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Brandon Held - Life is Crazy
I Host 2 Podcasts. Life Is Crazy and The Buckeye Battle Cry Show. The Life Is Crazy podcast is designed to help with suicide prevention. That is the #1 goal! This is also a Podcast of perseverance, self-help, self-Improvement, becoming a better person, making it through struggles and not only surviving, but thriving! In this Podcast the first 25 episodes detail my life's downs and ups. A story that shows you can overcome poverty, abusive environments, drug and alcoholic environments, difficult bosses, being laid-off from work, losing your family, and being on the brink of suicide. Listen and find a place to share life stories and experiences. Allow everyone to learn from each other to reinforce our place in this world. To grow and be better people and help build a better more understanding society.
The early podcast episodes are a story of the journey of my life. The start from poor, drug and alcohol stricken life, to choices that lead to success. Discusses my own suicide ideations and attempt that I struggled with for most of my life. Being raised by essentially only my mother with good intentions, but didn't know how to teach me to be a man. About learning life's lessons and how to become a man on this journey and sharing those lessons and experiences with others whom hopefully can benefit from my successes and failures.
Hosting guests who have overcome suicide attempts/suicide ideations/trauma/hardships/difficult situations to fight through it, rise up, and live their best life. Real life stories to help others that are going through difficult times or stuck without a path forward, understand and learn there is a path forward.
The Buckeye Battle Cry Show is a weekly show about the greatest sport in the world, college football, and specializing in discussing the greatest team in the world, THE Ohio State Buckeyes,
Want to be a guest on Brandon Held - Life is Crazy? Send Brandon Held a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/brandonheld
Brandon Held - Life is Crazy
Episode 36: The Other Side of the Gun - Susan Snow
Susan Snow shares her journey from witnessing her police detective father's murder at age 17 to becoming a trauma resiliency coach helping others heal from their own painful experiences. Through finding the right therapist and developing effective coping tools, she transformed her PTSD into purpose and wrote "The Other Side of the Gun" to offer hope to fellow trauma survivors.
• Living with unaddressed childhood trauma for 14 years behind an "emotional mask"
• How the Columbine shooting triggered flashbacks that forced her to confront her PTSD
• The importance of finding a trauma-competent therapist who understands your specific needs
• Simple but powerful healing techniques like journaling, breathing exercises, and tapping
• Why vulnerability is essential for authentic healing and personal growth
• Overcoming fear to share her story and help others find their own path to resilience
• The difference between simply surviving trauma and learning to thrive afterward
Find Susan's book "The Other Side of the Gun: My Journey from Trauma to Resiliency" on Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats, with an audiobook coming soon. Connect with Susan at her (and me) on Instagram and TikTok.
SusanSnowSpeaks.com
BrandonHeld.com
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Welcome. Welcome back to Brandon Held. Life is Crazy. Today is a special day. Today I have my first ever guest and her name is Susan Snow, and I'm very excited to have Susan on. And I'm very excited to have Susan on. When we talked previously, she told me a little bit about her story and her book that she has written, the Other Side of the Gun, and today I'm going to give her an opportunity to tell you all her story and tell you what she has gone through, and hopefully you guys enjoy it as much as I did. So welcome Susan. How are you doing?
Speaker 1:I'm good. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:You're very welcome. Thank you for being on the show. So yeah, if you want, just tell myself and the audience your story and about yourself.
Speaker 1:Sure, absolutely. I am currently a trauma resiliency coach. I'm also a speaker and an author, like you had said earlier, with my book the Other Side of the Gun my Journey from Trauma to Resiliency and it is a personal memoir I wrote it to help others to find hope and healing wrote it to help others to find hope and healing, like I did. The reason I wrote the book is because when I was 17 years old, my dad was a Los Angeles police detective and he was ambushed and killed while picking up my brother from school and, unfortunately, my mom and I were called to the scene and witnessed his body in the aftermath. So in having that experience in the 80s, there really wasn't any talk about mental health and there were no resources for kids. So I really struggled with trying to navigate all of the emotions that stemmed from that night, since I physically saw his body. It was something that was stuck in my head for many years, and so during that time as well, my mom and I really didn't have a very healthy relationship, and many people deal with these kind of situations in different ways. My mom was. She was the type of person that just cocooned into herself and pushed me aside, type of person that just cocooned into herself and pushed me aside Because my brother was there the night my dad was killed. My brother was in the truck when my dad knew what was going to happen and he turned to my brother and told him to duck down in the truck and that saved his life. But at that night I didn't even get to see him. I had no idea where he was. I didn't know if he had been hurt.
