Embrace It: Episode 58 - Lacey Nagar Ammerman, Becoming Unstuck

Join us for an inspiring conversation with Lacey Nager Ammerman, a Confidence and Certified Body Image Coach, as we explore the theme of becoming unstuck while living with a disability. Lacey, diagnosed with a chronic health condition at the age of 12, shares her personal journey of overcoming body image challenges and the fear of being seen. She shares her struggles and triumphs in dating, business, and self-acceptance.

Lacey's story is one of resilience and empowerment, highlighting the importance of confidence in achieving our goals, whether creating a successful business or finding a loving relationship. With over eight years of experience in coaching and entrepreneurship, Lacey provides valuable insights and practical advice for women facing similar challenges.

Tune in to hear Lacey's motivational journey and discover how you can show up confidently in your own life, regardless of health, disability, or body image concerns. This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to overcome personal limitations and live a fulfilling, empowered life.

• Learn more about  Lacey's Coaching
• Follow Lacey on Instagram
• Read Lacey’s Book 
• Book an EmBRACE It Workshop
• Looking for more great tips, hacks, and blog posts? Visit: Trend-Able.com
• Find more on Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) and patient resources at: HNF-cure.org
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Hosted by Lainie Ishbia and Estela Lugo.

Embrace It is produced by Launchpad 516 Studios.

Transcript

Speaker 2: 0:03

Welcome to the Embrace it series, where women with all types of disabilities can be real, resourceful and stylish. With each episode, you'll walk or roll away with everyday tips, life hacks and success stories from community leaders and influencers. So take off your leg braces and stay a while with Lainey and Estella.

Speaker 1: 0:26

Hi, I'm Lainey and I have CMT, and I'm Estella and I also have CMT, a neuromuscular disorder affecting approximately 2.6 million people worldwide, that's as many as MS.

Speaker 3: 0:38

We believe disabilities should never get in the way of looking or feeling good. Both of us wear leg braces and have learned through our own personal journeys to embrace it Brought to you by Launchpad 516 Studios.

Speaker 1: 0:52

Each episode is designed to challenge your own stigmas and beliefs around disability. We want our listeners to get the most value for their time spent with us, so we interview some of the most empowering disability badasses in the world. Through storytelling, personal experiences and tips, we're all reminded of our own strengths and endless potential.

Speaker 3: 1:09

For more information and exclusive resources, check out our websites at trend-ablecom and hnf-cureorg, and don't forget to hit the subscribe button for future episodes and special promos.

Speaker 1: 1:30

Welcome everyone to another episode of the Embrace it podcast. Hey Lainey.

Speaker 3: 1:36

Hey, estella, we are just jamming with these. This is another episode. I'm so excited. It's a nothing state episode.

Speaker 1: 1:41

I'm so excited, we are we are on a roll and this next guest is also going to keep us empowered and moving and keep the momentum going for the new year, no matter what you're doing career-wise or personally. Her name is Lacey Naker Amerman. She is a confidence coach living with FSHD. Welcome to the podcast.

Speaker 4: 2:09

Lacey, thank you so much for having me, hi what is FSHD D D.

Speaker 3: 2:18

Oh wait, FSHD. That is the question of the day. What is that? Can you tell us a little bit about you and what that is, and when you got it, if you were born with it that kind?

Speaker 4: 2:30

of thing. Yeah, of course FSHD is a form of muscular dystrophy. There are obviously a lot of different kinds of muscular dystrophy. This one in particular usually shows first, affecting like your face muscles, your shoulders, your upper arms, and I was actually diagnosed when I was 12. You are technically born with it because it's hereditary I'm guessing there isn't like complete done research on this but something sort of triggers it. That like happens because it doesn't always show up, even with people who are carrying the disease. So when I was 12, I was actually playing summer softball and I still remember my mom telling this story when we used to go to the doctors before I was diagnosed, about how I was running around the bases and I tripped over one of the bases and I like could not get my legs under me to stand up, and that was when she was kind of concerned because she was watching it. So because it's a progressive chronic disease, my guess is it had been kind of showing up before that, but that was the point where it was enough that it was making me trip and fall more and the things that you actually kind of notice when before you're diagnosed with something. So over the next two years I had to stop playing sports basketball, softball, soccer had to stop dancing I'd been dancing since I was three. So a lot of limitations, sort of at that point. And for me the muscles that have always been affected the most are like my quads and my hamstrings, which are your biggest muscles in your body. So you can imagine how many things that would affect in your daily life. And it is a chronic, progressive disease. There were years where I feel like I could pretend like nothing was happening and nothing was wrong because it wasn't so bad at that point. And then there were. I can very distinctly remember certain points where there seemed to be a decline and I would lose abilities, which is very scary to notice that you could do something two months ago and you can't do it anymore. So I would say over the past it's been how old amI now 38. So 26 years that I've been living with this and over the past few years definitely more of a decline. I think part of that was COVID and then I also had an ankle injury which really sucked and threw a wrench and things.

