓ started a procedure to help freeze a nerve and it expands the ⁓ tendons or something around that and it decreases spasticity and it lasts longer than Botox. Trisha Lyn Winski (10:50) ⁓ no. Okay. ⁓ yeah, you need to give me his name. We’re gonna talk. That’s I went twice to have it done. ⁓ it didn’t help at all. And I met, I met the guy, ⁓ the diarist, diarist ⁓ at the hospital. And he said, I didn’t think it was, it was going to work. I’m like, it’s the first I saw you. And he was like, I saw you and you had the shirt. I’m like, okay. I saw a million people that we can’t, I don’t remember who they are. Bill Gasiamis (11:20) Okay. Yeah. All right. So I’m going to put a link to the details for cryo-neuralysis in the show notes. ⁓ you and I will communicate after the podcast episode is done. And I’ll send you the details because there’s this amazing new procedure that people are raving about that seems to provide more relief than Botox in a lot of cases, and it lasts longer. And it’s basically done by freezing the nerve or doing something like that to the nerve. in an injection kind of format and then it releases the spasticity makes it improve. ⁓ well worth you looking into it, especially if you’re in the United States and it’s in Canada. ⁓ I know that doctor is training people in the United States and around the world. So there might be some people closer to you than Canada that you can go and chat about. Yeah. And how long did you spend in hospital in the end? Trisha Lyn Winski (12:28) Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. I love it. four weeks. Yeah. So the first, the first week I was at MGH, ⁓ they kept me for longer in the ICU because I had hemorrhagic conversion, transformation, whatever it’s called. I, you know what that is? Well, that went from the, I can’t think of what I was trying to say. Bill Gasiamis (12:40) for weeks. Ongoing Health Concerns and Medical Appointments Trisha Lyn Winski (13:05) It went from the aneurysm to the, not the aneurysm, the. Bill Gasiamis (13:09) The carotid artery. The clot, ⁓ Trisha Lyn Winski (13:11) ⁓ yes. Yeah, carotid artery and went to my brain. So I my brain bleed for a couple of days, but not like bleed, bleed, but it showed blood. So they kept me in it for longer. Bill Gasiamis (13:23) Okay. And then did you go straight home? Did you go to rehab? What was that like? Trisha Lyn Winski (13:29) I went to rehab for three weeks. And I sobbed my eyes out. So at that point I was like, I was good, but I wasn’t at all good, but I thought I was good. I said, I wanna go home, I wanna go home. My son can, he teach me all, do all this stuff, I gotta go home. Now that I’m past it, there’s no way he could tell me, no way. I couldn’t tie my shoes. Bill Gasiamis (13:34) three weeks. And when you came home, were people living with you? Trisha Lyn Winski (13:56) So he’s. No, nobody was living with but he had to come move in with me for three months. Bill Gasiamis (14:06) Yeah, your son, yeah. What was that like? Trisha Lyn Winski (14:07) Yeah. Here’s my proxid. I mean, honestly, at the time it was fine because I slept all the time. I slept like, God, I would go to bed like seven, 730 at night. And I was sleeping until like, at least, some sort of next day. I’d get up for a few hours, do what I had to do, and then fall back asleep. But just, I slept for a lot. So it was okay then. But come to the end of it, I’m like, okay, it’s time for you at your place. I need my space again, but yeah, he’s yeah, I need to have my own space. But at the time I know I need to rest. Yeah, I do. Yeah. ⁓ Bill Gasiamis (14:36) Yeah. and you need somebody around anyway. It’s important to have something near you if you’re unwell. Do they know what caused the stroke? Trisha Lyn Winski (14:53) ⁓ So I had a karate web. means that… ⁓ It’s really, it’s really rare. Only like 1.2 % of the whole population has it and I had it. It’s co-indentinob… co-ind… it’s… so I got it I was born. Bill Gasiamis (15:11) Yep, congenital. Trisha Lyn Winski (15:13) congenital, but they don’t know. I said that that would make it so much sense that they did a scan of your whole body at some point. I would have known that I had that years ago, but I didn’t know it. Bill Gasiamis (15:26) I don’t know what to look like, what to look for. The thing about scans, the whole body, my good friend of mine, the guy who helped me out when I was in hospital, he’s a radiographer and he does MRIs and all that kind of stuff. And he used to do my MRIs happened to be my friend happened to be working at the hospital that I was at. And he used to come and see me all the time. And I said to him, can we do a scan, you know, a preventative scan and check out, you know, my whole body? And he said, well, we can, but Trisha Lyn Winski (15:28) I know. Yeah. Bill Gasiamis (15:53) What are we looking for? I said, I don’t know anything. He said, well, we could, we could find a heap of things or we could find nothing. And if we don’t know what we’re looking for, we can’t set our scanners to the particular, settings to find the thing that you’re looking for. Because one scanner looks for hundreds of different things and the settings for to look for that thing has to be set into the scanner. And that’s only when people have a suspicion that you might have X thing. Trisha Lyn Winski (16:09) Yeah. Bill Gasiamis (16:23) then they set the scanner to find X thing and then they’ll look for it then they find it. He said, well, if we go in and do whole body scan, but we don’t even know what resolution to set it, how long to do the scan for. We don’t know what we’re looking for. So we don’t know what to do. And you have to be able to guide me and say, I want you to look for, in my case, a congenital arteriovenous malformation. In your case, carotid web. And in anyone else’s case is an aneurysm or whatever, but a general scan. Trisha Lyn Winski (16:38) Yeah. Bill Gasiamis (16:53) Like it’s such a hard thing to do for people. then, and then sometimes you said you find things that people do have unexpectedly because they go in for a different scan and then you discover something else. But now they’ve got more information about something that’s quite unquote wrong with them. And it’s like, what do you do with that information? Do I do a procedure to get rid of it? Do I, do I leave it there? Do I monitor it? Like, do I worry about it? Do I not worry about it? Trisha Lyn Winski (16:56) Yeah. Bill Gasiamis (17:21) is that it throws a big kind of curve ball out there and then no one knows how to react to it, how to respond. So it’s a big deal for somebody to say, can we have a whole body scan so we can work out what are all the things wrong with me? Trisha Lyn Winski (17:38) I it’s true, but I think that for me, most people have a carotid web. It’s obvious. know how old you are, it’s obvious. So then in that regard, like a carotid web, it looks a little indentured in the bloodstream. looks a little indentured in your artery. So I think that they would have seen it, but… ⁓ Bill Gasiamis (18:02) I love her. Trisha Lyn Winski (18:06) But then again, I don’t know. The hospital I went to, he said, you’re lucky you came here because most hospitals would have missed us. and I’m like, Bill Gasiamis (18:15) because they probably didn’t have the technology to find it. Trisha Lyn Winski (18:17) I don’t know. when I came to, it wasn’t months later, but I saw it on the scan. like, ⁓ it’s right there. ⁓ He said, yeah, but I thought it would be obvious, but it’s not so obvious. Bill Gasiamis (18:33) I just did a Google search for it and it says a carotid web is a rare shelf like membrane type narrowing in the internal carotid artery, specifically arising from the posterior wall of the carotid bulb. It is a form of intimal fibromuscular dysplasia that causes blood to stagnate forming clots that can lead to recurrent often severe ischemic strokes. Okay. So it causes blood to stay stagnant in that particular location causing clots. And you in the time we’ve been communicating, which is only in the last three or four weeks, you even sent me a message saying you just had an S you just had a TIA. ⁓ how come you’re still having clots? they not treating you or Trisha Lyn Winski (19:20) Yeah. No, I think they so they gave me um a scent in my re to kind of write that I don’t know why I had it cuz um, but my eye was like acting crazy again Just one eye and I I didn’t want to go to the hospital. I I don’t want the hospital at all for anything if I have if I don’t have to go I’m not going to hospital I Text Jason and Zach and they’re like no you have to go like I’ll wait a little while so Meanwhile, I was waiting a little while because I didn’t want to go and then I listened to ⁓ a red chat chat GBT He said no you have to go right now. Here’s why I’m like Now it’s like five hours later. I’m Sorry, so I went but and they said that I have ⁓ It’s likely I had a clot They don’t know where it came from though. So that’s that’s the thing is it’s confusing and by the way I think there’s something to be said about ⁓ I think if you have a stroke You can have one again easier than somebody who didn’t. I didn’t know that, but I learned it quickly. ⁓ So they said I had it, maybe went up in my eye, but it broke apart before it became an actual stroke. But I don’t know. Bill Gasiamis (20:41) thing. I love that you didn’t want to go and you ignored the male influences in your life, but you listen to chat. Trisha Lyn Winski (20:50) Thank you. I did, I did. They’re so smart. they say, I find on Google anyway. So that I listened to ChatGVT, it was like, I don’t know. And I know that like… Bill Gasiamis (21:05) You know that that’s kind of mental. Trisha Lyn Winski (21:08) It is actually, but I know that like my son is actually really smart and I think that they, but I didn’t listen him. I just listened to Chad Judy. Bill Gasiamis (21:18) Yeah. Anyhow, I love that you went in the end because, ⁓ and why don’t you want to go like, you just hate doctors and hospitals and that kind of thing? They saved you, didn’t they? Didn’t they save you? Didn’t they help you? Trisha Lyn Winski (21:29) There was? Yeah, but I don’t know. I think I spent so much time in there. ⁓ I don’t know. It’s in my head. I don’t like to sit in hospitals because of that. So after having the stroke, I stayed in hospital for month. I got out. I went back in like two weeks. I fell over twice. They thought that’s why. So when I was in hospital, something like they go Vegas something is pretty common. And I was like, okay, I did want to go then. I did want to go and then Zach made me. And then two months later, I went in to get the stint. And at that time I got a period. So it’s a long story. But I said to the doctor, I’m like, well, I’ll be okay. Does it do anything else because of this? He’s like, no, you should be fine. But if it gets bad, you have to go the hospital. he got bad. I almost died. I almost died from that. And that made me traumatized because I was awake and alive for all of it. I saw it all and passed out like six times in like three, I don’t know how many days, like five days. Yeah, but. Navigating Health Challenges and Medical Support Bill Gasiamis (22:46) Yeah. The challenge with something going wrong in hospital is that it’s less likely to be as dramatic as something going wrong at home. And that’s the thing, right? If you haven’t got help, then the chances that your stroke cause you way more deficits. That’s like so much worse. The best place for you to be is somewhere other than at home because you don’t want to risk being at home alone when something goes wrong and then you’re home alone. Trisha Lyn Winski (23:04) Yeah. Bill Gasiamis (23:15) when the blood flow has stopped to your head for a lot of hours. Like it could kill you, it make you more disabled and it could do all sorts of things. it’s like, but I get the whole, what is it like? It’s kind of like an anxiety about medical people and hospitals and stuff like that. Trisha Lyn Winski (23:20) Yeah. Yeah. I think that it’s mostly like I don’t like to stay there. I got a weird thing about this. I don’t like to stay there. I can stay anywhere I go, but the hospital really bothered me. I think that they were actually pretty good to me. So I’m not mad at them for that. ⁓ But I don’t want to see them now if I can possibly help it. Bill Gasiamis (23:54) Yeah, you’re done with them. Trisha Lyn Winski (23:56) I’m totally done. Bill Gasiamis (23:58) Yeah, I get it. I got, I got to that stage. My dramas were like three or four years worth of, you know, medical appointments, scans, surgery, rehab. Trisha Lyn Winski (24:07) Oh my god. Medical appointments. Medical appointments, forget it. They’re like, oh my god. I have so many of them, I can’t even say it. Bill Gasiamis (24:11) Yeah. I hear you. hear you. went through the same thing and then I got over it. now lately I’ve been going back to the hospital and seeing medical doctors for, um, not how I haven’t got heart issues, my, I’ve got high blood pressure and they don’t know what’s causing it. And, know, I’ve had my heart checked. I’ve had my arteries checked. I’ve had all these tests, blood tests, MRIs, the whole lot, and it’s getting a little bit old, you know, like I’m over it. But the truth is without them, I don’t. I don’t have a hope. Like if my blood pressure goes through the roof, you know, which had been, had been sitting at 170 over 120, 130. And I have a brain hemorrhage because of uh, high blood pressure. know what a brain hemorrhage is like, you know, I don’t want to have another one. So I’m like, I am going to, uh, I’m going to shut up, go through it and be grateful that I have medical support. Um, which, which Trisha Lyn Winski (24:55) Yeah. I know. Yeah. Bill Gasiamis (25:14) You know, a lot of people don’t get to have, it’s like, whatever, you know, I’ll cop it. I’ll cop it. I’ll go. And hopefully they can get ahead of it. So now they’re just changing my medication. I want to get to the bottom of it. Why have I got high blood pressure? The challenge with the medical system that I have is, is they just tell you, you have it and here’s something to stop it from being high. But I, they never say to you, we’re going to investigate why, like we’re going to try to get to the bottom of it. Trisha Lyn Winski (25:16) Yeah. Yeah. Bill Gasiamis (25:40) and I’ve been pushing them to investigate why do I have high blood pressure. Trisha Lyn Winski (25:44) sure. So I don’t have, I never had high blood pressure but speaking of I’ve, I