Show Transcript

Have you ever faced a moment so challenging, so daunting that it literally changed

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the way you thought about life?

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Everything you thought you knew just got flipped on its head.

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And ultimately, this single moment in time impacted the rest of your life.

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It's impacted the person you are today.

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If so, then today's episode is for you. Because today we are diving into a topic

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of post-traumatic growth.

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It's not enough to return to the person you were before that moment.

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No, because the fact is true. You've grown, you've evolved, you become a bigger,

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stronger, better person on the other side of life's challenges.

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Today, in this episode, I just want to help you to harness that growth and use

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it for your good to propel you even further into the life that you were meant to live.

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You, my friend, are ready to

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soar, and this is episode 283, the episode that's going to get you there.

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What's up, my friend, and welcome to Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

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I am your host, Kevin Lowe.

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Twenty years ago, I awoke from a life-saving surgery only to find that I was left completely blind.

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And since that day, I've learned a lot about life, a lot about living, and a lot about myself.

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And here on this podcast, I want to share those insights with you because friend,

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if you are still searching for your purpose,

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still trying to understand why, or still left searching for that next right

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path to take, we'll consider this to be your stepping stone to get you from

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where you are to where you want to be.

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Today's episode is being sponsored by MyPillow, the leader in being sure that

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you are sleeping Weeping Good, my friend.

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And they have got some special deals going on right now.

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Yes, they sell way more than just pillows. Just remember to use promo code Kevin

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to get the best available price.

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Remember, that's promo code Kevin when you go shopping at MyPillow.com.

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Check out today's show notes for further details.

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If you caught our previous episode, you will know that I introduced a new idea

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for the podcast, an idea of doing prayer requests.

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Something that I can do to make this podcast mean something more to you.

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I'm always on a mission to be sure that what I'm doing on this podcast,

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that it's meaningful to you, that it's more than just entertainment.

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It's actually something that impacts your life.

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And I believe in the power of prayer. And therefore, I want to use this as a

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way for you, my audience, to get your prayer requests heard by the world.

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I have people listening to this podcast from literally all over the world.

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And how awesome would it be to have something happening in your life?

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That you could have people all over the world praying for you.

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I'm going to feature one prayer request per episode.

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Again, this is kind of dependent upon your guys' interaction,

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if you like the idea or not.

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If you do, I encourage you to please send me your prayer requests.

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And I made it super easy. You can send them via text message.

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I figure you're already on your phone listening to this podcast.

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So you can send your prayer request to the phone number 877-749-8178.

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Again, send your prayer request as a text message to 877-749-8178.

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That's going to come directly to me.

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So please, if you have something you would love to have the world helping you

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and praying for, we'll send it to that phone number as a text message.

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In case it makes it easier for you, I have also left directions along with that

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phone number inside of today's show notes so that you can find the phone number there as well.

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And with that, my friend, let's get back to today's episode,

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diving into exactly what I'm talking about with this theme of post-traumatic growth.

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So as like most of the topics I talk about on this podcast, somewhere along

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the line, I found inspiration from something I heard, somebody I met,

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or somebody who I've had here on the podcast.

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And that is the case for today's episode as well.

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And that was my conversation with Lauren Brill.

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She was featured in our previous episode. Hopefully you were able to listen to it.

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If you didn't, by golly, I encourage you after this one to please go back and listen to it.

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She is an amazing woman with an incredible story.

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Story and the reason that her story

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inspired today's episode is because

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when we're talking about post-traumatic growth this idea

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of growing into a new version a better version of our own selves on the other

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side of the hardest thing we've gone through well her story is a beautiful representation

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of this I like to think of that age-old metaphor of the phoenix rising out of of the flames.

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And that's how I view the story of Lauren Brill.

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And I couldn't help but when listening to her story, a story that involved a

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single night, that changed her life forever.

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And that traumatic event that she had, she kept it a secret.

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She stayed silent for years and years afterwards. And it negatively impacted her life.

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Until one day, of course, she would set herself free. She would share her story.

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She would tell what happened to her.

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And from that moment forward, her life took on a whole new meaning,

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a whole new direction. because she was finally set free to let the rest of the

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world see who she had become.

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That, my friend, is possible for you as well. Because I want you to understand

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that when I talk about post-traumatic growth, the whole reason for this is because

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I want you to understand that as we go through life, we're constantly growing, evolving,

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developing into better versions of ourselves. selves.

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The person that we were yesterday, well, today we're a little bit smarter,

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a little bit wiser, a little bit better.

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And this idea, today's topic is here to remind you that I understand a traumatic

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event can be absolutely horrible.

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I don't want to make light of that in any way, shape, or form.

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But what I'm doing is taking the focus away from the event and putting the focus

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back on you because the fact is true is that you are continuing on with life,

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whether or not that event happened.

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And I believe that because of what happened, you, because of your own strength,

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your own resilience, your own internal awesomeness, you have grown into the absolutely amazing.

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Beautiful, magnificent person that you are today.

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And that is what today is all about, is helping you to recognize that,

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helping you to harness it, helping you to understand that, hey, you know what?

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I am a better version. I have grown, evolved, and maybe your life's taken a

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whole different direction than you ever could have imagined,

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all because of that moment in time.

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It's not that that moment was good. No, most likely in the situation like Lauren

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Brill, it was a horrible experience.

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But look what she's able to do in spite of it all.

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Not because of what happened, not because of the people who did it to her,

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but because of her own internal awesomeness.