Speaker 4: 4:51

But at this point in my life I've definitely used certain aids. I would say like part-time wheelchair walker cane. My husband obviously helps me around and do a lot of things, so that's very kind of him. And full-time disabled person, but part-time using kind of assistive devices. Full-time disabled person but part-time using kind of assistive devices.

Speaker 4: 5:11

So walking long distances is very hard. Stairs are pretty much a no, so I'm always looking for ramps and curb cuts and things that I can not have to step up on. I do fall randomly and it's just scary in the moment, but also it's hard for me to get up. So my husband helps me with that sometimes. Otherwise I pretty much need like a chair or something to help myself up with at this point. So definitely a big difference between like when it started and now. And, like I said, you can kind of just see certain points in the years where it wasn't so bad, it was kind of plateauing, and then now it's been a little more limiting. I would actually now say that I have a disability. I didn't used to say that because it didn't quite always feel like that.

Speaker 1: 5:46

So I'm at that point now and growing up with this. Obviously there was a lot of stopping activities at that age of around 12 years old. How did that emotionally affect you and did you feel alone in that process of imagining that you're the only one in your family or within your social network of people that had a disability? And how did you start to accumulate the resources and things that you needed to do to kind of navigate disability at such a young age?

Speaker 4: 6:23

Yeah, I think I didn't navigate it. We like didn't talk about it. In my family it was. I think people got the cue from me of like I don't want to talk about this, we're going to pretend it's not happening for as long as I possibly can, which probably wasn't the healthiest way to deal with it. Looking back, but yeah, I mean and I grew up in Vermont where it's all Victorian houses and lots of steps and stairs and like harder to get around, so I think I just ignored it as long as I could. I remember, even in college, being able to somewhat go up and down stairs. I walked around campus like it wasn't as big of a deal. So and yes, I was the only person that I knew that had a disability I did not want to be different. That was like emotionally very hard for me in school. I just wanted to pretend it wasn't there and it wasn't happening. And then, obviously more recently, that has not been the case, I would say in the past 10 years.

Speaker 4: 7:14

In 2013, I actually published a book, a memoir, about this and that was the first time that I ever talked about it out loud, really. And I went. I went to a couple support groups. I found them not as helpful as I had wanted, so I kind of stopped with that. But I definitely from the book. People have reached out to me that have the same disease. You know, I know more people.

Speaker 3: 7:36

But like, how rare is this disease Like? So we, stella and I, and obviously people listening thank you for listening, those who are listening that have. We have Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, which falls under the muscular dystrophy umbrella as well, but it's more common than people think. Right, Like what is it, estella? It's like one in-.

Speaker 1: 7:59

One in every 2,600 people. Yeah, like one in 20.

Speaker 3: 8:02

Yeah, so, and it's as common as MS, as people say.

Speaker 4: 8:06

So Google tells me that it's four in a hundred thousand people, so somewhat rare.

Speaker 3: 8:12

Yeah, I'd say that's pretty rare. So you wrote a book, a memoir that united people and people found you and we totally get how empowering it is to like meet people Cause, like I met Estella, she was the first person that I could relate to other than my own family that has CMT and it was like that moment of oh my gosh, like you have what I have and you know, hopefully people listening embrace a podcast, you know does that for you as well, which is what we hope. Podcast, you know does that for you as well, which is what we hope. What I'm so curious about Lacey is like how you went from like denial then now wrote a memoir and then became like a person who helps people with disabilities, like with self-esteem and uncovering what's holding them back from their potential in life. That's what you do, right. Yeah, can you tell us a little bit about?

