The topic for this episode was requested by a listener, and what a hard-hitting topic it is, that encompasses so much. The full request was for motivation and showing up for yourself, and this episode covers both, since they’re closely related. This is especially relevant for me as I get back into podcasting. Podcasting elates and fulfills me, but I tend to resist what I know is good for me, and what I know will make me happy, as a form of self sabotage. As if I’m only comfortable when there’s some discomfort. I’m okay with a certain amount of success and wellbeing, but too much and I run scared. It throws me.

I’m progressively mastering navigating this. Knowing when to exercise discipline and push through, and when to grant grace and respite. It’s a journey.

Everybody is different. We’re all in different places on the balance spectrum, and require different lifestyles to balance us. We’re also motivated differently: some intrinsically, some extrinsically. Some derive fuel from the haters and doubters, some withdraw.

Self awareness is key: We need to reflect and do our shadow work and level with ourselves, to know what drives and motivates us, and to know when to use discipline, and when to use grace. To know where to step it up + venture out (literally/figuratively) and where to pump the brakes and ease up. 

I share many of my self-motivating practices and life hacks, to light and maintain my fire. Some of these might surprise you.

Showing up for yourself varies not only interpersonally (among people), but also intrapersonally (with yourself). It’ll likely vary decade to decade, phase to phase, year to year, season to season, month to month, day to day, hour to hour, even minute to minute. Our values shift, our priorities change. Mine definitely have, (especially since COVID). 

We’re growing, evolving (at least hopefully!) beings who don’t live in a vacuum. We don’t control others, and we don’t control what happens to us. 

Being open to it all, accepting, and flowing with it is a main theme of my work. Attending to your ultimate good, and the highest good for all, won’t look the same now as it did before - for you or for anyone else. 

That’s why it’s important to stay connected, especially with yourself. Again, self awareness is CRUCIAL. Powerful. Transformative. Identifying what motivates you. What lights you up. Dialing into why you’re doing what you’re doing, why you’re feeling what you’re feeling, what you need vs. what you think you need. If any wounds/insecurities are calling the shots. When you need to push through and when you need to pull back. When you should contract, when you should expand. When you should pivot and redirect, and when you should stay the course. 

So tune into yourself. Get to know yourself Identify your thought patterns, particularly those based in fear. Understand why you do what you do and think what you think, to help you recognize when you’re being led by fear/trauma, and when you’re being led by intuition/wisdom. Practice separating from your thoughts, your mental narrative. Get comfortable dialing into your core, your true self, your inner wisdom. You know what you need. You always have, and you always will. It’s simply a matter of you holding space for yourself to acknowledge and honor your inner guidance. 

I love you.

Per request, this episode dives into politics. 

I have a degree in political science and international relations, with a minor in psychology, so this is definitely an area of interest. I discuss the roles of politics and tribalism in our lives, how certain leaders can be so powerful, how to educate yourself on issues effectively and responsibly, why international relations affect our daily lives, why Americans should stay sympathetic and humble, and why open-mindedness is essential. Plus...a whole lot of other stuff. I keep it clean, I keep it neutral...but hopefully, I also keep it thought provoking.

Below, you’ll find my outline I used for this episode - in case you feel like getting wild and really digging in (or using for past/future reference!)

• Disclaimer: This is not going to be partisan. For my job, I must stay neutral. As you may have noticed, I stay neutral on social media (though sometimes this is tough - especially on my Hot Topic Thursday questions!).

• Lizard brain

  • Fear of survival

  • Self preservation kicks in

  • Law of scarcity

  • Identify common enemy

  • If leaders can activate your lizard brain, then game over: they can control you

    • Eg. Hitler

    • Try to not let this happen to you!

• Tribalism

  • In vs. out crowd

  • Humans are social creatures

  • Back in the day, our survival depended on fitting in with the tribe. Strength in numbers. We couldn’t survive without it. Now, it’s still important, especially for mental health.

  • Associating with a tribe gives us a sense of identity and purpose. Provides framework for our life. Makes us feel like we belong

  • Judging others makes us feel superior (reference judgment podcast). Gives us a hit of feel-good emotions. Makes us feel smarter than, more pious than, etc.

  • We love “gotcha” moments: 

• I’m personally politically independent and issue based. I don’t affiliate with a political party.

  • I think it can get dangerous when you have blind, unconditional loyalty to groups/human constructs, like a political party

    • No matter what, the GOP is always right. 

    • Ride or die for the Democrats

    • If you think about it, that defies reason. That’s just giving away your power. Your agency. 

  • Both sides are guilty. Just like there are bad eggs in every profession, or organization, or religion. We’re human. We’re fallible. 

• Without getting too into it, I’ll just say that mixing religion and rule can be a slippery slope, no matter what kind of religion and what kind of government it is: democracy and Christianity, democracy and Judaism, monarchy and Islam. Not that certain mixtures can never work: it can be closed-minded to think so (and I’m a FIRM believer in open-mindedness, both in preach and practice). Let’s not be so quick to denounce another way of doing things. This goes for countries and people. 

  • I also strongly believe in freedom. As you may have heard me say, a main mantra of mine is to live and let live, unless your lifestyle harms another. There are many different kinds of religions and anointing one religion as THE religion by yoking it to the official rule of law impede others’ freedom to practice their own. A “holier-than-thou” attitude - particularly in politics - can be detrimental, counterproductive, and downright damaging in multiple ways. If there is an official religion, let’s make it love. Boom. On to the next topic.