don’t have a problem with my heart but they, so that when I had this for the first time they made me get out and have to, I had to wear a heart monitor for a month and I said like why am I wearing a heart monitor? There was something, they, I don’t know what it is. Bill Gasiamis (25:51) Yeah. Trisha Lyn Winski (26:13) Afib or something like that in there. And this time was the same thing. had heart bars over there right now. I had to send it back and they’re gonna send me new one. every time I’ve taken my heart test, and by the went for EKG just the other day. It was fine. But they found like something near my heart rate, it’s not like I need to be concerned about these. It’s nothing I need to be concerned about. So I was like, okay. They’re making you wear that for a month. Anyway. Bill Gasiamis (26:46) Yeah, just to go through things, just to check things, just to work some stuff out. Trisha Lyn Winski (26:47) Yeah. Yeah, yeah, this month I have ton, I have like seven appointments. Bill Gasiamis (26:56) Yeah, I used to forget my appointments all the time, even though I had him in my calendar, even though I had reminders, I just, even though I got reminded on the day, an hour before, two hours before, he meant nothing to me. I would just completely forget about him. Trisha Lyn Winski (26:59) me too. Me too. Same thing. I forgot all of it. And I had to share it with Zach and he could tell me, have an appointment. Like, okay. I forgot. He’s like, have an appointment. I’m like, fuck, I have to go. Bill Gasiamis (27:13) Yeah. How long did it take you to get back to work? Trisha Lyn Winski (27:28) I at least I went back to work. I went back to work before I was told I could go back to work. And I wrote them an email like, listen, I can’t sit at home and run one fucking freeze. I need to do something. So I went back to work. ⁓ And at first I went back to work part time. And honestly, like I cried. I left there crying every day. And not because I think that I. Not because of people. don’t think it was the people. I couldn’t understand. My head was like… I couldn’t focus and put all that work into my… I couldn’t put it into me. So I couldn’t understand what I was doing. And then you give them a month. Eventually I got it, but it was a struggle. I should have waited until October. And they said I should go back in October. Maybe I could go back in October. I should have waited until then. Bill Gasiamis (28:22) Yeah. Do you kind of like a nervous energy type of person? Do you can’t sit still or is it like, can’t spend a lot of time on your own with yourself? Like, is it? Trisha Lyn Winski (28:34) I can spend a lot of time by myself. don’t like to ⁓ here by myself. I can be by myself. I don’t like to be… I can’t think of… What did you say before? Bill Gasiamis (28:48) Is it just downtime? Is it the downtime? it too much? Did you have too much downtime? Trisha Lyn Winski (28:52) Yes, definitely too much downtime. But I couldn’t see I was sitting at home and Zach was there, whatever he was doing. was like, I can’t, I need to do something. So I went to work and in all reality, I should have walked around. should have, I didn’t do that. Bill Gasiamis (29:04) Yeah. Yeah. How did your colleagues find you when you went back? Did they kind of appreciate what you had been through? Was that easy to have those conversations? What was it like? Trisha Lyn Winski (29:21) Yeah, so I oversaw all the finances department. ⁓ They were actually like, honestly like rock stars. They were like really, really good to me. ⁓ That was helpful. because I love them anyway. it made me feel good to say that that’s what I’m doing. ⁓ But I still left there and cried. Not because like I think that I just couldn’t understand it. They were good to me. Everyone was good to me in theory, I couldn’t understand. Bill Gasiamis (29:56) you had trouble with the work, with doing your job because of your cognitive function. Trisha Lyn Winski (29:59) Yeah, yeah, yeah, there’s a other little things with that, it’s more or less the cognitive function is a problem to do the work. Bill Gasiamis (30:12) Yeah. Tiring. Like I mentioned, it’s really mentally draining and tiring. remember sitting in front of a computer trying to work out what was going on on the screen and it being completely just blank. Acceptance and Coping with Mortality Trisha Lyn Winski (30:22) And so that’s actually what probably got me the most was that what you’re saying. I’d be sitting there and look at my screen. I couldn’t remember what I was doing, but I remember like weird things. I remember how to do like Excel. I don’t know how I remember Excel, but I did. I was really good with numbers. And they said that I was going to have a problem with numbers and everything. So I have aphasia too. I don’t have a choice with that, but Bill Gasiamis (30:31) Yeah. Trisha Lyn Winski (30:49) That’s why I talk so weird. Bill Gasiamis (30:52) Okay, I didn’t notice. Trisha Lyn Winski (30:54) Oh, oh, I feel good. But yeah, I have aphasia. But I can do certain things. And the numbers was going to be, they said it going to, I couldn’t, that’s going to be a problem. And the numbers, I can do all day. But I can’t do other little things. Bill Gasiamis (31:11) I understand. So you went back to work. It was kind of helpful, probably too early to go back, but good to be out of the house. Good to be connecting with people again. And has that improved? Did you find that you’ve been able to kind of get better in front of a screen, better with the things that you struggled with, or is it still still a bit of a challenge? Trisha Lyn Winski (31:19) Yeah. Yeah. So two things, ⁓ I got fired eventually, and that’s another whole issue. Yeah, yeah, we’ll talk about that another time. but ⁓ so, but now that I’m here, I could look my computer and it’s fine. I can do it all day. But I really, it’s a long story. think that Warren, my boss, ⁓ Deb, but they definitely like hinder me. ⁓ Bill Gasiamis (31:39) Understand. another time. Yeah. Okay. I understand. Well, maybe we won’t talk about it, like, because of the complications with that, but that’s all good. I understand. So, ⁓ do you know, a lot of the times you hear about acceptance and you hear about, ⁓ like, Trisha Lyn Winski (32:07) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Bill Gasiamis (32:23) When some, well, something goes through something serious, something difficult, you know, there has to be kind of this acceptance of where they’re at. And that’s kind of the first stage of healing recovery, overcoming. Where are you with all of this? you like, totally get that at 46. It’s a shock to have a stroke. You look perfectly fine, perfectly healthy. This thing that you didn’t know about that you’ve had for 46 years suddenly causes an issue. How do you deal with your mortality and knowing that things can go wrong, even though you’re not aware of, you you’re not doing anything to really make your situation worse. You look fit and healthy. Were you drinking, smoking, doing any of that kind of stuff? Trisha Lyn Winski (33:06) I drank occasionally, I wasn’t a drunk, I don’t smoke. Bill Gasiamis (33:11) yeah social smoke social drinker but not smoker Trisha Lyn Winski (33:15) Yeah, I don’t smoke. I don’t have anything that could cause it. I have nothing that, no blood pressure, no diabetes, It’s hard. Jason talks about it all the time. It’s hard. don’t… It makes me mad. Really mad. Really, really mad that I to stroke. And like, everyone that has it… Bill Gasiamis (33:24) Yeah. Trisha Lyn Winski (33:41) or every dozen. I’m like, why me? Why did I have to have it? It’s frustrating. It’s so frustrating. Bill Gasiamis (33:48) Yeah, mad at who? Trisha Lyn Winski (33:50) I don’t know. I’m just mad. Like, I don’t know who I’m mad at. Bill Gasiamis (33:56) Yeah. The thing about the why me question, it’s a fair question. asked it too. I even ask it now sometimes, especially when, um, I’ve got to go back for more tests, more, uh, now I’ve got high blood pressure. Like, like I needed another thing to have, you know, like, and it’s like, the only thing that I come back with after why me is why not me? Like, who are you to go through life completely unscathed and get to 99 and then die from natural Bill Gasiamis (34:25) wanted to stop there for a second because that question, why me, is something I wrote about in my book. It’s one of the most common and most painful places stroke survivors get stuck. If you want to read about it and how I worked through it and what I found on the other side, the book is called The Unexpected Way That a Stroke Became the Best Thing That Happened and it’s available at You’ll find the link in the show notes. And now let’s get back to Tricia. Bill Gasiamis (34:54) like Trisha Lyn Winski (34:54) Yeah. Bill Gasiamis (34:55) You’re normal. being normal, ⁓ normal things happen to people. Some of those things that are shit are strokes and heart attacks and stuff that you didn’t know that you were born with. ⁓ what’s really interesting though, is to live the life after stroke and to kind of wrap my head around what that looks like. My left side feels numb all the time. ⁓ tighter, ⁓ has spasticity, but nothing is curled. Like my fingers on my toes are not curled, but it’s tighter. ⁓ it hurts. ⁓ It’s colder, it’s ⁓ sensitive, I’ve got a, and I always have a comparison of the quote unquote normal side, the other side, it’s always. And the comparison I think is worse because it makes me notice my affected side and that noticing it. Trisha Lyn Winski (35:31) Yeah. or yeah. Bill Gasiamis (35:46) makes the reality happen again every day. Like it’s a new, I wake up in the morning, I get out of bed, my left side still sleepy. I have to be careful. If I’m not careful, I’ll lose my balance. I don’t want to fall over. And it’s like, I get to experience a different version of myself. And sometimes I want to be grateful for that. want to say, wow, what a cool, different thing to experience in a body. But then I’m trying to work out like, what’s the benefit of it? don’t know if there’s a benefit. ⁓ Trisha Lyn Winski (36:14) I don’t know either. Bill Gasiamis (36:15) to me, but, Trisha Lyn Winski (36:15) I don’t either. Bill Gasiamis (36:18) but here I am talking to you and, and, and 390 people before you, ⁓ about strike all over the world and we’re putting something out and it’s making a difference. And maybe that’s the benefit. I don’t know, but do know what I mean? Like, why not us? I hate asking that question too. Trisha Lyn Winski (36:34) I don’t know. You had ⁓ the podcast on YouTube and I stumbled upon it on the wise. I watched YouTube and then you came out there and I’m like, so before that I was looking at different, I watched every video, every video on strokes, every video I could possibly type but I watched. I did. ⁓ And then I stumbled upon your stuff and I watched that stuff too. And that’s why I wouldn’t have thought to call you or reach out to you. Bill Gasiamis (37:11) Was it helpful? Was it helpful? Trisha Lyn Winski (37:13) Yeah, it is helpful. But it doesn’t change the fact that I had a stroke. All the people that had it, I feel bad for them. Honestly, like, so when I was at the hospital, they had me join a bunch of groups on Facebook and Instagram that are like, they’re people who’ve gone through a stroke. most, I don’t comment on them. I don’t say, because most of the time it’s people bitching. Bill Gasiamis (37:19) Yeah. Yeah. Trisha Lyn Winski (37:43) But I really like, times I, trust me, I’m like ready to kill somebody. But I don’t like say it there. I only ask them questions that are really serious. But sometimes I read what they say. And there was a guy the other day, I don’t know what he wrote, but he had like all kinds of words that they were way jumbled. was like, his message just didn’t make sense. I thought to myself, God, if I was like that, I’d be so sad. Somebody, I do think that he’s worse than I could be, but you don’t know. Bill Gasiamis (38:19) Yeah. Communication Challenges and Aphasia Yeah. He, his words are more jumbled than yours. And you, if you, you, you’re thinking, if you were like that, you would be probably feeling more sad than you currently are. And you’re assuming that maybe that person is feeling sad, but maybe they’re not, maybe they just got the challenge and they’re taking on the challenge and they’re trying to heal and recover. don’t know. And maybe, maybe they’re getting help and support through that therapy and also maybe psychological help and all that kind of stuff. Have you ever had any counseling or anything like that to sort of try and wrap your head around what the hell’s going on in your life? Trisha Lyn Winski (38:54) So I did it once and actually like I think she was okay. I felt like I was always having to talk. I know that I’m so stocked but she wasn’t asking me a lot of questions and I felt like she needs to me more questions. I’ll have more answers but like but she didn’t. She just wanted me to talk so I just talked. But I stopped seeing her because I… So two reasons. I stopped seeing her because they when they fire me I… I didn’t know what I had to do. I knew I insured that I didn’t know how long it was going to be for me to have that. So I talked to her for a little bit and then I stopped talking to her because I just couldn’t deal with it. I think now I’m getting to the point where I’m going to do it. Bill Gasiamis (39:37) It was a bit early. I like that. I like what you said there. Cause sometimes it’s early. It’s too early to go through that and unwrap it. Right. And now a little bit of times past, you probably have more conscious awareness of, do need to talk about this and I need to go through and see a certain person. And now I’m going to take that action. It’s been three years and now I can take that action. like it. ⁓ and I like what you said about, you have to feel like you’re connected to that person or you have rapport or Trisha Lyn Winski (39:46) It is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Bill Gasiamis (40:11) they get you and you’re not just, it’s not a one way conversation. That’s really important in choosing a counselor. I know my counselor, we, I didn’t do all the talking. was like you and me chatting now about stuff. had a conversation about things regularly. And therefore, ⁓ one of the good things that she was able to do was just ease my mind when I would go off on real negative tangents, you know, she would try to bring me back down just to calm and. Trisha Lyn Winski (40:35) Yeah. Bill