Welcome + meet Deanna (The Mindset Tapestry)

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hi friends! Welcome to Once Upon the Feeling. My name is Rita. I'm your host. And thank you for joining me today. This is the first episode that we're recording post-pivot. And I am so excited. As soon as I decided to send it out of the universe that we're pivoting, I sent out a couple of messages on some of the groups that belong for founders and from others. And Deanna, our today's guest, sent me a message. And we have been so connected the past few weeks, sharing just parenting journey or journey as a human being. And it's just been so rich and so fun. And I can't wait to have a chat with her and invite you into the room with us. So here we go. Enjoy, and I hope you like what we have to spend. I know it's tough. It's in the middle of summer. Kids are home and new nanny and all the things. But I just loved, loved, loved how we connected and what you're doing. Would you do a little introduction of yourself? Where you come from, what you do, your background?

SPEAKER_00 1:15

Yep, you got it. So my name is Deanna. I am the founder of the Mindset Tapestry, which is the first neuroscience back brand for kids and families. I invented a product called the Magic Mirror Affirmation Chart, which was first

The Magic Mirror Affirmation Chart, and the life that led to it

SPEAKER_00 1:30

to market. It's this beautiful ritual of affirmations, mirror talk, you know, building self-esteem, confidence, and connection in early childhood. It was really a response to my past life, which was, you know, being a teacher. I have my master's in special education, became a mom and found myself in the founder role.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Amazing. Okay. So we're gonna dive right in because I think this is such a unique and amazing journey. And I remember you telling me your journey and your experience with postpartum depression, which I am sure a lot of women out there can relate to. Yes. And just as a disclaimer, because of your story, but we believe in postpartum depression, needing help and medication, all the things. But can you kind of walk us through a little bit about what happened to

Postpartum depression: how it began during pregnancy

SPEAKER_01 2:30

you there, what was going through your mind, navigating through that and not on the other end of it?

SPEAKER_00 2:35

Yeah. So going through postpartum depression, I did not have it with my first. I taught through the pandemic, and I think we were all just surviving for so long, especially during that time. Becoming a mom, as you know, is just a traumatic experience. As amazing as it is, it's it is a traumatic experience. What our bodies go through, what our minds go through. Um, and I was doing that like so many other women through a pandemic, and I was teaching through that pandemic, which was a very stressful job at the time. And I just had so many worries and so much stress. And I really believe that those years of working through that time had built up and compounded. And when I got pregnant with my second son, it was just like that's it. Like, that's all you have left. Like,

COVID at seven months pregnant, and the system failing moms

SPEAKER_00 3:30

I remember being seven months pregnant. I got hit with COVID. I had to take off work. I was out of paid sick days. So now I'm out of work as a seven-month pregnant woman, and I'm not even getting paid. I think it's crazy. It's so crazy. Like the way we treat educators, women, moms. Like it's, and I can remember being really angry. Like, angry I had COVID, angry that I felt like I put my child at risk, I put myself at risk, and now I'm not even, these are the last final pay days I have before I go on maternity leave and I'm not even being paid. Wound up going back to work sick because I needed the paycheck. I'm actually tearing up right now because it's making me relive a little bit. And, you know, got through COVID, was isolated in my room for two weeks, and went back to my doctor, found out I had gestational diabetes, and my son had a heart arrhythmia. And it was all because they couldn't really say, but they thought maybe it was because I had COVID. And I was just livid. I was depressed, I was mad, I was sad, and I had to leave work. I had to go on an early leave, but I think that's when my postpartum started. It was when I was pregnant and when I went through that experience. And I didn't know at that time that postpartum could start while you're pregnant, but it it can, and it does for actually most women. And my son was born, and it was honestly like a really

A euphoric birth — then the plummet

SPEAKER_00 5:00

euphoric birth. Like I was on cloud nine, it was beautiful, it was no no problems, no issues. Went on this really high high, and about a few weeks later just plummeted into a black hole that I wasn't expecting. It was the worst I had ever felt in my life, and I felt really hopeless, and I didn't know how to talk about it. I didn't wasn't labeling it at that time as postpartum depression. I was just really confused and it was very dark.

