Leadership Tea
On Leadership Tea, we talk about what it takes to reach the executive level, and how to thrive when you get there. Powerful leaders share their journeys, insights, and triumphs in conversations with hosts Shelby Smith-Wilson and Belinda Jackson Farrier.
Join us every other Wednesday to be inspired by the unvarnished stories of amazing executives who know what it's like to be "the only" at the table and who have succeeded regardless. They have proven leadership experience in their respective fields, from international affairs to the private sector to academia, and want to help others create their own success stories.
Leadership Tea
Part IV: Shutdown, But Not Shutout - Rise Like a Phoenix
Rising From the Ashes: Finding Hope During Crisis
In this episode of the Leadership Team Podcast, Belinda and Shelby discuss the ongoing challenges of the government shutdown and share personal strategies for maintaining hope and resilience. They reflect on the inspiration drawn from historical figures like Harriet Tubman and the symbolism of the Phoenix rising from the ashes. The conversation emphasizes the importance of fighting for joy, seeking peace, and building a support system during tough times. They also preview an upcoming episode about their recent experience at 'repose' and how it has reinvigorated their spirit.
00:00 Introduction to the Leadership Team Podcast
00:25 Embracing the Phoenix Mode
01:54 Drawing Strength from Harriet Tubman
03:38 Celebrating Repose and Choosing Hope
04:03 Fighting for Joy Amidst the Shutdown
07:55 Finding Peace in Unprecedented Times
09:02 Wrapping Up and Looking Ahead
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Hello and welcome to the Leadership Tea podcast, where we talk about what it takes to reach the executive level and then we talk more about how to thrive when to get there. In today's episode, it is, I don't even know, I've lost count. It is one of our shutdown-related episodes. We're committed to giving you a special bonus episode every week of this government shutdown. And um I'm just going to dive right in and talk about how motivated I am coming off of Repose, which we will talk more about in our next episode, uh, which will be out very soon. And we'll go into depth about all of the things that we learned. But when I reflect on kind of the hopefulness and the balance that I have coming out of repose, juxtaposed with the realities of a lot that's happening right now around me. Honestly, Shelby, I feel like I'm going into like Phoenix mode, meaning that like everything around me is burning. Like it's burning, it's gonna just completely burn down. It's it's gonna be ashes. And so I need to accept that. And uh what I'm choosing to do is to go ahead and try to become the phoenix that's gonna rise out of the ashes. Like I accept that it's burning, it's going to be ashes, and I'm choosing that I will be the phoenix. And so I'm trying to think about what does that mean when I'm the phoenix? What am I moving towards? When I fly out of that, what am I flying out here for? I'm really this week making a choice to be hopeful about the things that I can control, which is me and my future. And um the last piece I'll say about that is uh when I was in graduate school, I was in upstate New York. And I would often think, particularly on like really cold, dark nights, it was really cold, right? Um I would think about how I was in an area that Harriet Tubman had made a few journeys from the north back down to the south to get people. And I would think to myself, particularly on cold, dark spring nights, what it took to feel hopeful and determined in the dark, in the cold, to say, like, I'm gonna leave my nice warm home and I'm gonna walk or get on a wagon or whatever into the unknown, into this dark, cold abyss. And I don't know if I'm coming home alive, I don't know what's gonna come of it, but I but I have to do this. Um whenever I'm feeling scared, I think about that. I think about how scared Harriet Tubman must have been to take that first step on a very scary unknown journey. So that's where I feel like I am now, and I'm kind of drawing on the strength of Harriet to move forward.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I love that. Drawing on the strength of Harriet to move forward. And as you were talking about like a Phoenix rising, I just imagine you as I don't know, like emerging from the earth, rising up, like there's some smoke around you, but there's also like this bright light as you're just coming into your own and stepping into your destiny. I'm I'm visualizing that for you.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, thank you.
