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Even in the best of circumstances, divorce is devastating. You must piece your life back together while brave-facing it for children. And if you’re living abroad as an accompanying partner when your marriage dissolves, then you’re really talking full-on crisis.
You’ll recognize Robyn Tanner from wayyy back when she was my guest on Episode 35. As you’d expect, a lot has happened in the 3 years since, including the death of her long-term marriage, the birth of a thriving business, and the discovery of strength and self-reliance that makes me ugly cry with pride.
Simultaneous to her separation, Robyn was also building a new home and moving her father into an Alzheimer’s care facility. And because she had just completed Year of Transformation, Robyn wasn’t concerned with where her life was going. She knew it would be a difficult period, but she also trusted she had the strategies to deal with it.
What You’ll Discover in this Episode:
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- The middle path
- Standing still and owning your part in a divorce
- Avoiding self-destruction mode
- Listening to your body’s subtle nudges
- Therapy vs. coaching
Listen to the Full Episode:
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Featured on the Show:
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- What will the next 3 years throw your way? Year of Transformation gives you the tools and confidence to bounce. Plus, you’ll get the brand new mastermind as a FREE bonus. Sign up right here, before the last spots are gone.
- Sundae’s battle cry for being more on purpose: Expats on Purpose Manifesto
- Facebook Business Page – Sundae Schneider-Bean LLC
- Facebook Group – Expats on Purpose
We’re delighted by our recent nomination to the global Top 25 Expat Podcasts!
Full Episode Transcript:
Hello, it is 7am in New York, 1pm in Johannesburg and 6pm in Bangkok. Welcome to the Expat Happy Hour. This is Sundae Schneider-Bean from www.sundaebean.com. I’m a solution oriented coach and intercultural strategist for individuals and organizations and I am on a mission to help you adapt and succeed when living abroad and get you through any life transition.
I go back to that moment often, the changes that we will talk about that I’ve been through are so difficult at times. But I have this solid belief in myself now to find the solution and that I have the resources and if not, I know how to get them.
And it comes from that moment of knowing “I have to take control of this, I have to figure this out.” And I know that there’s someone sitting out there that might be in the same situation
Those are the words from Robyn Tanner as she shares with us her own real life transformation going from the depths of darkness to absolute new hope and pathways that opened that she could have never imagined. Listen in on how I came to discover about the transformation that kept going and what she’s doing now that makes her so successful.
I was in this fishing store in South Africa and my 10 year old son is obsessed with fishing. So I’m watching him navigate the aisles and stop and talk to a clerk and the clerk is demonstrating to him how to add this special piece of bait to a hook, and I thought “Oh my God, we could be here for hours.”
I pull out my phone and I just, you know kind of automatically addictedly check my messages. And I get this message from a former client and I thought, “Oh, this is so exciting.” I haven’t talked to her in a long time and she sent me an audio message, and in that audio message, she shared about all of the ups and downs she’s gone through and how she’s continued to use the tools that we worked on together in coaching, even years later.
So I’m basically holding back an ugly cry in the middle of a fishing store in South Africa. So I’ve got here, you can hear Robyn in the background. I’ve got her with me today and I didn’t tell her the story until right now, because this is why I do what I do.
So Robyn Tanner is here with me today and you might recognize her name from Episode 35 real life transformation with Robyn Tanner. Robyn and I worked together at least three years ago, she is one of the original people that I worked with, which even started the program I do, now called the Year of Transformation. And two years ago, she was talking about her transformation and today she’s agreed to come on to share exactly what she shared with me how she’s still applying everything that we’ve done together to make an incredible life.
Sundae: So Robyn, welcome to Expat Happy Hour.
Robyn: Hey, oh my God, that story is so cute. I love that you were in the fishing aisle with him because yeah, I’m Southern and that just really speaks to me. It’s so funny that my message came through when you were doing that. That’s so cute.
Sundae: I was so unprepared for that. So it’s really cool, you know Robyn and I took a few minutes before this episode to just catch up and I have chills up my arm up and down to see what’s going on with your life now Robyn. There is a lot I don’t know and I just want to say that to the listeners, there’s a lot that I don’t know about what’s going on with Robyn since we stopped working together. So I’m discovering this as you do. What I do know is that when I originally met Robyn she was in a very very different place than she is now. Robyn, do you mind recapping for the listeners where you’re at when we first met and kind of fast forward to where you are now.