SPEAKER_01 5:32

That sounds hard. And then what happened?

SPEAKER_00 5:36

It looked like a few months. It was actually summertime. So my son was born May 9th, and it around this time when everything inside of my brain was getting really, really dark. I remember the outside being really sunny and beautiful and being like, why do I feel like this? Why, why does it feel so bad inside when everything around me is actually so beautiful? And I couldn't like grasp that or understand it. So I remember it getting to a point where I was coming out of the veil of confusion and was like, something's really wrong. And it was this bright sunny day, and I'm my hug, we have the two little kids, you know, it's chaotic. And I look at my husband and I go, I don't know what to do. I think I'm gonna drive myself to the hospital. And he goes, Are you okay? And he and I'm like, No, I'm not. So I drove myself to the hospital because I didn't know who else to call or what to do. Right. And I remember

"I'm going to drive myself to the hospital"

SPEAKER_00 6:30

go getting to the ER and them bringing me in, and I sat there for two and a half, three hours in like triage, never got anything checked. And they were so busy, they didn't even really get to me in two hours. But I was sitting in between a cur on a folding chair in between a curtain, and the other side of the curtain was a young girl who was explaining to her parents how she tried to kill herself. And I said, I have to leave. Like, like, this isn't even for me. This isn't even where I'm gonna find help. Like, where do I go? And I left the hospital that day, even more like, what do I do? And everyone close to me was getting concerned, and it was like, you need to go to a psychiatrist, you need to take medicine, you need to go talk to a therapist, Deanna. And I just felt so overwhelmed, and I felt like probably there was never a time in my life where I looked inward, and for whatever reason, I felt this calling, like a really strong calling to like, no, don't go to the doctor for whatever reason. Like, don't and I did. I went to I went to speak to a therapist, and and then they I I wound up at this PMAD center and they wanted to give me medicine, and I kept pushing it off, pushing it off. And I was just like, I there's so much work for me to do inside. Like I felt this really deep yearning, like internally, like, look inward. You've never done it in 33 years of your life. Do it now. This is your time. Like you're cracked wide open. And so I started getting really into neuroscience. I started listening to every podcast I could listen to, reading every book. And it was the first time in my life that I had heard that we are the creators of our lives and that our brains are actually so like we can rewire them. Like it's hard work, but you actually have the power to rewire all of your thoughts and beliefs. And I was like, wait, maybe this is what I should be doing. Like I felt such a deep

The call to look inward

SPEAKER_00 8:30

urge to do that. And so it started with me looking in a mirror every day, whether I was in the car at red lights, pulling down the mirror and talking to myself, using positive affirmations, in which, you know, I didn't believe any of it at the time. It started with like, I'm I look at it as phases now. It's like when I started doing those affirmations in the mirror. First, it was like, I don't even believe what I'm saying, but I guess through repetition, I'm gonna start to believe this. And then there was the phase of like, how sad is it that I don't believe this? And I'm sobbing in the mirror, looking at myself and like feeling sad for the person inside that actually doesn't believe these things. And then there was a shift where I started to feel really empowered. And this was probably over a span of three to four months. And through that empowerment, I started looking forward to this ritual. I started looking forward to this con like the repetition of connecting with myself and

Discovering neuroscience: affirmations, mirror talk, the phases

SPEAKER_00 9:30

looking in my own eyes and in mirror. And I started to feel a shift in my brain and the way that I was feeling. And I was pairing this with like doing visualization meditations at night. I had never meditated before. I was like moving my body and like I became really disciplined about doing these holistic neuroscience practices, and I just came out a different person. It was a complete metamorphosis. It was the hardest thing I had ever done and the best thing I had ever done at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