Speaker 1:I was sitting in an office once we were escorted away from the horrific scene. I was sitting in an office and I heard because of what I saw. I was sitting in an office and I heard because of what I saw. I was not able to comprehend what I was seeing and so when I was sitting in this office, I was just trying to navigate through all of the emotions of sitting there and all the chaos that was around me. These two ladies were talking and the one lady said to the other that my dad was deceased and that hearing those words, that's when my world cracked and my, even though I had heard those words, I wanted to get up out of the chair and run out of the room and run as far away as possible, but unfortunately with my physical body felt like it was made of cement and I couldn't move.
Speaker 1:My mom came in to me and she said she was sending me with a neighbor. So now not only was I there with her, I'm being sent away. And even though I wanted to run away from the situation, I still needed my mom, I still needed to have my brother and have the family unit together. And I didn't get that chance. I went with a neighbor and, like I said, there was no talk of mental health back then. My poor neighbor had no idea what to do with me. I was completely inconsolable that night, had no idea what to do with me. I was completely inconsolable that night. And she tried. But she knew my parents for many years and so she was trying as an adult, trying to navigate everything that was going on and process what she, the information she did know.
Speaker 1:And I had been dating a guy for about three months and all I wanted was him at that moment. So I had her call him at work and she did, and he showed up at the house and told me she didn't give him very much information. So when he showed up at the house he told me to get my purse and my jacket and let's go. And what hospital is he at? Where's your mom, where's your brother? And I couldn't spit out the words and, as persistent as he got, I finally blurted it out. As persistent as he got, I finally blurted it out he's gone. And my boyfriend said what do you mean? He's gone. And I said he's gone, he's not at a hospital, he's gone. And I watched my 19-year-old boyfriend drop to his knees and start sobbing and together we struggled with what were our next steps, like what was going to happen. My once quiet neighborhood was now filled with police officers from one end to the other and we could hear helicopters above, and we didn't know it at the time, but apparently we too were targets and we had this police presence and they weren't going away.
Speaker 1:I went home that night after a while and there were a ton of people in my living room. I didn't recognize. I had no idea who they were and, knowing now they were dignitaries and they were advocacy groups and people for my mom. They really didn't have anything for the children of fallen officers, just the widows and the widowers. So all I did was my boyfriend and I ran into my room until Matt left, and then my boyfriend, and when he left I just stayed in that room all night long. I didn't have anything left.
Speaker 1:Emotionally, I was completely wiped out and I was going through all of these things in my head because my dad was not just my dad, he was also my protector. And now he was gone. And so I had this anxious feeling. Even though my entire house was swarmed with police officers, even though my entire house was swarmed with police officers, I still had that feeling that I wasn't safe. And during the night I heard my brother crying, so that I knew he had survived and that he wasn't hurt, and I couldn't get out of my bed. I couldn't go over to his room to help him because I had nothing left. I just assumed my mom would do it. And the next morning I got to see him. It was about 11 o'clock in the morning when I finally was able to see him and I went up and I hugged him and I told him I loved him and that we were going to get through this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's all a very rough and tragic thing for a young woman to go through. I know you were a teenager at the time, preparing to start your adult life in the near future and losing that security and strength that you get from a father. We all know how strong, positive fathers have such a positive influence on daughters and, yeah, that whole thing is tragic, from it happening to the way it was handled, everything like that. I appreciate you sharing that with us and everyone. And so let's talk about how the next several years of your life went. So now you've had this loss of your father. Your brother has survived. You've had this loss of your father. Your brother has survived. Your mother is probably I don't want to put words in your mouth, and you can probably a shell of a woman at this point to some degree. So walk us through the next few years or so of your life and tell us how that went.
