Continue with KENDA-RUTH STUMPF, Founder of The Hero's Spouse (part 2 of 2)


Join us for PART TWO with Kenda-Ruth Stumpf! Please see below for links: Free Resources
- Understanding Midlife Crisis
- Free Online Video Course
- Quiz: How Can I Tell if my Spouse is Having a Midlife Crisis?
- The Hero’s Spouse Forum
- The Hero’s Spouse Private Facebook Group
- MLC Q&A on Facebook and YouTube
- Submit a Question! I stream pre-recorded responses up to 3X a week.
- The Hero’s Spouse Website
- Articles about MLC, Infidelity, Dealing with your MLCer, Healing, Mirror-Work, Forigiveness…
- The Blog, LoveAnyway
- More Articles
Paid Resources
- Stand Up & THRIVE!
- Paid Membership for Forward Moving Spouses – Support Group which includes the online video course Detach & Thrive and optional live—on Zoom—group meetings 4 days each week.
- Personal 1-1 Coaching
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Foreign.
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The stories and events discussed in this podcast are based
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on our guest experiences and are intended for informational and
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entertainment purposes only. They should not be considered legal,
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medical, or professional advice. Any names,
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locations, or identifying details have been changed to protect privacy.
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Any similarities to actual persons, living or dead,
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or real events are purely coincidental. The views and
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opinions expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily
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reflect those of the host or the podcast creators.
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Listeners should consult with a qualified professional regarding their
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own circumstances. And here we are, part two with
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the great Kenda Ruth Stumps. And we are gonna. We're back in 2009,
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when the world's about to change for not only Kenda and
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not only for Chuck, but really for. For everybody, for LBSs,
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MLCRs worldwide, literally worldwide. Because what
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she's about to do next is really just take everything,
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take the world by storm. All right, Kenda, you're up.
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Okay, well, so to 2009 is when Chuck and
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I got. We moved back into the same house.
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2008, I had started my website and so I have
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been writing my manuscript while away. And 2009
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we are. I'm still continuing to add articles. And really what happens
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in 2010 is I started the forum.
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My goal had been to start a forum in the very beginning,
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even only a few months after Bomb Drop, probably that summer, my mom
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had met with me to. I took her along as moral support
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when we were meeting with lawyers and she looks at me and she
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says, do you want to do this sort of thing for a living?
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Because people are already coming to me for advice.
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And I knew the answer was yes.
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I don't know that I said yes. I think she knew it too,
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though. And what year was that where your mom said that? Asked that? That was
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2005. That was only. It was
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the very beginning when I started out
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at Jim Conway's chat. People started asking
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me for advice within a few weeks, which was a
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little bit scary because I'm the newbie.
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But one of the things as a writer,
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one of the things I'm really good at is critiquing. And I think the format
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may have just been similar to critiquing. And also
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there were some parallels to some of the studies I'd been doing.
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So I'd done Jungian studies as part of my mythological
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studies. My area as a writer is
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mythology and Jungian studies.
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So my area in. In midlife crisis
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is looking at it from a Jungian perspective.
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So when I talked about the stages and I used Jim Conway stages,
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what I really Use is the stages of
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rites of passage. And then I take Jim Conaway's
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stages and put them inside those stages.
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So Merturia. Merturia. I'm not always good at
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saying it. Eliade wrote the stages that are the rites of passage
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and those start out separation, liminality and reintegration.
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So separation stage one. Then you have
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that liminality, which is stage four, depression, when you
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get into midlife crisis. So separation then includes
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that replay stage, or what I now call escape and avoid.
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And then you have your types of replay and you have
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some stages that Jim Conway had coming before the
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replay stage. And then you have your liminality and
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then you have your acceptance
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and the withdrawal, which he talked about, which I don't really buy into.
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And for rites of passage, you just condense those down into those
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three basic things. You separate from your tribe, you go
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into your liminality where you
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have your psychic breakdown and then you reintegrate
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back into society. But there's lots of things going on during
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separation, during liminality and then reintegrate.
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So I'm writing all of my stuff. Then we start this forum.
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So wait, when did you start the writing? Well, I have a master's
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in writing. So did you start around 2008?
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Officially, but I'd been writing I. When I was on divorce busting,
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I. I was always writing and when I
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was writing posts, I would start to formalize them. Okay,
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okay. So you were really actively doing
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that. Headspace thing on, you know,
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my liminality. The basic articles for my liminality I put out
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in 2007. Huh. When I discovered liminality
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as an idea rather than depression, as the
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idea, as the, as the terminology. So I
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was putting it out and I put em out as unofficial formal
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articles in there. And so the birth or the infancy of those
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articles was before I was writing it in
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my own website and that sort of thing. And when you say website
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was, was that originally the hero's spouse or
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was. Was always called the hero's spouse as a
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title? The title has always been the Hero Spouse.
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And the URL is Midlife Crisis Marriage
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Advocate. Now you can find it at that Midlife
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Crisis Marriage Advocate. But you could also find it at the Hero Spouse.
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So for our, our viewers today, it's.
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It's midlife crisis marriage advocate.com.
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Yeah, thanks. Yeah, it can be that or if you go to the hero spouse.com,
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it'll take you to the same basic place.
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Okay, awesome. So. So either one will get you there.
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Yeah. And through Those with menu item you
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can find the forum. So with the website you started post
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because I never saw the website back then, so I didn't know how it.
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It's evolved, you know, into what it is today, which is an amazing
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thing. So was your intent like to have
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articles and. Well, as a writer,
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my main intent was to have a book and that be a
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flagship. So for everybody out there, it's not
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there. The. The book itself is not there as a book.
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The manuscript is the website content, the main website
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content. There is also a blog which as I continued to
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write that I'm not adding to the manuscript.
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I just put those back then onto the blog finally. Because you eventually
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have to stop writing the book. Right. So then
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I just put those over at the blog and then I was going
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to conferences to pitch my manuscript during those years as well.
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And I'm starting the forum because I'd always wanted to have a forum
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Similar. To what helped you in the beginning. Exactly.
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Similarly to what helped me in the beginning that was focused
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specifically for midlife crisis. Whereas divorce busting had
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forum. A forum with multiple boards. They had an infidelity
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board that was for all types. They had a board
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for the sex starved spouse. They had a board for midlife crisis.
