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We are Meredith and Mishelle and together, we are flipping the script on what it means to be an IT girl. Each week we will be discussing topics and questions submitted by YOU, our audience, as we navigate life's challenges together.
Mishelle Kost (00:01)
Hey, fabulous people, I'm Meredith. And I'm Michelle. And together we're here to flip the script on what it truly means to be the It Girl. That's right. Whether you're rocking the runway or embracing the messy bun life, no matter your size, ethnicity, or state of your sweats, you are It. We're diving deep into the realness of life, celebrating the victories, navigating the failures, and sometimes not having a clue while doing it all.
We've got battle scars, heartbreaks, contagious laughs, and an unbreakable bond of love for each other. Join us every week as we unwrap different topics and answer questions brought to us by our amazing audience. That's you. Get ready for a fresh dose of perspective that'll make you think, laugh, and maybe even shed a tear. We're on this journey together, growing, crying, laughing, and fighting for one another, because that's what being an It Girl is all about.
So send us your burning topics and thought provoking questions through our website, itgirllife .com or drop us a line directly at hello at itgirllife .com. Let's make every moment count, embrace the chaos and live our best it girl lives.
Mishelle (01:02)
Okay, cool. All right, everyone, welcome back. Today's episode is Duck, Dive, and Dodge Overcoming Obstacles. Wait, I love this title. It was a tongue twister. Duck, Dive, and Dodge Overcoming Obstacles. Oh.
Meredith (01:15)
Mm-hmm. It reminds me of a dodge ball when you're like getting pelted by dodge ball. And that's why I think it naturally came. Mm-hmm.
Mishelle (01:20)
Yes. Yeah, and they're like, obstacle here, obstacle there. Yeah, like you've got to duck dive and dodge them all. Or you can also lean into them. I think we're gonna talk a little bit about that too, of like how we've both probably leaned into some of our obstacles and conquered them and gotten over it and come out on the other side. So.
Meredith (01:30)
You do.
Yeah.
Mishelle (01:46)
Yeah, you don't always have to avoid them at all costs. So anyways, it'll be a really fun episode today. I'm excited Okay before we start Let's do the icebreaker question, which is what was your dream job as a kid?
Meredith (01:59)
Yeah, I thought this, yeah, this one is really interesting because some people know so clearly who they wanna become. And I'm always in awe of people that are like, I wanna be X, I wanna be a lawyer. And then they like set the tone and are that. When I was little, so there's two that are really distinct dream jobs for me. And when I was little, I wanted to be an archeologist.
Mishelle (02:18)
Same.
Mm-hmm.
Meredith (02:29)
cut to I hate the outdoors and being in confined spaces. Like who was I like, who was this door of the Explorer that was just like, let's go on this path. But I loved mummies and I loved Pompeii and I loved just like, yes, I thought I was going to be this thing. Then my high school years, I wanted to be an NFL sideline commentator.
Mishelle (02:46)
Mummies!
Meredith (02:57)
and thought that was who I was going to become. This online person out like in front of the camera person, catch who I hate attention, and also am completely awkward a lot of the time. So both things, those were my dream jobs. And I loved them, but I loved them from afar as a spectator.
Mishelle (02:59)
So interesting.
Yeah!
I think it was also to like hearing all of that discovery was just you trying to figure out who you were. Like, what am I good at? What do I even like? It sounds fun, but do I even really wanna do that? I mean, I think we're even all still probably trying to figure that out. Those are questions we're all asking ourselves that even now, I think. But that's so funny.
Meredith (03:28)
Mm-hmm.
I literally ask myself this every day now. What do I- who am I?
Mishelle (03:44)
Who am I? Who am I and what do I actually want? Like do I even like this? Yeah, I agree. I feel like I asked myself that like last week. Um, totally normal. Totally normal in the it girl life y'all. It's fine. We are just figuring it out and it changes day to day. Uh, yeah. Okay, so what was my dream job as a kid? Mine was marine biologist. I feel like that's every little kid's dream job.
Meredith (04:02)
Exactly.
Mishelle (04:11)
I loved the ocean, Little Mermaid was my favorite movie. I wanted to be a mermaid and find my prince charming who lived on land. I was always that, I loved dolphins, I loved the ocean. There was like so much, but I don't know what happened with that dream. I just, I think it was hard to figure out like how do you even become a marine biologist? There's not like a path in elementary school.
Meredith (04:37)
Mm-hmm.
Mishelle (04:40)
that says, oh, you want to be a marine biologist, then you need to do XXX. So then I think it just really turned into having no aspirations. Which is, it is actually, because my life then really just became, growing up honestly was like, the most important thing to me was boys and shopping, sadly. I mean, those were my goals. And I think I spent so much time
Meredith (04:44)
Mm-hmm.
That's not true.
Mm-hmm.
Mishelle (05:08)
really thinking about like who's gonna be my husband and getting married that I didn't, I mean no one really encouraged me or really pushed me to think about like, what do I wanna do in my own careers and goals? So that's like a whole other episode for a whole other time. But anyways, that's a little bit about my journey. But anyways, yeah, marine biologist. Maybe we could go study.
Meredith (05:21)
Love you.
That's still a cool, I could see that. Yeah, have you been swimming with the dolphins? Maybe let's just like kind of bridge the gap between marine biologists. Okay, okay.
Mishelle (05:32)
No, I haven't, but I would love to. I haven't, but I would love to. So maybe when Aspen is old enough, we'll put that on our bucket list of things to do with Aspen because I think she would love that so much.
Meredith (05:40)
Yeah!
Yes, we're gonna make it happen. So the question that was posed to us was, what was the biggest obstacle that you had to overcome that led to your success? And I think this is a really fun question. And I think you and I will have a lot of good insight in our experience of what we viewed as success, what we viewed as obstacles and...
that journey. So do you want to take a stab at answering what has been the biggest obstacle for you?
Mishelle (06:15)
Yes, would love to. And actually, we are gonna talk about this during this episode, what I just shared. So funny, okay. Yeah, so you just heard me share that, you know, the trajectory of my life as a young person was really more so focused around getting married and becoming a wife and finding true love and all of those things. That's really, I think in the Korean culture, you're really set up for that. Like it's...
My mom, I would say if you talk to my mom, my mom's perception of what her role was as being my mother was to prepare me for marriage, to be a good wife, to get married, to like send me off, and for me to be a good daughter-in-law. So I think I've been like in training to be a wife or get married like my whole childhood slash upbringing. Like that was it, like it was always that.
Meredith (07:01)
Mm-hmm.
Mishelle (07:09)
And then I watched my mom be a good wife and do all the things. So there was like so much surrounding like getting married and success being tied to that piece of it. And so the biggest obstacle that I've had to overcome in my life to kind of get me to the place that I am today was the fact that my first marriage failed. I actually got a divorce and it didn't go very well. We were married for five years.
It was really difficult and a huge turning point in my life because up until that point, like I said, all my success and my identity was in being this good wife. And so when that marriage failed, it was not just like the failure of the marriage, but it was like the failure of me as a...
Korean woman, it was a failure of me as a Christian, it was a failure of me as a mom, not a mom, a wife, not a wife, a failure, well yeah, a failure of me as a wife, a sister, a daughter. Like I let so many people down in the pressure and the weight and the shame and the guilt that came alongside that was heavy. It was really hard. And I was really young at the time too because I got married when I was 23.
We were married for five years, so it was like 28 by the time like the whole divorce thing went down. And a lot of people have a really easy divorce. We had a really hard one. We were in court in and out. We were with lawyers. I mean, it took probably a whole year and a half to get to a place of like separation. It was hard. So there was a lot there to unravel and unpack emotionally.
Meredith (08:35)
Mm-hmm.
Mishelle (08:53)
It was very eye-opening, like it was a long journey of self-discovery and figuring out like, wow, like what's not working in my life? Like we said earlier, like who am I and what do I actually want? Like what the heck? And I, when I, I was owning my restaurants at the time of the divorce and through that process it was like, okay, I need to change everything. And so I started to work for a company called Lululemon, which I'm sure a lot of people, you guys know what that is. It's athletic wear, amazing company to work for, but that.
Meredith (09:05)
Mm-hmm.
Mishelle (09:22)
That job really changed my life because they really value leadership and self-development. And in my very first week of onboarding, they're all about vision and goals and setting you up for success. And so in my first week of onboarding, it was all about vision and goals and it was all about me. And I remember during my orientation or the onboarding, it was like, okay, we're gonna write our visions for our 10-year vision for our lives. And in that process, it was like,
okay, what do you write down, like what you want for yourself? And I remember that was like, I think I was what, so I'm 28, maybe I'm 29, something in the 28, 29 year old phase, but it was the first time in my entire life that I actually took a moment to think about what do I want? Because up until then it was, well, what does my mom want? What do...
What do I need to do to make my sister proud? What does society want me to do? What looks good? It was always about pleasing somebody else. And I never really thought about what is it that I actually want to do? What do I want? And so it was a really powerful experience. It was the beginning of an entire journey of self-discovery and figuring out who I am, taking responsibility for all of the choices, the wrong choices that I made.
and the results that I got, it was like I had to stop blaming everybody and all the things and like take ownership and full control over my life. And when I did that, it was so freeing. And in that process, in that whole process was this like rediscovery of like, what is my definition of success? Because I think for so long, success for me was tied to getting married and like, that's it, like getting married. But
Is that really success for me? Like, do I wanna even be a housewife? Like, is that what I actually wanna do? And not to like knock any housewives. Like, I think that lifestyle is amazing and incredible. And I don't know if that would have fulfilled me in that way. So I'm glad that the path that I'm on is where I'm at now. And I wouldn't be here if I hadn't gone through that giant obstacle. So that's where I'm saying, you don't always wanna dodge it.
And sometimes you need to lean in and accept it and work through it and persevere and overcome that obstacle so that you can kind of get to like where you're supposed to be headed.
Meredith (11:48)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, yeah, I understand that. And it's interesting because I know that that's just one chapter of an obstacle and success. And I think that's where I would lean in and say, I can clearly see every pivotal moment in my journey that was an obstacle that led to success, which is really interesting because my obstacle has always been financial insecurity, or financial security is what I would say.
Mishelle (12:20)
Yeah.
Meredith (12:22)
And so every goal and every plan I ever set to achieve was not to really fulfill what made me happy, but it was to make sure that I was always financially stable. And then cut to, I had to, you know, we had to take care of my mom and all these other things. And we had been leaned upon in our family a couple of times, just being the financial pillars, where I knew I had to clearly visualize
what got me to that next level, whether it was a new position or new title, a different skill set, and then overcome each obstacle. So I too, similar to you, had a failed divorce and was married previously. And I know that there's lessons that are learned in each of those instances.
But even before then, it was always just this financial insecurity and this burning in me that I should be more, I should do more, I was capable of more. And I think the biggest obstacle for me was not to be settled and not to settle for the status quo or become too complacent and too comfortable. Because I there was a point where Meredith, you can just be in this job.
Mishelle (13:26)
Yep.
Meredith (13:45)
and be financially secure and be in a place for a very long time. But I always had a burning sensation that I was capable of doing more, which led me to having an accounting career and an IT career. And then now cut to this new obstacle where I feel like I'm 20, 10 years, I guess, would say 10, 10 to 10 ish years past where you're trying to do where you got to do that self discovery, where I am making an intentional
and making it intentional for me to stop and say, who am I and do I even like that? Does that bring me joy? Does that fuel who I wanna become? And in a lot of instances, it didn't. So the obstacle today is that I feel like I've been a fraud for 17 years. Mind you, I've gained a lot of experience and a lot of skill, but today I'm like, did I even like that skill? Yeah, it's allowed me to be.
Mishelle (14:38)
Yeah.
Yeah, but I wouldn't say, but I wouldn't say you're a fraud in that because you didn't know. It's not like you knew that you didn't wanna do that and you were trying to pretend. It's that you were trying to figure it out. You were learning and you were growing. And just like when you wanted to study mummies or be the announcer on the sidelines, you didn't realize like, oh wait, I don't actually like being outside and I don't like being on the camera. So you're just figuring it out. And I think we're all in that space.
Meredith (14:44)
somebody different.
No, yeah. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Well, I think the hard part too, from obstacle to success is the narrative is two different narratives today. Do you need a degree or can you be as successful without a degree? And the definition of success is different. And what I'm saying is I didn't go to college right out of high school. I started in college when I was 26. So I was already full time. My mom was with us. All these things. And I was like, hey, let me just throw college on to this. And then I have yet to stop pursuing.
Mishelle (15:13)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Uh-uh. Uh-huh.
Meredith (15:43)
school. And we've had these conversations where you're like, but why like you have the skills? Why do you keep doing this? And in the news that I want to share with people where there's two different narratives where people are like, you don't need to have school to be successful. I agree with that. And others that are like, you need a degree to be successful. I also agree with that. It depends on where you want to land. The degree opens different doors. And at that point in time, I thought I needed to be a manager.
Mishelle (15:44)
Yeah, education.
Meredith (16:11)
to get more money, to be more respected, to do blah, blah. Like all the things that I thought being a manager would do. That's where I was like, I need a degree to open the door because every job that I'm trying to apply for in an accounting field, in an IT field, need a degree. Yes, so it all depends on the skillset that you're trying to do. So that obstacle was I can't get promoted unless I have this thing. So I pursued a degree. And then...
Mishelle (16:19)
Yeah.
It requires, yeah.
Yeah, well, and what I would say about that though, is that, you know, we were talking about this earlier, Meredith, around like, why? It would be really good for you and everyone on this call when I say you, is to, including myself, is to take stock of like all the things that you're doing and trying to achieve and trying to acquire and write down on the next side of it is like, why? Like, why do I want this and why am I doing it?
Meredith (16:55)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mishelle (17:06)
And I think that that's a really clarifying exercise and can show you like if it's actually the correct thing for you to be doing or not. Because if the why is, oh, I'm doing it because I just want financial security, and it's like you don't actually wanna do it, then maybe you need to reevaluate. Or if you're doing it because, oh, you don't feel qualified.
Meredith (17:20)
Mm-hmm.
Mishelle (17:27)
but you actually are qualified, and it's really just the mindset around your quality, like your belief and your skillset, then maybe you don't do it. But if it's like, hey, I'm doing it because it's required, like you're saying in the accounting field, like it's required, then it's like, oh, okay, yeah, I need to keep doing that. So I think the why is so critical.
Meredith (17:39)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. I agree. And that would be my first advice that I would lean in to tell someone is visualize this what success looks like and why. And that's how you would take the first step in overcoming an obstacle that you feel in your life is that taking that mindful practice of what does success look like in this instance?
and really understand that our path and our journey isn't a start and finish line. It is a multi-lane highway that's under construction that the GPS does not understand and continues to reroute you. And you don't have map, right? It's, it's, yeah. Yep. And so it's just really difficult for you to understand that you're going to start and stop several times.
Mishelle (18:23)
It's Houston. Yeah, your journey is Houston.
Meredith (18:36)
and then reassess and re-visualize and understand over and over again. And that's why it's so clear in my mind, every single time I can see obstacle, success. And success didn't always equate to a tangible thing. Success in your instance was, I really got clarity on who I am, what direction. And so understanding what success means to you.
and how to achieve that because there are some non-tangible successful things and there are tangible successful things. The non-tangible successful things are not controllable. The tangible ones are. And you can really take actionable items to make progress towards that and that obstacle. And then that makes the obstacle shrink. It makes it seem more manageable and a little bit. It paints a face to it and it takes the fear out of it.
Um, I think I would say, because one of the biggest obstacles, which is like the shape of my entire keynote speaking about my mom and my journey is when she first got sick, I was making $11 an hour and the potential, the potential of her, uh, to reverse what was going on in her condition was $10,000 a vial and a minimum of three vials she needed.
Mishelle (19:42)
well.
Meredith (19:54)
and I had this obstacle and this tangible thing and it was before GoFundMe and it was before all of those things. How do I get money to potentially save my mom?
Mishelle (19:55)
Oh my gosh.
That's so much pressure.
Meredith (20:07)
Right, but that was the obstacle. And then what does success look like? So if you can always put it into buckets and really plan and visualize the step, all we're saying is taking the step towards your goal and what you perceive as the success is already you moving towards success. Not being complacent, not being stuck in that fear of doing nothing. That's where
Mishelle (20:09)
Yeah.
Meredith (20:36)
obstacles and success don't matter because you've really already put yourself in this box. So just try.
Mishelle (20:43)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. And success is always going to change. Like your definition of success is constantly going to be ever evolving because we as humans are always evolving. So like, for instance, I just had my first baby at 40, now 42. And I feel like I'm just now like I'm still in postpartum. Postpartum is so much longer than I ever expected it to be. And it.
Meredith (20:48)
Mm-hmm.
Mishelle (21:12)
is life changing and I think even now I'm in this phase of trying to figure out like what does success look like for me now with a two year old and a husband and what do I even want in that and what feels good because I can tell you what felt like success to me pre-baby is completely different than what is feeling successful to me now because my priorities have all shifted.
Meredith (21:38)
Mm-hmm.
Mishelle (21:41)
I'm still trying to navigate that. I don't have an answer for you today of like, what does success look like for me right now in this moment? But I think it's somewhere along the lines of doing something that I love while having the freedom to be a mom, like, and a wife and to, and to like put my family first, like those while still providing.
Meredith (21:56)
Mm-hmm.
Mishelle (22:05)
a financially secure environment. I would, oh, I guess I just defined my success for you. That's it, like it's that. Trying to find that now and figuring out what does that look like is gonna be the obstacle, I think, for me in this moment. Because sometimes the obstacle isn't always a thing. It could be yourself. Because sometimes I think what gets in the way of you achieving your success is your mindset.
Meredith (22:24)
Mm-hmm.
Mishelle (22:29)
your belief in yourself, like your belief in your ability to go out and do and achieve that version of success is oftentimes what gets in the way of you getting there.
Meredith (22:39)
Mm-hmm. And I think what's interesting and I don't want to speak on your behalf, but like I think that you're meeting your version of success, whether or not you feel it to like yourself. If you're internalizing like you're there, you just want to maintain that success and maintain that habit. Like the prioritization is more inward, non tangible with the exception of financial stability. But what we're trying to tell people and hopefully it resonates with them. If nobody else gives it to you.
Mishelle (22:50)
Yeah.
Meredith (23:09)
we 100% think there is magic and everybody is capable of overcoming an obstacle. And even if you overcame that obstacle and landed at what you perceived success was, and it still doesn't feel comfortable, that doesn't necessarily mean the obstacle is the same size every time. And so the next obstacle is just really internalizing to yourself, okay, I landed here, this isn't what I wanted, where do I go next? And
really just understanding, having a solid foundation and belief in surrounding yourself with people that also believe in you and pour into you more than they take out. Just having that good support system because I would not be who I am today if someone didn't tell me, if I had this crazy idea. I share so many crazy ideas with Ben and he never once says, no, maybe not, that's a lie.
Mishelle (23:37)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Meredith (24:05)
If it is something where I physically have to do a thing, he's like, maybe don't do that. But if it is, he goes, I know you, I know what you're capable of, and you can achieve anything that you put your mind to. And just to surround yourself with someone that feels like that, it's a mentor, it's someone you work with, you know your surrounding. And if you don't have that person, find it. You can even write to us, that type, we need more of that.
Mishelle (24:06)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah, let us do that. Yeah, I agree.
Meredith (24:34)
Yeah, yeah, we're here to help you and understand that we may not know you, and we may not know you that well, but we have been you. We are probably currently still you, and we want to hype each other up in that manner. And so I think that's also the biggest piece about getting to success. It doesn't take just you and your mindset. Oftentimes takes a village and know that you're not alone on the journey when life gets hard.
Mishelle (24:39)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. Yes.
Meredith (25:03)
and when life gets easy.
Mishelle (25:06)
Yes, a thousand percent. Wait, before we go though, what are your like practical, do you have any like practical tips of like how you approach an obstacle? Like obstacle arises, do you have like a methodology or a certain way that you like approach it or tackle it? I'm just curious.
Meredith (25:09)
Yeah.
So I typically focus on, which is different than what a lot of people practice. And what I try to teach and speak about is harnessing controllable factors and gaining momentum. And so practically the steps that I ask people to go through is visualize what the resolution is. So an instance happens. Visualize what you think the resolution is. Put a face to the name of the fear. Then you need to...
Mishelle (25:33)
Uh-huh.
Mm.
Mm. Uh-huh.
Meredith (25:54)
determine what's true and what's controllable because we tell ourselves a lot of untrue things. I'm not qualified. I don't know that I'll get it. I automatically know I won't get the job. I'm not personable enough. I don't fit the brand, all of these things. So what is true and what is controllable in any factor that you're going through, whether it's a test, whether it's preparing for a job, whether it's battling something that is really heavy, take the first step. Take a step.
Mishelle (26:02)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, that's a good tip. Yeah. Uh-huh.
Meredith (26:24)
in the direction. It may not lead you to the answer or the resolution, but it's still giving you the momentum to then take the next step. And then you will continue to process everything over and over again. I will reprocess, reanalyze, and then I will do more progress the next day. Moving that needle a little bit further. And then lastly, it's mostly just liberating yourself from the thoughts that are uncontrollable.
Like I, there's so many factors that limit us because we've talked about this in communication, assumptions, incorrect beliefs, all of these things that we have this internal narrative that nobody else is a part of that limit us from being our true authentic self. We don't know where that comes from. That person just needs to sit down and shut up sometimes. I have it, I have it. And just liberating yourself from what's uncontrollable. And that's really...
Mishelle (26:53)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
Meredith (27:21)
So I focus on controllable, tangible things. And I know the world isn't all about that. But for me, yeah. Okay, thanks.
