Self-aware Millennial

This week, as an exciting complement to episode 2: Millennials versus Gen X, I’m speaking to Millennial Jeremy Boudinet about Millennials in the workplace.The most beneficial thing Jeremy said was to get a mentor. I enthusiastically back this up because mentors have a vested, personal interest in you reaching your goals. No one finds success and happiness alone, despite what a lot of arrogant musicians tend to preach in their songs. Who you surround yourself with matters almost as much as how you feel about yourself.Often times, finding a mentor is as simple as just asking for one. If there’s someone you admire or someone who’s in a role you aspire to, ask them for feedback on things or if they have any advice. I have a friend from Italy told me she straight up asks, “I’m looking for a mentor. Are you interested?”Now, for some of us, that’s easier said than done. Or, maybe you don’t work in an environment you feel comfortable asking. Maybe you just don’t like your job. Better yet, maybe you’re looking for a w

Let’s talk about the lie of not enough. One way or other, we’ve all bought into our own version of this story. You aren’t smart enough. You’re not thin enough. You’re not rich enough. You’re not witty enough. You’re not enough, not enough, not enough.It’s Satan’s soundtrack on a never-ending loop, deep in the recesses of your mind. It’s something I’ve struggled with my whole life, and the more self-awareness I build, the more I realize just how pervasive this thought pattern is.Here’s the good news: it’s not true. You’re enough. You’ve always been enough. The trick is remembering.It’s not easy to weed the “not enough” lie out of your life, but our guest Maria Volovik is helping Millennial fight it every day.I’m so excited to share a brand new facet of the podcast: SAM Fam memberships! I’ve created a Patreon page for the show that allows listeners access to exclusive, member-only content, the ability to vote and provide opinions on show content, enter monthly giveaways, get discount on all SAM march, join live

The most important part of an apology is owning up to your part in the situation. Even if someone else did the bad thing, there’s probably space to apologize to yourself for whatever your contribution to the situation was. For example, I had a “friend” take total advantage of me. I worked my ass off to make her look good, sent her flowers out of guilt for thinking negative thoughts about her, and let her be as messy as she needed to be with me. She returned absolutely none of those favors, and it became clear to me that she wasn’t my friend. Of course, it took the death of someone I love to make me see this. Specifically because this “friend” didn’t say shit about it. No condolences, no checking up on me, nothing. The fucker ghosted. In that situation, I deserved an apology. I know I’ll never get one from her, but I can and have apologized to myself. I did a lot of things that weren’t loving to myself: didn’t speak my truth, didn’t hold healthy boundaries, and definitely didn’t walk away when I should hav

Forgiveness is something we all know we should do, and I think we do it wrong a lot of the time. Besides thinking it’s about the other person, we also put all kinds of pressure on it, like deadlines or the expectation things go back to the way they were before. There are a ton of benefits to truly forgiving, but the biggest one is your sanity. Holding onto things for too long is like chewing on rat poison. It will kill you. Where do you think ulcers come from? (Seriously, read the book Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers) Even if you think you’re forgiving someone else’s transgressions, what you’re really doing, the part that actually matters, is all about you. In the book The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, the author, Don Miguel Ruiz, instructs us not to take anything personally. I don’t know about you, but for me that was life-changing. He says, “Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to th

I have always and continue to struggle with setting healthy boundaries. Boundaries are so important to healthy relationships of all kinds, yet no one teaches us how to do this stuff. In fact, societal norms typically set us up for failure. I get vulnerable with you guys to talk about this topic not only because it's so important, but also because it's a personal challenge that requires a lot of work to overcome. Just because I'm here sharing what I know which doesn't mean I know everything. FAR FROM IT! Whether you're unsure if you set healthy boundaries or know where you stand, I hope my openness in this episode inspires you to tackle some of your toughest challenges with hope and a whole lotta spine. Together, we can do anything.

I’m in Berlin right now going through the Climate Reality Leadership Corp Training, so I didn’t have time to do a full episode. Instead, I decided to try a new segment I think will be cool and helpful: SAM Quick Tips These are quick and easy ways to incorporate self-awareness into your daily life to improve the overall quality of your wellbeing. This week, I want to talk about check-ins. Check-ins are just like they sound: you checking in with yourself to see how you’re doing. They’re a simple way to learn about yourself and course correct during the day if you need to. Though there are many ways to check-in, here’s how I do it: Press my left hand over my heart and my right hand over my gut (the space below my belly button, also known as your sacral chakra) Take three deep breathes in my nose and out my mouth Focus on the air filling my lungs. I often picture light entering through my head or chest, then filtering out of my mouth as I exhale Once I feel relatively calm and centered, I ask myself (aloud

Liv talks all about body image and how to stop hating on the skin you're in. Today, I want to talk about body image. It’s something we as a society are beginning to discuss more and more thanks to the rise of influencers on social media and women empowerment. However, as with all good things, too much can easily tip into the danger zone. So, let’s talk about body image in the context of self-awareness and overall well-being. First, and most important, YOU are not your body. Your body is a part of you. I like to think of it as a vehicle. It’s how I, the me that’s actually “me,” rides around the world. Your body is an important part of the human experience, and still, it is not “YOU.” I think that concept is the most important one to wrap your head around when it comes to body image. We are conditioned to believe our body is who we are, that someone else’s body is who they are, that our every waking thought is valid and must be taken seriously, and that if other people don’t look or think like us, it’s