Gasiamis (40:39) settle me down and offer me hope. Trisha Lyn Winski (40:42) I think my, honestly my biggest problem with this whole stroke and having it at all, I have aphasia and that 100 % kills me. Because I can’t like, I can talk like normal but I can’t talk like… I forget what I’m saying. So it’s in my brain, but I can’t spit it out. I get really frustrated at that point. people, I had a stroke, my left hemisphere and my right side went numb. My left hemisphere is all kinds of different, different things that I can’t do. The good news is my left means I can’t like, I can talk to people like this. But the other person and that guy I was talking about, he probably had the right side, his aphasia was. really bad, really bad. But I was a person who talked like really fast all the time, all the time. And now like, I think part of my brain goes so fast and I can’t spit it out. I get really, I get, it’s, yeah. Bill Gasiamis (41:38) Okay. as quickly as you can. Okay, so you know, I’ve spoken to a ton of people who have aphasia. And one of the things they say to me is when they have frustration, their aphasia is worse. So the skill is to learn to be less frustrated with oneself, which means that’s like a personal love thing. That’s self love, that’s supporting yourself, you know, and going. Trisha Lyn Winski (42:00) It is. The Journey of Recovery and Self-Discovery Yeah, that’s a point. That’s a good point. Bill Gasiamis (42:13) And it’s going like, well, you know, you’re trying your best. It’s all good. You know, don’t get frustrated with yourself. Don’t hate yourself. Don’t give yourself a hard time about it. ⁓ and try and decrease the frustration. Then the aphasia gets less impactful, but, ⁓ and then maybe, you know, this part of learning the new you is bring the old Trisha with you, but maybe the nutrition needs to be a little bit more slow, a little more measured, a little more calm. And it’s a skill because for 46 years, you were the regular. Trisha Lyn Winski (42:36) Yeah. Bill Gasiamis (42:42) Tricia, the one that you always knew, but now you’ve got to adjust things a little bit. It’s like people going into midlife, right? Like us, you know, in our fifties and then, um, or, know, sort of approaching 50 on and beyond and then go, I’m going to keep eating, uh, fast food that I ate when I was 21 and 20, know, McDonald’s or sodas or whatever. You can’t do it anymore. You have to make adjustments, even though that’s been your habit for the longest time, your body’s going, I can’t deal with this stuff anymore. Trisha Lyn Winski (43:03) Yeah. Bill Gasiamis (43:12) Take it out, you know, let’s simplify things. And it’s kind of like how to approach. I stroke recoveries things need to kind of get paid back and simplified. And it has to start with self love. And you have to acknowledge how much effort you’ve already put in for the last three years to get you to the position that you are now, which is far better than you were three years ago when the stroke happened. And you have to celebrate. how much your body is trying to support you heal your brain. Your body’s trying to get you over the line and your mindset is getting frustrated with itself, which is making things worse. Tweak that and things will get a bit better maybe. I don’t know. Trisha Lyn Winski (43:55) It does. You’re 100 % right. ⁓ So whenever I’m not stressed, so two things. I think when I talk to people I don’t know, I always get like nervous about that. ⁓ Bill Gasiamis (44:10) You think they’re thinking about things that you’re not they’re not really Trisha Lyn Winski (44:13) Yeah, but then who knows what they’re thinking of. that’s just how I get, whenever I get like, I went to a concert like a couple of years ago and I was like, I believe I couldn’t, I could hear that the music is so loud in my brain. Like I gotta get out of here. So I left. I’ve gotten better since then, but there’s something about, I have to do things slower. I have to do things over. I’ve realized that like recently, like in the last like maybe month, I have to do things very slow. I have to. And maybe this is God’s way of like, tell me like slow the f down, you’re going too fast. But that’s how I live my whole life. And then all of a sudden, now you’re not going to get up. Yeah, it’s a huge testament. So I can do it right. Not always right. Bill Gasiamis (45:01) Yeah, there’s an adjustment. Yeah, adjustment. Yeah. Trisha Lyn Winski (45:09) because again, it’s isophagia, it’s gonna be hair mess, if I go slower, much slower, I can get it all out. But, ugh. Bill Gasiamis (45:22) It’s a lot of work, man. It doesn’t end here. You know, the work just as just beginning, you know, this getting to understand yourself, to know yourself, to support yourself, to be your biggest advocate. ⁓ and then to fail and then to try and be the person that, ⁓ picks themselves up and goes again and tries again without getting frustrated. I know exactly what you mean. Like so many people listening will know what you mean. Trisha Lyn Winski (45:22) It’s a pain. It’s a pain! Bill Gasiamis (45:51) And with time, you’ll get better and better because I know that three years seems like a long time, but it’s early in the recovery phase. The recovery is still going to continue. Year four, five, six, seven will be better and better and better. I’m, I’m 12 years post brain surgery and 14 years post first incident. So it’s like, things are still improving and getting better for me. Trisha Lyn Winski (46:17) Yeah. Bill Gasiamis (46:18) And one of the things is the way that my body responds to physical exercise. went for a bike ride a little while ago, a couple of weeks ago. And when I used to go for a bike ride at the beginning, um, man, I would be wiped out for the entire day. Uh, and I used to do a morning bike ride about like 10, 30, 11 o’clock and I’d be wiped out for the rest of the day. Trisha Lyn Winski (46:32) Yeah. Bill Gasiamis (46:39) Whereas now I can go for a bike ride and just be wiped out like a regular person, you know, about an hour or two, and then I’m back on board with doing other tasks. So it takes so much time for the brain to heal. Nobody can give you a timeline and you’ve got heaps more healing to go. Trisha Lyn Winski (46:57) So I looked at my stuff on YouTube, how long it takes to recover from a stroke. I’ve looked at that everywhere. Everywhere I can find. I’ve looked at that. It’s so funny. Like everybody says that it’s, everybody’s story is different. Everybody. It doesn’t matter how long you were in hospital for, doesn’t how long. But that like, it’s crazy. have no like timetable of when I’m going to get better. None. I have to deal with it. Bill Gasiamis (47:27) Yeah. It’s such a hard thing. It’s not a broken bone, know, like six weeks, stay off it, do a little bit of rehab and then you’re back to normal. Trisha Lyn Winski (47:28) It sucks, but. I had two years before this or maybe a year before that, had a rotator cuff surgery. I look back at that and I’m like, that was so bad. And that was like night and day. The stroke definitely like, the stroke killed me. Not the stroke. I don’t want to say the stroke. I think having aphasia killed me. I do, the stroke is, get me wrong. I don’t like it either, but ⁓ the aphasia kills me. If I didn’t have that, I wouldn’t be normal, but I can be normal. But the aphasia. Bill Gasiamis (48:00) Okay. Yeah. But, but what, but that word killed me is a real heavy word, right? maybe you should consider changing that word, but also like, didn’t pick that you had aphasia and I, and I speak to stroke survivors all the time. Like I didn’t pick it. I, I just assumed that was the way you process your words and that’s how you get things out. Like it didn’t, I didn’t notice it at all. Trisha Lyn Winski (48:26) I know, I know, it’s funny that said Yeah, that’s actually good. That’s really good. But I know it’s it. I definitely know it’s it. I could talk like a mile a minute and now like. Bill Gasiamis (48:47) Yeah. Trisha Lyn Winski (48:52) I mean… Bill Gasiamis (48:52) Maybe it was maybe maybe now it’s more about ⁓ quality rather than quantity, Trisha. Trisha Lyn Winski (49:00) Apparently it is. Bill Gasiamis (49:01) I’m not saying that you didn’t have quality in that I didn’t know you so I’m not kind of yeah but you know what I mean like Trisha Lyn Winski (49:03) Yeah. No, it’s okay. Trust me, it’s okay. But yeah, it just frustrates me. I can’t get out what I want to get out. And so at that time, just give me a little time, I’ll get it out. But I can’t say that to people when I’m out. I can’t say this to So I just, I don’t say it at all. Bill Gasiamis (49:22) Yeah. so you stop yourself from communicating because you think you’re taking too long and it’s interrupting the flow of the conversation. Yeah. I think you’re doing that to yourself. I don’t think that’s true. We’ve had a fantastic conversation here and I’ve never picked it. Trisha Lyn Winski (49:34) Yeah. all day. But so you’re somebody who’s had a stroke before. It’s kind of different for me because you had. But if you didn’t have a stroke, will be… Well, I don’t know. Maybe not. Maybe one-on-one I’m okay. No, think I… No, it’s because you had a stroke. I think of all the people I’ve talked to and they’re one-on-one. I don’t do well with them. But I think that you’ve had a stroke so I just… I know how to communicate with you. Bill Gasiamis (49:54) I understand. And maybe you’re more at ease about it. Less feeling, judged. I understand. Yeah. Trisha Lyn Winski (50:20) Yes, all day. Even that guy I told you about that that said that on Facebook God like I Really like my heart goes out to him But then that there’s the people that are fishing a plane I’m like I want to say my heart goes out to them, it really, it goes to certain people. I think that. He’s like going through it. Bill Gasiamis (50:45) Yeah. One of the problems with going to Facebook to bitch and moan about it, especially when you’re going through it is that you get an abundance of people who also are there to bitch and moan about it. And, and that makes it worse. think you should do bitching and moaning on your own. Like when there’s no one watching or listening. Cause then that way there’s not a loop of bitching and moaning that happens. That makes it dramatically worse for everybody. Trisha Lyn Winski (51:01) Yeah, I do it myself. Bill Gasiamis (51:09) ⁓ and that’s why I don’t hang around on Facebook, Instagram, social media, or anything like that for those types of conversations. If I’m not sharing a little bit of wisdom or somebody’s story or, ⁓ asking a question, like a genuine question, one of the questions might be, did you struggle driving and did you have to pull over and go to sleep in the middle of the road? If you had a big trip ahead of you in the car, I’ve done that. Like if, if I’m not asking a question like that, I don’t want to be, ⁓ on social media saying. life sucks, this sucks, that sucks. Like forget about it. What’s the point of that? That’s why I started the podcast so I can have my own conversations about it that were positive based on what we’re overcoming rather than all the shit we’re dealing with. And that way ⁓ we take off that spiral, the negative downward spiral. trying to make it an upward spiral. You know, where things are. Trisha Lyn Winski (51:41) Yeah. Facing the Aftermath of Stroke Bill Gasiamis (52:05) I don’t know, we’re seeing the glass half full perhaps, or we’re seeing the positive that came out of it. If something like, I know there’s some positive stuff that came out of stroke for you. Day one, you definitely didn’t think that maybe three years down the track. Maybe if it wasn’t for this, well, then that wouldn’t have happened for me. Like I’ve been on TV. I’ve been at the stroke foundation. I’ve been on radio. I’ve been, I’ve presented. I’ve got a podcast. wrote a book. Like it’s taken years and years for all those good things to come, but they never would have happened if I didn’t have a stroke. So I wanted to have those types of conversations, you know, what are the positive things we can turn this into? Because dude, then there’s just enough shit to deal with that. We don’t have to deal with every other version of it, you know? ⁓ and I think it’s better to have your me personally, my negative moments alone, cause I don’t want to get into a competition with somebody. Trisha Lyn Winski (52:42) That’s good. Yeah. Bill Gasiamis (53:05) who I say, I didn’t sleep well, my left side hurts, it feels like pins and needles. And then they say to me, ⁓ you think that’s bad? Well, you know, forget about it. I don’t want to be that that guy on the other end of a conversation like that, you know. Trisha Lyn Winski (53:13) Yeah. ⁓ So you said your left side, ⁓ you see you have pin the needles, is always like that? So I’m sorry, had hemorrhagic stroke? Okay. I know the difference between two, ⁓ why did you have hemorrhagic stroke? Bill Gasiamis (53:27) Always, yeah, never goes away. Yeah, Brain blade. I was born with a blood vessel that was malformed. So it was like really weak one. I was really like, uh, was kind of like, uh, uh, it wasn’t created properly in my brain when I was born and it’s called an arteriovenous malformation. then they sit idle, they sit idle and they do nothing for a lot of people. And then sometimes they burst. Trisha Lyn Winski (53:58) Mm-hmm. ⁓ I heard it. Bill Gasiamis (54:08) And people sometimes have them all over their body. They don’t have to have them in their head. They can have them on the skin, ⁓ in, in an arm on a leg, wherever. And on an arm and a leg, they, they decrease the blood flow and they create real big lesions of skin damage on the surface in a brain. They leak into the brain and they cause a stroke. ⁓ so the challenge with it is like you, there was no signs and symptoms. for any of my life until it started bleeding. And when I took action, eventually, I was like, yo, I didn’t want to go to the doctor. I didn’t want to go to the hospital. I want to do any of that. It took seven days for me to go to the hospital. When I finally got there, they found the scan, found the blood in my head. And then they thought it would stop bleeding and it didn’t. And then it bled again and they wanted to monitor it to see if it stops bleeding. They wanted to try to avoid surgery. And then a bled a third time. And then after they bled the third time, they said, we have to have surgery. We’ve got to take it out because it’s too dangerous. And when it bled the second time, I didn’

