It’s nice - even preferred - to feel special, right? To feel exceptional? However, to be special and exceptional requires being different. So why do we disparage weirdness? Why do we actively criticize/avoid it?

I get into why.

I also get into why we shouldn’t; why our oddities should be celebrated and even cultivated. I share some of my own weirdo tendencies, and offer a pretty strong argument on letting your freak flag fly (whatever that means to you).

Be you. Be awesome. You little weirdo.

xx,

w

Connect with me on Facebook and Instagram @the_nativist

Visit https://clearstem.com/?ref=eubxjtws and use code WHITNEYRICHARDS for 15% off!

Want to maximize peace and happiness and minimize disappointment? This is your episode.

Expectations. They powerfully influence our perceptions, our experiences - and therefore our lives. They impact our relationships, our careers, our productivity, our accomplishments, our peace and happiness (or lack thereof).

So they’re probably worth thinking and talking about, yeah? Excellent. You’re in the right place. In this episode, I offer perspectives on the different roles expectations play in our lives, and I offer tips on cultivating success.

Thank you for being here.

Connect with me on Facebook and Instagram @the_nativist

Part of being a functional, happy, successful, ALIVE human is analyzing, anticipating, and, planning. Part of being a miserable, sad, resentful human is having unmet expectations. So…how do we encourage the former, not the latter? What’s the key ingredient?

Expectations (did you expect me to say that?).

In this episode, I talk about the sneaky ways expectations can screw with your health, success, and happiness - and how to avoid that.

Love you. Mean it.

-w-

Find me on Facebook and Instagram @the_nativist

In honor of Native American Heritage Month, Effie Hernandez comes on the pod to inform and inspire. Effie is a member of the Shoshone Tribe and works as a multi-cultural coordinator for a community college in Idaho Falls. Though Effie provides great resources and insight for planning your future (especially for Indigenous youth), this isn’t just for teenagers contemplating college. In true Nativist fashion, we go deep. We talk about living your own life and how fulfilling your unique potential can be different, daunting, challenging, and empowering, and how it allows you to elevate and enrich others’ lives as well (the more skills and knowledge you have, the more value you can contribute!). We emphasize the importance of defining: your life, your terms, your success. We explore how diversity and inclusion can have different meanings for different people, and we invite awareness and reflection on this. We highlight the power of continuing education - formal and informal - and how humility and curiosity are crucial components. Know your options. Define your terms. Leverage your potential.

Contact Effie:

• Effie Hernandez Multicultural Coordinator, 208-535-5338, effie.hernandez@cei.edu

Scholarships for Indigenous youth (as referenced in the episode, via Dr. Amanda Cheromiah’s TikTok video on how she graduated debt free):

• Cobell Scholarship

• American Indian Science and Engineering Society Scholarships

• American Indian Education Fund

• American Indian College Fund

• American Indian Graduate Center Scholarship

• Theresa A. Mike Scholarship

• Native Graduate Health Fellowship

• Catching the Dream Scholarship

• Indian Health Services Scholarship Program

• American Indian Services Scholarship

*Look into the specific scholarships of your own tribe(s)/institution

Find Dr. Amanda Cheromiah on TikTok/Instagram @drcheromiah

Leadership is a sweetheart topic. We’re inundated with advice and resources and guidance on being an effective leader. We’re taught to seek to lead, not follow. We’re taught to value leading over following; to respect leaders more than followers. And while there’s merit and value in striving to aim high and lead (in whatever form that takes: in your own life, in a team, etc) there can be just as much merit and value in following (particularly in the discernment of knowing WHEN to follow versus WHEN to lead - that’s important).

We can’t all be leaders all of the time. What chaos that would be! And what a disservice to us, to our happiness, our development, our breadth and depth of life experience, our psyche, our friggin’ SANITY.

How can we be well-rounded, balanced, (physically and emotionally) healthy human beings if we only serve (or try to serve) in the same capacity? What a mess that’d be. And stunting for our growth (mental, physical, emotional, spiritual).

In this episode, I highlight the value of following, and its overlap with leading (leading can be following and following can be leading!). I emphasize the importance of deciding your own definition of success, and understanding others have theirs. I explain how we can lead by following - and the key that differentiates a strong follower from a mere sheep (this same key also makes you good leader). This episode may be short, but it’s still deep.

Thank you for listening!

Find me on Facebook or Instagram: @the_nativist

Leadership. It’s often glorified and discussed, often regarding a formal role, position, or status. How reductive and limiting.

No matter what organization you’re part of, or group you belong to, or title you have/lack - YOU are and can be a leader - at the very least, the leader of your own dang life.

In this episode, I highlight various ways we can lead from where we stand, no matter who we are or what we do (some will likely surprise you). I outline subtle and overt ways we can directly/indirectly influence those around us and the world at large.

I suggest ways to empower yourself and take control of your life, to live it on your own terms.

We’re all leaders. This isn’t saying we all deserve trophies and can phone it in. No, it really is about the different ways we can each lead - from where we individually stand. It’s about trying, doing your best, reclaiming your power, taking responsibility and owning your life.

Lead on.

-w-

Find me on Facebook and Instagram (@the_nativist)

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.

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

Eli Gerhard is a shining example of someone who lives life out loud. Life doesn’t happen to him; he happens TO life. Hailing from humble beginnings, Eli shows just how far tenacity, hard work, and authenticity can take you. He is the man of a thousand talents, and demonstrates the kind of life that’s possible once you kick excuses to the curb and get out and make it H A P P E N.

Image by Brooke Richardson Photography

I sit down with the ultimate “hairapist” Brittney D’Anelli to share her story on how she’s overcome numerous obstacles throughout her life to become the thriving businesswoman and boss babe she is today. From glamming up showbiz clients to establishing her own thriving salon to traveling the world educating on sustainable haircare to creating culinary masterpieces in her free time, Brittney shows what it means to make your own way and look fabulous doing it.