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They had a newbies board. I wanted one board so
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that everybody could say we're going to go here and we're not going to
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miss something that is relevant. On another board. It was just
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midlife crisis. There wasn't an old timers board and then a new timers
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board and an introduction board was just all of us. And instead it
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took me a while to get something that did it. I wanted to
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have topics that we could we. So we can filter by topics.
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In other words, story threads where you can have your own journal or
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you can write about midlife crisis topics. That's you're where
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you're not writing about your own story. You can incorporate it, but this isn't
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your journaling. Or you could have a self development
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or your mirror work topic. Or maybe you have just
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a general question you want to discuss. I like discussing is
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midlife crisis real? I don't have a problem with that. I think it's a good
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thing for people to ask. So we can have a discussion topic. Sure. We have
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a couple of topics and then there's
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the off topic like hey, announce somebody's having a birthday or
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they always want to do that. So. But you
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can filter by topics. And so did the form start
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going live in 2010? In 2010,
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April May in 2010. Wow. Congratulations. That's exciting.
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That was exciting. That was a long time ago. Yeah, yeah. And,
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and you, how did you advertise? Yeah,
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how did you get people involved on the forum? So back then,
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I had a newsletter where I would put some of the articles out first
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toward the newsletter, and then I promoted the forum through that.
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So the people that were on the newsletter then just trickled right over
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to the forum. And you were emailing the newsletter out. Exactly. You are
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quite the little writer. So I, I've known you now a few years,
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and I never knew that you were a. Had a master's in
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fine arts or literature or. Yeah, I have a master's in fine arts.
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And my focus was children's writing because who, who people
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think of mythology and children's writing,
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which is what I, I, I like picture books. So with
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the mythological studies, I do a lot of mythology,
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traditional tales, fairy tales, that sort of thing. Wow. And look at that.
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Did you ever think you'd become an expert in midlife crisis or anything like.
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You know, I did not. But, you know,
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my, my uncle was liter legally insane
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and that legal insanity. I saw parallels to
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what I was experiencing. And I had
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written something. It was actually during a
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class before I went to my mfa. I was taking some
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children's writing classes, and they wanted us to do a presentation.
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And I wrote something about.
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And it was, I think, where I used a whale as a metaphor for going
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through this journey. The journey. And it was a Jungian journey,
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and it paralleled. And I
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was mlc, and I was just able to change some of the words.
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And it was, this is MLC right here for this psychological
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journey. And so some of what I was doing, it just like, oh, take this.
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I think I one time took the article, changed a few words.
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I barely revised it. And I could transplant that very article in
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the beginning to midlife crisis.
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And I think I put that out there. Wow. And this was an
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oral presentation I'd given for children's writers.
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And so some of it, I just saw the parallels that
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were right in there with what I was dealing with. And that
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helped me. So that Jungian background and
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what I was dealing with really helped me. It really helped. Yeah.
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Yeah. And that's why people were, I think, asking me questions
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in the beginning, to the point that even Jim Conway
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said something about it, which cusp scared me. I was like, okay, you know,
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that's a little too much. You know, slow it down,
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everyone. And I think he was saying the same thing because he was Joking.
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But it was a little bit scary that people are, you know, hey,
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I'm four months in. Why are you, you know, I don't mind asking questions,
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but please stop telling me I'm an expert in this.
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Right? You know, like, you know, I was just screamed at by my husband 10
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minutes ago and then I came in to, you know, type at people and they're
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telling me how amazing I am. Please stop now. It's a little
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too much. But, but you know, because first thing, don't let my head
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get too big. But it also, it gave me
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something to focus on and something to do.
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And it had already been a fascination and an interest
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of mine. That was what worked. Yeah. And many LBSs
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are trying to just. Figure it out because I don't
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want LBSs. I don't want these left behind and forward moving
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spouses to focus so, so much on it because
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they can go into analysis paralysis. And that was another
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struggle I had was I'm focusing so much on this,
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but I really like the focus on it. I mean, I'm, I'm so academically interested
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in it. Am I just doing that as an excuse or
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am I just this interested? And I knew from my past that
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I had this interest, but maybe I am just applying.
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Maybe I am just trying to make experience excuses to, to focus
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and get into my analysis paralysis. So I, there was a lot of struggle
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with that because I don't want the
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rest of you unless you really have an additional interest in it to keep
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going with it. I don't want people to get bogged down. Graduate.
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Yeah. You are supposed to graduate. And if you graduate to this and
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hey, you determine this is what I want to do after I graduate,
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that's great. But you know what, you can graduate to
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something else. You can graduate to teaching kindergarten and have nothing to do
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with Jungian psychology for the rest of. Good for
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you. So, you know, this is just what I graduated to.
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And I like that, you know, because this is where my interests lie.
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So we're in 2010. You've got your forum started. It's up,
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you've got. People from the newsletter are starting to get on the forum and
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communicate with each other and create a community. And,
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and Chuck knows this is going on. He knows this is going on.
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Yeah. He does not want to be a part of it. He's not the type
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that wants to answer questions and things like that.
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Was it awkward for you to be excited about it or talk about it?
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Like. No, not really. He had, he'd recognized that in
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the beginning, I think and because I asked him and
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I think if he did have misgivings,
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he didn't really talk about it because I think there were parts of him that
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was proud of me for it. Yay. Good. Yeah, that felt good. That felt
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really good. And he wasn't feeling like he was ashamed of
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that because during this time I was also getting
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diagnosed with infertility and we had to work on
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him not feeling guilty for me being infertile
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because of those years that hey, we could have begun getting pregnant,
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but instead you were out there, flown out for fooling around, being a jackass
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and I had to help him say first thing,
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it's done, we can't unring the bell. And second,
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I was probably infertile anyway, so it's probably not
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that the fault of that because before that, since we
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had been planning to become pregnant, I had been tracking.
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So my background is in biology, so I track
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and I am a scientist at heart in that. And so I had
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tracking schedules so that I was going to be prepared when I was going to
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become pregnant. And I'd been tracking and so the
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doctors said that I was able to be fast tracked
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to infertility because of all of my tracking.
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Usually they want you to take these tests and
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then it's a 12 month and then we'll know in these many. But I got
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fast tracked cuz I had so much history even though I hadn't been to the
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doctor for that reason. And so I was
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tracked that I probably didn't even have any eggs or I had
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so few and they weren't going to be viable and my percent would
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probably be 1% of getting pregnant.
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We did go to acupuncture
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or I did go through acupuncture for about a year. Had to take the most
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awful drink every morning, horrible, horrible drink
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every morning. And. But the acupuncture itself was lovely because it was
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all meditative because we were going to try, but we were
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at the same time looking at adoption resources and that sort of thing.
