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368 Choose To Step Up And Step In

368 Choose To Step Up And Step In

Title card for episode 368 Choose To Step Up And Step In featuring Erin Patrice

It’s a strange and frightening world we are living in right now. With divisiveness and anger seeming rampant, it falls to us to maintain our community, to show up with a heart of love and understanding for each other and ourselves, to save our village from burning and refusing to let a lack of empathy and communication drive us to destruction. 

In this episode Sarah Elkins and Erin Miller discuss the vital importance of community and taking care of one another, of building bridges and allowing our differences to strengthen us instead of divide us, as well as accepting when a bridge cannot be built and an olive branch is refused and trying to find peace with the results.


Highlights

  • What is your moment of satisfaction or awe in what you do?

  • Are you giving or just taking?

  • Sitting down and talking to someone who’s different in some way. Building bridges as opposed to burning them.

  • Celebrate our differences, do not let them drive us apart. But acknowledging when you cannot build a bridge, and seeking to find peace.

  • The Cause and Effect of what changes individuals. 

  • It’s okay to sit down and let your community help you.


Quotes

“Yes we are individuals, but we are also a collective. If you don’t feed the collective, if you don’t nurture the collective, the collective won’t nurture you.”

“Give what you want to receive. If you want community, you have to give community. If you want patience you have to give patience, and if you want respect and so on and so on.”

“The problem is we’re not talking to each other, we’re not communicating, and we’re not willing to hear.”

“We need to be able to sit down. We’re adults, we can do this, I believe that we can, and we have the capability to sit down and have discussions.” 

“Once I extend an olive branch, if the person burns it, I let the ashes fall where they may. I just let them fall.”


Dear Listeners it is now your turn,

What are you going to take from this conversation? Who will you reach out to, to go and have a cup of coffee without having the intention of changing their mind but with the intention of listening to their story? Find out what matters to them and have a conversation. I would love to hear what happens for you when you choose to step up and step in. 

And, as always, thank you for listening.


About Erin (from her website)

quote card featuring a photo of Erin at a table “We need to be able to sit down. We’re adults, we can do this, I believe that we can, and we have the capability to sit down and have discussions.”

Erin Patrice is the heart and creator behind The Breaking Bread Village, a space intentionally created for people to come together and have transparent conversations with no judgment so ideas and perspectives may be heard respectfully.

Erin is a conversationalist and a Midland, MI, resident and native to Cincinnati, Ohio. She is a mother and wife and has been a community advocate for twenty years. 

Erin has an incredible gift of storytelling and connecting with others of all ages. She shares her story in a way that draws people closer rather than apart. She has a unique teaching style that resonates with all who experience it. Erin has years of life experience, training, and facilitating conversations through empathy, strategy, and storytelling. 

Erin is dedicated to being a voice for those with no voice and helping the unseen to be seen. 

She believes that everything we do within our small communities changes the world because every good deed causes a ripple effect that will eventually impact the world.

Erin shares her teachings as a community engagement ambassador by facilitating workshops, keynote speaking, panels, and conversations nationwide.

Be sure to check out Erin’s LinkedIn, and her website Breaking Bread Village! As well as the article about her from the Midland Daily News!


About Sarah

"Uncovering the right stories for the right audiences so executives, leaders, public speakers, and job seekers can clearly and actively demonstrate their character, values, and vision."

In my work with coaching clients, I guide people to improve their communication using storytelling as the foundation of our work together. What I’ve realized over years of coaching and podcasting is that the majority of people don’t realize the impact of the stories they share - on their internal messages, and on the people they’re sharing them with.

My work with leaders and people who aspire to be leaders follows a similar path to the interviews on my podcast, uncovering pivotal moments in their lives and learning how to share them to connect more authentically with others, to make their presentations and speaking more engaging, to reveal patterns that have kept them stuck or moved them forward, and to improve their relationships at work and at home.

The audiobook, Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will is now available!

Included with your purchase are two bonus tracks, songs recorded by Sarah's band, Spare Change, in her living room in Montana.

Be sure to check out the Storytelling For Professionals Course as well to make sure you nail that next interview!

367 Manifesting Humanity

It can be easy to forget that we’re human. When work is stressful and all consuming, when dealing with people stuck in the past and the past versions of you, it’s easy to forget we are a person with needs to lead a fulfilling life. 