Robyn: Okay, yeah, so what brought me to coaching was having experienced just a low in my life and not able to really understand why, because I had been living abroad for 15 years and I thought I should be thriving and I had heard you on, I think it was Tandem Nomads, and reached out to you. And I just knew that I didn’t want therapy, I wanted coaching, I wanted something that I could apply to my life immediately and to get results. That was what I understood coaching to be and learned about that of course with you.
So I had been with my husband at the time of fifteen years, that’s what had brought me to Switzerland. I had two children, I still do have two children, one was struggling in primary school with ADHD and other has learning difficulties. We had founded our second company five years before. I thought, and I was just telling you this Sundae, I thought I was teaching in the company and a stay-at-home mom. But now I realize I was helping the financial forecast, managing the employees and doing writing copy and doing so much more for the company. So full service to the company and my family and I had given up my first training as a metalsmith, and my love of art jewelry. And I thought, I don’t know should I fast forward to like what we did together?
Sundae: What were you hoping, what was so hard that made you wanted to get support from someone through coaching?
Robyn: I wasn’t thriving and I knew I could thrive, and I’ll say that time and time again. People that knew me in Louisiana knew me to be a very happy person, capable of creating, like just inflow with my life, you know, creative life. And transitioning to Switzerland, it seemed like instead of getting easier year after year it seemed to get harder and that didn’t seem right, it’s like “Why is that happening?”
Sundae: People don’t realize that over time things can get harder because you’re further and further away from who you are, the core. Because you’re adapting so much or you’re not able to use your skills and talents, I totally get that. One thing I would think is important for me to share with the audience is first of all, it’s so generous of you Robyn to share your story and your time and I really appreciate that and the reason why I want to share this with the audience is, there is someone out there right now who’s listening who is like, “Yeah, that’s me, I’m in a bi-national relationship and I have kids and I don’t think that’s going to change and it feels harder.” And I can say that to my audience all the livelong day, but to hear it from actually someone who’s experienced it I think is important.
And I’m just so confused, this whole thing, I’ve been harping on for months is, most of the people when we start working together go, “Oh, I thought I was alone, I’m not the only one.”
Robyn: Yes.
Sundae: How can they feel all alone, when I talk about it every single episode.
Robyn: It’s so funny Sundae. I think I can answer that, because we’re preoccupied, many of us have been in the flow of our life or made the decision to come here from a positive place. This is not usually a transition you make from a negative state, you know what I mean? You usually say, “Yeah, I have the energy to take on a life abroad, I’m in love, I want that opportunity.” And you get here and it’s not working, and I found I had internalized so much of a dialogue, you know, so many of you were preoccupied with what’s not working. And the tools we had from our host country or other experiences, maybe in another country where it just felt like a perfect fit and you didn’t experience it.
All of a sudden I found myself retreating from life. And again, I’ll say I was not depressed, I’m pretty sure it was just kind of like my optically focused on, “Why is this not working?” And that’s when I knew I didn’t have the tools anymore and started looking around. Somehow I knew, and Sundae I have to tell you, what really gives me the chills is still, I told you this the last time we spoke and then I think I told you this when we were working together, that I knew intuitively, instinctively, I knew that I had not seen the worst of what life could throw at somebody. And that I had no resources, I was no longer resilient and I knew that that was a dangerous place to be. And what really gives me the chills is how I’ve actually experienced some of life’s more difficult challenges in the last two years and I can tell you that that decision to honor that instinct and intuition in myself is probably one of my most proud moments in my life.
And what allows me to know, or how do I say this? Like, I know I can love and honor myself because I made that decision, that doubt changes that I have found the courage to make in my life and the past two years I contribute to that courageous moment of saying “I’m going to take this very seriously.” That I can say to myself, “If I get thrown a curveball.” And we know it will happen in life, “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Sundae: The ultimate expression of loving yourself and taking yourself seriously.