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And well, I truly feel like your baby is the hero's spouse.
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And your forum in your book and this entire community,
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you're sort of like Oprah. She never had children, she never had children,
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but she has like a world of children, you know,
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and it's sort of like that for you. I don't know if you thought of
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it that way, but you know, really launching a website, launching a book,
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launching all the forum, all the things you've done, those are, you know, that's like
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going into labor every time, you know. Yeah, the launches
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were really big things back then. At least those were really big
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because there was a lot of nervousness going on with those launches because I
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had to postpone them on a couple of times. I postponed
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the launch of the forum. The first I was about to start it and
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my cousin's daughter OD'd.
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And it's like that was very sudden and
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I don't know if it was the next time I. And you know, it was
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just by a month. And while I was doing all
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of this, I was working a graveyard shift job. I launched the forum while
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working at a graveyard shift job at a nuclear lab.
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So I'm working with.
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Working with radiation at night. And so Chuck
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and I have just gotten back together, but we're working separate schedules.
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So it was really tough during that. And so I'm
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doing all of the forum stuff, preparing for it, trying to
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research what forum to use what. And I'm not a technology
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person, but I'll figure it out and
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what kind of platforms to use and which ones are going to give me the
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different little things because of. I really wanted that where I had
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that ability to sort topics. And I wanted
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to have a membership. Not like what I have now, but I
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just wanted them to be able to have a membership so anyone who
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stocks could be behind a safe paywall.
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And it wasn't. There weren't services offered with it. But for several years
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I did have a membership where was the same product on one
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side, but they just paid us a minimum minimal fee
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so that they were behind a paywall enough that we were hoping
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stocking spouses wouldn't pay to get over there. Oh, right,
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right. It kept most anonymous because everybody on the forum uses a
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typically. They use a typically. But if you go on there and
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you start to. If you're a stalking spouse and you read people's.
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Oh, why that one? Look. Ah, that's mine. They can read the stories.
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And if you live with your spouse, especially if you share a computer,
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you can. So we had my main moderator,
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his wife stalked him across multiple, multiple websites.
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Oh, and I. We think she even paid to get into the
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other side at one point. We had to kick her out. Did they ever get
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together again? No, no, not.
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No. Eventually. You don't have to tell us who your first member
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is, but you must know who is your first person that signed up. Do you
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know who that I don't. Know because I had several hundred people on the newsletter
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and they all. They burst in.
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Wow, so. So, yeah, within a day, you know, I had.
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I remember 40, 50, you know, just climbing that day. Wow.
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And it is in mlc, I think the community is
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huge. People rely on the community and the camaraderie through the community for
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support and everything. It's huge. It's a huge. Yeah. If you have. If you already
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have some form of a platform, they'll start coming.
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And I knew that's why I hadn't done. That's why I did the website
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first. And I. My goal, how I. I had arranged
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it that way, that I wanted to start a forum, but I knew I had
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to start the website. I knew then I had to start a newsletter, and then
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I had to start getting enough people on the newsletter before
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I could start a forum so that I could. Had enough people to advertise it,
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because you have to have enough people to get the back and forth for
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your forum. Mm. And so then once the forum starts,
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and then after a while on the forum, then I recruited. Actually, I didn't
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recruit them. I had people vote on who they wanted to be their moderators
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because the moderators would also be mentors. And then for several
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years on the forum, we had a mentor. A mentor program
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where newbies would be assigned a mentor. Oh, wow. For the first
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six weeks or so. So you were assigned somebody who was meant to check
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on you, meant to guide you, be kind of your coach for
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the first weeks. And then you could request that they continue for another set
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of six weeks and as an official mentor. And then,
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you know, they could still be your person, but then you were just,
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you know, one of the group. And they would find this through the Hero
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Spouse website. They could find it through the Hero Spouse website.
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I'm sure they could find it through Google as well. But yes, they could find
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it through the Hero Spouse website. Yeah. Okay. And then how
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did the Facebook situation. So Facebook was
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many years later, because Facebook was during COVID It was.
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Wow. Wait, wait, you did not start the Facebook
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thing until Covid, and I. I can't. I don't know when Facebook started, but it
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was before COVID that's for sure. You mean. If you mean Facebook itself.
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Yeah, yeah. Facebook itself was 2004, I think.
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Wow. Initially, you know, most of us during.
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COVID What happened during COVID that caused you to start the Facebook group?
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So there was a. The Midlife Men podcast
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was starting, and they didn't. They didn't seem to continue much
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after that, but they did several. They were radio professionals,
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and they contacted me when they'd seen my site
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and asked for some for an interview and they did a few with me.
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And after my first interview with them, I'd already been telling myself
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that I needed to do Facebook lives. I'd learned about Facebook lives
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and then I took a course on giving. Doing video.
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Video. Uh huh. On video. Yeah. And I knew I had to just get the
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nerve. Turns out once I did it, I didn't really need the
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nerve so much is it just felt like I was natural.
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But you don't know that until you do it. That's right. Yeah. And so I
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did my first podcast with them. So wait. Actually it
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sounds, it sounds, I'm hearing you say, like the Facebook Live was sort
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of the first thing on Facebook. Rather than Facebook
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fan page, which I want to say really isn't
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much of anything. It's just kind of where you have your site.
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But yeah, there's I. It's hard, even hard to describe,
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but I do have my videos over there and I can stream things over there,
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but it's not a group and it's not private. And so now
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the way Facebook allows it, I can have things stream there
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easily, whereas to stream into a private group is harder.
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And so when I stream my videos that I do now into the private group,
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I have to set that manually up. So I'll have the streaming
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service stream it into the public fan page and manually
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set it up to stream to the private. And I just set them for the
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same time. So it might appear to people that those are like streamed as
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a. As a unit, but they're really X setups set up separately.
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And you can comment in the private group if you've been let in
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and your comments are private. It's meant to be a safe space.
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So the private group started some point in early
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2020 and I can't even remember did I go Facebook Live
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on the fan page or had I already started the private group? I'd probably
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started the private group somehow. Not even
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five years. Actually, about five years. It is. Yeah. And you've
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got over 5,000 members.
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Over 5,000 members. And somehow before
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COVID you know how sometimes something just clicks and
383
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it was New Year's Day and it was not because of a resolution
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that I just, I tried it several times and I'd been writing things.
385
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I wanted to do an online course. Wanted one, wanted.