Speaker 1:Sure, like I said, there was no talk of mental health back then. And about a month after my dad was killed, lapd went to my mother and said we want to pay for therapy for all three of you. And my mom came to me and she said we were going to go to therapy. I heard therapy as a kid and I thought, okay, if you have to go to a therapist, you're nuts, you're crazy. But at the time I was living in a fog and I was just existing, I wasn't really living. So if you pushed me in a direction, that was the direction I went. So when my mom said that to me and she volatilized me, that was going to therapy, I just said, okay, I guess I'm going to therapy. And I went and saw this therapist and he immediately I could tell that I felt uncomfortable with him from the start and in in hindsight he was not trauma competent. He did not want to go into the weeds with me, so he kept our sessions very shallow and very normal talking. So we talked about my relationship with my mom, my brother, my boyfriend in school, and that was every session and every week I would go there and say, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:I was dealing at the time with anxiety, with severe depression. I had suicidal ideation, severe depression. I had suicidal ideation, even though I didn't understand what it was. I felt terrible and I just wanted this man to say something, do something to make me feel better. And every week it didn't happen. After a year of seeing him, he looked at me and he said Susan, you're a well-rounded young lady, you're going to be fine for the rest of your life and I don't need to see you anymore. And in that moment I walked out that door and I thought all right, I'm crazy, I've cracked. This is going to be me for the rest of my life. I'm gonna have to deal with all of these emotional things all by myself. And so what I ended up doing is I created what's called an emotional mask and I formed that mask from people saying things to me like oh, susan, you're so brave, you're so strong, you're doing fine. And that's what I lived. I wore it. Nobody on the exterior of my life knew the turmoil that was going on inside of me, because I didn't allow it To them. They thought I was doing fine and that I was strong and that I was brave, and I lived like that for 14 years of my life in fight or flight, and what sucks about that is that it didn't allow me to recognize healthy relationships, it didn't let me really see things for what they really were and it took away from certain experiences that I had as a young adult. Because I was still stuck in that hurt and that pain and the trauma.
Speaker 1:I married the boyfriend and we had two kids. We had two kids and then, 97, we decided that we were going to leave southern california and relocate to colorado, and at this point I had two kids. So we were married and we had two kids, who were small, and we moved to Colorado. Actually, we lived in Aurora, colorado, and I was working as a hairdresser at the time. I worked at a salon that was close to Littleton, colorado, and I was working the day of April 20th 1999, doing my client's hair.
Speaker 1:I had taken a break and went into the back room and turned on the little TV in our break room and up popped the live coverage of the Columbine shootings and as I was watching the TV, I started having flashbacks. Although I didn't know that they were flashbacks. I turned white as a ghost, I started to sweat and have that panic attack feeling, and my colleagues had no idea what was going on with me. I had never told them my story, and so they were confused. They knew I was too young to have kids to go to that high school and I definitely didn't live near there. So they were confused and so was I because, remember, I was told I was gonna be fine for the rest of my life. So I didn't recognize what was happening to me. I just knew what to do to stave it off for a while. So I put on that emotional mask back on and I walked out and I finished my day of doing my clients. Everybody around me was upset, they were angry, they were crying, and I just stood there and did what I was supposed to do with my clients and get them done, and nothing was affecting me. However, it was because the minute I walked out of those doors and started to drive home all of those original feelings, emotions, everything came flooding back.
Speaker 1:And this time it was even scarier because I had no idea how to handle it. I had no idea where it was going to lead me. I just knew at the time that I was spiraling. I didn't want to feel this way anymore and I had this mental fight because, even though I didn't want to feel this pain anymore, I was still a mom to two babies and I needed to stay for them In a couple of days into watching his wife spiral.