Robyn: But I know that now, then I didn’t know how powerful that was and I think that’s also why, not I think, I know that’s also why I said “Yes, I’ll come back on.” Is, I go back to that moment often, the changes that we will talk about that I’ve been through are so difficult at times. But I have this solid belief in myself now to find the solution and that I have the resources and if not, I know how to get them.
And it comes from that moment of knowing “I have to take control of this, I have to figure this out.” And I know that there’s someone sitting out there that might be in the same situation and you know, it’s like just “Listen to yourself, do it.”
Sundae: Well that’s the thing, for me one of the most exciting things is when I do interviews for Year of Transformation, then people are in exactly the same spot you were and they’re feeling stuck and they don’t believe in themselves, and I’m like “You don’t know what’s on the other side.” because I see it, I don’t know what’s on the other side.
I know there’s another side and it always seems to happen around session twelve, that clicks and then the other side becomes crystal clear and they start building that other side and I love that.
Robyn: Oh my gosh around session twelve? I find that so interesting.
Sundae: I have just noticed over the years, what I’ve noticed is, I call the first three months, it’s kind of like morning sickness where you’re just like vomiting all of the negative thoughts and all the ways you limit yourself. And my clients are like “I thought this was going to go differently?” And then they start going “Oooh maybe this could be possible, maybe that could be possible.” And then we start dreaming about what could be possible, now that all the crap is vomited out. And then it’s like boom “That’s what I want to do.” I love that process, but they don’t understand it until they experience it.
Anyway, that’s a whole nother story, what I want to talk about is, what I love is, we’re on, I don’t know episode 130 plus with Expat Happy Hour right now and you and I were on Episode 35, right? So tell us how it happens. We celebrated your transformation in Episode 35 and then tell us what happened right after that episode.
Robyn: It’s almost, okay I’m going to try not to cry because I thought this would be easier to talk about, but now I’m kind of emotional.
So the podcast after we recorded it and it aired. You and I working together I had decided that I would open a gallery to support my love of art jewelry in the region and I had made contacts with big players in the field, artists, other gallery owners and it seemed to be going well. You see I’m getting emotional. And I remember emailing you and telling you that I was submitting my business idea to, what was the first International craft fair to be hosted in Basel, it was called Tracer and it was by a brother and sister and they started Art Basel d’azur Design Miami, which is a part of Art Basel. And so I had a lot of confidence and belief in that fair and the founders and I submitted my business idea and I won, I won and it was so cool. And you know, what I won is placement at the startup academy in Basel.
So I won that right and then I came home and wanted to celebrate and found out very shortly after that that my marriage had fallen apart, that my marriage was ending. I mean it was, and I have to say these last two years, and you don’t know this, I haven’t shared this yet with you. But one of the most beautiful, and I mean soulful beautiful, like for me when something is soulfully beautiful, it’s wrapped up in not just beauty but like an authenticity, like somewhat painful moments too you know, that being able to hold that paradox of life in your hands. That’s for me like a soulful beauty.
And what has happened to me in the last two years is that when something good happens, I’ll experience sadness or when sadness comes or something good and there were such extremes Sundae, like my winning recognition for my business award. I mean the founders of the fair coming up and telling me “We need this in Basel, we want you we want to see you succeed.” And my marriage falling apart within weeks, it’s really interesting how life works because I had no choice but to take the middle road.
Sundae: What’s the middle road
Robyn: So I would experience a high and a low and I quickly figured out that if I attach, and somehow my work with you kept coming back to me like release from the outcome. I was no longer concerned about where my life was going to go, I just knew a lot was happening. I had put a few things in motion, it was coming out very differently than I expected. Sometimes hopeful sometimes really unexpectedly I would release from the outcome, I knew if I invested in only the highs are only the lows I was going to be in trouble. I found that like, you know Buddhist middle path. I knew yeah, so I don’t know if we want to get into this part about what I was using but okay.
Oh and we were building a house, right, so we were building a house. So I went into this business award, my marriage falls apart, like really I’m not joking like a Johnny Cash song like Burning Flame Of Fire is just like done. No, my superpowers in has been like I have to laugh it was like, “What are you kidding me?” And so we’re building this house and I have to show up at the startup academy, so I managed to show up at the startup academy without anyone knowing what’s going on in my life, navigate my kids through separation, manage betrayal and negative emotions and still somehow start to build something for myself and finish building a house, move into the house, support my family, moving my dad into an Alzheimer’s home.
