The LYLAS Podcast
If you know what LYLAS stands for, then this podcast is for you! Two besties since middle school turned moms and psychologists dish on "the good, the fun, and the yucks" of life! We're tackling all things mental health, "mom balance" (whatever the hell that is), transitions in life (divorce, career, aging parents, parent loss, loss of friendships), self-care, travel, healthy habits, raising kids, and allllllll the things us midlife mamas are experiencing. We hope each week listeners feel like they just left a good ol' therapy session with their bestie! We'll dish on all the tips and tricks to keep your mental health in check and enjoy this thing called life! Meet your life's newest cheerleaders-- Sarah & Jen! LYLAS!
The LYLAS Podcast
Summer Life Lessons
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What a summer of lessons… in this episode, Sarah & Jen share how there differing experiences helped changed their perspective on healing and culture, respectively and the importance of a gentle, mental reset.
Tons of great lesson, real-life experiences, and laughs await you on this episode of The LYLAS Podcast!
Please be sure to checkout our website for previous episodes, our psych-approved resource page, and connect with us on social media! All this and more at www.thelylaspodcast.com
Loose Catch Up And Riffing
SPEAKER_00I told you we were gonna riff today. Told you we were riffing. She said, What do you want to talk about? I said, I want to get on here and just riff. We haven't talked to each other since May. And what did you lead? Well, what did you first of all? I didn't even try to get myself together. You're over there ready to win a beauty pageant. And you have before. But what are you doing tonight?
First Pitch Jitters And Owning It
SPEAKER_01I am attempting to throw out a first pitch at the Charleston Dirty Birds baseball game tonight. Friday night back in Charleston. It's the ball's gonna go anywhere but where it's supposed to. Let's just be for real.
SPEAKER_00Oh man, I wish I was gonna be there to see this. The Dirty Birds, the first pitch, Mrs. West Virginia in the house.
SPEAKER_01I can't wait. Really, I'm looking forward to going out and seeing people. I love doing that kind of part of it where like little kids want to come up and get your picture and everybody points and like, look, it's Mrs. West Virginia, American, and it's so fun and engaging. And it's just also accepting the fact that I am absolutely gonna make a total fool of myself, and that's just gonna be part of it. You know, I just hope I don't like fall. Like that's the worst thing, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, and you're not gonna make a fool out of yourself. You always pull these things off. We have so much to talk about, which is why I wasn't gonna cancel. Today is just a real shit show over here at Casa de Saunders. But you know what? We're gonna keep rolling. It has been, you know, I think for some people a great summer. Uh not for me, but for some people it has
A Summer That Did Not Cooperate
SPEAKER_00been. Um, have you been one of those people? Has it been a good summer for you? It's been a good summer, yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's been a we've had a lot of fun. We've done a lot of yeah, different unique things. I mean, there's always some things that come up here and there, but I I have not nearly experienced what you have. And just before we even get into it, the fact that you've experienced what you have with such grace and positivity, and you just you still did everything that you wanted to do, but it was modified, fair.
SPEAKER_00Modified is fair, and I would say also like hails in comparison to like, you know, you're always like, so many people have it so much worse. Like in the grand scheme of things, it was not on my bingo card for 2026, breaking my ankle at the ripe age of almost 44, was not on my bingo card, but um, you know, it could be worse. And I'm I'm always like grateful for like I'll take this lesson. It's been a hard one, and it's been a hard summer. It's been hard watching other people really seem to enjoy themselves. And I'm not saying I didn't have any fun because we did. We still went on some vacations we had planned, but everything was modified. There's still a lot of pain that came with it, like physical pain, mental pain, mental anguish, mental health, uh challenges, just like, you know, not being able to do what you want to do and not like not exercising. And sure I exercise, but like I can't get up. I can't go, I still can't go for a walk. You know, like things that I do daily to sort of keep my mental health in check. So it has just been a real shit show, I feel like, of um trying to like be present and learn from this lesson. It's clearly something that I need to learn in all of this, or it wouldn't have happened. Um but I'm like, what's the lesson other than patience? Um, you know, and it just takes so much longer to heal, I guess, at our age. Than than I anticipated.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, let's dive into it. How
The Scooter Bump And The Fall
SPEAKER_01did for our viewers who don't know and our listeners, how did this happen? How did you break your ankle?