Liv speaks with The Candid Millennial, Mary Robb, about her anxiety and some ways self-awareness helps her manage it.If anxiety is a sensitive topic for you, please proceed with caution. While SAM always seeks to be respectful, everyone has their own opinions and experiences which may differ from your own. Remember, you are the authority on you—please only take advice to heart what resonates and works for you. Mary made a lot of really great suggestions I hope some of you connect to. Though none of them involved medication, please know that is a viable and sometimes necessary step toward managing your anxiety. I have an aversion to what I think is over-medication, so I tend to advocate for other solutions whenever possible. However, sometimes medicine is the best solution. Deep down, if you listen carefully, you already know what you need. If your gut says "Xanax, please," do it.Part of the point of building self-awareness is to answer day-to-day questions like this without doubt or hesitation. Trus

Liv speaks with executive, mother, and author Geri Suster about handling relationship endings with grace.The topic of graceful exits is one I think is important because in my experience, many of us are ill-prepared for and bad at handling endings. Despite fundamentally knowing all things end, we live as if they don’t, so when a pet dies, a relationship ends, or we lose our jobs, we don’t always handles things well. More often than not, we make a big fat mess as we exit, creating all sorts of baggage we lug around for years, if not forever.I don’t know about you, but that isn’t how I want to live my life. So, I’m beyond ecstatic to be having this conversation with Geri, and hope her message with resonate with you as it does me.

Today, I want to talk about self-care. With all the heavy-lifting you do at work, with friends, family, and in the community, taking care of yourself is essential for your health in every aspect of the word. More to the point of this show, it’s paramount to your success in building self-awareness. Why’s that? Building self-awareness is like lifting weights. Anyone who exercises regularly will tell you the importance of rest days, proper, nutrition, and stretching. The same applies to internal exercise. When you work hard to let go of past hurts, to step into your power, and to be the best expression of yourself, you break yourself down, just the way muscles break down when you work them out. If you aren’t nourishing yourself regularly and well, the muscles never build back up. You did all that lifting for nothing. Self-awareness is knowing when to say no, slow down, take a break, give yourself space, relax, etc. So, while the idea of massages and naps sounds like the most fun part of self-awareness, it’s

I wanted to take some time to talk about what exactly “self-awareness” is and some of the ways you can begin cultivating it in your own life. To me, self-awareness is developing a deep understanding of who you are to yourself and in the context of community. It’s a conscious, intimate relationship with your core that, over time, allows you to step into your most authentic self. In simple terms, being self-aware means having clarity about what you like, don’t like, your strengths and obstacles, all with the end goal of living a life your design. When you take the time to know yourself truly and fully, you give yourself all the power you need to live whatever life you want. But, how do you get there? How do you “get to know yourself” any better than you already do? There are a lot of ways to do this, and I’ve tried a handful, so I’ll share some of those. I am a lover of science and spirituality, so there’s a healthy balance of both types of solutions.

How many times a day do you complain? How many times a day do you listen to complaints? Complaining is a tricky business—it does absolutely nothing productive, but our brains convince us we’re getting satisfaction (justice even) when we whine, cry, and moan about everything that’s wrong. Instead of investing all your time and energy into such an unproductive habit, Alexsys Thompson presents another way: building a gratitude practice. This is something I have been working on and building over the last year and HOLY RESULTS BATMAN! has it made a difference. Listen to this episode to learn how you can gain freedom from complaining. Freedom from inauthenticity. Freedom from your inner critic. Limitless opportunities to live a life you design, one that's aligned and mission-driven.

“They’re thrust in the real world and in an instant they find out they’re not special, their mums can’t get them a promotion, that you get nothing for coming in last - and by the way, you can’t just have it because you want it.” -Simon SinekThis season is all about taking responsibility for your power. And, I think a discussion about power dynamics and millennials is incomplete without looking at the struggles we seem to have with other generations. If you ask Google, they’ll tell you the problem with millennials is: “They’re so lazy and entitled!”“They expect too much attention.” “None of them think the rules apply to them.” While these blanket statements lack context and nuance, it’s the frustration beneath them I want to discuss. Because let’s be honest—no one complains about something that doesn’t feel threatening, and if something is threatening, it holds some power. In this case, that means millennials have power. What exactly that power is and how millennials can positively tap into it is what we’re di

We live in a world obsessed with labels, and most of them with good reason. Labels help us identify all kinds of things: what’s safe, what’s not (obvious labels on food, cleaning products, construction sites), what we like, what we don’t (flavors, genres, activities), find our tribe (special interest communities like clubs, sports teams, LGBT), etc.Labels help us make sense of a messy, complicated, dynamic world.But sometimes the helpfulness gives people false permission to impose labels onto others beyond what’s “helpful.” It’s easy for labels to become weapons of oppression for those wielding them and prisons for those they target.Either way, labels are important in our society and unavoidable. So, how do we avoid giving away our power when it comes to labels?Liv and her guest, Drew Bensen, scratch the surface of how impactful and pervasive labels are and how self-awareness can help us take our power back.

Introductory episode to the Self-Aware Millennial Podcast. Liv explains what the show is about, introduces the show sponsor, and shares some inspirational Gary Vaynerchuk clips.