It is so interesting, and there are some of the things I want to really kind of dive deeper into. One thing is while you're going through that transformation, I am dying to know what the people around you were doing. Because if you think, I mean, and again, I uh have been very lucky in the sense that if I were ever had any postpartum depression period or whatnot, it was very, it was very light. It was very, you know, it was definitely manageable. So I did it didn't kind I wasn't like, you know, hospital grade or I need to go to therapist or like, you know, in in the self-harm category. Right. But from what I understand, and I actually have lost people to postpartum. I'm sorry. Yeah, it's there were we ran marathons together, and next thing you know, we just found out that she had taken her own life in a parking lot. It was like a whole yeah, it was it was I was like, oh wow, and that's that's a whole nother thing. A lot of the times, you know, we we say like yes, postpartum depression, the mom, you know, is is desperate or you know, they're ill. Give them the medication, but we're expect them to go back to do whatever they need to do, you know, meaning go race the child now. Here's 100%. Here's the medicine and off you go. Now, you know, we're keeping you alive and making sure don't go insane and keep the child alive, right? That's kind of like the thing. But what

What the people around her were doing (and the fog)

SPEAKER_01 11:30

I'm interested to know because during that three to six months, as you are rewiring your brain and doing all those things, what were the people around you doing? Because I feel like that is something that all of us, as we tried to build this village around the parents, about family, that's something that we can learn about is from the people around you at the time as well.

SPEAKER_00 11:53

Yeah, and I think the people around I I think I was isolating myself a bit, especially when it comes to friends. Like I don't think I tend to be like that, which isn't a great habit of mine, but I like to talk about things after they've happened, and I need time to process things when I'm in it, so I don't really open up to my friends, and I don't think I did when I was like actually in it. But of course, my husband, my parents were very well aware of what was happening, and I think they were really scared and they didn't know how to help me. And I remember like my husband missing calls from work because I'd like couldn't get out of bed and I just couldn't stop crying. I remember missing like my son's like one of his very first soccer games on a Saturday morning that like all his grandparents and aunts and uncles were going to because I just literally couldn't get out of bed, couldn't stop crying. But to be honest, that as clear as as much as like I have what I have watery eyes right now because I can tap into the emotions that I felt at that time, and like I could almost feel the pain in a very different way, but I can relive it a bit. I at the same time, I don't really I wasn't conscious to my surroundings much, and I wonder if this is something that other women go through where like it's a very foggy time for me, and I actually my husband will bring things up that happened, and I'm like, I have no recollection of that, like I don't remember that at all, and it feels very blurry. And so when you asked me what other people were doing around me, I was like not tapped into that.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

That is amazing, but this is such it is so insightful for us to know that that at that point it is not like you're like you know, like we don't know what is going on in a mom, a new mom who is in this postpartum depressive state. Yeah, and you saying that is just like it is that overwhelming, and that really just don't know you don't have the capacity to be aware and be cognitive of what is happening around you for those of us who was on the sideline understanding that and being able to hold space for that becomes even more important.

SPEAKER_00 14:18

I actually went to a bachelorette like three months, like in the three like within that like phase, and I like think about that often. Like, what was I doing on that bachelorette? Like, I don't really remember, and I'm like, I think about the things that I the events I went to, the places I'm like, was I acting strange? Were people picking up on how out of touch and like not myself that I was? Like, I really felt like a shell at the time, and so I think about that a lot. Like, until I like really emerged from it, I don't know who I was. I don't know what I was doing, I don't think it was great. I don't think I should have been, you know, we try to keep operating and functioning. We just try to like, and everyone does expect you to. So you're just going day to day, like trying to manage every like I'm was still a mom. My husband was still working, I was still taking care of my kids through all of it. So it's just it's it was a time for sure. I'm glad to be on the other side of it.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

Oh, for sure. And I'm glad you're on the other side and creating something beautiful if I feel like that was the portal. And and this is the interesting thing, and I want to kind of like ask you about this. Is that looking back in your own upbringing and your own childhood, maybe as just, you know, I don't know, stars and your characters. Can you see the reason why you chose to walk through that portal instead of run from it? Like what was in it?

