Thank You for Listening.
Better Than Fine wins 2024 MarCom Gold Award for Educational Episode
I’ve been dragging my feet on writing this post because I truly don’t know what to say.
(Which, to be honest, is a weird feeling for a professional communicator.)
Better Than Fine has won the MarCom Gold Award for Podcasting in the Educational Single Episode category.
For context, I’m told this is the Marketing and Communications equivalent of winning an Emmy (fun fact: the same company makes the statues!)
Specifically, it was for the episode Dr. Neil Theise: Embracing Complexity:
Dr. Theise is a significant inspiration of mine & he has taught me and so many others how to see the world in new light, so it’s especially meaningful to me that it was his appearance on the show that won (and since he reads this Substack: Neil, I adore you.)
When I started Better Than Fine in February of 2020, just weeks before lockdown hit New York and terrified so many of us, I’d imagined a show that could move the fitness industry towards a more holistic view of change and give individuals information they’d need to connect with the best of themselves as daily lifestyle practices. There were so many things I didn’t expect…
For members of the product team at the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) to listen to the show, share that vision, & welcome my expertise. Just wow.
For the Positive Psychology world to be hungry for embodied wellbeing.
For the world to take a few dark turns that make the work of wellbeing essential to the tenacity, grit, and resilience we all need in order to bring out the light in one another.
And I didn’t anticipate what it would be like to change the thinking, living, and lives of people I’d never met. What it meant to be on this side of the mic and keyboard. The responsibility and the honor of impacting the lives of people I might never meet.
Thank you. It truly is my privilege and pleasure.
Some of you have a big dream…
One that you’re keeping close to your heart, afraid to roll it out lest you fail miserably and feel the shame of that failure. To you, there are 2 things I’d like you to know:
I have been that person! - I have been creating on the internet since 1998. In the 9th grade I had a website about Egyptian Archeology. Then an “eZine” (it was on Geocities, before blogs, and inspired by the cartoon Rocket Power) called A Teen in 2000 about what it was like being 16 at the turn of the new Millennium. I told no one about either, so I’m pretty sure no one ever read them.
I went on to start a blog called Urban Amazon around 2007, wrote and produced the first ever web series on Kickstarter called Skip Trace in 2009, and a YouTube channel Feminist Fitness. All failed! They weren’t great - but they were the reps I needed to grow into this show. Keep creating. You’re learning all the time and you don’t know which project will be what breaks through.The people whose judgement you fear are not your audience - I worked in a major, luxury, corporate gym for 8 years fearing the judgement of the fit, attractive, loud voices around me who judged everyone for everything. It consistently felt like they were the Varsity Squad and I was playing Jr High modified. I tried to play their game because I thought that was the only way to win. I feared being ostracized by them.
But when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
The people whose approval I once strove for didn’t have a vision of what this work could be. They only saw nails.
Once I stepped into Positive Psychology and the aperture of my life opened, I saw how small-minded their judgement was. Instead of supporting original thought and growth they clung to the validation staying small provides them.
The people whose judgement I once feared is not who I am here to help.
It’s the people who would stay small out of fear of that judgement.
So to you, Dreamer, I say this:
Do it.
Do the things your heart longs for.
Start the show or the blog or the feed.
Paint the picture. Get the yoga teacher certification. Start coaching.
Write the damn book (that one is too myself, btw…)
Sign up for the race. Ask the person out.
Share the gift you know is in you.
It might not be great at first. You might struggle and falter.
Good.
That’s how you’ll grow.
I believe in you.
Why?!
Because I’m just some weirdo who grew up on a dirt road with big ideas and way too much to say… and they gave me a dang award for having a conversation with another brilliant weirdo who loves understanding how everything fits together.
I can confidently say that Neil and I are both ourselves because we had no choice.
Pretending to be anyone else meant giving up all we are and all we’re here to do.
If I can do it, you can to.
So lets get to it.
Cause the world needs beautiful, brilliant weirdos right now.
And from the bottom of my heart:
Thank you for listening. Take good care of yourselves, and be well.
Looking for more on your journey from survive to thrive?
There are a few ways I can help you keep it movin’:
90 Minute Wellness Roadmap (currently on sale) - Struggling or stuck? Spend 90 minutes with expert eyes looking at your own efforts to grow fitness, wellness, and wellbeing.
Free Ultra-processed Food Guide - Struggling to eat better, but also know that diets don’t work for you? Want to be healthy, but know that diet culture is big ole lie? Want someone to teach you about what food is actually bad for health? Download this freebie anytime.
Better Than Fine podcast - if you appreciate this substack you should check out the Better Than Fine podcast - we livestream new episodes every Wednesday on the NASM YouTube channel