SPEAKER_00This is one of those stories, you know, you feel like you've told a gajillion times because for a while after you see people and they see you on crutches. I was on crutches for like, I don't know, it felt like a month, uh, maybe a little less, but like everybody wants to know what'd you do, how'd you do it? So it's one of those things. But we had gone up to Cape Charles, Virginia to visit some friends up there for the Memorial Day weekend. And um, we drove up, and you have to cross the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel Bridge, which is like, if I remember correctly, it's like 16 miles each way, and you're going over either a bridge or like under the water, right? Like in the tunnel. Um, so we go and it's like this kind of remote place. I had never been to that part in nor had Jeff. So anyway, you're like kind of like in this remote part of Virginia on the eastern shore. And um, we uh were there. It was Saturday, and we went for ice cream after dinner around eight o'clock. And not unusual. We always go for a family walk, and so not unusual. A lot of times I'll scooter with the kids, and so my friend's daughter was there. She had not quite finished her ice cream, everybody else was itching to go. And I said, you know what? I'll take your scooter and you just walk and eat your ice cream. And I was scootering along down Cape Charles and went to cross the road and hit a bump, you know, in the pavement, um, and just landed on my ankle and I heard a noise and I felt a pain, unlike anything I'd ever felt before. I've never broken anything, um, only been in the hospital to be born myself and to give birth twice. So like that was just like, yeah, right. I know coming from somebody like you, like you're in the hospital, you've been in the hospital so many times, but like just like totally, you know, my husband played soccer competitively, so like he's had a ton of ankle injuries, so he's assessing me. But I was literally like laying in the middle of the road, like roadkill, and I'm like, just leave me here. Like, I'm gonna get up. And he's like, You're not getting up, and I can't leave you here, Jenny. You're laying in the middle of the road, and so he scoops me up like roadkill out of the road and dumps me on the side and goes and gets our car because we're only like two blocks from the house, but goes and gets our car and picks me up and get back to the house, and they live in this very old house um that they purchased and and use as like a rental property. And so, like all the floors are uneven, like just imagine like an obstacle course for somebody that just broke their ankle. And um, and so you know, we kind of like waited out. My husband's like, we gotta go to the hospital, which the closest one is 45 minutes to an hour away across that Chesapeake Bay Tunnel Bridge, back over to Nolfook, Virginia. And at this point, it's like, you know, I did this at like 8:30 at night. This is a point by the time we decide it's time to go, it's like 9:30, 10. My kids are asleep. Um, anyway, we go and come back and they send us to, or you know, they give me like a temporary fixer upper cast and say, go see an orthopedist when you get back to Charleston. And so then I did what the walking boot for four weeks, and then got out of that and did like a uh brace, and I'm still in PT. I've been in PT for like eight weeks. I mean, we're going on like 12 weeks at this point of this fucking injury, and it's still, you know, I still can't walk, I still can't go for a mile walk. I still have pain. Like it just sucks. It sucks. And then the orthopedist was like, I'm not even convinced you broke it. He's like, I think it's like a really terrible, like high ankle sprain, but he was like, honestly, that's kind of worse. Um, just like because it's such a long recovery. And in my mind, I was like, four weeks, like I like these people don't know me. Like, I will rebound from this, and like, no, you won't, bitch. You won't. And it has been very humbling and just like hard all the way around.
