Embracing Change: Powerful Messages from Life Shift Podcast Guests

I'm Matt Gilhooly, and this is the Life Shift Candid conversations about the pivotal moments that have changed lives forever. Hello, my friends. I'm Matt Gilhooly, and I am the host of the Life Shift podcast. And I am the lucky one. I.I am the person that gets the opportunity to speak to all these amazing guests. And I'm forever humbled that everyone that's been on the show has trusted me with their story. And a lot of these stories are deeply personal.A lot of them are tragic or have tragic moments in them.And I think, you know, what I love about the Life Shift podcast is, sure, some of these events are really hard to hear and experience, but I do find that every episode ends in some kind of inspirational way of hope and what we've learned as humans through the experiences that we go through.If you are a regular listener of the Life Shift podcast, or if you've never listened, what I like to do at the end of the story is kind of ask my guests if they could go back to that person right before their Life Shift moment, what would they say? And for some people, I ask for advice for people that are going through something similar or.And sometimes I ask just a random question that's in the similar vein.And so this is one way that I get to hear what someone would say to that person, knowing full well it's not possible with the intention of anyone listening that might be going through something similar or a similar experience, they have the opportunity to hear maybe some inspirational words or something that resonates with them so that they feel a little bit less alone in their experiences. I just want to say thank you to those of you that have been listening. So I hope you leave this episode feeling inspired.So thank you, and I hope you enjoy listening to this recap episode of the responses to. If you could go back to that person right before your Life Shift moment, what would you say?

Oh, that's a lovely question. Trying to think quickly and respond, I think I would say to the Dina that was starting to write the book. Hang in there. Hold on. You can do this.There will be difficult moments. There will be painful moments where you have to confront things that you'd rather not confront.But all in all, by the time you finish, you will have reached a place where you will have a better understanding, especially of your father, and an understanding of yourself that will allow you to live with yourself without guilt.

Yeah. I think the biggest thing is to just be kind to yourself. Like, stop trying to. Yeah. So if I look back at me.I was so hard on myself because I wasn't what I thought I should be instead of just embracing who I was.And when we're kind to ourself, we build that confidence and we build that courage and we build that strength to actually be able to act out on it when we're ready. And the world's hard enough, like we do not need to be hard on ourselves on top of it.

And I think I would tell them, people love to talk about themselves. And so, you know, people think, well, what am I going to go? What am I going to say when they go into a crowd?Ask something that will get somebody to talk about themselves because there's nothing people love more.

I'd probably say just pause, take a breath. Things are going to end up a whole lot better than you could ever imagine at that point.And that's just, I mean, when I was going blind, before I went blind, if you had told me that I'd be doing what I'm doing today and have the level of, and not even just traditional success, but like meaningful work contributions to helping other people and being able to do it in a way that, you know, is consistent with my values and reuses and repurposes a lot of what I've been through. I kind of feel like I got the cheat code to life, to be honest with you. Kind of feels unfair that I, I get paid to do what I do.But it feels really great doing well by helping others do well for themselves. It's, it's just phenomenal.

You know, I think about that question a lot. And I think whatever I would have said, I don't think that version of me would have believed. I would have been there.I would have hugged her and held her and said maybe nothing, just been with her. They say the best therapist is a four legged pet like cats and dogs. And that's no, just a therapist because you're essential in this work.And I actually learned that from a therapist. But the reason for that is that they are mere presence. The pets are presence, full, fully in the moment.They're not necessarily, to our knowledge, thinking about the past or the present. They are here and they are in tune with our emotions and our beingness. And that is more than anything.Oftentimes what grievers need is just that I'm here sitting in this with you. I'm not trying to fix you. I'm not trying to change the unchangeable, fix the unfixable. I am here with you.And I think ultimately more than saying anything to her. I would have just held her.

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