Sundae: So right now what’s happening is I’m shaking my head like no, no like I can’t believe it. I can’t, I can’t, I can’t take it in. I can’t believe it’s so amazing, I’m trying to find the words.
Robyn: It was intense. Oh and I dislocated my knee, I dislocated my knee cap a month before we moved in. But like the day before or the day after I met someone in the startup academy that would then help me make a decision that I made later. It was a very important decision. it’s just that’s how it was working out, it was like one thing would happen another thing would happen and these were not small things, these were like huge things.
Sundae: And so how did you do that? It’s incredible, so tell us how did you do that?
Robyn: Well, I knew, okay so I went back to our coaching. I’ll be honest, I took out the expat trump cards, I don’t know if you still have them.
One that really spoke to me was about recognizing signs of stress, and being out of your comfort zone where you’ve stretched too far. And so I knew I think I’m stretching like way beyond my comfort zone here, I’m dealing with massively big things. So I could ask myself, “What do I need? What do I need? I need to wake up earlier and drink my green tea because it brings me peace.”
And I woke up and meditated every day, I committed myself fully to my meditation practice, I showed up for every appointment with my business mentor and the startup academy. That’s how I did it, I just committed myself to each next step and if anything, I was as acutely aware as many people are going through a crisis, I became very aware of what was bringing energy helping me restore myself and what wasn’t.
Sundae: You were making you a priority like that’s what I always talk about, make you a priority and that doesn’t mean being selfish. It’s saying, “What do you need to keep going?” And I love how you kind of zoomed in and you looked at “Okay based on the shitshow that’s going on in my life, how do I wake up and how do I be present? How do I keep my energy and not give it away.” I love that you were practicing that in such difficult circumstances.
Robyn: Yeah, it has continued to grow, that whole idea. In fact about a year ago, I realized that I was not only prioritizing myself. I would then ask myself, you know, I would set a goal or make an appointment that was very essential to either navigating separation or building a business or looking for a job. And I would think “How do I want to show up? What do I have to do to show up that way? What do I have to think to create the right space to show up that way?” So I feel I was able to go a bit deeper with what we had worked with.
It’s hard, it’s more difficult to talk about than I expected. I think because I’m kind of surprised, you know what I mean? Like I’m actually surprised that I’ve been able to do this. Does that make sense?
Sundae: Its immense what you’ve done, its immense. And here’s the thing, this is a difference between you and someone who doesn’t go all in. What I’m hearing that you’re doing is you’ve you have resources at your fingertips and you’re using them and it’s as simple as the difference between knowing and doing. So I’ll give all out, this is what I have been interested in, personal development since I was in college. So I went to college in the nineties and started gobbling up everything on the market because it really resonated. But I was kind of famous for reading personal development, but not actually doing any of the exercises. Knowing versus doing. I became a coach, I was certified and trained, and I did Martha Beck training, was that 2012 I think. I was already a coach but I did Martha Beck because I knew I resonated with all of her stuff and I would read the book but not do the exercises. And I knew it was kind of the last thing for me to really walk my talk and to call myself on my own bullshit. I actually panicked when I was going to register for the course it was expensive but it wasn’t why I was panicking, I was panicking because I knew I wasn’t going to get away with myself.
Robyn: Oh my gosh, do I know what you’re talking about.
Sundae: And so I actually had to go for a run, I went for a run. I was like I seriously had calm myself down and I pushed and yes did it. And I think really have amazing coaching partners, coaching buddies that provided a really safe space for me to really bring my crap and be honest with myself and that’s when I started really practicing these things I had at my fingertips.
And I what I noticed with people, the ones who are most successful, is they apply these simple simple simple things, but they actually apply them and that’s where they get crazy results. And that’s what you did, you didn’t go into self-destruction, which nobody would blame you for it because everything was falling apart. You’re like, “Nope.”