Speaker 1:My husband, who is a smart man, met me at the door and he said you have two choices you can either get help today or I'm putting you in a hospital. And at that point I was so scared because I felt totally out of control, that I put up the white flag and said all right, I'll go to the doctor. So I went to the doctor and he put me on antidepressants, because that's what they do. And then he handed me a business card and he said you on antidepressants, because that's what they do. And then he handed me a business card and he said you need to make an appointment with this woman, this therapist. And I literally started to laugh at him because I was like this didn't work for me 14 years ago. What makes you think it's going to work now? And he said honestly, you don't have a choice. Like, you need to go see her. And I said okay, and I made the appointment.
Speaker 1:And in the first three minutes of sitting with this woman. I knew this was different. She asked me the questions and allowed me to elaborate on what had gone on when I was 17 and what I was currently dealing with. And she looked me in the face and she said everything you've gone through since you were 17 years old is normal, susan, because you have PTSD. And I sat back. I was like what, what do you mean PTSD? I'm not in the military and I certainly didn't go to war.
Speaker 1:And she said, no, what you need to understand is that anyone who goes through any type of trauma can experience ptsd. But what you need to know is that ptsd is not something that goes away. It's something you learn to manage, is not something that goes away. It's something you learn to manage. And I swear, in that moment I was like, oh my gosh, you mean, I'm not crazy, I haven't cracked, I can actually heal from this and feel better. And it was such. I was so grateful in that moment. I was so grateful that I finally found my person. I knew that I could be vulnerable with her and she would be able to guide me in the way that I needed to be guided, and that this was the beginning of my journey of healing yeah, that is.
Speaker 2:That's a lot that happened in that time. So you were repressing these emotions and feelings for years to stay strong. They came back to the forefront when the Columbine shooting happened, which is wild that you just happened to be in that area when it happened and you were still going to continue to repress those feelings after the fact or do your best as much as you could, and just drive on and be the best that you could be under those circumstances. And it's really great that your husband I don't know if he's your ex-husband- no, he's my husband, still he's still currently your husband.
Speaker 2:That's great. That's great news. So he forced you to get help, which is great, because he was probably the right person. He was probably really the only person that could get you to do that at that time and, as someone who's been to multiple therapists, I totally understand what you're saying. It's not a one size fits all thing when it comes to therapists. They're individuals, just like everyone else, so it was great and lucky that you got one that actually could help you work this out All right. So we have you in your 30s now, two kids. Your husband pushed you to go get help and you're now starting to get help. So how did it go from there?
Speaker 1:So in my first session with her, she did not want to overwhelm me, but she knew that I was a hot mess like she knew that she was dealing with so many different issues and her goal was to attack them one at a time. So at that very moment she asked me what was the one thing that I was really struggling with right then. And I had told her I'm really struggling with sleeping. I can't sleep, I close my eyes, I see that scene of my father and I see it over and over again and it takes me to a very dark place. And she said okay, okay, let's address that. And I said okay, and she said have you ever journaled before? And I looked at her sideways and I was like what? And she goes journaling. Have you ever heard of journaling? And I said no, and she said people can journal in different ways. Some people journal by writing, some people do it through art and some people can do it through music. Now people do it through podcasting.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And so I said okay. And she said what do you like to do? And I said I write. And she said okay. And she said what do you like to do? And I said I write. And she said great, get a pad of paper and a pen and put it on your nightstand next to your bed, and right before you go to bed I'll give you a couple of prompts and then you just write. She said whatever is in your head, you just write it. She said don't worry about punctuation or spelling or any of that. She says it doesn't even have to make sense, just put it on the paper. And I looked at her and I was like are you sure about this? And she said just try it.
Speaker 1:So I started and I went home and I did exactly that. I got a pad of paper and I put it by my bed and that night, before I went to bed, I just put everything on the paper. And that night I got a couple of more hours than I would normally get, and the next day I got a little bit more sleep and by the third night I was sleeping like a baby and I didn't want to admit it. I was so skeptical. So when I saw her the following week, she asked me how did it go? And I said I've been sleeping like a baby for four days. Does that tell you anything? And she said, great, keep doing it. Keep doing it Anytime. You have all of that stuff swirling around in your head, write it out. And I was like, okay, great. So that was the very first like aha moment for me, because I thought how can something so simple be so powerful? But it is.