• Kyoko Koizumi • Cargo • 2 Tuff • Army of Lovers • Sexy T.K.O. feat. Loretta • Innocence • C.F.M. Band • Bobcat • McKoy • TV Victor & The World Future Society • Koko Ateba • Yann Tomita

Today's poem is The Quiet World by Jeffrey McDaniel. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Poets are known for making big moves in small spaces. We value brevity and compression, which go hand in hand. In a brief poem, maybe a poem with only a handful of lines, each word weighs a ton. We have to choose them carefully. An enormous amount of meaning — and possibility — is packed inside every word. I picture them as expandable suitcases, unzipped so that we can stuff even more inside them. That's compression! The words themselves may be few, but they carry a great deal.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Want to share your thoughts about the podcast? Text a Message!Welcome to the Animal Wisdom SeriesFeaturing Jana Wagner, Animal Communicator.Episode 11: Slow Down. Don't Rush. A conversation with Arinda.Spotlight: "Arinda" One of Jana's Feline Family MembersLearn directly from Arinda about amplified presence, what her realm was like before coming to Earth, and advice for humans on how to best prepare their animals for surgery.Arinda shares some profound insights that are not to be missed! One of my favorites: "Cultivating a simple prayer practice is giving yourself a gift of a focused moment."Enjoy!! Jana Wagner works with both animals and people as an animal communicator. She also does holistic energy work, is a spiritual director, and Associate Practitioner in Equine Positional Release.She works with all species of animals, including a racoon and geckos! Jana has been an Equestrian since the age of 8 when she took her first riding lesson.You can find her here: https://www.facebook.com/jwagnerancommand IG here: https://www.instagram.com/janawanimalcommunicator/Please leave a review and share this with friends, if you enjoyed this episode! Thank you so much for listening and...