Robyn: Oh Sundae, I was so aware I had an excuse, what I was so aware of “What am I going to do with this moment? Am I going to am I going to only be sad? Am I only going to be resentful? N I’m not, I’m going to be something else. I have an opportunity here to use this, to actually go deeper.” And you know the beauty of when things fall apart, for me, like my experience, What I still find very beautiful is the opportunity and to be very aware that I can apply these things and change the outcome for myself and change the present moment. You know, like it changes the present moment when I apply these tools.
And I have to laugh because what you experienced with Martha Beck and we say it was a comfortable or Jesus moment, you know, like where you have to get to the gates and they’re like, “All right, come to Lord Jesus, we’re gonna get real.” Do you know how many come to Lord Jesus moments I’ve had? I mean going through a separation and a divorce can either be a shit show and you’re hateful or you have a million come to Lord Jesus moments where it would be easy with like I said, it was a Johnny Cash ending, it was painful, but the reckoning, the ownership.
And it’s not a fast process, I mean my marriage falling apart, the honesty that I am finding in myself is very difficult. So I understand what you’re talking about Martha Beck. I walk up against certain truths, as I acknowledge things that weren’t working and it’d be easy to blame my ex, but I find when I stand still and I have that comfortable or Jesus moment and can find my responsibility and what happened. Of course he has some too, but when I find mine I am in a powerful place. And I experienced change rapidly in my life and a positive change and it gives me energy. I wake up happy, I’m just finding it’s a beautiful way to live. It feels more peaceful, so I get that.
And I’m sure you’ve experienced the same right like when you started to apply the tools or when you got honest with yourself, there’s this release that comes afterwards.
Sundae: Totally and it’s just being real and raw and I think we live in a culture where everything should be fine and everybody should be happy. And when we do that.
Robyn: Oh, there’s nothing like a divorced to realize that.
Sundae: You know, and it’s like just sort of to be able to sit in a discomfort, whatever truth that is and then be, I am trying to say this without being too like fluffy with words, but it’s like how do you stand in a place of power where you’re like, “Okay, where’s my agency here? What could I do? Where do I have control?” And not in a controlled way, but “Where do I have to let go of control? What do I release?” That sort of thing.
And what I’m loving about this is, this is what’s possible, that the only thing between the you in 2015, or whenever we started working together and the you now, is that you have tools at your fingertips that you apply day in and day out through the wild ups and downs that you’ve gone through. And one of the things that you said in the first episode that stuck with me is you said “Life isn’t easier, I just do it better.” It’s not like, you know fairy tale, like pixie fairies pop out and it’s all rainbows and unicorns. It’s more like “Here’s the life and now I have different strategies to deal with it.”
You’re doing it and I’m honored that you embodied them during our process.
Robyn: I think I doubled it up.
Sundae: And then you’ve been using it ever since, and that’s why I always tell people this is a lifelong investment because it really should serve you for your life.
Robyn: You know, if you don’t mind, I want to talk about that because right now I am fortunate enough to be working for a company that employs coaches as consultants and they help people in life transition, whether they’ve lost their job or its talent development. I’m very very happy and excited to see that companies invest like this as well for their employees. I’ve met a coach here in the region who also is trying to bring coaching to schools. I told you before we started recording that I’m giving my fourteen-year-old son coaching for a year with one of the coaches I know here, a wonderful woman and I think they’re a great match. That’s for them to decide that, I think they’re a great match. And you know these tools I also like to use the tools and to be able to have the dialogue with myself. It took a year of working with you to internalize and to embody that, it really did and we worked a few months together before I committed to that year.
Sundae: And I was going to say, this is why in this culture of kind of like fast solutions, immediate results, I just shake my head, I’m like, “We’re undoing thirty to forty years of behavioral habits.” Our fears like for real transformation that we’re not just talking quick inspiration, we’re talking about completely transforming how you show up in your life and what you’re doing. And this takes time, and I know that’s not a popular message in this fast-paced instant result culture, but it’s the truth.