Speaker 2:And it's one of the things.
Speaker 1:I encourage people to do now.
Speaker 2:It's funny how I think a lot of people in human instinct is to blow off journaling myself included. Right, A lot of people recommend that and a lot of people think hogwash, that's ridiculous. But if you really think about it, if you sit down and think about, well, think about when you get to sit with someone and you get to vent and you get to let your feelings out and you get to tell them your story, you just feel so much better after that and you're just essentially doing the same thing when you're journaling You're just letting it all out and it feels better. So that's great that you got to recognize that really quickly. It happened really quickly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was shocked. I was shocked and, like I said, I was so skeptical. I was so skeptical. So the next thing that we attacked was my panic attacks, because I had them daily, sometimes two and three times a day. And so she, the one thing that we really wanted to zone in on was regulating my nervous system. To zone in on was regulating my nervous system. So at that point, and I was really grateful because this woman specialized in severe trauma, which was key, and also her specialty was also PTSD, which was key.
Speaker 1:So when she taught me box breathing techniques and she also taught me tapping techniques, where you use tapping to retrain the brain in processing emotions it's like using your tapping as an anchor to the affirmation you're putting in your brain. That is a positive to the negative thought that you're having. Right.
Speaker 2:So I am not familiar with tapping at all. When you say tapping, do you mean like with your finger? What is that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so she would, and some. They have all different techniques to tapping. Okay, some people they tap on the face different. I guess they would be chakras or places on your body that actually calm the nervous system when they're tapped. These are things that I would use in order to get myself regulated when I started to feel myself get elevated and anxious, and I kept that going for a very long time. Besides the regular talk, talking through things. It wasn't until a few years later that we started to talk about EMDR. I always get this wrong. It's eye movement, reactive, something. I just say EMDR.
Speaker 2:EMDR what it is.
Speaker 1:It's easier. Look it up Google's free. But basically that's used with paddles that have electronic pulses that go back and forth and it has been proven to do really well for military especially. But now they're opening it up and understanding that it's universal. Anyone can do EMDR for whatever trauma.
Speaker 2:Just like anyone can have PTSD.
Speaker 1:Exactly, yep. So, and that's a big gun, because you really have to go to that place where the trauma started, and a lot of people are afraid to go there. But I went there. But what I can say about modalities is like what you said earlier there is no one-size-fits-all. The other message that I try to let people know is the message or the lesson I learned, which was you have to find the right therapist, the therapist that understands your type of trauma, because some therapists will just lump us all into one big group.
Speaker 1:Trauma is trauma, right, and that's not true. Everybody's trauma is different, so everybody's trauma needs to be dealt with differently, and in doing that, you have to find your right person, and I don't care if it's a therapist, a coach, a spiritual advisor, it doesn't matter, as long as that person knows that type of trauma that you've dealt with, that you're trying to heal from, and that you are in a safe space with them so that you can be vulnerable, because if I wasn't vulnerable, my healing wouldn't have happened, and so I had to learn to be vulnerable and put it all out there and not hold anything back. So when you find that person that understands your trauma, gives you a safe space and allows you to be vulnerable. That's when your true healing will happen.
Speaker 2:Yes, you can't have your walls up for sure?
Speaker 2:No, you can't have your walls up for sure. No, you can't. You have to be raw, lay it all out there and put it all out on the table Absolutely, and I totally agree with that. What you were saying about the right therapist because I've probably been to over half a dozen, and of those half a dozen really only one was someone who was the right one for me. I stayed with her for months and months, seeing her every week, and we had finally reached a point where we said I got the tools to handle my trauma and the issues, my suicidal issues and all the problems that I had to deal with that on my own, and that's when we parted ways. But it took a long time to find her and I ran into a lot of therapists via the military and even outside of the military in the civilian world that just lump you in a category they get basic, standard questions, they probably ask everybody, and it just didn't. In a category, they get basic standard questions, they probably ask everybody, and it just didn't work for me.