SPEAKER_00 15:51

Like I think I always had I think I was I like another layer to all of this was that even before I went through postpartum depression. And it's funny, like the timing in the world, like I do think the pandemic did wake a lot of people up to like their own life, like life purpose or or just like shake things up in a way where you had to ask yourself the question is this my forever? Is this my purpose? Is this what I'm meant to be doing? And I think I was internally asking that question for quite a bit of time. Okay, and we know when you become a mom, that question definitely you're like, Yeah, wait, my entire why just I just changed. Like, yeah, like I don't even, you know, I've evolved into this different person. Now I have a different perspective on life. And so I think the reason why I chose to walk through that portal is because for a while I was already soul searching. I wasn't admitting it. Like I probably would have never said that out loud, but it makes sense to me now as I reflect back that I was like, I actually will look back

Why she walked through the portal instead of running

SPEAKER_00 17:00

in my the notes in my phone or in my journals and add there's there's notes in there from before this where I was like, universe, show me a sign. What am I supposed to be doing? I remember feeling bored a lot. I wanted to feel something. I wanted to feel I wanted to teaching, I went into teaching because I wanted to make an impact. And I when I got there, I felt like I wasn't making the impact I wanted to make or that I couldn't. And so that felt I was like yearning for deep fulfillment, I think.

SPEAKER_01 17:34

I just feel like I'm laughing because you know, this is like you ask and you shall receive, and then you're the I receive you ask the universe, and like I would like to feel something.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

I'm like, oh yeah, yeah, literally go. Well, there you there you go for manifestation. There you go. Right.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

Yeah. Not exactly, you know, what you had in mind, but it came like tenfold, if not a hundredfold.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

It is but I'm so grateful for it because I am so much more resilient. Like, I think about the thing you know, because you're a founder, the things you have to face as a founder to be able to have that grit to keep going when things are hard, to build something from nothing. And if that experience taught me anything, it's that I am never going to give up. That I know who I am to my core now, that like you know, failure isn't failure. Now we're gonna tie it back to parenting.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

This is the this is the part that I absolutely love. Based on do you think your parenting and how you're parenting your kids and how you're talking to your kids like changed significantly before and after this experience? Looking back. That the postpartum depression, walking through that, like how you It feels very connected.

SPEAKER_00 18:54

It feels one and the same. I mean, it's funny you asked that question. The first thing that came to my mind was yesterday I was in my garage packing orders, and my son was on his scooter in the driveway. And one of the symbols that got me through my postpartum, I am a very spiritual person, is an airplane. Like it just symbolizes, and it's funny, we live under like a a path, like we always have like jets flying over our drive our backyard, and so it just symbolizes for me that like I'm going in this upward trajectory, like just keep following the signs, like you'll get there, you'll get there, you'll get there. Ever since my kids are little, I'm obsessed with the song Fly Me to the Moon. And my kids talk to the moon, like we have a relationship with the moon, like we are they were raised this way, and my son was riding his scooter as I was packing orders, and he's going, he's four, and he's going, Fly me to the moon. And my husband's like, That must make you so proud. Like, that

Resilience, grit, and rewriting fear

SPEAKER_00 20:00

is like his inner voice. Like, his inner voice is like exactly the company you're building, what you want for like I and I actually got it tattooed on my arm, fly me to the moon. So it's like I very much involve my kids in this journey, whether or not they know that I've been through postpartum depression. I am the things I listen to to work on my mental health, they're in the car with me listening to it as well. So it's very integrated. We talk about meditation all the time. And like when I need my break to go sit in the grass and like recalibrate when I've been on meetings all day or something hard is happening, like they're next to me doing it with me. And like I I do hope to teach my kids these things that I learned at 33.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

Right.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

I want them to have that foundation and these tools early on. I didn't have that, I had to learn it later in life, and so it's so intertwined with my parenting.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

That is amazing. And I think one of the things that you

Tying it back to parenting: "fly me to the moon"

SPEAKER_01 21:00

talked about that really spoke deeply to me is need to tolerate discomfort. And I think that is, and that's what we're like, you know, the grounding or you know, the meditation. Essentially, that's what that's what helped us increase our capacity.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

