What does it mean to be a fearless leader?

For many, leadership isn’t something that they ever pursued, but they were called to it. And often that can trigger a response that puts us into an uncomfortable space.

The good news is, you’re not alone.

Sha Sparks is the CEO (Chief Excitement Officer) of Sparks of Fire International. She hosts The Power of Investing in People Podcast, is the author of How to Get Your Voice Back, is a Certified Fearless Living Coach and Trainer, and the Co-Founder of the FIRESTARTERS Book Project.

In this episode, we uncover:

1. How formative experiences continue to impact us well into our adult years, and how to recover from those experiences

2. Why imposter syndrome comes into effect and how to overcome this feeling

3. That using our voice to tell our story can open us up to new possibilities and outcomes

4. Why physically journaling creates connections in our brain that releases past traumas and can help redefine ourselves

Most people have some kind of trauma that we (unconsciously) carry with us. Having ways to process these experiences and move on is an incredibly valuable exercise that I would suggest to anyone.

Work with Sha here: https://www.shasparks.com/

Listen to her podcast: https://www.shasparkspodcast.com/

Learn more at https://www.adamliette.com

Discover how to work with me: https://www.adamliette.com/work-with-me

Transcript

Adam Liette
What's up smooth operators welcome, enter the week here, it's already here, guys, you did it. We all did it. Fantastic. I know how much we're all putting into the week and the fact that you're taking time for this podcast, whether you're listening to this on Friday, when it comes out, or this is your weekend, jam, whatever, I don't care. Thank you so much for your attention. Thank you for taking the time to really learn more and, and explore more ways that we can continue to grow because man, that's what it's all about. Business is yes, it's about tactics, all things we have to put in the business. But man, there's a whole lot of work we can do inside to make ourselves the better operator, the more effective person that can make a bigger difference for our team for our tribe, and ultimately the world because entrepreneurs are gonna save the world. I believe that genuinely we're all making a difference. So with that, I definitely have someone here today who's doing her part to make the world a better place to have a tremendous impact. And that's why I'm just geeking out to bring her on. I have Shea spark Shea is the CEO not to be confused with what you think of SEO? No, she's the chief excitement Officer of sparks of fire International. She has a podcast here. It's called The Power of investing in people. Man, you had me at hello with that title. She's also the author of How to get your voice back. She's a certified fearless living Coach and Trainer and co founder of the fire starters, book project che so good to have you on smooth operator, how you doing today?

Sha Sparks
Hello, Adam, thank you so much for having me. I'm a big fan of your show. So I'm excited to be here. Thank you.

Adam Liette
That's fantastic. Love, love when people are fans. This is good. How, by the way? Yeah, give them a rating I'm scanning for him. Yeah, before we dive in, I would love to hear some of your story. How did you come to this place? Like what what brought you to this, this calling that you have?

Sha Sparks
Well, I know I only have a short period of time. So I'll give you the quick version of I was in an abusive relationship. And when I got out of it, I was able to heal. And when I say heal, I was peeling away the layers of the onion than I am that we all are and heal layer by layer. And there were several distinct moments in that healing process that I come to realize, and one of them was how our our childhood decisions, or I'm sorry, our childhood experiences shaped our adult decisions. And I had suffered from abuse and addiction, anger, depression, low self worth being a bully and being bullied all through my childhood and 20s. And I realized that I needed to what in my mind before I got into that relationship? Where was I headed? What was I doing? And so I came up with the question that I kind of gauge myself with is what is it that I don't know that I need to know in order to move forward? And that yeah, that question really just is like, wow, that can take you in so many different places. Because we often times will look at what we already know. And this gave me a different perspective to think okay, outside of the box, which is something I tend to do on the regular basis anyway, for other people, but it was this time and you really needed to focus it on myself. What that What don't I know about me? And why was I in the relationship I was in? What What attracted me to that what made me stay all of these these questions that I wanted to ask myself, you know, we were talking off camera about how we literally are like we dig dive in and it's it's this personal development journey that we're on and that's, that's, that's my thing. Like, I love this. And that's when I really figured out like wow, so much from my childhood was familiar to what that relationship was like. And statistically, women and men, I will say that because men don't even realize they're abused, but because I've coached them. I have those conversations with them. It's a different kind of abuse, but it's still abuse. They don't realize that it's true. comes from childhood. And so when you come back and look at it, like you're in a relationship with someone that mimics how you were the people you around as a kid, and sometimes you're in that relationship to heal, and sometimes you're in that relationship to, to bring awareness. And it's, you also are in that relationship to really realize how to shift how to change and how to be a better on the other side, and stop generational strongholds or curses or, you know, whatever you want to call it. So for me, that's like kind of a huge defining moment to get me to where I am now.