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And again, New Year's Day, I was just searching online courses again
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and I found the person that I knew was gonna be the one. That's the
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one I want. That's the one. But for some reason I knew that. And so
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starting then, I planned I am going to do that this year.
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And this time I knew it was what was gonna be. Before I
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was like, yeah, this is my dream. But this time I knew this was
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the one. I intuition just knew it. And I started watching
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all of her podcasts and any of the related
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ones and following those. And that was what led me to, okay, I have
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to do Facebook Live and have to do these things. And so I was preparing
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myself and I was preparing myself for the online course, which she had,
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which wasn't going to start until September. So that gave me
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time to also start getting the money up for that.
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For that course. Because it was like a $2,000 course.
400
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So. And my only income was through coaching and
401
00:24:21,016 --> 00:24:24,410
$5 to $8 articles that were on
402
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sale back then. I sold some of the articles that were on.
403
00:24:27,970 --> 00:24:30,170
You could get them for free. But I said, if you'd like to have this
404
00:24:30,210 --> 00:24:33,738
as already a pre prepared PDF download or it's
405
00:24:33,754 --> 00:24:37,130
already been revised, you can download this for this
406
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amount. Nice. So. And I've taken those
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down. Now you can just get them since they're already on. But back
408
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then that was another source of income.
409
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So I was preparing to do my online course and ramping
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that up. I'm like, okay, Facebook lives. I've seen Facebook lives.
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Now I hadn't seen them. I start. I have to start a Facebook
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group. That's where I learned, oh, there are these groups. I only knew about this
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fan page. Maybe I hadn't understood. How have I been missing out on this?
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Because I just did. I always misunderstand what a fan page is or did it
415
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come along later? So I started the Facebook group and
416
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I remember my first Facebook Live because I remember
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people going, oh, no, you're doing great. You're just a natural. And I
418
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was still on a high. I was on a high from the podcast the night
419
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before. And the night before,
420
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everybody upstairs in my house knew I was doing a podcast,
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that I'd been asked to do a podcast. And some friends had come over
422
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and they were sitting. Cause five kids and
423
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Chuck and I, the podcast, we probably
424
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talked for an hour or two, probably two hours. And it was evening to
425
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late at night. When I got upstairs, my noisy
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kids, they were all sitting there like this. And when I walked up the
427
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stairs, they all turned to look at me. Two friends,
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Chuck and all the kids. And I was like,
429
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what? You're all here waiting? They were just like anticipating.
430
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And I was on the Biggest high. It was a huge high,
431
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like giant adrenaline, you know,
432
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limerence for butt limerins. Know the lives.
433
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So I did my first Facebook Live the next day and it was
434
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just general, I think, Q and A. And I
435
00:26:15,922 --> 00:26:19,850
don't even know if I took live Q&As or if I had had people
436
00:26:19,890 --> 00:26:23,018
send me Q&As. Not sure. I know. I thought,
437
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should I do topics and speak extemporaneously
438
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on a topic? So I tried that the next week. That was the only
439
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Facebook Live that when I pushed and it
440
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got lost in cyberspace. And I was so glad because I
441
00:26:38,412 --> 00:26:41,956
was like, well, that one messed up. And I was feeling like that one wasn't
442
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going right the whole time. Huh? And it got lost and I was like,
443
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oh, thank God I can't find it. And I discovered topics are
444
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not for me extemporaneously. Let's just do this question
445
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and answer because it was great. And I did Facebook lives
446
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for the next several years, every Thursday and
447
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over or, you know, we eventually settled on that and
448
00:27:02,612 --> 00:27:06,652
what we do now instead of Facebook Lives. Because I use my lives now
449
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as a vehicle to introduce when my membership starts.
450
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And so we have a week long opening for my membership every
451
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eight weeks or so. And so we start the cart open with
452
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a Facebook Live and then midweek we'll have a Facebook Live
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and then we end it with a Facebook Live. And so since I'm
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there present live, that's a bigger deal.
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And during the off weeks, I do
456
00:27:32,348 --> 00:27:36,308
streaming videos where people have sent me their questions and I pre record
457
00:27:36,364 --> 00:27:39,652
them and I stream them up and it looks like
458
00:27:39,676 --> 00:27:43,440
it's live because it says live in the corner. I can't help that.
459
00:27:43,740 --> 00:27:47,812
But those are actually pre recorded. I let everyone know they're prerecoded
460
00:27:47,956 --> 00:27:50,868
and those stream out officially Monday,
461
00:27:50,924 --> 00:27:54,334
Wednesday and Friday. Supposing that they get me sent
462
00:27:54,502 --> 00:27:57,822
to me on time and some people have sent me some topics if
463
00:27:57,846 --> 00:28:00,770
I don't get them, if I don't get enough questions,
464
00:28:01,110 --> 00:28:04,446
sometimes I get way too many questions and they will spill
465
00:28:04,478 --> 00:28:08,190
over to a Facebook Live and we're just. So sometimes your questions are several weeks
466
00:28:08,230 --> 00:28:11,598
out and sometimes your questions are answered the next day
467
00:28:11,734 --> 00:28:15,454
if that's trickled down to where people aren't submitting.
468
00:28:15,582 --> 00:28:19,112
So I have a couple, I have a couple topics that are interesting. My queue
469
00:28:19,176 --> 00:28:22,280
for when, oh wait, I don't have any questions right now.
470
00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:26,312
We'll fall back on this topic and then it is a topic that somebody
471
00:28:26,456 --> 00:28:30,744
has requested and it could be answered in the Type of format
472
00:28:30,792 --> 00:28:34,488
of a question answer as well. So I don't feel like I have to go
473
00:28:34,544 --> 00:28:37,832
research a whole bunch. With five kids, I just don't have that kind
474
00:28:37,856 --> 00:28:41,208
of time. Yeah. And five special needs
475
00:28:41,264 --> 00:28:45,456
kids, or several of them, at least three are special needs kids
476
00:28:45,608 --> 00:28:49,040
with ADHD and other things going on with
477
00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:52,192
them. Wow. Yeah. Five adopted children.
478
00:28:52,296 --> 00:28:56,352
Five adopted children. Yes. Adopted from foster care, but they were infants,
479
00:28:56,496 --> 00:29:00,080
so. So I point that out is it's harder with my
480
00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:03,312
foster parent friends when they're older. I do
481
00:29:03,336 --> 00:29:06,224
want to say that. So at least I got them. And they've. They. I'm the
482
00:29:06,232 --> 00:29:09,920
only parent they've known. Oh. So it's a blessing. It really
483
00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:12,950
is. And the.