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Before we continue, I would love to ask you at this moment to just take a pause,

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even if you need to pause this podcast right now and just think about things.

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What is it in your life? What was that obstacle that maybe you're still carrying with you?

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Maybe you haven't allowed yourself to emerge on the other side as your true,

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authentic, amazing self.

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Maybe you're still keeping it a secret. Whatever that is, I want you to think

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about it, and I want you to hold that memory as we continue on with today's episode.

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The story of Lauren Brill, that's only one of so many examples of this very idea.

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Because if you've listened to this podcast before,

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you will know that 99% of the guests I have on have all had something,

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all had some type of life-changing moment, some type of impactful event that

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was a pivotal moment in their life.

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And it made them grow into the person they are today.

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It's led them in the direction they have embarked upon.

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If you need inspiration, well, just go back through the episode library of this podcast.

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Pick any of the interviews I've done. I'm telling you, they are all inspiring,

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empowering, and you will find someone who I guarantee will remind you of your own story.

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That's what's powerful about us getting to share the stories of each other.

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The hope that maybe somebody listening, they'll be able to relate.

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But the lesson I think that we can all take from any of these scenarios is that

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the scars that are left from whatever this is.

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Moment in time was, and I'm not talking about physical scars, but emotional.

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The fact is true is those are not a sign of weakness. They're not a sign of what you endured.

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No, they're a reminder of what has you propelled forward.

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They are a reminder of what you have overcome.

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They are a reminder of who you are today in spite of what that moment tried

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to do to you. So the question is, is, okay, but how?

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How do I foster this level of post-traumatic growth?

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How do I start to look at things differently?

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How do I grow into the person that you say I'm supposed to be?

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Well, I believe it starts first and foremost by giving yourself space to recognize

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it, to give it the attention it deserves. serves.

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It's not that I'm wanting you to give attention to what happened to you.

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I want you to start by giving yourself time to grieve if you need to grieve,

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to reflect if you need to reflect, give yourself time to just sit in it.

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Whatever that moment in time was that you thought of, if you haven't given it the space it deserves,

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I encourage you to take the time to really sit in to really understand what

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that moment did to you negatively and positively,

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because who have you grown into in spite of what happened to you?

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Now, I encourage you to be patient, to not rush it, to not beat yourself up.

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Sometimes this can be a long process. This isn't something that I expect you

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to do inside of this podcast episode.

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No, I'm just literally hoping to be the spark that ignites this idea for you

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to turn this bad moment into good, into positivity for your life moving forward.

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So please give yourself space to feel the feels, to cry if you need to cry,

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to embrace exactly what that moment meant in your life.

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I then encourage you to seek out support, support from a friend,

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from professional help, from

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somebody who you can trust with knowing your deepest and darkest thoughts,

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who knows those are the parts of you that you've never shared with anybody.

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I encourage you to find that person, to find those people, somebody who you can trust.

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Because I'm telling you, sometimes, well, not sometimes, all the time.

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We need people to do life with.

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We may think that we can do it on our own, but the fact is true.

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We're meant to be together. So I hope that you can find somebody who you can

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trust, who can be there with you as you go on this journey of unpacking the moments in your life,

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the moment in your life that you've maybe not wanted to explore.

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You've kept it packed away, afraid to open it up.

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But now I'm encouraging you to do that in pursuit of becoming the best version of you.

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The third step, well, it's like anything we're doing new, is we start small. all.

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I don't want you to immediately come out swinging big goals,

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huge ideas of, look what I have gained.

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No, be optimistic, but also just have a reality check that this is a process. It's time.

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And it's going to take a different amount of time for everybody,

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depending upon who you are, what you've been through.

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I just want you to begin the process. So after you give it its space,

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after you seek out support,

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after you start to plot your steps forward, you can then begin to harness the

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power of the hardest thing you have been through for your own good.

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I'll leave you with this. As you continue forward, you will do what I love to

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talk about, and that is flipping the script, finding light in the dark, turning the bad to good.

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Not that you're saying that what happened to you was good. No,

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but you're using it for your own good to propel you forward into greatness,

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to let your light shine on the rest of the world.

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You, my friend, are worthy of all that you can imagine in this life. You are amazing.

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You are incredible.

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And I just want to be sure that you are letting the rest of the world see it the way that I see it.

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Because I know if you're listening to this episode today, that inside of you

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is something that needs to be let out, that you need to listen to the story of Lauren Brill,

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to listen to so many of the other guests I've had on this podcast,

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to maybe get inspiration, empowerment from them, from me, to let your light

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shine, to not allow your life to be.

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Dictated any longer by that moment, but instead use it to set you free.

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My friend, my name is Kevin Lowe, and I want to tell you this.

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If you would like to talk it out with somebody like me, I want to give you that opportunity.

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I'm going to leave a link to my calendar for you to book a totally free virtual coffee date with me.

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As I said, the link is in the show notes. Get on my calendar,

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I would love the opportunity to talk with you about what you're going through

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and to see if I can't help you.

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I'm always here wanting to be a value of service to you.

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So if that would be great for you, well, please check out today's show notes,

00:16:14.600 --> 00:16:20.320

get on my calendar, and I would love nothing more than the opportunity to get

00:16:20.320 --> 00:16:23.320

to meet you and to hear about what you're going through.

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With that, I hope your day is incredible.

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I hope today's episode made an impact on your life for the positive.

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Until next week, I'm Kevin Lowe. This is Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

00:16:35.760 --> 00:16:54.516

Music.