Those are the those are the tools to increase the capacity, and that's what so many of us do not have. That is what we are not giving our kids. And so I think that's what we're both doing, right? Like, that's the mission of both of our companies is to give these kids these tools early on so that they can show up as their true selves. I think many of us don't show up that way for so many years of our lives, and we get to this breaking point for me. It was my postpartum depression. It was like, I had this choice. Like, are you gonna continue on the way that you are doing like what you're doing? And I had the choice. I could have done that, I would have had a you know, on paper, great life, but would I have been fulfilled and happy? Probably not. Or are you going to do the work to meet yourself for the first time and tap into your intuition for the first time and really rewire your brain? And I had to do that. I felt so compelled to do that. And now that is why it is my mission to give kids these tools because I I believe they are completely life-changing. Like they are so eye-opening. When you because going back to having the capacity to get through hardship, if you have that resilience, you literally can get through anything. And nothing, I'm not to say not to say I'm not scared. There's plenty of times where I have fear. But then there is that follow-up question internally of like, well, what actually are you afraid of? Because you know that no matter what happens, it was A, meant for you, and B, you can get through it. Like you have the tools to get through that. You have that knowing that you can get through anything. And so at the same time, that fear really gets watered

Tolerating discomfort as a teachable skill

SPEAKER_00 23:00

down. And I think fear is what paralyzes so many people. It's what's paralyzed me for most of my life. And once you can do that, once you can have that outlook on fear and that knowing that you can get through anything, you become unstoppable. You become, you have this inspired action that you nothing's gonna hold you back.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:23

It's such an unlock. It's so cool. It's so empowering. And I'm like, every kid needs this.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

Yes. And you know what's the funny part? Like, every parent also needs this, I think. Yeah. Right. Like, how do we? I feel like so much of my work is realizing, like, oh, because the parents don't want to look that way. If they don't want to look that way, then it's really hard to tell them that the kids need to look that way. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

It's so hard, but I think parents know, even if they're not willing to do the work. Like what I'm seeing is that in the conversations I'm having with customers, like they do, they do, they see it, they feel it, they want their kids to have that inner confidence, to have that connection to themselves. They because they're lacking it, they know, like, oh my gosh, if there's one thing I can do differently, this is what I'm gonna do. So I think a lot of parents right now are on a journey with themselves and they're we're always all figuring it out. Like saying, like I went through a pretty volatile time and chapter, but like my work, my inner work is certainly not done. And and I think once you accept that as just a part of life too, it becomes fun. Like I look forward to meditating every night. I look forward to my this these tools that really like ground me and allow me to show up in a way that I the person I want to be, you know.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

Yeah. Oh, they're just so beautiful. Now tell us a little bit tell me tell us about that, then the mindful tapestry.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

So I launched the Mindset Tapestry, which is now, yes, that is the name of the company. It's the first neuroscience-backed brand for kids and families. We have the magic mirror affirmation chart, which is our first SKU that we launched two years ago and piloted. Once again, I was an educator who created this product. Going through this postproduct depression, realizing how powerful affirmations and mirror talk was for my journey. I, it's funny, simultaneously, I was doing the advent calendar with my son. And every day he was running down the stairs to do this advent this calendar with mama. He was like two and a half years old. I was teaching, he was going to child care all day, spending like no time with him. But this was like our five minutes of like quality bonding time. And he would run down the stairs in the morning and I'd pick him up and he'd move the ornament to the tree, and we took he was two and a half, so we would talk about what the ornaments were. Oh, this is a drum, this is this. And I really would get in the car every day on my way to school, and I'd be like, Well, the rest of my day goes to shit. Like, I had this special time and I saw my son smile, and like it was just, it just like made an impression on me. And so then, fast forward going through postpartum, going through this experience, I was like, wait, it's actually a brilliant format to like teach kids affirmations. If we put a mirror in the calendar and had the affirmation tags be multi-sensory, where they can actually be engaged when they're moving the affirmation up to the mirror, and then we had these cards that helped educate and empower parents on because we know that's a big piece, right? Especially as a teacher, I saw that parents wanted this for their children, but they didn't necessarily know how to like turnkey it because we weren't raised this way. So, what if I gave them this at the back of the affirmation card, which was a visual for the kid? They can like get some tidbits on how to instill these like a quick look scene. They have this inner like dialogue now in their head to like whip out when they're putting their kids to bed or driving their