484
00:29:13,410 --> 00:29:16,954
When you say that the group. I know there's a
485
00:29:17,042 --> 00:29:20,410
program you have. I forgot what it's called. Is it the Thrive Stand
486
00:29:20,450 --> 00:29:24,522
up and Thrive. And sometimes there's a waiting list to get
487
00:29:24,546 --> 00:29:27,770
on that. And maybe it's because you only can have so many people in it
488
00:29:27,810 --> 00:29:31,402
at a time. So I don't limit the number of people,
489
00:29:31,586 --> 00:29:34,762
but I open it every eight weeks and I open
490
00:29:34,786 --> 00:29:38,814
it every eight weeks right now because Detach
491
00:29:38,862 --> 00:29:42,062
and Thrive, which is my online course. So that was the online course that I
492
00:29:42,086 --> 00:29:45,870
originally built. Back when I said I want to build an online course,
493
00:29:45,910 --> 00:29:48,094
that was the course I built. I ran that for about a year and a
494
00:29:48,102 --> 00:29:51,582
half, two years and then started. Is that your first course, Detach and
495
00:29:51,606 --> 00:29:55,070
Thrive? So yes, although I did start
496
00:29:55,110 --> 00:29:58,686
a course, Understanding Midlife Crisis, which I built really quickly
497
00:29:58,878 --> 00:30:02,190
as a free vehicle that I use to
498
00:30:02,230 --> 00:30:05,470
sign people up on the newsletter, sign people up on my
499
00:30:05,510 --> 00:30:09,310
list and just get them introduced to Midlife Crisis
500
00:30:09,390 --> 00:30:12,542
and get them into my world.
501
00:30:12,646 --> 00:30:16,210
Yep. So where can, where can everybody find that? The quiz.
502
00:30:16,950 --> 00:30:20,382
So the quiz is at, at the websites. All of the
503
00:30:20,406 --> 00:30:23,262
websites. They should come up as a pop up. So.
504
00:30:23,446 --> 00:30:26,622
So I will get the links to you and then you can put
505
00:30:26,646 --> 00:30:30,236
them out on the bio. Gotcha. So the links are all there for the.
506
00:30:30,318 --> 00:30:33,104
The quiz Understanding Midlife Crisis,
507
00:30:33,232 --> 00:30:37,168
which is. A self paced program. Like a self paced self paced program.
508
00:30:37,304 --> 00:30:40,752
It is three modules. And the modules you
509
00:30:40,776 --> 00:30:44,176
get the first module, the first when you sign up, then the next second module
510
00:30:44,208 --> 00:30:48,048
the next day and the third module the next day. And that is only because
511
00:30:48,184 --> 00:30:51,072
originally I had you get all of the modules but people weren't coming back to
512
00:30:51,096 --> 00:30:54,320
them. So my hope is that if it's the second day, I send you a
513
00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:57,422
reminder, hey, module two is dropped. It will remind people to go
514
00:30:57,446 --> 00:31:00,670
back to. And hopefully I, I did that
515
00:31:00,710 --> 00:31:04,810
course. And I thought the reason was so you could absorb it over 24 hours.
516
00:31:05,670 --> 00:31:08,654
But, you know, 24 hours isn't that much time to absorb it either.
517
00:31:08,782 --> 00:31:12,334
But, you know, it's only about two hours, two to two and
518
00:31:12,342 --> 00:31:15,742
a half hours in length. I found it really helpful.
519
00:31:15,886 --> 00:31:20,010
It was a lot of good information that somebody new to this
520
00:31:20,390 --> 00:31:23,768
crisis or experience, you know, it's really helpful. And that's
521
00:31:23,784 --> 00:31:26,888
the goal is understanding midlife crisis is just.
522
00:31:26,944 --> 00:31:30,180
Is meant for newbies. It is not meant to be your healing course.
523
00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:34,168
That's detach and thrive. That's the big stuff. Understanding midlife
524
00:31:34,184 --> 00:31:38,328
crisis is just meant to get you the throw at you, really, the initial information
525
00:31:38,464 --> 00:31:41,832
for your questions. Because when you start out in this,
526
00:31:42,016 --> 00:31:45,192
you want to know, oh, my God, why is this happening?
527
00:31:45,256 --> 00:31:48,966
Why? Why? Why? Screaming this isn't fair.
528
00:31:49,128 --> 00:31:52,922
What is wrong with my spouse? All of your questions are about your
529
00:31:52,946 --> 00:31:56,042
spouse and what's wrong with them. And the real important stuff is
530
00:31:56,066 --> 00:31:59,498
how do I heal? But if I were to answer that,
531
00:31:59,634 --> 00:32:02,682
you'd go, no, I asked you about why are they doing this? And why are
532
00:32:02,706 --> 00:32:06,378
they these things? And so it's a little bit like trying
533
00:32:06,434 --> 00:32:09,994
to fix an injury that is beneath a tight
534
00:32:10,042 --> 00:32:13,338
muscle. And you have to relax the muscle first. You can
535
00:32:13,394 --> 00:32:16,754
access the injury. And so midlife crisis
536
00:32:16,802 --> 00:32:19,986
is the understanding. Midlife crisis is that muscle relaxant
537
00:32:20,018 --> 00:32:23,154
that I give you. And then once you have taken
538
00:32:23,242 --> 00:32:27,470
that, you take that course. Now I can access
539
00:32:28,010 --> 00:32:31,218
the rest of you because you can relax a little bit. And you're
540
00:32:31,234 --> 00:32:34,834
like, okay, I have some answers. And sometimes the answers I
541
00:32:34,842 --> 00:32:38,514
don't know, but I. I understand that I don't know now.
542
00:32:38,682 --> 00:32:42,690
And I am more accepting or willing and able to say,
543
00:32:42,730 --> 00:32:46,274
okay, I'm ready to learn what I need to do for me, I'm ready
544
00:32:46,322 --> 00:32:49,522
to understand what I need to do to detach. I'm ready to learn what detach
545
00:32:49,586 --> 00:32:52,722
means without freaking out that you just said, I need to detach. And it means
546
00:32:52,746 --> 00:32:56,626
I don't care, because that's not what it means. Yep. But in the beginning,
547
00:32:56,818 --> 00:33:02,258
that's scary. And you just want to shut down and
548
00:33:02,314 --> 00:33:05,710
wonder why. Why are you telling me that you're not going to answer my question
549
00:33:06,250 --> 00:33:09,776
and that's all people hear. So it's
550
00:33:09,808 --> 00:33:12,912
okay to answer somebody's question with I don't know. Cause that's honest.