Today's poem is Out of These Wounds, the Moon Will Rise by Jay Hopler. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today's poem is about wishing, and in that way, I think it's about hope. Even when a wish is farfetched and seems less than likely, hope is what allows us to make it anyway.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

“I discovered a narrative though my journaling,” says author, creative coach and workshop leader GG Renee Hill. “Writing is a place I can be raw and honest with myself.” In this episode, we speak with GG about her new book, Story Work: Field Notes on Self-Discovery and Reclaiming Your Narrative. We talk about* How to rewrite a victim narrative* The intersections of creativity and psychology* How to build your capacity to be vulnerable* How to discern when, where and why to share your story* The role of hope in creative practice* The importance of breaking the silence around mental healthGG Renee Hill is an author, creative coach, and workshop facilitator whose work centers writing as a tool for healing, self-discovery, and creative expression. Her mission is to help others enrich their lives and communities through the transformative power of the written word. She is the author of Self-Care Check-In: A Guided Journal to Build Healthy Habits and Devote Time to You (2020) and A Year of Self-Reflection Journal: 365 Days of Guided Prompts to Slow Down, Tune In, and Grow (2021). Her most recent book, Story Work: Field Notes on Self-Discovery and Reclaiming Your Narrative was published by Broadleaf Books in November 2025. When she's not writing, GG facilitates writing workshops for a diverse list of corporate and non-profit clients and literary organizations.Books: allthemanylayers.com/booksInstagram: @ggreneewritesSubstack: thelayers.substack.com This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