Speaker 4: 9:07

that? Yeah, that's a really good question. I think it just happened slowly over a decade. Maybe I just felt more comfortable talking about it and actually, now that you asked me that, I have a thought. So when I started my business in 2015, I started using my story more because that was something that I was using in my content, and so I feel like it did become a little bit more comfortable for me to talk about it, which was also really helpful because I had a lot of trouble talking about it in dating and relationships, and so then, when I was moving into that realm, it got a little bit easier too. But I think it just got to a point where I couldn't ignore it anymore and I couldn't pretend it didn't exist, and so I had to be having the conversations to ask for what I needed or ask for help or ask for support if I was doing something that I needed. That.

Speaker 1: 9:56

A lot of us have similar experiences where it's exhausting, pretending like everything's okay and we just get to a point where we just can't do it anymore. I don't want to do it. So after publishing the book, what did? I'm assuming you started to create more of a community right and people started to resonate with your story. How did how did that also work into your business, and where did that idea to create a coaching business come from? Is that something you were always interested in or is that something that disability played a large role in?

Speaker 3: 10:31

Wait, wait. I don't think we even told people Everyone. By the way, lacey is a. What is your title? We haven't even told them.

Speaker 4: 10:39

Yeah, I'm a Confidence and Certified Body Image Coach, yeah.

Speaker 4: 10:43

So back to Stella's question yeah, I think I Confidence and Certified Body Image Coach, yeah.

Speaker 4: 10:47

So back to Stella's question yeah, I think I kind of stumbled onto coaching, but I sort of I mean, I've always worked in government or nonprofit jobs, so I knew I wanted to do something that helped people and I also really wanted to work for myself and I think part of that was disability related, but part of it was like I just want more freedom to work for myself. So I stumbled on to coaching and I actually started working. Originally it was like visibility type coaching, just women who are struggling to show up, because that was really hard for me in my business to actually be seen and put myself out there. And then I realized it was actually a deeper thing, these confidence things and these body issue things, and so I sort of kind of melded them all together and I definitely have like just a special place in my heart for women who are have chronic disease, who have disabilities, who have limitations, because it does bring up completely different things sometimes when you're trying to grow a business or show up in relationships or whatever the thing is for you.

Speaker 3: 11:42

Lately there's been a lot of like there's different coaches that I'm seeing for all different types of things, like, and that's different, you know, than a therapist, right, like, so, a coach. Well, maybe you could tell us, like, what is a coach? Like, why would someone people who are listening like what would be different If I was like having struggling, just kind of getting started? Maybe I have an idea that I want to do something that I just can't get going, or, you know, I feel like I want to work on exercising and I just don't have motivation, like what's the difference between a therapist and a coach?

Speaker 4: 12:21

Yeah, great question. So there are coaches for everything. Like I literally know so many coaches who do so many. Great question, so there are coaches for everything. Like I literally know so many coaches who do so many different things. So probably anything you ever wanted to do in your life, you could find a coach that would help you.

Speaker 4: 12:32

And I would say the main difference between a therapist and coaching, there are two things, although I feel like the line is kind of blurring a little more these days. One is that oftentimes therapists don't share a lot of their own personal experience with you. There's very clear lines based on their schooling and the way that they're kind of trained to be therapists. That's not always true in coaching, which I actually think is really healing and helpful for coaches to share their own experiences sometimes in coaching. And then the other thing is and again, this is not always true, but oftentimes in coaching you don't go backwards and kind of like find the challenges that got you here and like do pass.

Speaker 4: 13:10

You know, inner child I mean we do do, like a lot of us do trauma work and inner child work, but it's not so focused on that. It's like where are we right now and where are the goals that we want to get to and how do we take the action steps to get there? And yeah, that might mean doing some of that healing work, but it's not like that's the focus right. We're not trying to find like where this started when you were five. Necessarily, it's like how can we get there? And if we need to go back and do something, we will.

