Without Boxes Podcast

“Messes don’t magically clean themselves up. And so I think it can get to a point where you spend so much time focusing on other people’s messes that yours just continues to grow and you get to a point where you can’t help anybody else because the messes in your life are too much. And then it’s important to take that time and get things in order in your own life and find people who can support you.” -Megan Gesler

If there’s one thing we’re certain of, it’s that life gets messy. Megan Gesler joins us to talk about her experiences dealing with the wild variety of messes that come with life.

However, we are all limited in how far we can extend ourselves. Megan addresses quite a few questions – When can you help someone else with their messes? How involved should you be? Finally, she reminds us it’s important to remember to stay aware of your own messes and be sure to address them before they become overwhelming.

Listen in to learn about dealing with life’s messes!

“It is very important that people who have already migrated have a dignified life wherever they go. So if they happen to be in your community, it is our responsibility to collaborate and do whatever we can do for their wellbeing. ” – Roxana Bendezú

Migration can be a hot topic and sorely misunderstood. What causes migration? What are the stories behind migration? How do we best support migrants?

Roxana Bendezú shares her perspective and story on the matter to shed light on this difficult topic. We encourage you to have a listen – you may be surprised at what you learn.

“As I started [live streaming] more, I really found a passion for it… surprisingly, because even though I wasn’t impacting change in the way I thought I would by going to law school and getting into the criminal justice system.

I was still making people’s days better by making them a little less anxious or just providing a comfy space for them to hang out in.” – Mischa McGill

Mischa McGill a.k.a. “MischaCrossing” joins us to discuss her experiences in achieving and managing unconventional success in her career as a content creator. She’s always had a desire to impact change, and by pursuing her interests and passions ended up building a career path she hadn’t ever planned for.

Her story highlights what is possible when you focus on what you’re good at and offer those unique strengths in a way that helps others. Learn more about the ins and outs of Mischa’s journey to find out which elements of her success can inspire you in your own life.

“Don’t say no to yourself: Make other people say no to you. What I mean by that is, there are so many ways that we hold ourselves back – so many external factors that hold us back. Whether that is systemic suppression around race, gender, income, other. Whether that is social ways of measuring ourselves, like I have to do X job or meet X milestones. So on and so forth. There’s so much going against us, that the internalized beliefs or internal doubts – like “I’m not qualified,” or “I could never do that.” Those are the things that should not be standing in the way of you and the possibility of your best life, whatever that is. Other people will say no to you, but make them say no to you! Give them something to say no to.” – Rio Holaday

Rio Holaday joins Without Boxes to talk about her experiences as a facilitator and graphic recorder, and how she balances both intuition in her career and personal life.

You’ll learn a little bit about listening to others to hear their truth, and then looking inwardly to find your own. Once you can find it, you’ll start to see things a bit more clearly: Your fears, your unique strengths, and start to uncover what to do with the moments that are defining your life right now. You might just find that you’ll be able to create your own special way of existing in the world by being the best version of yourself.

“A big part of what I use is my connection with my body and understanding what makes me feel alive. And aliveness doesn’t always mean rainbows and unicorns. Sometimes aliveness means energy, challenge, growth. It means I’m about to step into another part of healing that is big.” - Kate Schroeder

Kate Schroeder joins us today to discuss her journey of self-discovery while building a career around helping others. Not everyone experiences a clear calling, and Kate talks a little bit about how she came to learn hers. It turns out that listening to yourself and realizing that you will make your own way in life helps a lot.

If you’re not able to listen to your intuition, you’ll forever be spinning your energy on trying to match everybody else. This is a frustrating, unfulfilling way to go. Have a listen to learn more about how Kate finds happiness and feels alive, and hopefully you’ll be able to take some of those lessons to feel the same.