Boots PT And The Long Linger
SPEAKER_00Couldn't hike in Colorado. We were out there, typically, you know, hiking is one of my favorite things to do on this planet, couldn't hike. Um, so you know, just a lot of like we joined this pool club, never been to it, didn't go to the beach once this summer. What? Um it we haven't been on the boat. Yeah, because everything like unstable ground is very scary. I mean, my ankle is still swollen. You can look at me and tell which ankle is messed up. Um, so it's just like it's just been a long, much, you know, and maybe it's just because it's been over the summer and my kids I felt like so bad. Thankfully I had them in a million camps, but you know, couldn't my mom came down for two weeks because I didn't drive for what six weeks? You know, so it just it was crazy. It was crazy summer. Um, I have a lot of mixed emotions about the beginning of school, like sad the summer's already over, kind of glad, like let's put this to rest and like move forward with the next season. Um, but also just like a little bit grieving of like the summer you didn't get to have that you thought you were gonna have. Um and then also like I said, then there's like moments of gratitude. You know, I've lost three people um that I knew quite well in the last you know month. And so then you like find that gratitude again of like, well, like in the grand scheme of things, I you this isn't like a terminal illness. This isn't like, you know, I can still do my job and and that kind of stuff. Speaking of doing my job, I put on a conference for 400 educators on crutches a week and a half after I broke my ankle. Like it was there's been so many humbling moments and that turned out good, right? Like you see the good and the bad, but just if anybody else out there like their summer didn't quite pan out the way they thought it was going to. Feel that on a deep level. I do, yeah. You're like next summer, I'm doing everything.
SPEAKER_01Holy Yeah, for real. Yeah, no, you're right though, because you guys do you have everything kind of planned out, and especially whenever your kids are young like that, and you have so many activities, and you are an early morning person who gets up, who does the exercise. I think on Thursdays you would go on big long waited best walks with one of your buddies. And you're right, everything that you've used to kind of cope or that you've depended upon just gets swept and taken away. And then it just lasts. I think it's the linger. You know, the initial shock is like, okay, we can get through this, but the fact that it just continues to linger, I think makes it so much harder for us just to get through on a daily basis.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, like I said, I thought this would be so over. And I kept saying, like, I want to walk before we go to California. Went to California the end of June, right? Last week of June. I was like, I want to walk by California. I was out of the boot. So I was like, okay, I'll take that, like improvement. And then I was like, I want to, as long as I can hike in Colorado at the end of July, like it's fine. I'll consider it summer salvaged, right? And then like July rolls around and I still definitely can't hike. It dawns on me at some point, like early July, like mid-July, that like this is not gonna happen. And um, and then like now I'm just like, will this end? Like, does this go away? Will I ever? I I told the P I had PT this morning, and I'm like, I'll never take for granted the idea of like walking and not thinking about every single step you're taking. Like, you know, thinking about like, am I bringing my knee up high enough? Is my foot flex too much to, you know, like every uh everything that you take for granted. You know, so you're like, when I feel better, I'm gonna do everything. Like, watch out, world. You won't be able to stop me, which is probably not true, but like that's where my head is right now.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. I love it. I mean, you gotta have something like that just to kind of push you forward, right? Uh, I tell you.
SPEAKER_00I tell you.