Robyn: Yes, and it was the time in between our sessions that became just as valuable as the hour, hour and a half I spent talking to you. It was the work in between and committing to that. And I know in coaching you use the word accountability partner and I think that everybody needs to be accountable, there are very few people out there that don’t need to be accountable for things. I mean, that’s what we do in life. If you have a job you’re accountable, if you’re a parent, all adults are accountable. But to have someone that is invested in, that you’ve paid for, that you’ve hired, you are holding yourself accountable to yourself and to this person or to the process with this person. I believe that was the real investment, is to trust you that you’re going to lead me in this process and then to trust myself to say, “Okay, I’m going to invest this time and do this work.”
And I got so much out of it, I still get a lot out of it. Like I said, I go back to those printouts that you had. I guess I’ve even gone back to our notes. Here’s something that pops up all the time and it makes me giggle, I would contact you while trying to lay the foundations of my gallery business and say “I don’t know how to do this.” And you kept saying “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”
It really makes me laugh, because I use that still but for me the way it looks is as I’m going through separation, I’ve given up the first business idea and started on a new project. I’ve taken an 80% job, I’m single, I am a real single parent. I’m not solo parenting, I’m single parenting.
What I love is that elephant that I used to think I had to swallow, I now say, “What’s my next step?” And that to me is like, bite by bite, chew by chew. I always know what my next step. I may not know and I may have a vision of where I want to go and I don’t know how to get there and then I always know the next step without without fail. I always go, “What’s the next one?” And I can do it.
At this point of the interview Robyn and I talked about this dilemma of what’s the right next step and she shared that what I hear from a lot of clients. Sometimes the next step is even more delightful than you can imagine.
Robyn went on to tell me about what happened after she and I started working together and it involves a story of twists and turns where she was working with a start-up academy to launch a business, helping people who are artists of jewelry make a sale and she says she loves sales and that she “Could sell you the pants off of my grandmother if I thought they were a good fit.” So this woman knew how to sell but was struggling. And in a time when her marriage was falling apart and she had to just get up every day to take care of her kids and honor her commitments, she was asking herself some big questions, like “What am I going to do?” And this avenue that felt like was closing happened exactly when something happened inside. She heard a voice and she said to herself, “I’m going to Louisiana.” She knew she had to see her dad, she needed to hug her mom and sister. This turned into an adventure where she was meeting Cajun chefs, cooking jambalaya and creating new recipes that have never been on the shores of Switzerland and Europe since 1721.
You’ll have to learn more about Robyn to find out about what she’s up to and this new adventure, but it is something that story books are made of, where she is intertwining what she knows about Swiss culture and the flavor of New Orleans literally and in the culture and the music. She stumbled on a new venture where she’s able to partner with people in the region where she lives and where she’s from to develop and produce amazing Cajun food that hasn’t been on European soil.
So that is what happens when you ask “What’s next?” It feels like magic when you look at it.
So here’s what we went on to discuss next.
Sundae: So what’s what’s popping up for me is that this is kind of the magic that I don’t talk about, I watch and I don’t talk about because I don’t really have words for it. I don’t really understand it, but this is the magic that happens when you are living in alignment with you. When you’re listening and trusting and are using strategies to really support what feels right for you and letting go. I just don’t have words for it, this is exactly that, like you couldn’t have dreamed that, you couldn’t plan that and because you let go of this what was going on the jewelry, you’re like, “Okay this this feels graspy, I’m going to let go of this, I’m going to put this on ice.” And because your hands were free this fell into it and that is magic. I just, I don’t have words for it, and I certainly can’t talk to people about it because they’ll think “What the heck.” But I see it all the time. Thank you for sharing that story, because I want people to know that when you do start living in this way things happen that are beyond your imagination that bring joy and will bring revenue for your family into the view.
Robyn: Yes andI didn’t expect it, I did not expect it. And I know that’s a long story and I feel vulnerable sharing it. I’ll be honest, I know what you mean by woo woo, but I do believe every good business idea has that sort of magic behind it that’s kind of the driving factor That your’e of service, that you listen to yourself, that you’re in alignment with these things and that’s how it happens.
But yeah, I mean, I had no idea this was coming and because I had joined the startup academy by winning that placement, I went back to the startup Academy last year and was able to be replaced or reassigned to another mentor who is a food and wine specialist from California, that had been living here and started working on the idea. And it isn’t that interesting like it was because I had submitted my first business idea that I knew where to go to get support for the second one
Sundae: And that’s where it’s like certainly just trusting, you don’t have to have it all planned out, you don’t have to know what it looks like and that it’s all come full circle.