Speaker 1: 13:35

And so what would you say, based on your experience, what are some of the things that and we're not just speaking professionally, right, this is not just for entrepreneurs, this episode, this is just for everyone to start to reflect on. What are the things holding us back in our life? How can we start to identify that? How can we start to make steps to get ourselves unstuck and to move forward and to identify goals that we want to put out there and to start working towards them? So what would you say are some of the things, especially in the disability community, that you see that are holding people back from living the life that they want to live?

Speaker 4: 14:14

Yeah. So I think what I see the most and this is probably a little bit biased, just based on the people that I work with and the people in my communities, but it really is the like not feeling confident in whether, like you, can reach your goals, you can get your results, not believing in yourself, not having trust in yourself. And then also the pieces around like showing up and being seen and being vulnerable and saying what you need to say, asking for what you need, and I think a lot of that is also just female identifying humans were sort of raised in some of those ways to not ask or show up certain ways.

Speaker 3: 14:50

So I think there are other pieces that play as well right, like not feeling like you're not worthy and so like I don't need, like I don't want to bother someone. See, I don't have this problem. I literally not. Actually, my husband apologizes like all the time. He's like oh, I'm sorry and I'm like. I've seen that I'm like I really feel like I'm worthy, like I'm never I mean, I apologize, obviously for things. But what I like is really the fact that a coach can be like hold you accountable. A coach can literally be your cheerleader. You know a lot of people like try to do these support groups online and I've heard from people like and no offense to Stella even like CMT.

Speaker 1: 15:39

Ours are awesome.

Speaker 3: 15:40

Yeah, but all of them have, all of them are have good things to them. But the negative thing is is that you, you know, oftentimes there's negativity in the group with people. Some people just complain to complain and and not necessarily to help anyone. I think the benefit of a coach is really like that one-on-one. A therapist is not going to text you and say, hey, did you like do the thing, did you start the thing, whereas a coach might have that ability. They're not analyzing you, they're more motivating you. Right, yeah, exactly, yeah. And so, like Estella's question about, like, what is holding people back? In addition to feeling unworthy, maybe not being assertive, what are some of the other issues you find with people with disabilities? Come into a coaching session looking for help with.

Speaker 4: 16:33

Yeah, so definitely some body image things, often confidence things, like I said, and that could be confidence in yourself or your work or whatever, like your goals, whatever you're doing, and I think the overarching which actually I don't. I've never met anyone that has not had this belief but there is usually always a belief of not being good enough in some way in some place in your life, usually from when you're a child, and I think for those of us with disabilities or different abilities, that's often the thing that makes us feel like that Not always, but for me that was true, and so I think there's always that piece, too, of not being good enough. We need to do more, we aren't doing enough to get what we need, or we're not being a good partner, or we're not showing up the best as we can at our job, or whatever. It's just those bubbling beliefs underneath of the not good enough piece.

Speaker 1: 17:27

So how would you guide a client out of that mindset and start giving them actionable steps to move forward and not feel like they're not worthy or go for it, take that risk that they wanted to take?

Speaker 4: 17:40

Yeah. So that's a really good question and I think it's a little tricky because that's one of also the benefits of coaching is that it's ongoing work. Like often it's containered into like six month programs or something, and so you're coming back to this thing a lot. You could not do that in like one session, you know. So I think there is some deeper work around that mindset wise.

Speaker 1: 18:03

We'll be right back.

Speaker 5: 18:14

This is George, fred and Jason, the co-leaders of Speak, interrupting to say that we hope you're enjoying this episode, but please make sure to check out our new show, the Speak Podcast, another great show produced by Launchpad 516 Studios. New episodes available every week on all of your favorite podcast platforms.

Speaker 6: 18:34

Each Speak talk is about six to ten minutes in length, and the talks are given in storytelling format. There are three key moments in each Speak Talk the moment of truth, the moment of transformation and the moment of impact. We host pop-up events all over the world, and now we're bringing our talks to your device.

Speaker 5: 18:54

Join us on the Speak podcast as our speakers step onto the stage and into the spotlight with impactful ideas and stories. We'll let you get back to the show.

Speaker 1: 19:05

You were listening to another great podcast from Launchpad 516 Studios. You're tuning in to Embrace it with Lainey Anastella, brought to you by Launchpad 516 Studios.