SPEAKER_01Especially when I mean you have to think about whenever you get out of the bed. Like just getting out of the bed, how am I gonna lay my foot down so that way it doesn't re-injure it? Like, as soon as you get up, it just hits. Like, there's not a moment where it's not there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was pretty crazy for me, like how scary showers became. Like the first thing for me in the morning was like just knowing that I was gonna be in pain for the first five minutes. Like every morning standing up and walking on it was painful, could barely like put weight on it, but like after five minutes, it would sort of like warm up, as I would always say, and like sort of alleviate, and I could at least like walk a little bit. Um, but it was very stiff, it still is. Um, but yeah, just like that, the stuff that like like showers, like it was such a thing to like take a shower. Um so many things I took for granted. So I'm like, maybe there's a lesson in all of that. Like maybe I was taking some things for granted. I don't know. Um it just yeah, it it is really threat, it really is thrown me for a loop, uh, the whole
Community Care And Unexpected Gratitude
SPEAKER_00situation. How much but in a lot of positive ways too, like the way I was cared for during this time, especially early on when it first happened by my community, my neighbors, my friends, like really rallied. And um, like I kept saying, like I hadn't felt this cared for since my dad died. Like, really, people just like whatever they could do to be helpful. Um so that was encouraging, right? You start to see like really this community that you have uh come out of the woodwork that sadly we don't get to see unless something bad usually happens. Um it's also made me want to be a little bit more like involved in stuff like that because it was so meaningful when you're down and out to just have people show up and be like, you don't have to worry about dinner tonight, or you know, whatever it was. You know, the the thing is funny, my neighbor, um, Kate, who we've had on this podcast um and friend, she we she was in London at the time with her husband on like a sponsored trip. And uh she came back and she was like, I bought you something in London, and she saw, you know, obviously I'd posted that I had hurt myself, and she's like, and then I saw your post and I thought, well, this isn't gonna age well and I'm wearing it. I didn't mean to, but I don't know if you can read that. Can you read that? Yeah, slow pay. So like we started doing the math in our head of like the time zone, and she was like buying this for me when I broke my ankle. What? Yeah, it was like she was like, I would have been like in the store when you were like she was like, What time did you break your ankle? Like 8 30. Anyway, um, it was just funny, and she was like, I would have just purchased it or something like that. So um, it was a funny joke. I wore it to PT this morning because I thought he would get a kick out of it, and then I had my hair down, he probably didn't even see it. Love my PT guy. We've really we've really bonded these last eight weeks. I didn't see him for four of those, but or three. I missed a few weeks, but you know, he understood. And I was a very good, I'm a very good patient. I actually do like the exercises. That's the other thing. Like, I feel like I have done everything everyone tells me to do, and like it's still very long and painful and just annoying, you know. Like that's it's like you can't fix it. But maybe that's what it is. Like you can't fix it, and like you just have to like endure. Endure and know that eventually it will go away. I I can feel it getting better. Um, and God, my poor family, like they have to be so tired of it. They have to be so tired of like me talking about it, complaining about it, watching me limp around. Like, you know, like it's just I'm tired of it. I'm tired of myself. Every time I limp, I get like pissed. Like, we're still doing this, we're still walking like we're a thousand years old. Yes, we are. Anywho, yes, tell me about your great summer.
A Great Summer And Big Travel Wins
SPEAKER_00I mean, you traveled, yeah, you prepared, you have a huge competition coming up.
SPEAKER_01Are we calling them competitions? Yeah, it I mean that's what it is at the end of the day, right? Um I think this episode will probably air while I'm there whenever I get back or something. So I know how fun. Good times, good times every day. Um no, we we had a very I mean, thank the Lord, you know, we didn't have any like significant injuries. I didn't go to the hospital as you just mentioned last summer. I spent the last, yeah, the last weekend. Um you know, but we had some great experiences. And um yeah, we we did a trip that, and I want to talk about this just briefly, that we um there's some things that happened that we just didn't quite anticipate in a good way. And I think that yeah, I think that traveling, again, a huge advocate of it, taking your kids, separate trips, trips together, whatever, um, it really allows you to see and challenge the world in different ways. And it presents itself um it's very eye-opening, I guess is the easiest way to say it. So this um this summer, Jeff and I took our uh solo trip um to like the Balkans area. So these are places that people typically don't leave on their European like checklist to go to, but I hope you change your mind. Bulgaria, if we have any listeners out there, love you. Sophia was um a beautiful place. The food was amazing, so fresh. People were nice, no problems with English. It was great. Uh, we saw being an 80s kid. Um, Jeff knows how much I like Duran Duran, like hungry like a wolf, you know, um, oh, girls on film, all of the hits. So we saw them in a in a smaller country, North Macedonia. Then we went to Serbia, and we were actually, we haven't been in the US on the 4th of July in probably like four or five years. Um, and which is kind of weird to think about, but it's just that's our that's our time that we go, and so we're just never home. Um, but we were in uh Belgrade, and I've always pronounced it Belgrade wrong, by the way. Um, of course, of course, wrong, pronouncing it wrong. Um, I pressed it right.