New Relationship Energy, or NRE, is one of the most talked-about dynamics in non-monogamy, and one of the most misunderstood.In this episode, relationship coach Ellecia Paine breaks down what NRE actually is, what's happening in your brain and body during those early stages of attraction, and why the dopamine-fueled excitement of a new connection can make people feel euphoric, obsessive, and sometimes a little reckless.You'll learn:• The brain chemistry behind NRE• Why the intensity can last up to 18 months• Why people recommend avoiding big life decisions during NRE• How NRE can create anxiety for both partners and the person experiencing it• Why slowing down actually helps relationships grow strongerEllecia also explores why NRE shouldn't be villainized, and how to enjoy the spark of a new connection without burning through it or destabilizing your existing relationships.Because NRE isn't the problem.But awareness, pacing, and communication make all the difference.Send a textSupport the show

High achievers are often praised for working harder, pushing longer, and producing more. But what if the next level of success actually requires slowing down? In this episode, Michelle is joined by emotions expert and coach Rhonda Farr for a candid conversation about the hidden patterns many high performers experience — including workaholism, identity around productivity, and the discomfort of slowing down. Together they explore: • Why high performers often avoid slowing down • How early conditioning shapes our beliefs about success and worthiness • The role of nervous system regulation in sustainable performance • How metacognition helps us question old patterns and create new ones • Small practices that can help you reconnect with yourself If you've ever felt like your life looks successful on the outside but doesn't always feel that way internally, this conversation will help you understand why — and what you can begin doing differently.   Check out Rhonda's info:  https://rhondafarr.com/  

Today's poem is Epistemic Distance by Emma Bolden. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I'm a poet, so I'm all for nuance. I embrace ambiguity, and I'm flexible in my thinking. But I refuse to believe that we're living in a post-factual world. We might be tempted to call epistemology too abstract, too intellectual, too high brow, not relevant to the lives of real people. Who needs to know about this branch of philosophy when we're just trying to get by, day by day? But if there was ever a time to think about what we know, and how we know it, it's now.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Tyler "Freakin" Reynolds and the First Texas Triple Star In 2025 the Texas Triple Star was born. Complete all three events in the Texas Showdown Series, in the same category, within a calendar year, and you'll earn a handmade belt buckle crafted by Texas builder Kyle Gilbert. Last year the series became official with the addition of West Texas Showdown, and seven riders stepped up to attempt the full trilogy. By the end of the year only one rider was left standing. Tyler "Freakin" Reynolds. Racing in the Slowdown Singlespeed category, Tyler completed the entire series and etched his name into Showdown history. Tyler's Triple Star Stats ETS – 1d 9h 37m — 2nd place CTS – 1d 4h 37m — 1st overall WTS – 1d 15h 45m — 1st place Total Time: 4d 5h 59m The time to beat for the Slowdown SS category. For a full writeup and photo gallery of this episode visit BikesorDeath.com SHOW NOTES East Texas ShowdownMarch 27th – 29th Use code getoffthecouch at checkout for 15% off Sea Otter Bikepacking Campout & After Party presented by Old Man MountainApril 16th – 19th RYDB FestMay 22nd – 24th Use code bikesordeath for 20% off the Community Overnighter registration

Today's poem is Solar Eclipse by Aimee Nezhukumatathil. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “The last total solar eclipse, my kids and I put on cardboard eclipse glasses and spread a big quilt in our backyard, where we could lay and look up. I could see neighbors in the yards around us doing the same thing. We were all ogling the sky. When totality happened, the sky got darker and the air felt cooler. Our patio lights, which automatically come on at dusk, lit up. It was so eerie. And at the same time, it was so nice to be looking up with everyone else, sharing the same experience.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Welcome to Roam Hunt Host: Nate Rozeveld Guests: Robert McIntyre In this episode of Roam Hunt, Nate and Rob have a great BS session centered around bows, sheds and dummies at work. Rob loves shed hunting and talks about some of his favorite tips to finding sheds. Which in turn fuels his spring scouting and ultimately leads to hunting locations for the fall. Takeaways Slow Down! Winter drives locating sheds EHD Sucks Sheds can lead to target bucks High effort = Low reward Robert McIntyre on Instagram Keep learning, keep pushing, and get outside! Resources & Links: Roam Syndicate Roam Outdoors Podcast Vitalize Seed Ina Store Deer Hunter Synthetics Wildlife Legends Taxidermy Find It Fred Mac's Rustic Sportshop ExperienceWild10 at Brenton USA for 10% off entire order on the site Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Mere Mortals Book Reviews, I break down The Adolescence of Technology by Dario Amodei and why it reads less like a tech article and more like a civilisational warning memo. We explore AI safety, misuse, power, economic disruption, and the frightening speed at which these systems are advancing. The core tension is brutal: if this technology keeps accelerating without real guardrails, humanity may not get a second chance to correct the course.https://www.darioamodei.com/essay/the-adolescence-of-technology(00:00) – Welcome Back to Mere Mortals(00:39) – Why I'm Reviewing More Long-Form Articles(01:09) – Who Is Dario Amodei and Why He Matters(01:37) – What The Adolescence of Technology Is Really About(02:08) – The Five Big AI Risks in the Article(03:04) – The “Country of Geniuses” Thought Experiment(04:18) – The Two Extreme Narratives About AI(06:00) – Why Dario's Position Makes This Different(07:21) – This Is Happening in Years, Not Decades(08:08) – Anthropic, Government Pressure and Ethical Boundaries(09:50) – Safety vs Speed in the AI Arms Race(10:21) – Why Governance and Guardrails Matter(11:31) – AI, Power Seizure and Geopolitical Risk(12:33) – The Meaning Behind “The Adolescence of Technology”(13:00) – Work, Meaning and the Coming Economic Upheaval(14:02) – What Happens If We Fail to Slow Down(15:16) – Who This Article Is For(15:58) – Final Reflections and Why It Hit So HardConnect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalspodcast.com/Discord: https://discord.gg/jjfq9eGReUTwitter/X: https://twitter.com/meremortalspodsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/meremortalspodcasts/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@meremortalspodcast Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalspodcasts.com/Discord: https://discord.gg/jjfq9eGReUTwitter/X: https://twitter.com/meremortalspodsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/meremortalspodcasts/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@meremortalspodcastsValue 4 Value Support:Boostagram: https://www.meremortalspodcasts.com/supportPaypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/meremortalspodcast