The Magic Mirror story: healing the parent while teaching the child

SPEAKER_00 27:00

kids to school. And so I was like, this is such a great ritual that we can start at home that feels digestible for parents who have never done this kind of work, and we're kind of teaching the parents alongside the children. Yeah, and it's a way to connect because we're all working, our kids are at school, but we don't have a lot of quality time together. But what if we could just build out this three to five minute routine every morning the same way you would brush your hair or brush your teeth? And you're building that compounds over time. Like when your child's 12 and they remember that you did this affirmation routine with them from when they were like five to eight. Think about what that what that must feel like to that child. Wow, my mom was so busy who was starting her own company, started this. She loves me so much that she wanted to spend this time with me to tell me how great I am, how amazing I am, and how I'm capable of anything. And I think there's so much power in that ritual that seems so small, and you know, everyone like calls it an educational toy. And I'm like, it's really a tool. It's not even a toy, it's nothing to play with. It's something that I believe can become the foundation of a family unit and how we really have this holistic view of mental health within the unit of the family. So it's powerful and it's it's generational because like as we talked about before, like it's healing, not it's not just for the kid. Yes, this is a tool for the kid, but when you're bending over for the first time, looking in a small mirror next to your child's face, and you're teaching them how to say affirmations, that is now healing you. So many parents have said to me, I started crying the first time I modeled it for my kid because I was like, no one's ever said this. And I don't even believe this about myself, but I get to give this to my child. It's really it's something else.

SPEAKER_01 29:00

I want to talk about this is this notion of ritual. Yeah. What is your ritual? What is your relationship with ritual as an adult, as a woman, and as a mom in your family? Because that if that has kept on coming up in my own universe, is we have gotten so busy and so, I don't know, important that we have thrown so much of this out of the window. Like if you think about a modern urban life, you know, it's like one ritual, like you know, I mean, we're people are barely having dinner together as a family now because of the schedules and things. And I feel like, yeah, I think there is this longing for ritual, and I would love to hear.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

And I think it's because we're so caught up in everything going on around us, and we don't stop to be intentional and even ask the question, what do I want my family life to look like? What do I want, you know, my you know, I think when you have these really intentional rituals in place, they do around you. They do. And so instead of constantly be caught in being caught up in the social calendar and like what the school is asking you to do, and you know, we had what your job's asking you to do, we're constantly being barked at and we're constantly have this to-do list that we have to, but if we don't, I believe, and I know this for myself, that if I didn't have my rituals in place, I couldn't do any of it. I couldn't even participate because I would just be constantly reacting to the outside world. And that's where it gets really frantic. And I think the more modernized we get and the more our side society progresses, the more we need these rituals, the more we need this foundation because I mean, our kids are growing up in a completely different world. If we don't have this inner foundation for them that lives inside of them, this inner mental health toolbox where they know that when they're something goes wrong in their day and they don't have that inner narrative repeating that's positive, healthy, and joyful, or they don't like know that they can sit in the grass and meditate for five minutes to reground themselves. Like, I'm sorry, but the world and I love AI, like I think it's great, it helps me run my business, but we're gonna be raising aliens. Like, we need them to connect because otherwise it's gonna get so carried away. It's just we need to go back to the basics a little bit. Like all these things that humans did for so long, like maybe they didn't label them, you know, maybe they didn't they didn't have these fancy words for them. But what we do know from the science is that the difference in the way that the brain looks, and you know, how those first few years, zero to seven, is the most important time when your child's brain

Why modern families need rituals more than ever

SPEAKER_00 32:00

is forming to be serving them these tools, to be giving them these rituals, because that is what's gonna make it long lasting. It's when their neural pathways are forming. So I think about that all the time, like how hard I had to work for these rituals to really stick, for these habits to stick, for me to be so disciplined about them until they became a part of my lifestyle. But if you give, if you raise your kids this way, it's just they're normal. It's just how they, you know, it's really just so integrated into their life that these rituals are just the way they live their life.