So just because our time is limited, I want to draw on a little bit more of your wisdom before we say goodbye. If people are listening to this podcast, this is when we’re talking about Year of Transformation and there’s someone there who is thinking about it, but doesn’t know whether it’ll work for them or whether it’s worth the investment. What advice do you have for someone who’s thinking about doing Year Transformation?
Robyn: I think it’s the same advice as last time, take the plunge, commit to a year, it takes a year. It keeps giving, it’s the investment that continues to pay back. I have been able to do all this, I wake up happy in spite of the most challenging time in my adult life. I’m able to sit here and talk to you about my passion, you know creating Louisiana food in Switzerland, because I apply those tools that I learned with you and that year. And it takes a year I feel to really, like you said start to embody the tools. You have to touch on them long enough with enough guidance to figure out how they’re useful to form the good habits. That’s what I think I was able to do with you, is I had committed to my meditation practice, I knew what was working. I thought what wasn’t working at that time. and because I had that conversation with you many times and had this long process, I wasn’t afraid of re-doing that and looking for new skills afterwards because I had done this for a year with you. Like a year to me is like there’s so much that, so much possibility now, but I think it’s because you helped me, my work with you we contained it within that year and we were committed to seeing what we could get out of it. And I think I do think it needs a year, I really do, I don’t think three months is enough.
Sundae: Oh, you’re so awesome, and so this is why I do what I do because I’m just really committed to helping make an impact in people’s lives and I look at the impact it’s made in yours. And I can’t even talk about it, my throat’s clamping up. It really means a lot to me. Robyn, thank you for showing up today, and for your time, I appreciate it so much.
Robyn: You’re so welcome.
Sundae: It’s incredible and thank you.
For those who are listening, thank you for listening today and for opening up in your mind and hearts the possibility of what might be there for you. If you were able to say yes to yourself and commit to you being willing to do things differently and allowing your heart and mind to open up to what’s possible because that’s what we’ve seen with Robyn, that she did so well during Year of Transformation and continue to do after our work together.
This is Expat Happy Hour, you’ve been listening to that with Sundae Schneider Bean, thank you for being here.
I’ll leave you with the words from writer Robin S. Sharma “Investing in yourself is the best investment you will ever make, it will not only improve your life, It will improve the lives of all those around you.”
So there you have it, Robyn’s amazing journey which started with self-doubt and borderline depression, sort of a total funk to working together and building up brand new tools to identify how she can make it work in her global life. After we worked together things skyrocketed for her, but also took a turn to some of the hardest challenges she’s ever faced in her whole life. And one of the reasons why I’m so honored that Robyn joined us for Expat Happy Hour is it really shows what’s possible when you invest in yourself to take back control of your life and practice the tools that actually impact how you show up. How you show up for you how you show up for others and how you show up for your business.
So thank you again Robyn for being here, she is one of the graduates of Year of Transformation and I’m immensely proud to hear about how she’s applying these tools years later to continue to positively impact her life.
And this is my personal invitation to you, who is listening. If you are the spot where you’re feeling stuck, you’re at the sidelines of your life or you know what you want, but you’re just not taking action. I would love to hop on the phone with you to talk more about Year of Transformation because this could be you in one year, talking about these kind of results that impact your life. This could be you three years down the road where you’re talking about new developments and progress, better than you could have imagined and how you faced adversity and did it from an empowered place.
I love my Year of Transformation graduates, and what I love even more is how they continue to use the tools and their own life to move from the sidelines, stand in the center and create what is most important to them.
So join me if you’re interested, applications are ongoing but are closing at the end of September.
So check out the show notes if you want to know more about Year of Transformation and want to talk to me about the big impossible thing that you’d like to create but just don’t know how.
This is Expat Happy Hour with Sundae Bean, thank you for listening.
I’ll leave you with a quote from writer Robin S Sharma. “Investing in yourself is the best investment you will ever make it will not only improve your life. It will improve the lives of all of those around you.”