(On filtering advice from others) “I think it just goes back to that inner voice—does this work for me, yes or no? You see it all the time, like, something that works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for another person. We’re all unique individuals and you kind of have to plan what works best for you.” - Hayley Jane Turner

Haley Jane Turner, a.k.a. Little Foot, lives a life full of incredible adventure. Along the way, she’s learned a lot about boundaries, safety, and leadership. Understanding these three things has given her a lot of confidence, whether she’s on the trail or living out of her van.

Little Foot talks about the importance of mentors, listening to your inner voice, and coming to terms with risk. Life is full of risk, the important question is whether you’re setting yourself up for the right kind of risk for the life you want to live.

[TW: Sexual trauma.] “You can have all of the support of everyone in the world and you can still feel very alone in your experience because you are the one going through it. Don’t judge yourself for how you feel because you are literally not in control of all the physical sensations or emotional experiences that your body is going through when you encounter trauma. It literally changes our brains, our senses. It changes our perceptions of the world. And understand that this state is temporary and that it’s not something that lasts forever. It’s like a sustained bad mushroom trip.” - Lena Chen

Lena Chen joins us today to discuss her experience healing from traumas and the innate human need to validate a traumatic experience. The healing process can be tricky, as often it takes time to realize just how impacted you were by an experience. And of course, that process will look different for everybody. Thankfully, there is hope. You are certainly not alone, and you have everything you need to heal on your side.

You’ll have to learn how to trust yourself and your intuition. Lena reminds us all that the pain will not last forever.

“I think maybe it’s our own survival, too, learning how to judge people. But I think breaking [first impressions] is also important. Think [about] how you might judge someone and then kind of questioning it, too.”

Gen works with bats, snakes, and all manner of so-called scary animals. Her personal mission is to help destigmatize the fear people have for these creatures. The lessons she’s learned along the way apply to anything in life, including how we interact with and get to know other people.

Whether simply sharing photographs, telling stories, or even creating interactive games, learning to see from the perspective of someone else can help you leave behind unnecessary fear and lead a more fulfilling life.

Today, Kat Franchino sits down for a chat with Candice Digby about spotting and filling overlooked gaps in local communities. Candice starts off by explaining how she got into community building. “I just became enthralled with the importance of design. It’s not just, you know, the graphic on the page or the website that you’re using, the clothes you’re wearing or the architecture you’re looking at. It’s also, like, our civic structure and the way our communities are organized.”

You may not have thought about it before, but communities really are designed. How well thought-through that design in shines when certain functions are not available or accessible to the people who need them “(When) things…are not designed for the…ultimate user it can be really painstaking. It can actually change and shape…how our whole lives work and who has access to things and who doesn’t.”

It’s important that we shape our communities into places that are welcoming for everyone who enters them. “Who we’re designing for has to the whole picture…of every stakeholder.” When you make it hard for people to participate, you wind up with an inequitable community. “If everybody isn’t in (the) conversation, then we have a really limited view of what peopleneed and want.”

It may be tempting to sit back and let everyone else handle things, but you really end up doing yourself and everyone else a disfavor that way. “It really takes community to build community, which I think is really cool and the way that it should be.”

“We think it’s our responsibility to get the word out (about Austin Design Week) so that everyone in the community has the ability to be a part of it, has that voice, we’re hearing from the different areas of design and all the different pieces of our…greater city.”

Of course, sometimes things don’t go as planned! Okay, well, it’s pretty much guaranteed. As Candice puts it,  “It doesn’t matter how much you thought about it—something will go wrong.”

Playing an active role in your community is not only beneficial to you from a logistical point, but can also be fulfilling for your personal life. “I think everybody out there wants to be a part of something bigger in some way or another.”

“We’re comfortable and we’re creatures of habit in a lot of ways and it’s not easy to go to an event where you’re not sure if you’re going to know anybody… I think that’s what it’s about—you just got to get in there and get your hands dirty.”

You never know when the community may rally around your cause. Don’t be afraid to make your voice heard! “If the thing for you doesn’t exist, the thing that you want to see isn’t there, then find other people that are passionate about it and make it. …You just have to at a certain point, or…you’re limiting yourself, you’re limiting your experience.”