North Macedonia Zoo Horror Story
SPEAKER_01I did forget to tell the story about the North Macedonian zoo. So just briefly, Jeff is not a zoo person. He and he playfully makes fun of the fact that if you look at my algorithm on my phone, it is nothing but dogs and animals. Like I have been crying this week over the loss of Jackie the bald eagle. Okay, like I knew her, she was my girl. So this is I'm all about it. So we think we're walking around, have nothing to do before the conference or the concert, go to this zoo in North Macedonia. I'll put the link on our website if y'all don't believe this as being a true story. Um, we get there, and the first exhibit we get to is these wolves, and we notice that you know, they're kind of scrounging around and they're looking at us like really intently, and they are behind nothing but chicken wire. So if you grew up in the country, y'all know what chicken wire is. And we were like, he was like, this isn't safe, like they can get out. Next thing you know, we look down to our side and there's an alligator that is behind like what you fence in um a cow with, like the gate that you put a cow in. Like, there's not much that this thing, like we could we could touch it. And he's like, it can get out. Next thing you know, we come up to a hippopotamus, a hippo. Most dangerous animal like right. What we have known, you know, we think it's sweet. I could go like this and touch a hippo. You should not be able to touch a hippo. By the way, were there any zookeepers around? No, ma'am. None. None. None to be seen, none to be heard of. So we get to the bear enclosure, and these guys are looking at us like meat to the pit. And Jeff is not like the scaredy cat kind of person. Swear to God, he's not. He's very tough, macho, you know, um, he could take on the world kind of guy. And he's like, These bears are gonna eat us, like they can climb out. He started looking around on the enclosures around us, pulling on the doors just in case one of them came out, so that way we could get in it. And he said, This one is tracking me with their eyes, so I'm not even gonna walk the same way it came. So he went through like a wooded forest area in order to get away from the bears.
SPEAKER_00Bless his heart.
SPEAKER_01We keep bless his heart. We get to the kangaroos, and we're like, Thank God, a kangaroo. Right. Right. Love them, love watching them hop. Cute. No kangaroos. There's supposed to be an emu in there. Run an emu. We notice that the fencing is like taken down and there's like a stick. I will post pictures. I am not making this up. A literal stick where the kangaroos were. So we noted as being different. And then we look in like the vultures and like where the eagles like have this like you know thing that they put them in. And we see a full-on rib cage in there. Now I've been to many zoos, member, love the animals. I've never seen birds feeding off of a full-on carcass of anything in a place where there's kids or whatever. I mean, I kind of appreciate it like this is nature, but it caught my eye. So, anyways, thank God there's no Ubers and there's no cabs in uh Skopje, North Macedonia. So if you plan on a trip, y'all better make friends with the first cab driver that you get because he's gonna be your cab driver the entire time that you're there. So we did. We get in the car with this guy and we tell him what we did that day. And he went and told us last week the wolves got out of their enclosure, went over, ate the kangaroos and the emu, and were just running around the place. He was right the entire time we could have been eaten alive abroad. And there was a newspaper article about it. Seven kangaroos lost their lives. And and you feel like people should go there?
SPEAKER_00Is this your is this your marketing ad for them?
SPEAKER_01Are they sponsoring this episode? Any any attention's good attention in the world of like, you know, getting life views, whatever.
SPEAKER_00Only you. You find the funniest places. Can't make it up.
SPEAKER_01Well, we can't make it up. No, I can't make it up. So we went there, but back to the story of A Serbia. Um, they had a happy birthday US, like 4th of July thing on their skyscrapers, which was really, really nice. So we think of places as not being US friendly, and they truthfully are. And I think that was really nice for us to be able to celebrate like the 4th of July with a country that you wouldn't typically maybe associate as being like pro-US. Yeah, yeah. And so I think that you have to go places to know that because if you just stay or pay attention to your feed or what you're being told by whatever echo chamber you live in, then you're not really seeing the real picture of the world.
