Wonder Over Worry with Amber Rae
Hold up, heroine!
Quick question before we dive into the episode: Do you live in the Bay area? You can see today's guest Amber and I chat LIVE at Book Passage this Sunday, May 20th in Corte Madera, CA. Just come! No ticket required. More info here.
Do you get anxious? Let’s get real. We all do. And we need tools to deal with the worrisome thoughts and the uncomfortable feelings that naturally come up from living life. We need tools to help us put worry aside and step into a more positive state, the state of childlike, exuberant wonder. Enter today’s guest, Amber Rae, who is a total badass and who Mind Body Green called her "The Brene Brown of Wonder."
She is an author of a book that was just released this week, Choose Wonder Over Worry: Move Beyond Fear and Doubt to Unlock Your Full Potential (Hello, who doesn’t want to do that? You can find out more about how to order the book in the show notes because honestly every woman needs to read this Now, ASAP). In addition to being an author, Amber is an artist and speaker who has been featured in The New York Times, TIME, Fast Company, BBC, ABC World News, Tim Ferriss's blog, and more. Previously, she helped launch six best-selling books with Seth Godin.
Subscribe and listen to the full episode here (you must subscribe to receive latest episode).
Highlighted Excerpt:
Majo: Why is it so important do you feel for us to properly chew, digest these really dark, uncomfortable emotions like anger, jealousy, envy, even that competitive spirit we might have or feel with someone else?
Amber: I feel like if we’re not aware of how they play a role in our lives that they can begin to control our behavior. The unconscious part of us that begins to drive our lives and then we end up with an illness or we end up making a series of decisions that are so far from who we are because we’re not integrating and listening to all the aspects of ourselves.
I love the worry and the wonder because it’s really using a lens of wonder to look at these uncomfortable paths and learning to actually befriend and see these parts of ourselves as allies because they’re all trying to give us information.
Shame has information for us. Anger has information for us. Anxiety has information for us and then we can say, “Hey anxiety. What’s going on?” Like, noticing that you’re a little riled up and you’ve woken up at three in the morning, three nights in a row. What’s up?
And maybe anxiety is like “Something’s out of alignment,” or, “I don’t know about this choice. I don’t know if this feels right for who you are and what you’re here to give”. And so, you know, I think so many people spend their lives and I had spent so much of my life trying to numb a void and push that away and come up with all these strategies to just be happy and positive. And I think that’s a shame because there’s so much magic in the darker places.
Show Notes:
Amber shares about her childhood; how her mother has influenced her in so many ways and how she’s lost her father in a car accident at a very young age. [2:56]
Her very early interest in psychology and reading books related to the discovery of how the psyche works; her pre-puberty story and starting her own magazine. [8:01]
On dealing with the development of her physical body and her emotions; her high school life and the start of her wanting to be liked and approved by people. [10:53]
A brief description of her college experience and chosen course; her great dating relationships and her ending up with someone who broke her. [18:07]
Life after college; getting into tech; moving from San Francisco to New York upon the advice of her friend Ahmed Gupta. [24:19]
The high and low of her life; lowest was when she self-sabotaged her successful career/work; highest was when she met her soon-to-be-husband, Farhad. [36:56]
About her book, “Choose Wonder Over Worry.” [41:26]
About her reclaiming her truth and essence without denying any part of herself. [53:42]
Subscribe and listen to the full episode here (you must subscribe to receive latest episode).
REFERENCES:
LIVE Event w/ Majo & Amber: Book Passage Sunday, May, 20th @ 4pm in Corte Madera, CA
LIVE Event with Amber: Women Catalysts Sunday, May 20th @ 7pm in San Francisco, CA
MUSIC:
A BIG THANK YOU & SHOUT OUT to two of our badass patrons:
Bianca Wendt, an award-winning art director and graphic designer based in San Francisco and London. Learn more about Bianca and her work here.
Jennie Lambert, UX Designer and Marketing Consultant at Weblamb LLC, a company she founded at Stanford University that builds incredible & effective web solutions.