• Let’s talk economy

  • I’m no economist by any means, but I’ve read a few books and tried to educate myself somewhat. 

    • Some of the books I’ve read:

      • Keeping At It: The Quest for Sound Money and Good Government by Paul Volcker. Volcker is the former chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the former Undersecretary of the Treasury for Monetary Affairs and president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Volcker chronicles his career, during which he confronted multiple financial crises and issues. He extols the virtue of stable prices, sound finance, and good government. It wasn’t as dry of a read as you’d expect.

      • Capitalism in America: A History by Alan Greenspan: From the legendary former Fed Chairman and the acclaimed Economist writer and historian, the full, epic story of America's evolution from simple colonies to the world’s most powerful engine of wealth and innovation. Greenspan explores why the economy surges, changes, stalls, etc. He distills a lifetime of grappling with these questions about capitalism, etc,  into a thorough and profound book outlining the decisive drivers of the US economy over the course of its history.

  • riveting?! Okay, okay, fine. I get it. \

  • What I would love people to understand: The economy is multi-dimensional and affected by a variety of factors, most of them international factors. 

  • And the economy is not the only way to measure how well a leader is doing

    • I don’t expect everyone to become international relations experts, but I would LOVE for there to just be more awareness of how important IR are, and the bearing they have on everything else (like the economy!). Part of this is because raising one’s awareness of international relations also heightens your consideration of people in other countries and cultures. There’s more to the world than just your local economy, or even national economy. Let’s expand our consciousness beyond how well our personal investments/bank accounts/jobs are doing

    • Ex. of how IR can affect us: 

      • It affects how much you pay at the pump: OPEC arguing over oil prices affects the price of gas

      • It affects the price of goods: the creation/dissolution of trade deals or tariffs with, say, China, will affect the price of imports/exports. This affects supply/demand in the world, and trickles down to your wallet.

      • It affects where you can travel (and where it’s safe to travel): Allying with or angering certain countries affects whether or not you need a passport/visa, or whether or not you’re even welcome in that country at all. There are also ripple effects in IR: our alliance/dismissal with a certain country can spark fighting in that country or elsewhere, making it unsafe to travel there. Or less directly felt by us (but not less important), it can enable bad people to do bad things.

  • And an unfortunate truth: America isn’t invincible. We’re not entitled or even guaranteed to win. We must safeguard our liberties. Other great nations have fallen - so can ours. Let’s not get cocky. We must stay humble and considerate. We mess up (we’ve had some ROYAL screw ups in the past - Native Americans (stealing land, smallpox blankets), meddling in affairs worldwide for our own gain, etc). Most of those past indiscretions have lingering effects playing out today, and are reflected in the world’s current state of affairs. We’ve disrupted entire cultures and countries. Yes, other countries and other superpowers have, too. Yes, that doesn’t excuse current terrorism and violence. Yes, it’s not productive to constantly dwell on the past and constantly be held accountable for our predecessors’ mistakes. However, 1. We still mess up (we’re fallible humans, remember?) and 2. I think it’s key for us to at least acknowledge our missteps and how they affect current events. Be humble. Think of someone who did you dirty in the past. Maybe they lied to you, or stole your bike, or didn’t invite you to a big party. Doesn’t feel good, right? Now let’s step that up: Imagine they murdered your family, stole your land, forced you to submit and follow their rules (punished you if you didn’t), and then didn’t apologize for decades later - after the damage had been done? And then downplayed it (or outright DENIED it and told you to get over it already). See how that kind of grudge could stick with a person? So let’s be a little kinder to everyone. 

  • Okay, back to the importance of international relations (though what I just said does directly apply). 

    • Current international relations are a result of past international relations. People who currently despise America generally don’t hate us simply because they’re mean, bad people. They loathe us for a reason: often, for those aforementioned past indiscretions. We did them dirty. 

    • Often, pride is mixed in with that. It’s not a good feeling to be the world’s epicenter of culture, mathematics, literature, etc - and then suddenly find yourself a third-word country. Ouch. So let’s be compassionate. 

    • And sometimes people just hate Americans because they’ve had too much haterade - and we have to remember, that’s their prerogative. It’s unfair and elitist to think American humans are better than other humans, and Americans are the only ones entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.   

    • Also important to remember: all humans are capable of acting a fool, particularly when tangled up in emotions: fear, pride, insecurity, etc. Remember what i said about the lizard brain, instinct for survival, and scarcity mindset? Unfortunately, I see that played out daily in American politics. We’re all in this together, muddling through the best we can.

  • Thank you all!

• Thank you all!

This is the second part to the two-part Baring Whitness podcast episode where I sit down with my amiga Veronica and answer whatever questions she throws my way.

The rawness continues. We hit a range of topics, including my biggest fear (it’s a little unconventional), my game changers, and how I achieved the mindset I have now.

Hope you enjoy.

xx,

-w-

Find Veronica on Instagram at @veronicasidahome

This two-part series is unlike any of the previous episodes. This time, I’M in the hot seat and answer questions from my gorgeous friend Veronica (even her name is hot). I get RAW and let you in to the inner world of Whitney Richardson. I share the reason for starting the Nativist, what intimidates me, what I struggle with…and SO.MUCH.MORE. I reveal things I’ve never shared before - not even with my closest amigos. I “bare” all and bear “Whitness.”

This is Veronica’s first time interviewing and I think you’ll agree…she’s a N A T U R A L. She suggested the interview, brought the heat with the questions, and knocked it out of the park. Peep her on Instagram at @veronicasidahome.

xx,

w