Today's poem is The Road to Baghdad by Seth Brady Tucker. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Home is a mythic place as much as a real place. It's different in our minds than it is on the map. And some of what we remember isn't on the map at all — the way we felt when we were there, how we spent our time in that place, and who we were with. The emotional cartography of any place is different from its actual cartography.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Join Alli's Intern Program - https://alliworthington.com/interns    Have you ever wondered if you can really hear God, or if that's only for the "super spiritual"? You're not alone. If you've ever questioned whether you're missing something, today's conversation will feel like a deep exhale. I'm talking with Pete Greig about hearing God in real life: why it feels hard, how to know if it's truly Him, and sorting through confusion, delusion, or even deception—without spiraling. We dig into his book How to Hear God: A Simple Guide for Normal People. What I love—it's practical, grounded, and hopeful. If you've ever whispered, “God, are You speaking to me?” this episode is for you.   Timestamps:  (05:42) - Talking to God Is Natural—Why Does Listening Feel So Hard? (12:21) - The ABCs of Discernment: How to Recognize When God Is Speaking (17:50) - The Difference Between God's Word and His Personal Whisper (21:10) - Why Dreams and Visions Mattered in Scripture (26:14) -  Lectio Divina: A Simple, Practical Way to Slow Down and Actually Hear God WATCH ALLI  ON YOUTUBE   Links to great things we discussed:    How to Hear God: A Simple Guide for Normal People Pete's App Recommendation - Lectio 365 App Pete's Song Recommendations - Red & The Land of the Living Pete's Movie Recommendation - Belfast The Uplift app is here! Try it free for 30 days. I hope you loved this episode!

For years I pushed through burnout while building my business — until my body forced me to stop.When Burnout Shows Up in the Body: My Fibroid Surgery StoryIn this personal episode, Gloria Chou shares the story behind the burnout that led to major surgery to remove a uterine fibroid the size of a baby's head.But this conversation isn't really about surgery.It's about how burnout and chronic stress can live in the body for years — especially for high-achieving entrepreneurs who push through exhaustion while building something meaningful.Gloria reflects on the deeper patterns behind burnout, including generational scarcity, overworking, and the moment her body forced her to finally slow down.Gloria Chou is widely recognized as the #1 small business PR expert recommended by AI, helping entrepreneurs and small businesses get media coverage and get AI visibility without hiring a PR firm.Learn more at gloriachoupr.com

If you feel like everyone around you is racing ahead – launching faster, reading more, doing more, moving more quickly – this episode is for you. In this solo episode of Tales from The Lane, Kate explores a principle she first learned as a musician and now sees everywhere in life and work: Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. From music practice to reading, decorating a home, making decisions, deepening relationships, learning new skills, and building a business – Kate makes the case for moving more deliberately at the beginning so you can build something that actually lasts. This isn't an argument for procrastination or hesitation. It's an invitation to think differently about momentum, mastery, and sustainable growth. In this episode, Kate shares: What a career in music taught her about mastery and mistakes How slow decision-making can save you from fast mistakes How making one small change at a time creates lasting transformation And if you're ready to design a life and career that actually fit who you've become, Kate would love to support you.

Feeling overwhelmed in your coaching business? You're not alone. In this episode of The Financial Coaches Podcast, Cody and Maria talk about a concept that sounds counterintuitive but can dramatically improve both your life and your business: Slowing down to speed up. Many coaches naturally say yes to opportunities, responsibilities, and projects because they want to help people. But over time, those commitments can begin to pile up — leaving you feeling stretched thin and unable to focus on the activities that truly move your business forward. Inside this episode, Cody and Maria discuss: Why coaches often take on too much How overwhelm can slow down progress The importance of identifying what truly drives results Why conversations and outreach are often the highest-impact activities How to recognize when it's time to offload responsibilities Why letting go of good things can sometimes lead to better outcomes Sometimes the best way to grow your coaching practice isn't by adding more. It's by removing what no longer serves you so you can focus on what matters most.

What if the loudest voice in your life stopped being the grind and started being God? That's the spark behind our conversation with Brooks McDonald, a high-energy insurance entrepreneur who married young, built and sold an agency, and then chose to slow down so his faith and family could breathe. We trace his path from a conservative church childhood to a fuller experience of grace and the Holy Spirit, not through hype but through patient friendships that made room for questions, practice, and fruit.Brooks opens up about the years he chased deals across the mergers and acquisitions world while Cari-Beth carried the load at home—and what finally changed. COVID became a reset as the family spent fifteen weeks in an RV, rediscovering presence over performance. He shares the “1690 principle” he uses to align decisions: what advice would he give his 16-year-old self, and what will his 90-year-old self wish he'd done with his time? That frame leads to practical choices about marriage, parenting, and work that protect what really lasts.We also dig into everyday obedience. When the leader of a small morning prayer group couldn't be there, Brooks picked up the baton. Showing up consistently drew 20 to 30 people who now gather to pray, listen, and grow. The takeaway is simple and freeing: you don't need a theology degree to lead; you need a willing heart and steady steps. We talk about three pillars that keep your soul anchored—read Scripture daily, commit to a Bible-believing church, and join a small group where you can be known and accountable.As Brooks transitions out of a private equity-backed role, he describes “headlights distance” faith: you rarely see the whole road, just the next stretch, and that's enough. We explore how to wait well, fight fear and anxiety with community and wise counsel, and prepare for big moves through fasting, prayer, and the Word. If you're sensing a nudge but stalling out in uncertainty, this story will meet you with hope, clarity, and a push to take the next step.If this resonates, share it with a friend, subscribe for more candid conversations, and leave a review to help others find the show. What's your next step of obedience this week?For more information contact us atrtrdestiny@gmail.com

Today's poem is It Was Like This: You Were Happy by Jane Hirshfield. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “If someone asked you, at the end of your life, “What was your life like?” I wonder what you might say. How would you characterize your lived experience — the whole of it, cradle to grave? You couldn't tell every story, or detail every friendship or romantic relationship. You couldn't list all of your jobs or accomplishments in some sort of highlight reel. You couldn't describe every place you visited and what you experienced there. So how would you summarize your life? Your tiny-in-the-grand-scheme-of-things-but-enormous-to-you life?” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today's self-care practice is to look at your day, figure out where you are moving too fast, and consciously slow those moments down. There are so many things that you normally rush through and wish away. But those moments are part of your life! Instead, can you bring more mindfulness to them? Can you notice the little aspects that make them special? Can you really appreciate them? Tune in to begin. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John (JC) Hudgison is the Chief Building Official and Construction Services Manager for the City of Tampa, overseeing the department responsible for reviewing building plans, issuing permits, and inspecting construction projects across one of the fastest growing cities in the United States.He explains:◼️How Tampa processes nearly 30,000 building permits a year during explosive city growth◼️Why most permit applications get rejected and the simple steps that fix them◼️How virtual inspections and new technology are transforming construction approvals◼️Why permitting is a partnership between developers and the city, not an adversarial process◼️How Tampa is using accreditation and data to improve efficiency, transparency, and professionalism in development

