Sep 20, 2021
Today’s episode of Int-HER-rupt features a robust discussion with guest Joanna Chanis. As an author and professional mentor, she helps women and corporate teams through challenging experiences. After being diagnosed with cancer in 2019, she learned how to be grateful for the positives in her life to accept the negatives she cannot change.
On the outside, Joanna had a perfect life.
- And she worked hard to make it look that way. But she was actually under tremendous stress between her career and personal life, going through three traumatic experiences in just nine months.
- Her cancer diagnosis forced Joanna to put herself first.
- She considered herself someone who practices gratitude. But after her diagnosis, she realized she said the words and talked about it but was in a state of nonacceptance.
- Because she had to accept something she didn’t want to accept, she let that manifest acceptance for everything else in her life.
- She learned how to practice gratitude and live a life that was for her.
- It was authentic. And she could make so much more good happen. And she was able because she had surrendered and gotten to a place of acceptance.
What is authentic gratitude to Joanna?
- It started when she noticed all the conditional gratitude on social media. She was saying she was grateful (but didn’t really feel grateful.)
- We’re conditioned to express gratitude as a formality, even if we don’t feel it.
- So what is authentic gratitude? It’s a feeling you have when you’re genuinely grateful and accept what is.
- That doesn’t mean you’ll like everything. But you have to accept it to move through the circumstances.
- Because of this, Joanna’s life improved. She had better self-esteem, better relationships, and better peace of mind.
An exercise to practice shifting your perspective:
- When helping a friend, client, or corporate group, Joanna applies it to the little things.
- Don’t wait for a disaster to change your mentality. Instead, implement it throughout your day as practice, so you’re ready for a more significant situation.
- Imagine traffic. If you’re annoyed that you’re stuck, shift your perspective. Accept that you’re in traffic and it’s annoying.
- But search for something that because you’re in traffic, you’re grateful. (Quiet time without kids. Time to finish an audiobook. You’re in a heated car outside of the cold. )
- Find something in the moment you wouldn’t be able to do if you weren’t having that circumstance.
- You’re not going to get out of the traffic. But it won’t be as bad.
What would she say to people to have resilience and stamina in the wake of covid?
- Everyone is resilient. But the key is to learn healthy resilience.
- There has never been a more critical time to practice this methodology. We have to accept where we are.
- With the fluctuations of COVID and the variants, nobody knows what will happen next.
- Life is a marathon, not a sprint. And we’re all going through the same challenge in COVID.
- Accept that life will never be the same. So do what you can to accept where you are and what is. But then, find something in that circumstance to feel better.
- Sometimes people get stuck trying to find the bad thing during the bad thing. Just let it be. What it’s meant to teach you will become more apparent once you’ve accepted it and the ordeal is over.
To connect and learn more about Joanna, follow her on YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn. You can also tune in to her own podcast, About Life, and check out her book, The Waiting Room.
Do you have stories to tell? Connect with Linda to share them. This podcast is produced by TSE Studios. Check out other podcasts by TSE Studios, including this episode’s sponsor, The Sales Evangelist, helping new and struggling sellers close more deals and achieving their sales goals. Subscribe to the IntHERrupt Podcast so you won’t miss a single show. Find us on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, and Stitcher. Audio created by Ryan Rasmussen Productions.