In this episode Sarah Elkins and Alison Miller discuss how the stories we carry with us alter the people we are, often making us revert to the person we used to be and not the person we are now or the person we want to be. 

363 Taking Inventory

As the New Year begins it’s time for us to take a step back and reflect on the stories, messages, and values we want to bring into 2025. Just like tending to a garden by removing weeds and adding nutrients, we must also tend to the garden of our lives. 

In this episode Sarah Elkins, Emily McVey, and Chris Wang discuss the stories that shaped them into who they are as well as how they have chosen to tell their stories through thoughtful and meaningful actions.

357 The Objects That Matter To You

Connection, especially in today’s day and age, is becoming a lost art. Today we are given the unique and groundbreaking idea from Lisa Weiss, to ask about the objects that are held onto by the people around us, connecting with them through the shared love of holding onto pieces of the past that have shaped us into who we are today.

355 Create The Community You Need

Building a community can be a daunting yet very rewarding task, in order to find this community often you need to spread out and meet strangers, expanding both your world view and understanding of others. 

In this episode Sarah Elkins and Emily Carlson discuss the importance of building community and making your very own personal board of directors to work together for a better tomorrow.


353 Food Stories Revisited

Revisiting episode 292 “Food Stories” Sarah Elkins reminisces on the importance of love languages and how important it is to show those you love how much you care.

Love languages come in many different forms; gift giving, words of affirmation, and for today’s episode specifically, the act of cooking and giving a good meal to those you hold close. It is vital to the health and continuation of relationships that we discover these languages and think about how these actions impact how others view us.

349 Community Building

349 Community Building

How we choose to spend our time directly impacts the way we live both in our careers and in our day to day lives, however if we are spending our precious time surrounding ourselves with negativity and naysayers we are very unlikely to succeed. Which is why it is so important to find a community that encourages and supports each other.

In this episode Sarah Elkins ruminates on the path that led her to success and satisfaction, the importance of the individuals that helped her along the way, and the community they built.


Highlights

  • Identifying paths and the advocates who encourage you and see the best in you.

  • What is your role? And are you in a place that helps you thrive in that role?

  • Belonging and inclusion.


Quotes

“There’s no way I could’ve known this path before I took any of the steps on it. Some people know what they want to do at a very young age, I was not one of those people. What I did have, and continue to have, are people in my life who believe in me, who often see more in me than I see in myself.” 

“Feeling so supported and valued, changed the way I spend my precious time and energy.”

“Remember you can’t really build community if you don’t allow and encourage others to contribute. And that means you can’t always be the one giving, you have to be someone who can ask for help and receive it with grace.”


Dear Listeners it is now your turn,

I encourage you to take time this week to consider who is in your circle. Do you have a diverse group of friends and colleagues who support and encourage you? Who ask you the hard questions, and who believe in you, sometimes more than you believe in yourself? Are you that person to others and do you receive that help with grace? If you can’t jot down at least 3 names off the top of your head, you might have some work to do. Here’s one idea to help you find and nurture that community: Look back at the times in your life that you felt confident, when you felt like you were contributing, when you felt like you were contributing and found satisfaction in the work you were doing. Now look for local activities where you are likely like hearted, not like minded necessarily but like hearted people. Maybe that’s joining a book club, spending time at the library or a local bookstore, getting outside for walks -hikes-, or maybe take a walking tour of your community, if you’re feeling really brave maybe it’s time to join us at our next No Longer Virtual Summit. 

And, as always, thank you for listening. 


About Sarah

"Uncovering the right stories for the right audiences so executives, leaders, public speakers, and job seekers can clearly and actively demonstrate their character, values, and vision."

In my work with coaching clients, I guide people to improve their communication using storytelling as the foundation of our work together. What I’ve realized over years of coaching and podcasting is that the majority of people don’t realize the impact of the stories they share - on their internal messages, and on the people they’re sharing them with.

My work with leaders and people who aspire to be leaders follows a similar path to the interviews on my podcast, uncovering pivotal moments in their lives and learning how to share them to connect more authentically with others, to make their presentations and speaking more engaging, to reveal patterns that have kept them stuck or moved them forward, and to improve their relationships at work and at home.

The audiobook, Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will is now available!

Included with your purchase are two bonus tracks, songs recorded by Sarah's band, Spare Change, in her living room in Montana.

Be sure to check out the Storytelling For Professionals Course as well to make sure you nail that next interview!