Speaker 4: 19:20

Maybe like, why, like where that's coming from, why can we figure out, like, what role that has for you, how it's benefiting you which is always a good thing to look for, because it always is, it's like protecting you in some way, what it might like, what it might look like to not have that. And then also, like I love journaling. I don't know if either of you are journalers, but I'm a big journaler and so journal prompts are really helpful too.

Speaker 3: 19:44

For people who are listening, I know right, when you hear the word journal, you're like oh, if you have CMT or another type of disorder where it affects your hands, like typing, texting is also a perfectly acceptable way to journal. You don't need the actual pen and paper to write. But actually my stepdaughter, who doesn't have a disability, she told me some prompts that she uses every day, and one of them in particular I loved, which was how have I taken care of my body today? And then another one was what have I done for myself and my, you know, today? So, like those kinds of things where someone might, you know if someone is like, not like me, and apologizes all the time for their existence, you know, how have I shown up today? How have I stood out? What have I done to, like, put myself out? There might be a prompt, so I get what you're saying. It's probably just, you know, first of all, it's dependent on every person and what they're. What's holding them back, right?

Speaker 4: 20:49

And I would say you could actually even do this in your head if you had to. I, some of us, like prefer the pen to paper or typing or whatever, but like, if you want to do this in your head, you could. I think it's just the practice of like shifting that mindset, of feeling like you're not good enough to notice, like you said, the things you're doing, the things you're accomplishing, what you're grateful for, what's working well, like those kinds of things.

Speaker 1: 21:10

And speaking of prompts, I was looking at some of your your reels and you talk a lot about decision-making and people delaying decisions in their life, and I think that's really important. I think it's such a great point that you make, because there are things that sit in the back of our minds for years and years Should I leave the job, should I leave the relationship? Should I take up this type of hobby? And we don't make the decision and then we don't commit to it and then it never happens, right? Can you speak a little bit to how you get people to move on those decisions and what's the impact of not making decisions and how can we get better at that?

Speaker 4: 21:54

I love that question, so I'm a little bit of a super direct coach. My coach always picks on me for my very directness and my content and stuff. But for me when we're not making decisions, we're basically wasting the time. So it's like you could be, let's say, you aren't starting that business. That's however many thousands of dollars you could have made from that business. You're not leaving that relationship. That's another person you could have been with that would have been so much better for you.

Speaker 4: 22:20

You're delaying the joy and what you actually want by delaying the decision, and so I think that's the conversation that I have with people a lot. It's like what's the cost of delaying the decision? And maybe it's a completely okay cost for you and you're willing to do the trade-off and wait a little bit. Maybe you have to because of other things going on in your life. That's okay, but it's really helpful to just see that what is the trade-off of waiting on this versus actually doing it now? And so I think the best way to move on decisions is being clear of what you want and seeing what's getting in the way of that, and then doing that trade-off analysis and deciding if that's something you are okay with putting off and, if not, get support from someone to help you move forward with that accountability and actually showing up to at least take the first few steps, because the band-aid ripoff of the first few steps is usually the hardest part start by starting right, like just taking one step.

Speaker 3: 23:17

people can spend a very long time thinking about the pros and cons, researching everything, making it perfect, but a coach might be that person who can help you to do that. The first step in starting might be to like hire a coach like you, lacey, or someone else that someone else finds and, speaking of that, you have an Instagram page, you have a Facebook page. You have all sorts of ways people can reach you if they're interested. Do you do virtual coaching around, I'm assuming, anywhere people were interested?

Speaker 4: 23:56

Yep, I do all my coaching via Zoom, so I've had clients in Hawaii, I've had clients in Australia.

Speaker 1: 24:03

You can be anywhere and get in touch with me, and do you just work with business owners and entrepreneurs or does this kind of apply to anyone who's looking to just build their confidence and move forward and gain some momentum in their life?

Speaker 4: 24:21

I specifically work with female entrepreneurs. So either on business showing up in business or who are trying to show up in their relationships, but I still kind of target that female entrepreneur population. But what I would say is I know hundreds of coaches and if you're looking for someone, feel free to reach out to me and I can probably hook you up with someone who's looking, who does what you are looking for.

Speaker 1: 24:42

What exactly do you mean when you say you help people show up? What does that look like for someone, and how do we know if we're showing up or not in our lives?