SPEAKER_01 32:37

Yeah, and the rituals connect us with each other, which is like, you know, in a different way, right? I mean, sure, social media and all the things, yeah, but that that deep connection, that face-to-face connection, that knowing, like, you know, I don't have to say anything, I just have to look you in the eye and give you a hug, and then nothing needs to be said. Like those This connection comes through those rituals, it's not through the social medias and the technology that's a completely different level. It's yeah. Oh my goodness, what a journey! This is amazing, and I can't wait. I know you guys have you completed your first round amazing.

SPEAKER_00 33:12

We're we're finalizing it these two weeks. They should be finalized. Congratulations. Yes, I'm very excited, and what's coming down the pipeline is just more amazing products that are so deeply connected to my journey and how I really want, I really want to offer our kids, the next generation, these tools that can help them navigate this modern world. So everything we just talked about, I want to give them these tools early in early childhood. I don't want them to no longer wait anymore until it's middle school and like they're on social media and they're looking for validation and they're being exposed in high school, their first time seeing drugs and alcohol. Like, I want them to have this foundation before we get there because inevitably they're gonna get there, right? Like we all do. It's it's being a human, and I'm not saying those things have to go away. That's the human experience. They shouldn't go away. But I want to give kids this inner foundation early enough that they have it to really navigate these times that we know could be stressful and you know, not go suffer feet as they do, as I've I've had happen to me quite a few times.

SPEAKER_01 34:35

One of the analogy that comes to me, and I've been talking about it with my team and what you're saying right now, is that the bikes that our kids are going to be riding on haven't been invented yet. It's insane. We can certain and we cannot be teaching them how to ride those bikes because we don't know what they are. I think what you're building from your experience, from our collective experience, is understanding that, oh no, they just need to know they'll get on that bike. Yes. When there's a will, there's a way, and they're probably going to be they're probably gonna fall, and they're probably gonna hurt, and all of that is normal. And they got this that they will be able to get on that bike with or without us. And so it's exactly it.

SPEAKER_00 35:19

And like I even think about we, you know, this is probably a whole other conversation, but just schools and how schools are still very much operating the way that they did in like the 1970s, 1980s, and it's like, but we're in a different world now. We're I think, and and I think that's the takeaway that if you can really cultivate this inner knowing in your child, the experiences they go through, not to say they don't matter, but they'll their inner self won't falter, right? Like every everything in life is a chapter, an experience, relationships, what have you. But if that's your mainstay, if like that's all we could hope for, right? Like, and I just want my kids especially to know that whatever they want to do with their life, whatever they feel like is true to them, then that's an option. And I think so much of our culture and society is like, well, no, you gotta go do this, you gotta be in this box. But they go to school and they're like, well, obviously this is the cool thing to do, so you want to do this. And it's like, no, like I want my kid to be able to tap into innately what's true to them because that's what's gonna bring them joy. That's what's gonna make them feel healthy and happy. And and I know that with myself is like I followed this path for so long, not ever really asking myself, like, what are you good at, Deanna? What what should you be doing? What would make you happy? What would bring you joy? Instead, I took these paths that I think would make other people happy. Oh, this is what would be okay to them if I did this. And so now I'm finally doing something that I feel called to do that I feel like I'm uniquely positioned to do and capable of doing. And like my kids, and I don't know if you feel this way with your kids, but my kids came out like pretty early, and I can look at them and I I know what they're good at. I'm like, these kids are like this one is like so creative, and this one is so, you know, he just lights up a room when he walks in, and it's like I don't want to dull their shine and their individual rights. I don't I just want who they are to be accepted, and like I feel like if my bolder ones going to public school next year, but if at least I know I'm sending him through those doors and he's hearing every day from me that I love and accept him as he is and who he is, and he needs to keep following the path that he's supposed to be on, and then I know it's okay, whatever he experiences. Like, I think he'll be able to always come back to that. And so that's something that's like very interwoven through my parenting, but also through our current product and the other products that we'll

The bikes our kids will ride haven't been invented yet

SPEAKER_00 38:00

be coming out with.