SPEAKER_00So no, that's fair.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. After that, we went to Romania, had a great time. Um, went to like the castle that inspired Dracula's castle. Um lots of other silly stuff happened there. But the most humbling thing, I think, that happened, I do want to share this briefly because I made I made a mistake. And
Krakow Beauty With Heavy History
SPEAKER_01um I do the I didn't realize what I was doing until afterwards. And we went to, right? So we went to our last stop was in Poland and we went to Krakow, which is about 45 minutes away from um Elswich and the concentration camps that are um outside of that area. So I am a person, I knew we were going to to the concentration camps, but I am a person that as soon as I get to a place or almost like every day, I just see beauty in everything. Like that's just my first thing. Like, oh, this is pretty, even if it's different, or you know, like if you go down in some of the Caribbean islands where it's pretty impoverished, but they have all their houses painted really like rainbow colors. I love that. And I'm like, look how pretty this is. Um and so Crackall is one of the most beautiful cities, second most beautiful city I've ever been to. And you look around it and you're like, you're just walking through a daydream. It is gorgeous. And then as soon as we got there, that's of course what we did. We went on a walk, and I was like, this place is so pretty, everything is gorgeous. It was great. We went on a big six-mile walk. We went down to where uh Schindler's factory was. And um you had to have big reservations, stuff like that. We didn't have it, but we went to it, and then we thought, whenever we got back to the room, let's um watch Schindler's list again. Both of us hadn't seen it in probably like 30 years or so. Yes, we are that old. You know what I mean? It's been a while. Um so we get back there and we watch it, and of course, we're both completely drawn in in tears and everything else. But I the mistake that I made, I think, in going I knew and I had prepared myself, I think, for going into um the concentration camps. I did not think about preparing myself appropriately for going to Krakow because I just knew it was supposed to be a really beautiful place and it was. But that was also a place where people were ripped out of their homes and forced into what they called the Jewish ghetto and all that. So I felt really bad that whenever I first got there, that I didn't have that kind of reverence, you know what I mean, for the place. I just saw it as being pretty instead of also seeing like understanding the weight of it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01The weight and the way that they've kind of come about that, like even in the what they referred to as the um, and it's posted on signs, so I'm not being derogatory here for all you political police or whatever. Um, they refer to it as um the Jewish ghetto, which is where they moved all of the um Jews who were business owners or professionals, they moved them out of all their homes so that way the Nazis could have their apartments, took all their stuff. You know, you can read about it, watch movies, whatever on this whole thing, and you know it's true. And they moved them into these very cramped um ghetto style apartments, but they've now refurbished that whole area to be full of art, to be full of beauty, to be full of restaurants and liveliness while also still chronicling what happened there. But I just felt like I made the mistake of not seeing that I saw the place for its initial beauty instead of also seeing it for the tragedy that it was. And so the next few days, even as we were walking around, it was hard for me to look at a building that I know the day before I saw was pretty. And now I'm thinking, well, there is a family that was probably taken out of that and then loaded on a train and then hauled all the way out to, you know, Auswitch or um, you know, was killed on the street or whatever may have happened at that kind of point in time. So it was a very humbling experience.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I think both of those things can exist, right? It can be a beautiful building and horrible crimes could have taken place in those buildings. Like, um, I don't think that you have to feel bad about that. I think that is like the beauty of travel, is that sometimes we don't know anything about the places we're traveling to. And as you learn, it changes your perspective of things. But that's sort of like the beauty of travel is going there, right? You have a perception in your mind, even if you're familiar with it, if you've read about a place, when you go, it may or may not be what you expected, right? Um, and so I think it's just it's so interesting. Yeah, I should know a lot of the history about these places, but I just don't. And so I find it way more interesting as an adult, especially being able to travel to different places. I find the history of them way more interesting now. So I tend to research a place like after I visited the place um versus beforehand. Um, and I don't really know why, other than maybe I like to experience it first and then know the history. I don't really know. Sometimes I do wish that I'm like, oh, I wish I would have known that, or oh, I wish I would have looked for that, or whatever it was. But um But yeah, I think that's just like the beauty that travel gives us. And um yeah, so lucky to be able to do that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it was really cool. And like I said, um, like we knew about it, but I think that I just didn't I should have probably walked in it with both things in hand instead of just one. You know, like I wish that I would have had a little bit fuller understanding of what all I was seeing initially instead of just seeing one side of it. But then the next few days we were there, we really, you know, we were able to connect with it, I think, on a deeper and another level. And so, but it was really it was good.