551
00:33:13,056 --> 00:33:16,368
But it's really not fair to answer the qu. Somebody's question with, I'm not gonna
552
00:33:16,384 --> 00:33:19,680
tell you that right now. That's like when your mom said that you Know,
553
00:33:19,720 --> 00:33:23,620
like. Well, you know what? You're not old enough to know, and we're adults,
554
00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:27,472
so I don't have the answers sometimes, and that's okay for me to tell
555
00:33:27,496 --> 00:33:30,752
you, but if I just say, you know what? There are some things where I
556
00:33:30,776 --> 00:33:35,020
say I don't really like giving you this information yet,
557
00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:38,832
because from the stage you're on, if you get this,
558
00:33:39,016 --> 00:33:42,288
you're gonna look to that. Yeah, but. So I'll
559
00:33:42,304 --> 00:33:44,460
tell you here, but I really want you to look over here.
560
00:33:45,560 --> 00:33:49,600
There's a book called after the Affair. If you're not after the affair,
561
00:33:49,760 --> 00:33:53,376
maybe you should look, you know, at the point where you're
562
00:33:53,408 --> 00:33:56,800
at, you know, there's some things to prepare for. But if. But if you're at
563
00:33:56,840 --> 00:34:00,352
after the Affair, sometimes you focus on this stuff and don't learn what needs to
564
00:34:00,376 --> 00:34:03,190
come before it. Mm, absolutely.
565
00:34:03,690 --> 00:34:06,722
So. And there's a. There's a lot to know, but if you can just get
566
00:34:06,746 --> 00:34:10,706
a little bit of some of the early kernels of understanding midlife crisis.
567
00:34:10,898 --> 00:34:14,338
So I think that is the big core
568
00:34:14,434 --> 00:34:17,970
for getting you in the door to what you need to do
569
00:34:18,090 --> 00:34:21,346
to kind of relax that YYY muscle
570
00:34:21,378 --> 00:34:23,910
in your brain. Yes, absolutely.
571
00:34:24,250 --> 00:34:27,596
Yeah. After that is when. Now,
572
00:34:27,748 --> 00:34:30,988
listen up. You. You need to detach. You need to focus on
573
00:34:31,044 --> 00:34:34,316
you. You need to heal. You need to put the oxygen
574
00:34:34,348 --> 00:34:36,840
mask on yourself. You are important.
575
00:34:37,620 --> 00:34:41,244
But Standers, those who really want to save
576
00:34:41,292 --> 00:34:44,812
their marriage, they. We want them to hear
577
00:34:44,836 --> 00:34:47,852
that, but they don't want to hear that. They want to hear, I just want
578
00:34:47,876 --> 00:34:51,292
my spouse back. And I really don't care about that. Why do I care about
579
00:34:51,316 --> 00:34:54,317
me? And it's like, I really want you to care about you.
580
00:34:54,373 --> 00:34:57,929
Okay. I mean, I have been told by some that
581
00:34:58,229 --> 00:35:01,805
literally I've had people say, I can't breathe without him.
582
00:35:01,957 --> 00:35:05,453
Oh, and I want to point out in
583
00:35:05,461 --> 00:35:08,493
a. In a. You know, literally, I. I understand that's a metaphor,
584
00:35:08,541 --> 00:35:11,709
but I know that you can breathe without him
585
00:35:11,749 --> 00:35:15,389
because you're breathing right now. We can
586
00:35:15,429 --> 00:35:19,405
breathe. So we're going to understand what's
587
00:35:19,437 --> 00:35:22,856
happening, and we're going to take some time. So we're going to breathe.
588
00:35:22,888 --> 00:35:26,152
We're going to take some deep breaths, and we're going to learn what's going
589
00:35:26,176 --> 00:35:29,800
on, and if we can understand some of the psychology of what's going
590
00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:32,904
on. So I'm really big on understanding that,
591
00:35:32,992 --> 00:35:36,552
and I'm also really big on not understanding too much
592
00:35:36,576 --> 00:35:40,392
of it. If that is going to set you into paralysis or
593
00:35:40,416 --> 00:35:44,504
get you stuck or if you're Focusing on that so much, the paralysis
594
00:35:44,552 --> 00:35:47,792
that you keep doing it at the detriment of your own healing.
595
00:35:47,896 --> 00:35:51,680
Yep. But just enough so that it makes sense in a way,
596
00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:55,472
you know? Yeah. So you make sense of that. What I did is I
597
00:35:55,496 --> 00:35:59,408
was able to, okay, look over here at the understanding. Then I could
598
00:35:59,464 --> 00:36:02,592
turn my head and look at my healing. Then I could turn back and look
599
00:36:02,616 --> 00:36:05,520
at this. Then I can restudy it some more. Then I can, you know,
600
00:36:05,560 --> 00:36:08,832
then I can just back and forth a bit in each portion.
601
00:36:08,896 --> 00:36:12,752
In bits. And some of it integrates together the understanding
602
00:36:12,816 --> 00:36:16,724
and the healing can go together. Because midlife crisis is a
603
00:36:16,732 --> 00:36:20,040
crisis of identity. But midlife transition.
604
00:36:20,380 --> 00:36:24,436
Midlife crisis is a type of midlife transition. But if you're
605
00:36:24,548 --> 00:36:27,920
in a midlife transition, that's not a crisis, that is self development.
606
00:36:29,020 --> 00:36:32,692
And many of you who are forward moving spouses, this is
607
00:36:32,716 --> 00:36:37,188
going to kick you into it anyway. Right. And that transition,
608
00:36:37,364 --> 00:36:41,434
well, you're going to learn about it. And so that
609
00:36:41,522 --> 00:36:45,098
learning is your self development while also learning about what this
610
00:36:45,154 --> 00:36:47,870
transition is. And so those are integrating.