SPEAKER_01 38:01

I love this because I was just talking, and I was like, Yeah, like for me, work and life is the same, it's all one and together. I can't separate it. And I think But shouldn't it be like that? It should be like that. I I love it. So I wouldn't have it any other way. And I tried it many other ways, and none of the other ways resonated or stuck, and so you know, maybe this is just the next thing that we get to do, which is beautiful being able to fuse the two together and live and breathe. And I think that also makes the product and everything even so more so convincing and more authentic because this is truly what you believe in, and we are sharing all of the things that we know from a place of love, and you know, I'm acknowledging this is probably not for everyone, like you know, not everybody's on the same page, and that is okay.

SPEAKER_00 38:53

Not everyone's there yet, but I think they'll get there.

SPEAKER_01 38:56

Yeah, and you know, every each to each of their own, and everybody's timing is different, but so much of what I do, you know, with this, and I think you too is is creating that path. It's creating that path so so there is a path for people to walk on and to follow. Just like, oh yes, that's the path, and I want I will like to be on that path. Right. This is so beautiful. Oh, thank you for having me on. Oh, thank you. Oh my god, what a story. And I'm so excited. Yeah, I'm so excited for like, you know, all the other products too. I have a teenager, so yes, please have something for like, you know, I'll I'll do my best. Yeah, we're like, you know, we can ideate together. I'm like, yep, this is what we're going through. What do we do? It is so interesting.

SPEAKER_00 39:42

I need to, I'm gonna have you be a part of I need to build out for this next product. Definitely like a cohort of moms. I need I want help building it because I want it to really work for everyone, and that's something I realized with this last product, too, is like everyone uses it differently, everyone's family's different. I think when I launched it, I was like, here's this prescriptive way for you to use it. I was like, wait, why did I do that? Everyone kind of took it as their own thing, and I love that about it. I love that some families put in next to the door as they're walking out the door, and it's like their kids last stop before they go to school or wherever they're going. They look in the mirror and they say their affirmations. Some people do it before bed. Some parents, I don't think they necessarily sit there with their kids and do the affirmations with their kids, but they taught their kid how to do it once. It's in their house, and it's almost like a reminder. Like, I've had parents tell me, like, I walk by it, and I'm like, okay, I remind myself that this is how I should be talking to myself. So, like, maybe they're not gonna carve out five minutes every day because everyone has a different lifestyle, but it's this reminder that like sits in their home and reminds the whole family of these practices and tap allows them to tap back into that and like be aware of it. So, yeah, I think everyone has their own journey, and I love that about it. You know, I think we're that makes the most sense too.

SPEAKER_01 41:08

Yeah, then thank you. You basically have created an anchor in many different forms, like you know, for these families, and I can just see so much healing happening through our children, you know. Here we are, we're trying to teach them something. Little do we know. Um, we're the one who we're we're who we're being taught, and there's just this beautiful relationship, this symbiotic relationship that it's just you know, like trying to like kind of like act on your the airplane analogy, right? You go to that 30,000 feet view and you just seeing all this this growth all around in all directions. It's it's a it's it's beautiful. So thank you for going through your hero or heroine's journey. That was that was quite a feat, but but then you know, after that we get this beautiful, beautiful mind of yours manifesting in beautiful products.

SPEAKER_00 42:04

So thank you.

SPEAKER_01 42:05

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 42:06

We're we're in it together, we're doing adjacent work, and I think yeah, our kids will thank us for it, hopefully. Yeah, this is so fun.

SPEAKER_01 42:14

Thank you. Thanks for having me on. This is awesome. Thank you again for sitting in that conversation and listening in, and I hope some of the things that we shared resonated. Um, I can't wait to bring more rituals, time for connection. Um, and really intentionally setting them in my calendar so I can connect with my family. That is my takeaway. And again, I'm sending so much love to you all. And thank you for being great. And uh take care of your feelings so we can take care of everyone else's feelings too. I will see you in a couple of weeks for another awesome conversation. Take good care.