Speaker 4: 24:51

What I think of entrepreneurs. I think of coaches, service-based business owners, anyone who's doing stuff mostly online, but I've worked with people who do a little bit of brick and mortar stuff too. So the showing up piece is actually showing up on whatever platforms you're using to market, putting your face out there, potentially showing up on video to sell your things. Those are often the things that people get stuck with when we don't want to be seen and we're worried that people are going to leave mean comments or we're comparing ourselves to everyone else. And then similar for relationships. Right, I feel that my coaching is very unique in the showing up thing. Usually it's confidence and body image for relationships, too. We don't want to be seen. We don't feel comfortable going on those dates. We have like anxiety before everyone. We don't feel like we're good enough to find a good partner. Like those are the things that I am really passionate about, just because I struggled in both of those areas.

Speaker 1: 25:49

We love anything regarding relationships and dating with a disability. Actually, we just had a great podcast with the Dateability app founders. What would be one thing, one piece of advice you would offer someone? Let's say they're putting themselves out there on the dating apps. It's going to be Valentine's Day soon. They are ready to get out there again, but they have the hesitation around having a disability or chronic illness. What's you know one piece of advice you would offer?

Speaker 4: 26:22

Let me think. So I have two things that are coming to mind. One again is a journal prompt, and I know not everyone's into journaling so I sometimes hate to only share journal prompts. But the other thing is I love mirror work, like actually just looking at yourself in the mirror and saying nice things to yourself. And looking at yourself in the eyes and saying things like you know, I love you, I see you, I forgive you, I accept you and actually feeling that every day, like I do this every day, still are such confidence builders for showing up in any any way in any place in your life. And I really do feel like that starts with us and kind of that deeper inner work, which is why I love sort of like looking at yourself in the eyes and the mirror to do that.

Speaker 1: 27:01

Yeah, that's something we don't often do, right? I mean, we look in the mirror, we get ready, we do our makeup, but do we actually look at ourselves and then do we actually have nice things to say to ourselves when we are looking?

Speaker 3: 27:23

It reminds me of that movie too. Now know, um and now I'm not going to remember the movie, but it was such a good with Amy Schumer and she looks in the mirror and she sees like, at first she's insecure and she's not showing up and she's like timid, she's overweight or she feels like ugly. And so she, when she sees herself in the mirror, she sees this ugly person, but then she like, magically, there's like whatever, this thing. But it's mindset, right. So something happened in the movie.

Speaker 3: 27:47

It shifted her mindset and then, even though she was the same person she hadn't lost a pound, she looked no different. She held herself higher. Her shoulders were different. She held herself higher, her shoulders were, you know, once she thought of herself as beautiful. Her whole body language made it. So others saw her as beautiful too. So obviously that's the whole goal, right? It's like you feel it, and people then are drawn to that in relationships. If you're looking for a relationship, you pretend to be confident, you, and the more you pretend, the more confident you become, and then the more attractive you become to other people. See, I've solved all the world's problems.

Speaker 1: 28:32

You should be like a social worker or something.

Speaker 3: 28:33

I know, maybe I should go into it, yeah.

Speaker 1: 28:38

Yeah, I love that movie. I feel pretty it was. It was, it was a fun movie. But yeah, it really speaks a lot to the power of of self-confidence and how that exudes into every area of your life, whether that's professional or or personal. What do you have planned for your future, lacey? What's kind of your? What are your big goals that you're reaching for through your coaching or even personal?

Speaker 4: 29:01

outside of that, yeah, so there are a few things. One is that I'm actually launching a program mid-year that I'm very excited about, which is going to be a body image, business and relationship program, which I've never combined before, but I feel like this is my calling to be doing all of this work together, and the thread of confidence and body image just runs through all of it so beautifully that I'm like this is the thing I need to be doing. So that'll be happening later. My goal is really just to help women feel more confident in their bodies so that they can show up in their business, their relationships, wherever that is for them.