611
00:36:48,850 --> 00:36:52,266
I never thought of it that way. But while one spouse
612
00:36:52,298 --> 00:36:56,122
is going through the crisis part, which has collateral damage to everybody,
613
00:36:56,186 --> 00:36:59,962
but that, that LBs that could become the forward moving spouse is having
614
00:36:59,986 --> 00:37:03,242
their own midlife transition. Yeah. You know,
615
00:37:03,346 --> 00:37:07,442
wow. Yeah. It, you know, sometimes it kicks them into their own midlife crisis
616
00:37:07,626 --> 00:37:11,490
during or often afterwards. We can have that. But if
617
00:37:11,530 --> 00:37:15,266
you know what's going on and you get to understanding, then you can
618
00:37:15,418 --> 00:37:19,830
look at that and have bigger level of awareness and insight.
619
00:37:20,330 --> 00:37:23,938
And that probably gives you a bit more empowerment
620
00:37:23,954 --> 00:37:27,490
and control not to have it be a crisis. Absolutely.
621
00:37:27,570 --> 00:37:30,610
Yep. Then there's always the MLC or
622
00:37:30,650 --> 00:37:33,810
that's now the LBs. Yeah. Whole nother thing.
623
00:37:33,930 --> 00:37:37,428
Yep. And we have those. We do, we do, yeah.
624
00:37:37,524 --> 00:37:40,916
So I want to summarize the services that we can find on
625
00:37:40,988 --> 00:37:44,532
midlife crisis. Marriage advocate.com is where you
626
00:37:44,556 --> 00:37:48,960
can find everything from the. The little quiz to the.
627
00:37:49,340 --> 00:37:52,548
The self paced course. Yes.
628
00:37:52,644 --> 00:37:56,452
Understanding midlife crisis to Thrive membership. That's available on
629
00:37:56,476 --> 00:38:00,884
there. Yes. So everything is on there. You can find them on
630
00:38:00,972 --> 00:38:05,070
the website if you can find them. If you go to the
631
00:38:05,110 --> 00:38:08,590
Facebook page where and when you look at any
632
00:38:08,630 --> 00:38:11,838
of my. On my YouTube and you go into the questions,
633
00:38:11,934 --> 00:38:15,534
I always try and describe those in the links below where I
634
00:38:15,542 --> 00:38:19,566
will put the question someone asks. And at the bottom after the question someone asks,
635
00:38:19,678 --> 00:38:23,790
I put my coaching information and I put my where
636
00:38:23,830 --> 00:38:27,214
you can submit a question information. And when
637
00:38:27,302 --> 00:38:30,892
Thrive opens, I put the thrive information. I try
638
00:38:30,916 --> 00:38:34,476
not to promote it too much when it's not open because you can't get in.
639
00:38:34,628 --> 00:38:38,172
But the wait. So the waiting list is there so that you are
640
00:38:38,196 --> 00:38:41,500
notified when it comes open. And during that
641
00:38:41,540 --> 00:38:45,148
week there'll be a whole week where you can sign up for it.
642
00:38:45,284 --> 00:38:48,572
And if you don't sign up during that time and
643
00:38:48,596 --> 00:38:51,788
you realize it and like it's closes on Thursday
644
00:38:51,844 --> 00:38:55,638
night and it's Friday, just let me know. Okay. I sort
645
00:38:55,654 --> 00:38:58,966
of did that. Yeah. Big giant classes
646
00:38:58,998 --> 00:39:02,043
where the person makes millions and they have 2,000,
647
00:39:02,152 --> 00:39:05,846
4,000 people, they're very strict about it. When you're
648
00:39:05,878 --> 00:39:09,862
somebody like me and I get three to five people in eight weeks,
649
00:39:10,046 --> 00:39:13,542
I let you in. I need people. So sure, just let
650
00:39:13,566 --> 00:39:16,950
me know. Well, and I know you really want people, you don't want people
651
00:39:16,990 --> 00:39:20,366
sitting at home waiting, you want people getting their answers,
652
00:39:20,518 --> 00:39:24,126
I mean questions answered and all that. And, and the reason for the eight weeks
653
00:39:24,198 --> 00:39:27,150
at this point is there's a few. One of them is I can focus it.
654
00:39:27,270 --> 00:39:30,590
Uhhuh. And Detach and Thrive which is with
655
00:39:30,630 --> 00:39:34,574
my flagship course is embedded into the Into Detach
656
00:39:34,622 --> 00:39:37,822
into Stand up and Thrive. And that is an
657
00:39:37,846 --> 00:39:41,486
eight week course. So you can start Detach and Thrive.
658
00:39:41,518 --> 00:39:44,734
And when Detach and Thrive is over, even if they haven't completed because you get
659
00:39:44,742 --> 00:39:48,450
to determine you can keep going through it at your own pace.
660
00:39:48,840 --> 00:39:53,008
But once they have had all of the modules drop,
661
00:39:53,104 --> 00:39:56,448
a new group can start and I wouldn't
662
00:39:56,544 --> 00:40:00,480
be able to market it just due to my own insane
663
00:40:00,560 --> 00:40:03,920
kids schedule. And now we're building a house so. And, and I'm the main
664
00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:07,232
project manager on the house build. Aww. So one
665
00:40:07,256 --> 00:40:10,560
of your many skills. Well, I'm not going to tell our audience today,
666
00:40:10,680 --> 00:40:14,432
but there's going to be some really cool stuff coming up in the next I
667
00:40:14,456 --> 00:40:18,102
think 12 to 18 months, hopefully before. 12 months and
668
00:40:18,286 --> 00:40:22,118
kinda knows what I'm talking about. And there's a select few that are gonna know
669
00:40:22,174 --> 00:40:25,990
soon and, and there's gonna be a lot more support out there and
670
00:40:26,030 --> 00:40:30,150
awareness. Cause that's, that's really what we're trying to do is bring awareness so that
671
00:40:30,270 --> 00:40:33,750
you know, and that was what got you through this,
672
00:40:33,870 --> 00:40:37,334
was that awareness of that forum that you started and you know that you attended
673
00:40:37,382 --> 00:40:41,622
many years ago in 2005. So yeah, it's crazy.
674
00:40:41,766 --> 00:40:45,222
It's really sad when we hear so many people don't even know about the
675
00:40:45,246 --> 00:40:48,962
support that's provided out there. Yeah, support group is
676
00:40:49,146 --> 00:40:53,538
so important. So Detach or Stand up and Thrive
677
00:40:53,714 --> 00:40:57,378
is a support Group where we meet on Zoom.