Adam Liette
Wow. That's really powerful, and has been just a bit taken aback because it's, I, I've been thinking about life a lot, last couple of weeks, because my grandfather is one of my heroes, just passed away at the age of 90, and, you know, life well lived, God bless. I mean, I'm so grateful. For my time with him. It was truly a blessing to have him lead to 90, I mean, for God's sakes, and kept his mental faculties until the end. But it's funny how, you know, what we experience becomes our reality becomes the way we are then projecting ourselves into the world. And so I think for us as human beings, it's a good, it's a good look in the mirror moment. Like, what are we putting out there? How are we projecting? How are we treating people? And when we talk about relationships? Yes, we can talk about romantic relationships. But we can also talk about platonic friendship relationships, and how, you know, people from abusive relationships, you know, parental or spousal, or any of those probably tend to surround themselves with abusive friendships too. Am I right?

Sha Sparks
Absolutely. If you only know toxic, people will use that word. Toxic will use toxic instead of abusive, so if you only know toxic people, then you're going to find other toxic friends, because you're familiar with how they treat you. So if someone comes along and treat you really nice and well, and does something completely different, you that's so unfamiliar to some people, it was to me that I was like, Wait, what is that? I don't know if I like that. I'm not sure what that is. And I ended up pushing people away. Right? And, you know, we were talking off off camera before about, you know, this hard exterior, well, then what happens is, you realize that it doesn't feel good to be around those toxic people. And so then you prepare this, this, this tough exterior, I, you know, put bricks around you. I used to say, you know, I built people say they build a wall, I used to say that I built a wall. So high was in the castle and the tower with a moat around it. I mean, I was like, No, I am literally untouchable. Don't Don't, don't talk to me. And the reason I did that is because I didn't ever look or realize at how much pain I went through. During my formative high school year. I mean, even my first 20 years of life, I didn't realize it, I didn't think about it, I just kept moving, or for many years, I was a teenage alcoholic, I didn't even think about it, I didn't deal with it, I pushed it away. And oftentimes, especially with the clients that I've worked with that have been in the military, they might grow up in that environment, and then go directly into the military. And then they have toxic leadership in whatever role they're in, especially in the military. But it could be in anything, right? Could be in the workforce, it could be in college, it could be more friends. And then you're you're just keep surrounding yourself. So it's not until mid 30s, early 40s. Normally, that's when that light bulb goes on, like wait a minute, is this how I want to be treated? Is this is this right? You know, they might be in a relationship, they might have gotten married right out of college or something. And then the same thing, they carry this toxic people with them. And now they're in this, you know, quarter life or midlife, whatever you want to call it. And they're like, Wait, I don't think I like this. I don't want to be necessarily treated like that going forward. My question to myself was, is this it? Is this all there is? And I didn't realize until years later that I was asking myself that question Is this all there is because I had been waiting to die for most of my life of my first third Five years of life, I was just waiting to die. Because I was looking at not thriving in life, I was looking at just surviving. And oftentimes, when we're in these talks around these toxic people, that's all we're doing day in and day out, we get up, we go to work, we're, you know, we drive home, we go through the routine of whether it's a fight or a conversation, or you know, it's watching TV, and then we go to bed, and we repeat the whole thing on this constant toxic hamster wheel. And don't even realize that's what we're doing until you're you realize you're an unfulfilled, unhealthy, and definitely could be depressed could be angry. And, you know, I like I said, I was a teenage alcoholic. So it wasn't until, again, when I was in my 30s. When I was able to get out of that relationship, I realized I had just replaced alcohol with food. And I said, Okay, I need to really adjust some things here. Because I was, like I said, I was just waiting to die. So at some point, I thought, surely I'll just get a diagnosis, and then that'll be it. That'll be my reason for getting out of the relationship. But when I want to be

Adam Liette
sorry, go ahead. No, go ahead. I want to be mindful the fact that there might be a listener that is hearing this and is in a moment of trauma. If someone is feeling that, like, I don't want to wait until the end for kind of next steps. Because if you're listening to that, and this is hitting you like where if someone's feeling that, like what should they do, like, right now?