SPEAKER_01:That's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah, I'm also coming off of the high of repose. I've got my my wine. I'm you know, sipping on a little something to celebrate. Cheers to you, Belinda. Cheers to you. Cheers to us. We did the doggone thing. We did the doggone thing, and if anything, I think that repose was a good reminder for me as we continue to go through the shutdown. Day 26 of the shutdown, we are headed into week four. It's going on a month, and it's rough, it is rough out here in these streets for everyone, and I don't want to be flippant, but I do want to remind people just like you said, Belinda, you are choosing hope. We have to choose how we are going to respond and react and and move in this unsettled environment. And for me, I've been thinking a lot about a phrase, I think my parents taught it to me or may have heard it in church, but it was something to the effect of we've already gone through what we have come to. We have already gone through what we have come to, and that dovetails with the sermon that we were talking about before we hit record, the sermon that we heard this morning, where the guest preacher at our church was talking about you know how they're good days and their bad days, and thankfully, most of us have already gone through or survived 100% of our worst days, are already behind us. They are already behind us, and so what do you do with that? What do you do with that fact? For me, it brings me hope. It brings me hope, like, okay, there are gonna be good days and there are gonna be bad days, and right now we are experiencing a string of bad days, months of bad days, you know. Perhaps it's it's gonna be longer than any of us, you know, would would like to imagine, but I'm just reminded that you know, freedom ain't free, and just like freedom ain't free, I'm out here every day fighting for my joy. I am out here every day fighting for my joy. That's all I got, that's all I can do. Because the alternative is you know, to pull the covers over my head, not get out of bed, be depressed. Um, and again, I'm not making light of any of that, as you all know that we've been talking about mental health and taking care of your mental health and seeking professional health if that's what you need. What I am saying is that I am telling myself on a daily basis that I am stronger and that I am better. That is what is getting me through on a day-to-day basis. I'm reading the Bible, I am praying, I am journaling, I am meditating, I am reminding myself that I have gone through situations previously that I thought I would never get through. And the same will happen with this situation. Like you, I am hopeful, you know, repose showed me just what I can do when I'm not constrained by you know negativity or oh, I can't do this, I'm not good enough to do this, I don't have all the tools to do this. No, we had a vision, we executed, and bam, you know, it it turned out amazing. And so that's my charge to to people right now. Like, don't constrain yourself, don't let the current circumstances choke you into some sort of paralysis where you feel like you have no escape and you can't you can't do anything, you're you're stuck, you're not stuck. This is an unfortunate situation that we're all living through. But every day keep fighting for your joy.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I agree with you, Shelby. I just wanna double click on that. That um these are just unprecedented times. And I think what I would add is just simply in fighting for that joy, you have to find you have to fight to find spaces of peace. Yeah, you know, and we often joke about how I go to the dark parts of the internet so the rest of you don't have to give me reports, you know.
SPEAKER_01:I feel like I've been a good influence on you recently where you've kind of you've pulled back a little bit, a little bit, pull back, a little bit because it is dark, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And I had to pull back, and I've been a lot better off for it. Um, and so I I just want to, if there's folks out there who are doom scrolling all of the time and things like that, I want to urge you to pull back. And just as you said, Shelby, get the help where you need to get the help, like really think about who's the team that can support you through this moment and really call on them and try to you. This is not the time to try to be a hero alone. Not at all. Yeah.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Well, with that said, Shelby, I think maybe we wrap it up for now. We're gonna be back very soon uh with an episode where we talk all about repose and like what happened. We did what we learned, what we talked about, what was good, what was bad. There wasn't a bad. Maybe the the bad was only that like I didn't get enough of those like little round pies with the no I got enough of those. But the food was great, the setting was great. The food was all the same. Salamander is just amazing. So um we will talk more about that soon. Um, in the meantime, we're here for you. Please reach out uh if you need anything, if got ideas about future episodes, but we look forward to seeing you soon on another episode where we'll be sipping wisdom and stirring success.