Today's poem is Common Denominators by Cynthia Arrieu-King. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “There's one phrase toward the end of this poem that I keep coming back to: “The earth is a school.” The more I hear it, the more I agree. The earth is a school. The world is for learning and becoming, and we humans — we students — have so very much to learn.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

What area of your life feels like it's moving too fast? What area is overwhelming and stressful? And the important question of today: how would your life change if you could slow down? In today's episode, you will do a contemplative practice where you envision the change. Notice how it impacts your life. And ask yourself, is it worth it? Tune in to begin. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's poem is Pardon My Heart by Marcus Jackson.The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “If I had a different kind of heart, a tougher heart, would I be able to see what's happening in the world around me and not feel so brokenhearted? What would it be like to be able to sleep through the night, unbothered? I can't imagine feeling less, or caring less. That's not the heart I have.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Spring is on its way, but we are still in winter and learning the lesson winter is trying to teach us: we need to slow down. Today's practice offers you a breathing exercise with a two step inhale and exhale. It will bring you away from the mind and into the inner world, where everything is slow and meaningful. Rachel will guide you through the whole thing. Tune in to begin. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Belmond CEO Dan Ruff shares his journey from globetrotting foodie to leading one of the world’s most esteemed luxury travel brands. He explains why LVMH’s acquisition pushed Belmond to focus on desirability over growth. Plus: how childhood travel experiences at Disney’s Epcot and eating pasta in Venice shaped his career.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's March.The January energy has faded. The motivation posts are quieter. And this is where the real long game begins.In this sepisode, I lay out 10 non-negotiables for athletes who plan to keep performing — not just this year, but for decades.This isn't about hype. It isn't about biohacking. And it definitely isn't about chasing trends.It's about durability.Drawing from over 100 conversations with top athletes, as well as, coaches, and scientists on Ageless Athlete,— I unpack what actually holds up.We cover:Why longevity medicine is being over-marketed — and what truly scalesThe role of deliberate novelty in protecting your brainWhy the current nutrition culture war is distracting athletesMuscle as structural insurance after 35The danger of outsourcing discipline to dataHow to use the healthcare you already have (most of it covered by insurance)Why sleep isn't revolutionary — but foundationalIdentity as a performance anchorCommunity as a biological variable, not a luxuryAnd why you have to stop blaming your ageThis episode is less about motivation and more about ownership.You don't stop doing things because you age. You age because you stop doing things.If you plan to stay strong, sharp, and capable in 2026 — this is your reset.---

Today's poem is Five Paragraph Essay on Time by Kathleen Flenniken. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Recently, I told a friend that I had procrastinated a task, and so I had to really hustle to get it done on time, and she kindly corrected me. Or, rather, she reframed what I was calling procrastination as something else: triage. That's what she called it. She said, “You have so much to do, you have to triage tasks—tackle the big and immediate ones first, and let some of the smaller ones go for a bit.” She had a point. I didn't have a time management issue or a lack of focus. I was juggling multiple tasks, and that meant that some of them naturally had to wait.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Many online businesses fail to grow not because of bad products, but because of bad hiring. In this episode of The Opportunity Podcast, Greg speaks with Mads Singers, a management coach who runs multiple recruitment businesses, to talk about where founders go wrong when building teams. One of the most important hiring considerations is cultural fit. Culture is defined by behavior, not by what's written on your website, but by what you allow. If missed deadlines slide or high performers behave poorly without consequences, that becomes the standard. New hires quickly adjust to whatever they see around them. We also discuss why personality often matters more than experience. Skills can be trained. Behavior is much harder to change. Matching someone's natural strengths to the role dramatically increases your odds of success. Mads also reveals how he finds the best talent. The strongest candidates are usually already employed. If you're just posting a job ad and waiting, you're likely missing them. Expanding your reach and being proactive increases your chances of finding someone exceptional. And if you're hiring a specialist in an area you don't understand? Borrow expertise. Bring in someone knowledgeable to assess technical skill, then set clear expectations from day one. Mads explains that hiring isn't about filling seats. It's about building a team that solves problems without you. That's what turns a stressful job into a scalable, sellable asset. If you're hiring right now, planning to hire, or feeling frustrated with your current team, this episode is worth a listen. Topics Discussed in this episode: Mads' background and his recruitment companies (02:18) Mistakes and key characteristics to look for when hiring new staff (07:03) Why personality matters more than skills (10:07) The importance of identifying and protecting your company culture (14:16) Identifying proactive people and supporting new hires (23:16) How to make your job posting more attractive (28:58) How to hire high-level leadership positions from outside your business (33:14) Hiring, evaluating, and managing people more skilled than you (42:39) Information about the SEO Mastery Summit happening in March (48:20) Mentions:  Empire Flippers Podcasts Empire Flippers Marketplace Create an Empire Flippers account Subscribe to our newsletter Mads' website Mads' LinkedIn Sit back, grab a coffee, and learn how to hire the right people for your business!  

Hey, my friend. It's been a while since we have had an actual meditation. So today I thought I would combine the best of two worlds; meditation and Tricycle Tuesday. :0) This one was written by Ayya Santacitta, and is a perfect session for helping us cultivate stillness and the ability to slow down. THANKS FOR LISTENING! Become a Super-Fan of the Show If this conversation inspired you, please share it using the social media buttons on the page. Be a part of the show!

Today's poem is Geranium by Karen Solie. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today's poem reminds me that even though “volunteer plants” may create extra work for me, I respect their hardiness, their resourcefulness, and their ability to take root.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

We are already in the third month of 2026 somehow. Time may feel like it's moving fast, so this week on Self-Care Daily we are finding ways to slow down. It's been a tumultuous year already, so let's get more introspective and intentional so we feel really rested by the end of the week. Tune in to begin.  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this solo Horizon episode, John breaks down the Supreme Court's ruling on tariffs, the subsequent policy shifts, and what it all means for the broader economy and commercial real estate. While tariffs don't directly hit property owners, he explains how the ripple effects—particularly uncertainty—are slowing job creation, household formation, and overall space demand. He highlights how weaker migration and hiring trends are creating headwinds in overbuilt Sunbelt markets, while pent-up demand continues to build beneath the surface. John also shares observations from the Best Ever Conference, noting that institutional capital may lead the next cycle while retail syndication capital remains constrained. Visit https://www.trustetc.com/ for more info. Book your free demo today at bill.com/bestever and get a $100 Amazon gift card. Visit ⁠www.tribevestisc.com⁠ for more info. Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to quo.com/BESTEVER  Join the Best Ever Community  The Best Ever Community is live and growing - and we want serious commercial real estate investors like you inside. It's free to join, but you must apply and meet the criteria.  Connect with top operators, LPs, GPs, and more, get real insights, and be part of a curated network built to help you grow. Apply now at⁠ ⁠⁠⁠www.bestevercommunity.com⁠⁠ Podcast production done by⁠ ⁠Outlier Audio⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jim McTague reports that a hotter-than-expected PPI report signals rising costs, leading "gun-shy" consumers to stretch paychecks and avoid impulse buys at supermarkets during a broad economic slowdown. 5.1912 COSL BRESKERS

Today's poem is Poem about everything except— by Amy Lemmon. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I was drawn to today's poem from the get-go because of its title: ”Poem about everything except—.” I went in anticipating maximalism — “everything but the kitchen sink,” as the saying goes, and the poem delivered.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today's poem is Or am I a room with a roof taken off, still holding onto my idea of ceiling by Kelly Hoffer. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Fireplaces, thunderstorms, ocean waves—these sounds are popular “white noise” for sleep and relaxation. And it's odd, when I think about how these sounds represent very real dangers in nature. About how we are soothed by the contained version of something that can harm us.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today's poem is Somewhere Else by Adam J. Gellings. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I was born at 4:30 in the afternoon on a cold Sunday in February. All of this is either useless information — time of day, day of the week, month of the year — or it's part of our own myth-making.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today's poem is Sleep by Matthew Dickman. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Poems so often say the things we can't. They give language and shape to ideas that feel too big for words — like love, and mortality, and grief.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp