185 How To Live Your Life By Design And Not By Default With Donna Tashjian

Donna Tashjian is Dr. Brad Miller’s guest on Episode 185 of “The Beyond Adversity Podcast.”

Donna is from ivibrantliving.com. She wants to help in making lives amazing and enjoyable despite the challenges that await us. As she always says, she wants to turn baggage into luggage and impact and help women.

Vibrant Living International aims to help in coping with the fears and challenges that you are experiencing. It offers a variety of programs like ‘Turning your Baggage into Luggage’ and ‘Life by Design’ 

In this episode, Donna shares her life experiences and how she was able to overcome them despite facing challenges at such a young age. 

She grew up in a large family in a blended extended type of family. Her biological father doesn’t want to be associated with her which caused abandonment issues. Meanwhile, her mom remarried which made it hard for her to adjust.

She was a teenager when she got pregnant, particularly at the age of 14.

At the age of 18, she was a full-time employed and part-time student while raising her daughter all by herself.

Her faith was tested but whatever hardships she faced, she was able to overcome it through her faith and beliefs. God never left her side.

Episode 185 of The Beyond Adversity Podcast is a must-listen podcast to people who are currently facing hardships in their lives and is searching for inspiration to stand up and face life. 

“The Beyond Adversity Podcast with Dr. Brad Miller is published weekly with the mission of helping people “Grow Through What They Go Through” as they navigate adversity and discover their promised life of peace, prosperity, and purpose. 

Home Page

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXMFNossw9VN2QwDtVitzKg

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donnatashjian/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drtashjian/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VibrantLivingInt

Transcript
Dr. Brad Miller::

Our guest today is all about vibrant living. She is all about helping you to

Dr. Brad Miller:

design your life for greatness. And she has a knack for helping people

Dr. Brad Miller:

she works with turn fear to excitement,

Dr. Brad Miller:

and exposing lives we might tell ourselves so that the truth can shine through.

Dr. Brad Miller:

Her name is Donna Tashjian. And she comes to us from ivibrantliving.com

Dr. Brad Miller:

Welcome to Beyond Adversity.

Donna:

Thank you, Brad, it is a pleasure to be here today.

Dr. Brad Miller:

Well, that is awesome to have you, you got a lot of

Dr. Brad Miller:

fascinating things on your website and your coaching programs and your

Dr. Brad Miller:

the resources that you offer. And to help people to break out of

Dr. Brad Miller:

whatever situation they are in, and to live a more great life. But you

Dr. Brad Miller:

seem to be in a pretty good place in your life now. But I, I got a feeling it's not

Dr. Brad Miller:

always been the case for you. Would you just share with us a little bit about

Dr. Brad Miller:

your story, Donna about maybe a time in your life when you had

Dr. Brad Miller:

adversity in your life and felt compelled to then to eventually do something about it?

Donna:

Yes, I would be happy to. My story starts in my childhood where

Donna:

some adversity arose, I guess you could say. I grew up in a blended family, my

Donna:

biological father really didn't have anything to do with me. For those of you

Donna:

who know, whenever that happens, there's abandonment issues and

Donna:

different feelings that arise and especially to me and a little girl. But in the

Donna:

blended family, it was a little bit rough and making some adjustment as

Donna:

my mother remarried. And but at the age of, I guess I would have been

Donna:

14, someone that we knew hurt me and I became pregnant. And at 15 I

Donna:

was a mom. It wasn't the way that I thought things were gonna

Donna:

go. To me one of the hardest things about adversity is when it's when

Donna:

it didn't go the way we thought it would. And we get stuck in that

Donna:

disappointment loop of this is not what I plan. This is not the way

Donna:

I thought it would be. This is not the way it's supposed to be.

Donna:

I have a program that I called Turning your baggage into luggage.

Donna:

So that then you can live the life you've always dreamed.

Donna:

And when I talk about baggage thinking is we carry the

Donna:

labels that were placed on me at that time to say that those years

Donna:

were hard, I raised my little girl. It there's no adjectives to describe

Donna:

the shame that was I grew up in a religious family where no matter

Donna:

what the cause it wasn't okay. And learning how to finish high

Donna:

school, how to all of a sudden take care of a child. And when

Donna:

I should be going to the prom. I should be in my mind.

Dr. Brad Miller:

Completely well.

Donna:

It was completely there was just nothing and nothing the same.

Donna:

And so by the time I'm 18, I have a three year old. You know, just to

Donna:

give you an idea, you know, where were you when you were 18 it was

Donna:

just like, um, and so none of it when I turned 16. And none of all

Donna:

of those memories are like I thought they would go and it can cause I

Donna:

anger. You know what, this isn't fair, this isn't right, this

Donna:

isn't just. Somebody should pay, but nobody's paying. And then

Donna:

there's silence where you can't tell anybody. You can't tell

Donna:

anybody this happened. You can't tell anybody anything about it,

Donna:

and you're just trying to figure out how to make it. So

Donna:

luggage thinking, on the other hand, is I it took me a while

Donna:

to get here, but I'm not gonna let what they said define

Donna:

me. And I am going to use this to grow and to become the best me I can be.

Dr. Brad Miller:

Well, let's talk for a second about what some of those things were.

Dr. Brad Miller:

You talked about changing your baggage into luggage and a

Dr. Brad Miller:

profound story of, you know, blended family and the dynamics of

Dr. Brad Miller:

the family were not necessarily healthy there was you know,

Dr. Brad Miller:

some dysfunction there, obviously. And then whatever

Dr. Brad Miller:

happened that led you you know, the hurt that you said

Dr. Brad Miller:

someone hurt you and you end up being a teen mom, a

Dr. Brad Miller:

child having a child, you know, doing that and that process

Dr. Brad Miller:

had so all the It's hard enough to be it's hard to have both of you a

Dr. Brad Miller:

teenager alone and to be a mother alone and single mom, I

Dr. Brad Miller:

think you were all that at once. I mean, and you had all that

Dr. Brad Miller:

at once what a massive, massive amount of baggage did you say, in order to

Dr. Brad Miller:

turn that into luggage, you had to take some action, you

Dr. Brad Miller:

had to do some things, you had to break some mindset or

Dr. Brad Miller:

something along that line. So tell us a little bit about

Dr. Brad Miller:

like, back then and how that translates into what you

Dr. Brad Miller:

do now, what are some of the actions that you took

Dr. Brad Miller:

Donna to break that pattern?

Donna:

The main, the main thing I was kind of alluding to as changing

Donna:

my baggage for luggage thinking is changing the way I

Donna:

look at things. And even a little bit of, I'm going to prove them

Donna:

wrong attitude. But the core of the reason why I am the woman

Donna:

that I am today was at a very young age, I had faith in God. And

Donna:

without it, I don't know where I had that I would have been, I

Donna:

would have been another statistic of moms having you

Donna:

know, having multiple kids out of wedlock, you know, not

Donna:

being married, I would have all followed out that if I had not had my

Donna:

relationship with God. And there were most of the there was a

Donna:

good period of years. Had I because of the code of silence that is a corrupted

Donna:

around these kinds of events that occur. There wasn't anybody I could

Donna:

talk to but him. And so that was the other thing is, is I could

Donna:

have chosen to turn away from Him and blame God. But I didn't. And

Donna:

one of the things I can say it's been quite a few years since that

Donna:

occurred is God has never failed me. And so to me, that was the key and

Donna:

me changing my thinking was my faith is beginning to say, I don't

Donna:

know how this is going to work out. But we're going to get through

Donna:

this, we're going to come out on top. I don't know all the

Donna:

answers, yes. And lots of tears, lots of crying out my heart, a lot of

Donna:

grief of writing in my journals about the things that I've lost a lot of

Donna:

processing that and I don't know that. I mean, a few years

Donna:

back, something occurred that made me feel that young girl

Donna:

again. And so sometimes there's just deeper healing through it

Donna:

all. But the biggest thing for me was to begin to change what I was

Donna:

speaking and change what I was thinking and begin to create a

Donna:

vision for where I wanted to go, as opposed to it just can be

Donna:

really but just wallowing in the pain.

Dr. Brad Miller:

I've heard so you say several things here now that I consider

Dr. Brad Miller:

Ray, very profound action steps that that you took, even in the

Dr. Brad Miller:

context and correct me if I'm wrong, did you you said you turn

Dr. Brad Miller:

to faith, and that is awesome. I'm a man of faith myself, but

Dr. Brad Miller:

even the context of some people who would proclaim

Dr. Brad Miller:

themselves as faith people, church folks, whatever you want to

Dr. Brad Miller:

say, may have been a part of your pain if I understood some of

Dr. Brad Miller:

what we said earlier. So expectations and understanding or

Dr. Brad Miller:

lack of understanding, or lack of really a true what I would

Dr. Brad Miller:

call a a grace filled approach, which is the foundation of

Dr. Brad Miller:

faith, but you took your faith action. But you also did a lot in that

Dr. Brad Miller:

process. And I believe this is a faith thing to you know, you did some

Dr. Brad Miller:

journaling work, you process some things you did some self

Dr. Brad Miller:

talk, you did some journaling, I understand. So that sound like

Dr. Brad Miller:

some of the things that you did to help them to embrace your

Dr. Brad Miller:

faith, whereas a lot of folks, whatever rejected a faith

Dr. Brad Miller:

approach, given your experience is that anywhere accurate

Dr. Brad Miller:

to some of the things that you took upon yourself.

Donna:

it is accurate, and I anyone out there that's faced some of

Donna:

those dark moments, it is choosing if sometimes the

Donna:

religious God that we see in some places aren't isn't the God

Donna:

that I experienced in that moment. Or in those moments, it

Donna:

was a God of love. And you know, in there, we this isn't a

Donna:

debate about the condition of faith. But knowing

Dr. Brad Miller:

some of your experience. So in

Donna:

my experience,

Dr. Brad Miller:

the framework of your experience, I had this religion say

Dr. Brad Miller:

well, as a kind of some distinction of the faith.

Donna:

Yes, exactly.

Dr. Brad Miller:

religious context, which is a part of some of the hurt that

Dr. Brad Miller:

you experience. And so it will get dissolved in that and take off

Donna:

I easily could have. But i i For me, I got into the Bible and to

Donna:

say what what is what is the faith that my parents said? And

Donna:

what is it really say in here and found it for myself? That was part

Donna:

of my process, and it was more than self talk? I was I called

Donna:

I was speaking with God, God said about me instead of what I felt

Donna:

about me, affirmations, declarations, whatever word you want

Donna:

to say he said I was precious. He said I was pure, he said I was

Donna:

beautiful. He said all the things I never felt. And so beginning to

Donna:

recognize and see myself the way the Creator God does, was part

Donna:

of my whole process. And the steps I took was journaling, and

Donna:

declarations and prayer, and all of those kinds. And there

Donna:

was a lot of movement in. I mean, I was full time employed

Donna:

at the age of 18 going to college part time raising a daughter, all by myself.

Dr. Brad Miller:

I did a lot of just had to do sound like that.

Donna:

So I was determined not to be what they said I might be.

Dr. Brad Miller:

I'm sorry, go ahead, finish your thought there.

Donna:

No, that's okay.

Dr. Brad Miller:

It sounds like you really had a connecting moment with a higher

Dr. Brad Miller:

power with your faith moment. Whereas you could, you know, we

Dr. Brad Miller:

sometimes we have these defining moments, Donna, where we

Dr. Brad Miller:

can choose one pathway that can lead us into a ditch or we

Dr. Brad Miller:

can choose another pathway, which leads us to the biblical

Dr. Brad Miller:

metaphor, maybe to the Promised Land, you know, you get

Dr. Brad Miller:

through the wilderness to the, to the promised land. And so

Dr. Brad Miller:

I believe, you know, we have to take physical action, you know, just

Dr. Brad Miller:

choosing and self talk and all of the things we've talked about

Dr. Brad Miller:

already, but also you have to make a connection to a higher

Dr. Brad Miller:

power, something greater. Not often kind of leads us to some sort of a

Dr. Brad Miller:

Aha, or I could add a V eight moment. But did you have any kind

Dr. Brad Miller:

of moment was really transitional transformative to you in

Dr. Brad Miller:

your inner life, you know, that was important to you, that really

Dr. Brad Miller:

kind of flipped a switch for you.

Donna:

I can't remember a specific you know, flipping of

Donna:

my switch, if you say one person called me when I was telling

Donna:

my story recently, Donna, you're a walking miracle. And I smiled politely

Donna:

and said, Thank you. But I'm thinking man, this miracle was one big

Donna:

hard choice after one after another after another after another

Donna:

and doesn't mean that I did everything right during that

Donna:

time, not alluding to that at all. There were still mistakes that I

Donna:

made, I was a little girl along the way through it all. But it was

Donna:

getting up again, if you made a mistake and moving forward. And

Donna:

I don't think it was any magic moment, it was just having the

Donna:

tenacity to when I fell down to keep up to go when it didn't go

Donna:

the way I thought again, keep going. Until I, well, then I met

Donna:

my husband. So you know, and my future husband, and the things

Donna:

begin to move a little bit better from that point on. But those

Donna:

earlier years were really, really a lot of just putting one foot in front

Donna:

of the other. And I had a child to take care of. And there's something

Donna:

about that, that pulls us out of the bed, you know, and so having

Donna:

a child was one a wonderful thing in that respect is because it kept she

Donna:

kept me going. She was the one making me smile and laugh. She

Donna:

was the one discovering the world and all brand new ways, like any child does. And so

Dr. Brad Miller:

That is all true, of course. But what a tremendous responsibility and the pressure that comes.

Donna:

Absolutely.

Dr. Brad Miller:

And you know, I've, in my ministry, I've worked with lots of folks, both

Dr. Brad Miller:

the young women and young men who have had children and

Dr. Brad Miller:

they're involved with things and it's always a drama that is

Dr. Brad Miller:

exceedingly, exceedingly trot. And you You did that and that

Dr. Brad Miller:

that's a great thing. And I love what you said there about

Dr. Brad Miller:

you just put one foot in front of the other. You kept being tenacious

Dr. Brad Miller:

about it. You were not going to give up. Maybe it was having a

Dr. Brad Miller:

little girl was gonna kept you going, but so be it.

Dr. Brad Miller:

That's how God works sometimes.

Donna:

And not everybody does keep going you we know you and I both had

Donna:

the stories where women didn't even know they had kids. And so

Donna:

only thing that I can give it to is is that I was very tenacious about

Donna:

my faith and determined, they absolutely determined to be able

Donna:

to have if I was to word it today, turn my baggage into luggage

Donna:

so that now I am impacting women and helping women all around the world.

Dr. Brad Miller:

That is awesome. That is awesome. And part of this process then

Dr. Brad Miller:

you have chosen then to serve other women particularly but you

Dr. Brad Miller:

have developed a sense of relationship with other people

Dr. Brad Miller:

that has, as you say, take the baggage and turn it into

Dr. Brad Miller:

luggage, meaning you develop positive relationships where be

Dr. Brad Miller:

so easy to dissolve into bitterness or rejection

Donna:

Absolutely

Dr. Brad Miller:

any of the negative nonsense that can just drag us down. So told me

Dr. Brad Miller:

a little bit, you know, on the physical, which is the action

Dr. Brad Miller:

piece, the spiritual, which is that inner life, but also the

Dr. Brad Miller:

emotional, which has to do with our relationships. Tell me

Dr. Brad Miller:

a little bit about how relationships helped you and how

Dr. Brad Miller:

what you do helps others in positive ways that might be

Dr. Brad Miller:

mentors, or teachers, it might be your, your husband, it

Dr. Brad Miller:

might be other folks in your life who came into play, or

Dr. Brad Miller:

counseling or accountability groups, or even I think, tell me

Dr. Brad Miller:

about relationships, which were helpful to you in this

Dr. Brad Miller:

process to get you through this adversity.

Donna:

Um, there were some a few relationships before I met my

Donna:

husband. But majority of those younger years, if I will, beginning

Donna:

years, it was me by myself. I had some relationship with some

Donna:

family members, but those were positive and negative kind

Donna:

of a situation. Not all of them were

Dr. Brad Miller:

forced to go with their own baggage.

Donna:

Yeah, there was a lot of stuff attached to people that are close to you.

Donna:

But when I met my husband, I remember the first time he told me he

Donna:

loved me. We were dating. And I looked at him and said, that's

Donna:

nice. And he told me later he goes, I felt like I had just dropped a

Donna:

lead balloon. It's like, there was nothing. And I'm like, and I

Donna:

told him later, you know, how many men told me they

Donna:

loved me?

Dr. Brad Miller:

Yeah,

Donna:

I'm like,

Donna:

That's it.

Donna:

It didn't mean anything.

Donna:

What I thought in my head was we'll see. We'll see. If you do love me.

Dr. Brad Miller:

And your daughter was about how old at that time. I'm just curious about that. Because

Donna:

then when we met, she was just about to turn three.

Dr. Brad Miller:

Okay. I only asked because I factor and how things play

Dr. Brad Miller:

out in relationships after your child's in the picture.

Donna:

Yeah.

Dr. Brad Miller:

And because then, you know, everyone's agenda shifts a little

Dr. Brad Miller:

bit when another person comes in. So, well, that's great. So your

Dr. Brad Miller:

husband then became a source of emotional bond, which was

Dr. Brad Miller:

helpful to you and what? What ways? So he kind of started

Dr. Brad Miller:

off, kind of one down if you well, you know, he had to get up to evan.

Donna:

And he knew that, and he knew the whole story. So he understood

Donna:

that kind of concept. But he wasn't, he wasn't that much

Donna:

older than me. So it was it was a little bit to handle a ready

Donna:

made family. Um, and all of that. But he has,

Dr. Brad Miller:

Did he have children at the time?

Donna:

No, he did not.

Dr. Brad Miller:

Yeah. Some of the things that he did, and you did to break pattern

Dr. Brad Miller:

there to go forward, because you are wanting whatever he's

Dr. Brad Miller:

got going on. But he did some things here, didn't he?

Donna:

Yes, one of the things that we did early in our marriage

Donna:

is is that he would tell me, he what he loved me. And I would

Donna:

say what? Or he would tell me I was beautiful or pretty today, one

Donna:

of those kinds of things. And I would say what and my spot,

Donna:

my reasoning for that is because he would have to say it

Donna:

again. And so and it became it's now quite a you know, quite a

Donna:

humorous kind of joke over the years. Next week, we will have

Donna:

been married 37 years.

Dr. Brad Miller:

Oh, that is so.

Donna:

But I would say what if I was

Donna:

having a hard day and he said, I love you. And I go what? And

Donna:

he would know that I was having a hard day. And so he

Donna:

would do things to be able to make me know, because I

Donna:

didn't believe I could be loved.

Dr. Brad Miller:

Really? You said I'm just curious. Now, I'm like a little different

Dr. Brad Miller:

than one question. We said, what were you just to

Dr. Brad Miller:

hear? Or kind of?

Donna:

Yes.

Dr. Brad Miller:

What was the question? Mark? 10?

Donna:

It was it was like, like I would you say?

Dr. Brad Miller:

Yeah.

Donna:

Kind of a thing, you know, so that he would say it again?

Dr. Brad Miller:

Yeah.

Donna:

Um, but I'm not sure how that exactly transpired where it happened. But it

Donna:

became a thing.

Dr. Brad Miller:

Yeah.

Donna:

Um, so that he understood that I was struggling with

Donna:

believing I'm like, I'm like, so in my head. I'm like, Yeah,

Donna:

I don't believe you. Or whatever.

Dr. Brad Miller:

Information from him,

Donna:

I wanted it and gave it to me. And he gave it to me. And so,

Dr. Brad Miller:

So, I think that's big lesson, right. Affrmation from. You had yourself

Dr. Brad Miller:

affirmations you talked about, and your self belief in turn of faith

Dr. Brad Miller:

and your Bible study and all that. But you formation from your husband?

Donna:

Yes.

Dr. Brad Miller:

And that is so awesome. And then, in turn, I have to believe there

Dr. Brad Miller:

was a time when you transformed yourself and you believed him.

Donna:

Yeah.

Dr. Brad Miller:

You bought him? A 37 years is pretty good. He was gone for 37 years.

Donna:

No, we don't do If we do it if I happen to do it once in a

Donna:

while, it's a joke now, but no, it's not anywhere. The other thing

Donna:

that was difficult is, is back in the day when we got married,

Donna:

sometimes the word were the wife would obey their husband was

Donna:

in the vows. And I told him, I go, I'm not promising to obey you.

Dr. Brad Miller:

Yeah.

Donna:

Because I didn't trust enough, even though I believed he loved

Donna:

me, I really did. And then I loved him, I was still so insecure, in

Donna:

through that whole process. And so trust is something that grows,

Donna:

and we were willing to be honest and talk things through, we did a

Donna:

lot of marriage seminars together, we did a lot of books, we,

Donna:

anytime our church would handhold, something like that, we

Donna:

would go and get tuneups, if you will, because every good

Donna:

relationship takes effort. And this doesn't just happen. And

Dr. Brad Miller:

Within the work that you put in,

Donna:

the church that we were involved in was

Donna:

another place of relationships that were helpful in supporting us

Donna:

early in our marriage. And, but most of the things were centered

Donna:

around faith that brought us grew, that was the how to

Donna:

how to parent how to do all of that was, you know, parenting was

Donna:

another thing that of course, you have to work through, he

Donna:

already doesn't have an infant he has, well, when we were

Donna:

married, five and a half year old.

Dr. Brad Miller:

Right.

Donna:

Um, and so it's a different different kind of learning

Donna:

how to walk through all of that.

Dr. Brad Miller:

like I can relate to a little bit Donna, my, I come from a

Dr. Brad Miller:

My family has a blended family where my wife and I, when

Dr. Brad Miller:

we got married, I had a five and a half year old. So I can relate

Dr. Brad Miller:

to that from my prior marriage. And so it comes with its

Dr. Brad Miller:

dynamics, and we've been married over 30 years now. So I can

Dr. Brad Miller:

appreciate where you're coming from and resonate with that. But

Dr. Brad Miller:

somewhere along the line, you had this transition yourself,

Dr. Brad Miller:

but also now, you've also had another transition. Another

Dr. Brad Miller:

transformation, if you if you allow me to go here. Where you now,

Dr. Brad Miller:

what you've experienced, I believe you have the love and the care

Dr. Brad Miller:

and the concern to share what you've experienced and what you've

Dr. Brad Miller:

learned with other people. And so not everybody does

Dr. Brad Miller:

that, you know, I mean, not everybody has to do, you've

Dr. Brad Miller:

done the work for yourself. That is pretty good. That's

Dr. Brad Miller:

awesome. But you've gone another another step and

Dr. Brad Miller:

you've created your website, ivibrantliving.com, and you

Dr. Brad Miller:

have I just want to know what led you to have this transition

Dr. Brad Miller:

to want to share with others what you've learned in?

Donna:

Well, I'm always from an earlier age anyway, it was always the girl

Donna:

people would be talking through is usually through some

Donna:

volunteer organizations, nonprofits, and as well as the church

Donna:

I was involved in, where women would be sitting and telling

Donna:

me things and they're like, I can't believe I'm telling you this. And then

Donna:

I would be assisting them through their pain points. So it's

Donna:

been something that I have been doing, as long as I can

Donna:

remember just about that I have been mentoring, encouraging,

Donna:

advising in church discipling, all of those kinds of words, for many years,

Donna:

and but I never really looked at it as something that I was good

Donna:

at. You know how you can miss things that you're actually good at. And

Donna:

so a few years, well, I guess it's been about 10 years ago, now.

Donna:

I took a job at a non-profit, thinking it was going to be that place,

Donna:

that passion place. It was kind of like I needed I know there's

Donna:

something more I'm supposed to do was one of those kinds of things. And

Donna:

anyway, it didn't work out. I was let go. That's a whole another

Donna:

story that I won't get into. And it was it was when I picked myself

Donna:

off the ground, which you know, I've been there before. And I'm like, What

Donna:

am I want to do now that I'm all grown up? My kids are married, I have

Donna:

grandkids it's like what do I, God, what are you have for me? And he

Donna:

showed me this red thread was the visual I had going through

Donna:

my life where I was always had a component of sitting with

Donna:

women helping them through their pain points in their life.

Donna:

Sometimes, like how do I do that? So I had lost this job.

Donna:

So finances were tighter but but my husband and I prayed

Donna:

about it and I went to school to get my coaching certifications,

Donna:

to learn how to do what I was inherently gifted at. Even

Donna:

better since then I've also been ordained and so learning

Donna:

how to do what I'm doing and take it and make it in a teachable

Donna:

step by step program that people can walk through. Rather

Donna:

than before, just sitting and talking about it. Now I have action

Donna:

steps to be able to walk people through. So that's how I got here.

Dr. Brad Miller:

Well, and now that you're here, let's talk about what you're

Dr. Brad Miller:

doing about it, because you cared enough to go to your, your

Dr. Brad Miller:

schooling and get your certification and to serve other people.

Dr. Brad Miller:

So let's just say that there is a kind of a young single mom now, and

Dr. Brad Miller:

who has her life is in disarray, to say the least. And if she is told

Dr. Brad Miller:

by somebody in her life, that hey, check out this website,

Dr. Brad Miller:

check out this person, Donna, maybe she can be helpful.

Dr. Brad Miller:

What does that young woman going to find with you that

Dr. Brad Miller:

could be helpful in her life?

Donna:

Well, there's a lot of resources that are available there for people

Donna:

to take advantage of. So there's free books, there's my podcast,

Donna:

there's other resources, I've written four books. So there's other

Donna:

ones there too, that are available for people. I blog, I do

Donna:

videos, all of that kind of stuff is available just to get to know

Donna:

me. Want to, remember how I talked about trusting. And so it's

Donna:

the same thing as a coach when I helping women is they need

Donna:

to get to know me a little bit so that they can understand and

Donna:

begin to trust that I know what I'm talking about. I'm there for

Donna:

them. I have been called one of the most intuitive and

Donna:

compassionate women on the planet. So you will get a

Donna:

cheerleader, you will get someone who understands and

Donna:

can walk through those pain points with you, to be able to

Donna:

actually have the life you would really dream.

Dr. Brad Miller:

But that is awesome. And just to be kind of specific or a minute,

Dr. Brad Miller:

you have at least three workshops that you have. And

Dr. Brad Miller:

you've mentioned one already about these are the type

Dr. Brad Miller:

of things people are going to find, just maybe take one of those

Dr. Brad Miller:

guests give us a short synopsis of one of your least three

Dr. Brad Miller:

workshops that you have. So people get an example of

Dr. Brad Miller:

what they're going to find.

Donna:

The turning your baggage into luggage is two different ways. It's a group

Donna:

coaching program as well as an individual depending upon

Donna:

what the person prefers. And we go through content on discovering

Donna:

what you really want out of life, how to repackage to unpack my

Donna:

baggage and actually deal with it, and then repack it into luggage, if

Donna:

you will, using my analogy on that. That's the first program.

Donna:

The second one that follows that one is called life by design,

Donna:

not by default. Most of us have lived life, just feeling like we're

Donna:

buffeted by life and circumstances, at least I did. And learning

Donna:

how to be able to take that so that I can then create a life by

Donna:

design not by default is my next program. So now that I've

Donna:

repacked my baggage, I don't know where I want to go. And so

Donna:

our program helps us figure out the destination that that would

Donna:

want to go and both of those are available in groups as well as

Dr. Brad Miller:

well, that's awesome. Really what I love about that Don is

Dr. Brad Miller:

it gives people a process to follow. And that's what I love to

Dr. Brad Miller:

do here at Beyond Adversity, you get beyond your adversity by

Dr. Brad Miller:

following a pathway, a promise a pathway to a promise life,

Dr. Brad Miller:

I like to call it peace, prosperity and purpose. But you got

Dr. Brad Miller:

to get on that road and you give us some map or guide to

Dr. Brad Miller:

help people to do that. And people can can find that at your website,

Dr. Brad Miller:

which is ivibrantliving.com

Donna:

Yes

Dr. Brad Miller:

For the connection to that on our

Dr. Brad Miller:

website, drbradmiller.com. One more thing for you,

Dr. Brad Miller:

Donna, before we let you go, tell us about you know, we

Dr. Brad Miller:

gave you kind of the hypothetical of a person who would

Dr. Brad Miller:

come to you and see what they could find. If you will be so kind to

Dr. Brad Miller:

maybe share with us about person who did find you or find you

Dr. Brad Miller:

and about how you were part of or you saw some transformation

Dr. Brad Miller:

take place. Do you mind sharing a testimonial story?

Donna:

Sure. Um, one woman came to me and the initial thing that

Donna:

she was talking to me about was she had she had lost her

Donna:

husband. I think when she met with me it was three years prior when

Donna:

we first met. He had they had had an argument and he had gone out

Donna:

for milk if you will and didn't come home. There's a car accident and

Donna:

he didn't come home. And her response was her mom had told

Donna:

her well God didn't give you more than you can bear. And I

Donna:

was in a doing a live workshop and I asked for people's

Donna:

feedback. And and one woman said, Well, God was there for

Donna:

me. And she replied, Well, he wasn't there for me. And but, you

Donna:

know, she used that that quote, and I said to her, Do you

Donna:

realize that actual quote isn't in the Bible, that God didn't say

Donna:

he was the giving of the problems. And so we entered into

Donna:

a coaching relationship with us. And she, I've soon found out

Donna:

she had an abusive childhood. Very religious, very difficult.

Donna:

She had been married before, this was her second marriage.

Donna:

And she was full of fear and self, and really not liking herself

Donna:

that well, and lacking of trust and deeper relationships, when

Donna:

we began. And so she has been working with me for a while.

Donna:

She, excuse me. And you would not know that it was the same

Donna:

day, the same person. She used to walk around like a rain cloud.

Donna:

And now she looks like the sunshine. And she is making choices

Donna:

for her life and discovering what she would really like out of life

Donna:

and reframing that she is full of joy and anticipation. And I asked

Donna:

her the other day, so do you like yourself? And she goes, yes.

Donna:

It's so great. And so learning how to, and part of that process

Donna:

was forgiveness and all kinds of things as part of that process

Donna:

to be able to move from the rain cloud to like you're walking

Donna:

in the sunshine. And so that's my story

Dr. Brad Miller:

That is so awesome. I love that imagery of walking from the rain

Dr. Brad Miller:

cloud, to the sunshine and when we're when we're any part of

Dr. Brad Miller:

that process for someone there's really nothing better