Speaker 1:Military is a different. We have stackable Like people that have gone through trauma generally have stackable trauma throughout their life. I think the military, though, it's just a completely different. It's a different scenario altogether, it's a different mindset altogether, and I feel like lumping you guys in to one group. It's not fair, because you're each individual human beings having different experiences. Even though you're in the same environment, you're still having different experiences with it, so you can't lump you all into one because you're all individual human beings. That just gets me a little I'll get off my.
Speaker 1:I'll get off my soapbox now. No.
Speaker 2:I'm glad you're on it because I'm a big supporter of veterans and you know we don't get the greatest care.
Speaker 2:I don't love saying that, because in my day job I'm a subcontractor for the VA and I'm helping them upgrade their electronic healthcare records system, but I'm not in a healthcare worker or I'm not part of that part of the field not a healthcare worker or I'm not part of that part of the field. So I do work with these people closely and it sucks for me to say that frankly, but it is the reality. I personally, as a veteran, have had to fight for years with the VA to get the kind of care that I need, both mentally and physically.
Speaker 1:So that's total bull. Yeah, it's the one message that I try to tell people is this your healing is your healing. Getting back to all everyone having different experiences and being different human beings. Your healing is your healing and it's not your therapist's healing. It's yours, and so you have every right to ask questions, interview them, make sure that they have seen other clients that have gone through similar experiences, so that you know that person will be able to guide you in the right way, with the right modalities and the right healing for you.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And I think that's super important, right? I think a lot of people will go to therapists just because maybe it's just the insurance, or they think that's just what they have to do, but they're not feeling comfortable about it. I can't tell you how many times I've had conversations with people who have said I've tried therapy and it doesn't work.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And my answer is always you haven't found your person.
Speaker 2:And I used to be one of those people that said that to people because it took a while. I was in my late 30s before I actually found the therapist that worked for me and I had been to, like I said, probably a half a dozen before that and I felt qualified to say I've been to therapy. It doesn't work. But, like you said, I hadn't found the right person yet and I wish someone had been telling me that at the time no one was using that language or those words with me. And that's why we're here now right, we're here to let people know that if you don't give up and you keep going and you find the right person for you the therapist that they can help you and they will help you in the right trajectory. So you were in your 30s when you got this therapist and she really helped you a lot.
Speaker 1:So explain how your trajectory in life went from there After I started to heal, and I continued to do that, and then I stopped seeing therapy because I felt like I was in a better state of mind. It wasn't until I was 50 that I drew a line in the sand, because I had always wanted to write a book, but at 50 years old, I was like I have to do this, like I have no choice. This has got to happen, and part of that was because I realized that there was so much pain and anger around my dad's death and how he was killed, and I knew that there were people out there that needed to hear my story and see my healing and see that I was in a resiliency state now, so that maybe they could heal, and so, when I was writing the book, they were part of the reason why I wrote it. They were part of the reason why I wrote it. Obviously, I knew that it would be cathartic for me. It took me four and a half years to write this book, because I had to dive and relive and feel and be all the places that I've been and felt, feel the motions, going through it again. The difference this time, though, was that I had the tools. Like you had mentioned, I had the tools. So on those days where all of these emotions were coming up, I knew how to center myself again. I knew how to care for myself and not allow myself to spiral.
Speaker 1:And the other issue that popped up while I was writing this book was fear. And I had fear because my mom and I, like I said, our relationship was it was not a healthy one. At the time the book was being written, her and I's relationship was a little rocky, and definitely on my side, rocky, and I thought, in telling my story and being authentic, I was going to have to tell her story too, and I knew that would either totally destroy what was left of our relationship or it would open up a conversation. The second person that I was terrified this was going to hurt was my husband, because he and I have been through so much. We've been together almost 40 years, so we have been through a lot together as a couple yeah and I was terrified this was going to bring up old wounds and caused issues with that relationship.
Speaker 1:The third situation was my safety because, me being out there again, there were two men that were still in prison for killing my dad and I was afraid, with me putting myself out there, that there might be some retaliation. So there were some very valid fears. However, when those things popped up, I had to stand back and say why are you writing this book really? Why are you writing this book? And what popped up into my head was my purpose. And my purpose was that, in reading my book, my hope was that my message of hope and healing.