Mishelle (27:27)
Yeah, but that's good. I was just curious. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, I mean, for me, I think it's like, what keeps me from overcoming an obstacle is usually myself. So when an obstacle presents itself to me, like the first thing I immediately do is try to like look inward because I'm always trying to figure out, okay, well, who am I blaming and how can I take responsibility? Like, what's my part in the situation? How did I get here?
Meredith (27:37)
Mm-hmm.
Mishelle (27:52)
And then from there, once I take responsibility for the pieces that I need to take responsibility for, it doesn't mean I'm at fault. It just means like, how am I a part of the situation? Like, because we are all responsible for the things going on in our lives. And once you get that concept, at least it's my belief, that then you have the power to change it. So for me, it's like the first step is, where can I take personal responsibility?
Meredith (27:58)
Mm-hmm.
Mishelle (28:19)
what do I need to own in this situation? And then from there, I try to think about, well, what can I do? Because the immediate thought is to go to, well, what, like all the things I can't do, all the things I can't change, all the things that just are, that I'm frustrated about, where I'm stuck, and it's like, that's not gonna get me anywhere. So taking responsibility, thinking about, well, what can I do?
Meredith (28:26)
Please.
Mishelle (28:40)
And then the next step is like, well, what am I willing to do? What do I want? And what do I want the outcome to be? So similar to you where it's like visualize your end goal. Like what do I actually want? Where am I headed? And then it's just like carving out a path of like how I'm gonna get there. And who do I need to be? Instead of focusing on like, what do I need to do? I really try to focus in on like, who do I need to be in this moment to get to that end goal?
Meredith (28:49)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mishelle (29:06)
And then from there, what choices do I need to make to get there? So that's like how I approach it. It's more about, I think for me, it's like my personal journey because again, I feel like I am my own biggest obstacle oftentimes when trying to overcome something. So just another thing to think about.
Meredith (29:11)
Yeah.
Yeah. No, I agree. And I think that, you know, our approaches are exactly similar and just inverted in steps, um, which I completely agree. So if anybody were to listen in and what our take on, on obstacles and success would be to summarize it is, you know, you really have to identify within yourself what the obstacle is.
Mishelle (29:31)
Yeah, very similar.
Yeah.
Meredith (29:51)
and what success looks like for you. And it's a lot of journey and self lessons in order for you to even be accept, in order for you to move towards what success looks like for you. And there's gonna be several iterations of this. What I want to tell folks and make sure that it is in our closing lessons is that each one is a lesson to be learned and you grow and you evolve multiple times.
Mishelle (30:05)
Mm-hmm.
Meredith (30:19)
And so you know for next time and you're more resilient and you're more you're more empowered and you'll be more comfortable to tackle things and the momentum will continue to roll. And so obstacles are there and you're more than capable of going through and overcoming them.
Mishelle (30:42)
Mm-hmm.
Meredith (30:42)
and leading towards whatever success looks like for you. And we really wanna make sure that you understand that there's tangible success and there's non-tangible success and equal importance in both. So working on that. What closing thoughts might you have?
Mishelle (30:59)
I think just that like we believe, I want you to know we believe in you. We're all also straight like Obstacles are something that will always be there. Don't shy away from it I think it's about leaning in and knowing that adversity and obstacles are what Grows us and what takes us to the next place so if you can view it instead of as a failure or a problem or some like Disaster in your life like view it as an opportunity
Meredith (31:06)
Mm-hmm.
Mishelle (31:27)
to grow and to learn and to, as a stepping stone, to get you to the next place. And I think when you view it that way, you can come at it with such a different mindset and you can approach.
Meredith (31:27)
Mm-hmm.
Mishelle (31:39)
like your next steps and what you need to do next with that learning that's available to you and how you can apply that for the future. It just changes the way that you would experience that obstacle. So that would be my closing thought is just to like wrap your arms around that thing, like run towards it, like, hey, obstacle, love you. Thanks for being here. Can't wait to learn and figure out what it is that you're here to teach me. Bring it.
Meredith (31:59)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, that is a really good way to end it. Just bring it. We believe in you. As always, we'd love to hear from you. We'd love to get your thoughts on either the icebreaker question or any submitting of your burning questions that you have at our website, it girl life.com or send us an email directly at hello at it girl life.com and then on our Instagram account. So we're grateful to have you and until next time, we'll talk to you soon. Bye.
Mishelle (32:33)
See ya. Bye.