Speaker 4: 29:40

I just think it's such a huge thing that so many of us struggle with and I'm going to speak for myself, but having a disability was another layer of that for me and so I just think it's so important for us to have like these tools and be able to kind of move through the world in the way that we want, and so, however, I can do that in whatever way, and that may change over the years. You know, I'm not quite sure exactly what that looks like, but I have ideas for retreats and other things that could be really fun to kind of do that work and it may branch out to men or I'm not quite sure yet. But the confidence piece because I think that is what helps us relate to people, to care about people, to not start fights and wars and other things is actually having that confidence within ourselves and feeling good enough in ourselves. So it was kind of a big answer, but no it sounds incredible.

Speaker 1: 30:34

And it sounds like something that's very much needed today and, and increasingly so, I think there's just so much negativity about around our physical appearances and our body, and it's really it's people like you that are helping people heal and pursue the lives that they want to, and obviously you're doing the same through your work and you're very focused and in line with your purpose. I think that speaks a lot to people as well. When they're able to work through all of people as well, when they're able to work through all of these barriers and challenges, they're able to tap deeper into their purpose and the ways they can serve others right. Can you speak a little bit to that and how that's unfolded for you and maybe some of your clients, and maybe just an example of a success story?

Speaker 4: 31:26

Yeah, let me start.

Speaker 4: 31:27

If I miss anything, feel free to ask any part of that again.

Speaker 4: 31:32

Yeah, so I feel like the I think I think I always wanted to do something that helped people, that I was a political science major in college, so, and psychology minor, so I like kind of knew I was going to do something in governments or nonprofits and I so I think that was kind of always there for me. I think what happens, though, is, as we start to feel more comfortable with ourselves and like being more vulnerable and being able to show up the way that we want in the world, we're digging deeper into our actual desires and like what we actually want to do that maybe we were scared to do, or even say out loud or start doing like we were talking about earlier. So I do think there's some of that work, when we're kind of more in touch with who we are and comfortable being who we are, that we're able to kind of pursue our goals and our dreams, and maybe they shift a little bit, but then we still have the courage to go after whatever's shifting.

Speaker 1: 32:25

I love that. I think that when we have all of this internal ableism and shame and all of these layers that are covering our authentic selves, it's really hard to even think about helping ourselves, let alone helping other people. So I think, by peeling back each one of those, with someone working with someone like yourself or some other kind of mentor or coach to really push people outside of their comfort zone right, it's hard to do that on your own, but when you have somebody along for the ride with you, it makes it a lot easier and approachable. So congratulations on all the work that you're doing. We encourage all of our listeners to check out Lacey's website and social media.

Speaker 3: 33:10

Also we want to we end every podcast with this same question. We've been getting really good at it and it's my goal for 2024 to do this every time. So to close this out, lacey, can you tell us what does embrace it mean to you?

Speaker 4: 33:28

I'm going to go off. What we were just talking about, I think embrace. It for me is embracing who you are like, who you actually are, that maybe you've been pushing down or not putting out there for decades or whatever, and actually having the courage to show up and do what you want to do in the world and embracing life and the way that that looks for you and works for you, which may be completely different from anyone else, but embracing your weird and your differences and just showing up as who you are so that you can do whatever you're meant to do or want to do in the world.

Speaker 3: 34:02

Love it. Fine, lacey, we're going to put links to her info in the show notes and thank you so much, lacey, for joining us and for adding some value and for giving that great tip. I love the mirror tip, because just looking in the mirror and saying you are good enough, you're worthy, is a great way to start your day. So thank you for that and for everything, estella, I love you.

Speaker 1: 34:29

Bye, everyone, bye, bye-bye. Hey, embracers. Thank you so much for listening and supporting the Embrace it podcast brought to you by Launchpad 516 Studios executive, produced by George Andriopoulos and hosted by Laini Ishbia and Estella Lugo. Our music and sound effects are licensed through Epidemic Sound Embrace. It is hosted with Buzzsprout.

Speaker 3: 34:49

Do you have a disability-related topic you'd love for us to feature, or could someone you know be a fabulous guest on our show? We would love to hear your comments and feature them on our next podcast. So leave us a voicemail or you can even send us a text to 631-517-0066.

Speaker 1: 35:10

Make sure to subscribe to this feed wherever podcasts are available and leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts while you're at it. Follow us at embraceit underscore podcast on Instagram and make sure to follow all the great podcasts produced by Launchpad 516 Studios.

Speaker 3: 35:26

We hope you join us next time and continue to embrace it.