SPEAKER_00What did you think of Poland? I've been thinking about.
SPEAKER_01Love it.
SPEAKER_00I mean, as you do, you love it.
SPEAKER_01Yes, pierogies, you gotta have you some good pierogies. The food is very uh it's heavy, but it's great. Um, they speak wonderful English, they're very pro-US. Again, places you may not consider or think of as being that way. Being that way, yeah. Yeah, but they very much are, and um it's pretty easy to get around. I I mean we loved it. There was nothing to say, like I said, it's the second most beautiful city that we've ever been to. And that's even Prague. Prague. Prague is your fave. Yeah, okay. Yeah, it's oh so so so pretty. Um but yeah, so that was really like I said, it was really, really great. It was eye-opening, and then, you know, we stayed busy pretty much the rest of the summer.
Pageants As Ambition And Sisterhood
SPEAKER_01Now you're right, we're getting ready for competition.
SPEAKER_00Competition, that's right. Competition is yeah, is uh we are officially in competition month, right? End of end of this month, you'll head out to Vegas where you'll do your your prep week. I don't know if I told you this, but I listened to this podcast that you were on with um the current, I think she is the current Mrs. Imer Canovely Lady. And I thought it was a great um interview and just such a different world. But there was something, I think this is the interview I was listening to, where it was like she mentioned or somebody mentioned, like my friends don't always understand the pageant world, but like that's okay. They still support, you know, me wanting to be involved with it. And I think that's I was like, yes. I was like, that, you know, I don't am I gonna do pageants? No, but do I fully support you in your dreams? Absolutely. You know, it's just like, am I was I ever gonna run a 50 miler with you? No. But do I support you? Absolutely. Like, that's just you don't have to understand your friends' dreams to support them.
SPEAKER_01That's very true.
SPEAKER_00That's a really cool message that came that came out of that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it is. It's a very different world, but you know, the way that I think about it is um, I guess several things. One, so many the women that compete in these things are all amazing. They all have their own stories of accomplished, beautiful, cool, successful women.
SPEAKER_00But and survivors a lot of times.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but they've also a lot of them have been through very um significant hardships, like Dr. Tiffany Thornton, who is a current Mrs. American. Um, she was a victim of domestic violence, horrible domestic violence. And her platform now is um called She Speaks, and she literally traveled all over the country delivering um items to domestic violence shelters because she didn't know how to get out. And once she was able to get out and utilize resources, she saw the value and the belief in it. There are others who have um experienced homelessness, who have had substance abuse issues, who are breast cancer survivors. There's like a story behind everybody and sure, it gives things driving everybody. Yeah, yeah. And it just gives you an opportunity to really get in touch with other people who have a drive and who have some type of you know external motivating factor that pushes them and then to learn from them. Like, well, how do you balance it all? What do you do when times get tough? And you know, some people will look at it too and maybe just be like, oh, you guys just you know focus on like hair, beauty, makeup, all this kind of stuff. And I think that that happens at least for a week because we're getting hair and makeup, and I mean, at the end of the day, it's a beauty pageant, you know? Right. But right what better way for women to get together and have a week that is just kind of focused on us, you know, we're all busy moms, great, celebrating all the work you've done. Exactly. Yes, and so I think it's a very brave thing to do to say, you know what, this may sound some ways to some people, but we're going to see this as almost like it's gonna be tiring, it's going to be exhausting. People like my coaches will be like, Well, this is gonna be a marathon, and I'm like, that's fine because I'm an ultra runner. I do marathons before that in the bag, right? A marathon is a practice run, but that's that's right, uh, it's cute. But it's it's exhausting, and but it's so um uplifting at the same time, and so I'm just very honored to be able to have the experience to be able to go out there, um, to be going like a hundred percent all in. There is not been a single um element of this that has not been very thoughtfully or intentionally and planned like to the nines. And um, I just want it all to happen and to make it all, to make it all go. So going for the goal, baby.
