LISA HESSE: REDISCOVERING THE ATHLETE IN US

10/17/21 • 85 min

I've known Lisa Hesse for decades. When you live in a community like Ann Arbor for as long as I have and also are part of a smaller, tighter community--the running community--one is bound to bump into the same people from time to time.
I knew Lisa coached runners, particularly women. And I knew she was a Girls on the Run coach as well. What I didn't know is the depth to this person and the many challenges she's faced.
Lisa is a 59-year-old runner who expresses with absolute certainty that running has been her North Star. Running has been the activity that has helped her through any number of "lifequakes", those messy, twisty challenges of life. It has been, she says, both her superpower and kryptonite.
She is a Nationally Board-certified Health and Wellness Coach, an ICF Professional Coach, a "neuroscience nerd," and "a big believer in the idea that it's never too late to change our narrative while honoring what we bring with us from the past." She also is the founder of the Southeaster Michigan Chapter of Girls on the Run in 2001.
Lisa started running at age 13. She has 19 marathons, including four Boston Marathon finishes, to her credit.
Lisa now is a Life and Mindset coach focused on helping women, particularly former women athletes, rediscover the athlete inside each of them. Her approach is one of self-discovery. I believe that people who have been through life challenges with understanding, compassion, and empathy make better coaches. But one of the things I admire about her approach to coaching is that she does not apply her own life experience as the template for what she advises her clients to do. Rather, as she says, it allows the space for her to help her clients change their narratives.
Just after this podcast was recorded Lisa let me know she has been diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder known as Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy or CIDP. It is a disorder of the peripheral nerves characterized by gradually increasing sensory loss and weakness associated with loss of reflexes. CIDP is caused by damage to the covering or sheath of the nerves (myelin).
"I know, without a doubt, that because I see my world through the lens of my body, I caught this early," she wrote to me.
Now in another of her own "lifequakes" Lisa is facing a potentially existential threat to part of her identity: Athlete. "It's yet another threat to my sense of Who am I? "
I hope you enjoy my conversation with Lisa.
Where to find Lisa: https://lisahesse.com/
LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-hesse-6b606a7/
What is CIDP?: https://www.cedars-sinai.org/health-library/diseases-and-conditions/c/chronic-inflammatory-demyelinating-polyradiculoneuropathy.html
Book and website, The Body is Not an Apology with Sonya Renee Taylor
Intro and Outro Music by https://www.wildesmusic.com/
Thank you for listening.

Website: https://christianrward.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christianrward/

Website: https://christianrward.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christianrward/

Previous Episode

ABBY ROSENBAUM: THE ART AND PIVOT OF A PHOTOGRAPHER

Abby Rosenbaum is as passionate as any artist about her craft. What I noticed Abby possesses better than some artists is a sense of the practical side of her photography. The opposite of the image of a fantastically talented and engaged artist who is dead broke and starving might emerge for some.
Abby had a successful photography practice focused on weddings for more than 15 years. Successful in the sense of being in demand and earning the living that supported her family.
It didn't start this way: Abby graduated from the University of Michigan and planned to be an intrepid photojournalist, traveling the world shooting the kinds of dramatic pictures we see on the front pages of newspapers and magazines. Along the way she was introduced to a very successful wedding photographer and Abby took a role running the back-end of the business. It was there that she learned more about what it takes to create a sustainable practice with mundane things like paying estimated taxes, scheduling and marketing to clients, all the stuff that takes place outside of looking through a viewfinder and clicking the shutter.
Fast forward to pre-pandemic COVID. After years of working up to 45 weeks a year--aka every damn weekend shooting weddings -- Abby realized she was losing her edge, becoming ever so slightly less interested in the stories she was helping to capture. Something was missing.
She did some digging and outreach and learned about a trend nationwide for creatives. Many photographers in places like San Francisco, LA, and New York were creating brick and mortar spaces--studios-- in which to work. But that's not all. They were collaborating with other creatives to use these spaces as much as possible.
Enter Studio Studio, a former drycleaners that has been transformed to Abby's own studio and a space for other photographers, painters and sculptors to showcase and talk about their work. It's also doubled as a place for companies to do photo shoots of their products (there's a kitchen!) and for yoga and community talks. In addition she's cut back on the number of weddings she does so she can be with her family and attain more creative balance. Abby sees it as a win-win.
Our conversation is broad and deep and Abby is filled with tips creatives can follow if they are curious about managing the back-end of their business. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Abby Rosenbaum.
Webiste: https://abbyrosephoto.com/
Instagram: @abbyrosephoto
StudioStudio: https://www.studiostudioa2.com/
StudioStudio on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/studiostudioa2/
Intro and Outro music provided by WILDES (@wildesofficial)
Theme song is "Illuminate" You can watch a video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIhvOOT2zbQ
Emma's website:
https://www.wildesmusic.com/
Official youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWG0ltc6P5HolDUOFe3N47w

Website: https://christianrward.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christianrward/

Next Episode

DR. TANNER WALLACE: CHILDHOOD TRAUMA AND THE JOURNEY TO SELF

We’ve all heard about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, often referred to — and even minimized in today’s lexicon -- as PTSD. It is a psychiatric disorder that sometimes occurs in people who have experienced or witnessed a horrific event, such as a natural disaster, a serious accident, a terrorist act (think 9/11) war or combat or rape, or who have been threatened with sexual violence or serious harm. Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers may have come across PTSD in the form of combat fatigue or shell shock. But trauma doesn’t just befall combat veterans.

In today’s podcast episode, Dr. Tanner Wallace, in her most transparent and beautiful self, explores how trauma experienced as a child from abuse or neglect impacts our lives as adults in our relationships with our spouses and lovers, our children, our friends, and colleagues. Unrealized trauma experienced as children wreaks havoc on our adult lives, often toxifying the very relationships we hold the most dear.

“Trauma is always context-bound,” she says.

Tanner spent 20 years studying human development before she pivoted to work exploring the nature of childhood trauma. The pivot came about as a result of big problems in her second marriage and her parenting in which Tanner’s own trauma resurfaced from sexual assaults as an adolescent and teenager and some abuse at the hands of a parent.

The realization sent Tanner off on a completely new path, utilizing what she learned about human development. She created a platform called the Relational Healing Lab. She uses her podcast and Instagram to talk the language of childhood trauma. Tanner has unlocked the voices for thousands of childhood trauma survivors.

Ultimately, Tanner says, you can heal from childhood trauma through the right kind of work. I’ll let Tanner explain. In our conversation, Tanner is brutally honest about her own struggle to heal and what she learned about the immense difficulties of healing.

This conversation is very personal and that is probably why it is among the most transformative conversations I’ve ever had on Interesting Humans. For the past six months, I’ve been in therapy to address some difficult challenges in my personal life. I’ve uncovered my own unrealized childhood trauma caused by neglect from my parents, including anger and violence from my father, who is now deceased. I’m so grateful the universe sent Tanner across my radar. She offers insight, hope, and love on the way to finding peace for childhood trauma survivors. I hope you enjoy meeting Dr. Tanner Wallace.
Links:
Dr. Tanner Wallace's podcast: Relational Healing Podcast
Dr. Tanner Wallance on Instagram: @drtannerwallace
Gabor Mate film: The Wisdom of Trauma (to be released December 2021)
Richard C. Schwartz, founder of Internal Family Systems approach to trauma therapy
Pete Walker, From Surviving to Thriving, a book on addressing childhood trauma
Justin Martin, IFS therapist
Intro and outro music provided by WILDES

Website: https://christianrward.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christianrward/