678
00:40:57,474 --> 00:41:00,882
So it's optional. We have people who don't meet us on Zoom or they
679
00:41:00,906 --> 00:41:04,386
watch the replays, but we meet on Zoom four days
680
00:41:04,458 --> 00:41:07,970
a week, two hours, two of the days and one
681
00:41:08,010 --> 00:41:11,394
hour. It says 30 minutes but I translate for an hour, one hour on
682
00:41:11,402 --> 00:41:15,516
the other days and it is six. So, so helpful especially
683
00:41:15,588 --> 00:41:18,972
for somebody new at this going through. It is just. It's like
684
00:41:18,996 --> 00:41:22,160
a. What do you call it? A. A life, you know, a lifeline.
685
00:41:22,740 --> 00:41:26,252
I want you to get to know each other. I want you some.
686
00:41:26,356 --> 00:41:29,852
If nobody's in the group that day and nobody. You might. I might have
687
00:41:29,876 --> 00:41:33,052
one person. So it's kind of like one on one coaching during that. And I
688
00:41:33,076 --> 00:41:36,796
do not post a one on one up in our replays
689
00:41:36,908 --> 00:41:40,442
that are only for our group. I post the replays when
690
00:41:40,466 --> 00:41:44,362
we have three others or more in there. So you can get
691
00:41:44,386 --> 00:41:48,314
the replays but not if it's only a few people. So one person,
692
00:41:48,482 --> 00:41:52,490
two people. Unless there's three people but one just kicked out, one get in
693
00:41:52,530 --> 00:41:56,362
and back and forth. But it's mostly three people plus then
694
00:41:56,386 --> 00:41:59,658
the replay should go up. So you can watch them on replay but you don't
695
00:41:59,674 --> 00:42:02,538
have to come into them. So if it doesn't match your schedule. But I also
696
00:42:02,594 --> 00:42:05,962
have tried to make them so that if you're in
697
00:42:05,986 --> 00:42:09,444
Australia these days will work for you and if you're in
698
00:42:09,612 --> 00:42:12,788
the United States these days will work for you.
699
00:42:12,844 --> 00:42:15,840
So that we can fit our global community.
700
00:42:16,620 --> 00:42:19,764
Because we do have a global community. We do have a global community. Yeah.
701
00:42:19,812 --> 00:42:23,364
And I was really thinking I had several Aussie people in the beginning
702
00:42:23,412 --> 00:42:27,076
especially and I wanted to make sure the aussies and the UK's could make it.
703
00:42:27,228 --> 00:42:31,092
Yeah. So that was really important to me and
704
00:42:31,196 --> 00:42:34,058
me being in Washington State,
705
00:42:34,244 --> 00:42:37,310
you know, I have to follow my schedule so.
706
00:42:37,430 --> 00:42:40,894
Which makes it a little bit hectic because I have to be. I have to
707
00:42:40,902 --> 00:42:43,690
have a little bit of a chaotic schedule. So.
708
00:42:44,230 --> 00:42:47,502
Well and okay, somebody's got some questions. Where would they
709
00:42:47,526 --> 00:42:50,366
put them? Where's the best place for them to send questions?
710
00:42:50,558 --> 00:42:53,822
So I have also in the links that I will be
711
00:42:53,846 --> 00:42:57,614
giving you is the question where they could submit a question. So if it's a
712
00:42:57,622 --> 00:43:01,362
submitted question, such as an MLC question could great on there. If they want
713
00:43:01,386 --> 00:43:04,258
to put a question that's just a personal question like about coaching.
714
00:43:04,354 --> 00:43:07,762
The coaching can go. The link is there but
715
00:43:07,786 --> 00:43:10,946
if they want it, that is. I was talking Facebook
716
00:43:11,018 --> 00:43:14,190
Live. Yeah, sorry. Yeah. But the submit a question
717
00:43:14,570 --> 00:43:17,602
link is going to be on the links that I'm giving you. Awesome.
718
00:43:17,666 --> 00:43:20,866
Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you, Ken. I know you've got,
719
00:43:20,938 --> 00:43:24,162
you've got some coaching coming up in a few minutes so I better let you
720
00:43:24,186 --> 00:43:27,474
go. So thank you so much for your time today and
721
00:43:27,562 --> 00:43:30,802
I'll cut away. And so thank you so much,
722
00:43:30,826 --> 00:43:35,110
Kenda. You're just such a lifeline to so many worldwide.
723
00:43:35,770 --> 00:43:39,874
Hey guys, thanks for joining us today. That was the History of the Hero's
724
00:43:39,922 --> 00:43:44,018
Spouse by Kenda Root stumpf. Wow, that's 20
725
00:43:44,074 --> 00:43:47,874
years in the making. And so that's a lot of stuff. And you know
726
00:43:47,882 --> 00:43:50,670
what, in some ways I think she's just getting started.
727
00:43:50,970 --> 00:43:54,590
So anyway, thanks again for joining us. Be sure to check out
728
00:43:55,050 --> 00:43:58,386
the the links below and midlife
729
00:43:58,418 --> 00:44:02,546
crisis marriage advocate.com so anyway, lots of info
730
00:44:02,658 --> 00:44:06,082
and check out the links and thanks again for joining us today. We'll see you
731
00:44:06,106 --> 00:44:06,578
soon.

Kenda-Ruth Stumpf
Author, Coach, Mom
Kenda-Ruth survived her husband’s Midlife Crisis—and so did he! She started The Hero’s Spouse website, forum and Private Facebook Group and together they eventually went on to adopt 5 children from foster care, creating a blessedly chaotic life! Kenda-Ruth supports education about Midlife Crisis in marriage and helps guide Forward Moving Spouses through the pain and trauma of betrayal. Her support groups are created as safe spaces for Standers—men and women who are hoping to save their marriages. The Hero’s Spouse offers a variety of resources to offer guidance and support as you are dealing with the pain and shock of your spouse’s Midlife Crisis.
Free Resources
• Understanding Midlife Crisis
Free Online Video Course
• Quiz: How Can I Tell if my Spouse is Having a Midlife Crisis?
• The Hero’s Spouse Forum
• The Hero’s Spouse Private Facebook Group
• MLC Q&A on Facebook and YouTube
Submit a Question! I stream pre-recorded responses up to 3X a week.
• The Hero’s Spouse Website
Articles about MLC, Infidelity, Dealing with your MLCer, Healing, Mirror-Work, Forigiveness…
• The Blog, LoveAnyway
More Articles
Paid Resources
• Stand Up & THRIVE!
Paid Membership for Forward Moving Spouses – Support Group which includes the online video course Detach & Thrive and optional live—on Zoom—group meetings 4 days each week.
• Personal 1-1 Coaching