SPEAKER_00Well, I know you've worked so hard at this, and that's what I also took away from listening to that is it is so much more than just a beauty pageant. It's so much more than just curls and lashes. Um, it's more of like a sisterhood of women who, like you said, while it is a competition, you guys are also like rooting for each other. Um and you know, like one person's going to ultimately win, but you all are there for like a different purpose. I can see the draw to it. Is it my thing? No, it's not gonna be everybody's cup of tea, but that's you know, well, there's a million other things to choose from, but it is a great platform and a great way to um, you know, have that sort of like community of women that you wouldn't necessarily have otherwise.
SPEAKER_01100%.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And connections, you know, it's all about connections, it's all about who you know. Like I hate to say it, but that's true. We build relationships with people, and you never know when those are gonna cycle back around and serve you in some way, and it's not why we do it, but it it is you know, think about how relationships have served you over and over again in life, and you're making these connections across the country and across the world when you go to these shows. So it's cool. I can definitely see the draw.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And we're cheering for you. We're so excited. You're already a winner in our book, as you know. Um, but we would love to see you get the rightful crown that you deserve.
SPEAKER_01Sweet. Thank you. It'll be fun. Lots of updates will come. I'm sure lots of other fun, crazy stories from it. But I am looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to meeting everybody. And you're right. Um, you know, two girls, was it two, three girls I competed in in pageants were in my bridesmaids. Like we competed against each other. Yeah, yeah. And they were part of my bridesmaids. And some of my best, absolute best friends are people that I've met through competing in pageantry. Yeah. And I just think that that's a fun element to it, that it is a competition, but competitions only become conflicted if you allow them to be. And if you just go into it, like I'm gonna have the opportunity to meet people I've never met, to hear stories I've never heard, and to again, it's like I get to travel with 44 people, you know what I mean? Or because there's 44 in our division, and hear about their states or their communities there, and it just adds another layer of that kind of connected piece, what you were saying, that just shows us like we think that we're all just living in our own little bubble and world, and that's not it. We actually have a collective voice, and the more that we're able to hear and reunite with others, it just makes so much of this other crap that we deal with a more validating, like whenever we get on here and just kind of rip roar or whatever. Um, but it I mean it's validating, it's inspiring, and it just keeps you moving forward. So why not?
SPEAKER_00Why not? Well, and I just I can't wait to see how it all pans out. I'm so excited. You've worked so hard, you've never looked better.
Seth’s New Album And Listener Ideas
SPEAKER_01We have to give this shout out to our uh editor and producer, Seth. Yeah, um, y'all, he just released his first album. His first album is out. You can find it on Spotify. Um, you can find it at on his Instagram, uh self selldrawn music. Um his first single is Stilettos. It is so fun, so hot, perfect jam for the end of summer coming out. Yes. So big shout out to Sweet Seth.
SPEAKER_00Got such a great vibe, a cool vibe. Check it out if you haven't already. But congrats, Seth, that's huge. Congrats to you.
SPEAKER_01So happy, so happy for him. Proud, looks like proud mom, so I know. I can't even do it.
SPEAKER_00Love. I think that's all I got this week, Sarah. Look at you and your perfect hearts. Um practice. I'm excited to be back on the mic, though. Man, I really missed this. We have some awesome guests, and I am so grateful for their time and such great feedback that we have gotten on these episodes. So send us a lot of those were your suggestions um or like topic suggestions that we just you know happen to have some great guests that could go along with it. So send us any suggestions you have. And um, yeah, that's all I got this week. Until next week, y'all Lila.