Speaker 1:In reading my book, my hope was that my message of hope and healing and seeing someone else who has gone through trauma the way I have and I've been able to work through the pain and the emotions and be able to get to the other side. Now I'm always healing. Just because I wrote the book doesn't mean I'm done, but I'm in a totally different state of mind than I was, and so every time that fear came up, I saw those faceless people out there that needed to hear my message, that needed to know that they weren't alone, know that they weren't alone and that this is how I started my process. This is how I started to heal and maybe with them, hearing that message that they too, would know that they weren't alone and that they could start their own journey.
Speaker 2:Well said, there's a lot of things you said there that I completely agree with, and I'm so glad for you and everyone that listens or reads your book that you stepped up to do that, because you and I are people that had trauma in our lives, as a lot of other people do. We're certainly not alone in that area, and not everyone has the ability to step up and do what we're doing, and there's something about that age of 50 that really drives you and pushes you to say, all right, it's now or never.
Speaker 2:You're not getting any younger Right. So the same thing happened to me with the podcast and I'm thankful that you are getting your story out there and you're trying to talk about your life coaching and what you really want people to take away from this talk today myself as being a life coach.
Speaker 1:However, coaching has always showed up somewhere in my life when I was a hairdresser. I was an educator. I taught other hairdressers cutting techniques and color and things like that, so I was coaching then. Then I got into real estate which I still am in real estate and I started coaching newer agents. And my coaching for newer agents was more about mindset than anything, because if your mind isn't right, you know you're not gonna do your job at a high level and so, and so I started coaching there.
Speaker 1:This, however, is my purpose. This is the one thing in writing the book. My big aha moment was this is it for me and my book and coaching to help others find their place once my coaching is a safe space to find their place from where they've healed from their past. And if they're still feeling stuck and saying, okay, now I'm this different person or I'm evolving into this different person, but I still feel stuck, how do I move forward in my relationships, in my marriage, being a parent, in my career? That's where I come into play, that's where I move people forward and we work through the hiccups that come along.
Speaker 1:Because when you are a trauma survivor, you have hiccups that come up. Alongside you. Who has been there and can help you get over those hiccups in your life. So that's where I come into play, and I picked trauma resiliency, because when you say trauma, it has such a negative connotation. Right, it is a negative thing, but it also feels hopeless, and so I wanted the resiliency side of it. I wanted people to know that you can keep going, you can keep healing, you can keep moving forward and you can have the life that you've always wanted.
Speaker 2:So I think that's where that came from yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, that's great. I mean that those are very valid points, right? We people that have trauma for a long time that they didn't deal with and it's always been on them and they only know this traumatic life, this life with trauma in it. It's once you get through that and you finally get on the other side, it's okay, now what? Now, what do I do? I've always known this. So how do I operate now? And you can even take more steps to make your life even better and live a fuller, more complete life. So that's really great what you offer. So, to finish it up, how do people reach you, how can people get your book and how can they get to Susan Snow?
Speaker 1:As far as the book, the book is on Amazon. It is available in paperback form. It's also on Kindle and coming soon it will be an audio book. It will be an audio book Awesome. I can be reached by my website. I have a great website. It's called it's Susan Snow speakscom. It has information on my speaking. It also has information on my coaching and it has information on my book as well, so you can always reach me through there. I'm on Instagram and TikTok as well.
Speaker 2:Awesome. It was great talking to you today, susan. I love hearing your story because not because a bad thing happened to you, but because a bad thing happened to you and you not only survived, you're helping others on the other side of that, and to me that's amazing. I will put your website in the description of this show for anyone that wants to reach Susan, snow speakscom, but I will put it down below in just in case you want to get to Susan. And thank you for joining me, and I truly appreciate all my listeners. Thank you for taking the time to listen to this show, to listen to Susan, to listen to myself, and I never take that for granted. The most valuable thing we have in life is time, because we only have so much of it. So thank you for giving us your time today and until next time we'll talk to you. Then have this through the cage as we put the wheel Up on the stage.