Sha Sparks
Yeah, so first of all, I never saw myself as a victim because I fought back. And so I didn't realize that I had options open to me. One of those options is to just go talk to someone, whether that's a trusted, positive person. Notice, notice the distinction, because everyone you know, is typically toxic. So find someone outside of your circle. And a lot of times, when you're around these toxic people, shame goes along with it. So we don't ever want to say what's really going on because they're, we're ashamed of what's happening to us, because we blame ourselves. So first of all, if you're listening, or watching, I want you to know that none of what's happened to you is your fault. You did not cause this, especially if they're telling you that this is your fault. It's not, because that's gaslighting. And that's a whole nother thing that I didn't even realize what was happening to me how much he was manipulating me. But I will tell you, first of all, it is not your fault. Second of all, find either a church or a professional, whether it's a licensed therapist, a counselor, maybe there are there are services at shelters, even if you don't go to the actual shelter. So you can find someone to help you along the way. There are also books to read. There are also podcasts to listen to. And it will help you change your mindset from waiting to die in this relationship to I want to thrive. So to go from surviving to thriving. And what the thing that got me the most is what I wish someone had said to me is, would you want your children to be treated like this? And I didn't even have I don't even have children. But I knew that I didn't want anyone else to be treated like this. And I knew that I wish someone had said to me, do you understand that you don't deserve this? Because in my mind, I thought I'm a bad person. In some way I must deserve this. Because he's telling me I'm a bad person. So I was totally brainwashed on believing Oh, I must that must be

Adam Liette
the truth. It's kind of like the that what you gaze upon you will become Right. Absolutely. Yeah. Your lived experience becomes your reality. Yeah, wow.

Sha Sparks
So there are so many options. And you know, I will also say feel free to reach out to me. Because if I can help anyone to get out of another relationship, I would definitely be a resource for that for them too.

Adam Liette
So if that's you listener, just hang up the podcast, go to the show notes, look up che cut, you can come back and listen to this later, like, go now, if you're feeling the call, don't wait another second go. I've lost three friends to suicide from PTSD, like, your life is worth more than that. So you are valuable. And that brought up a lot of stuff, which I knew is going to I knew I knew this conversation was going to be one of those that we got to peel away some money. And we got to deal with some uncomfortableness, because we all have it to some degree or another. Even if you come from the best possible background, like we're all carrying a little bit of these things. And I've always just been curious about it, as I've grown up in my leadership, as I've started leading people like reflecting back and now starting to become that better leader. And there's that massive word that we end up getting into when we first start doing it, you know, we feel like a bit of an imposter. And I know you've dealt with some impostor syndrome before. And this is like, we could go down a 90 minute rabbit hole on this. But that that tends to be what I see when I'm coaching people in leadership as well. Is that initial feeling of imposter syndrome? And how do we? How do we move through that?

Sha Sparks
Well, first of all impostor syndrome that you're right is a, I think, a lifelong journey to kind of overpower that. Part of it is really understanding the base of where it comes from. And so for me as a certified fearless living coach, like you said, in the in the intro, it's really about fear. So when that imposter syndrome shows up of I'm not enough, I'm not good enough. I'm not smart enough. I'm not rich enough. I'm not pretty enough. I'm not good. Looking enough. I'm not whatever. That's normally what impostor syndrome says to you. Or for me, it also says, Well, who do you think you are? To do blah, blah, blah, right. And, for me, I went through this training program to really understand fear, and how it shows up. And that is one of those things, we get triggered. And we get triggered by an outside source, and that we're worried that someone is thinking that about us that they're thinking, Oh, how, how can he do what he does, he has no idea what he's doing as a leader. We're worried about that, right? And then what happens is what happens and then fear reacts in our brain. And we do silly things like we overthink. We, we might overeat, we might do something like analog, like people call it overthinking or analyzing, I'm an analyzer, I'm like, No, you're really an overthinker. But that's okay. We might judge ourselves, we might be hypercritical of ourselves, we might beat ourselves up, we might like have this inner negative dialogue to ourselves. And then that doesn't work that doesn't take us out of the fear. And so then we go into what's called a core negative feeling, which is like the worst of the worst feeling ever. So that includes like, being insignificant, or being absolutely, absolutely unlovable. Or it's being like we're damaged or we're worthless. And then that in when we're in that mode, that's when the self destructive behaviors come in. That's when the addictions start. That's when the isms like the alcoholism, the work is the, the the gambling, you know, all of those things start. That's when suicide happens. Because we haven't moved past that trigger. And we just kept going on this vicious cycle, this vicious loop, and not being able to move ourselves forward not to be able to break that cycle and get out of it. So what I had to learn was really, how does that imposter syndrome show up for me? And for me, it it shows up that, you know, I'm not being authentic, I'm not being real. I'm not being I'm not being me, and I'm not being vulnerable. And that's something with that. Yeah, that's something with that wall built up. There was that was like, oh, knew I couldn't even pronounce the word vulnerable. But I have learned that that's really the the sweet spot for leaders is to have that key of willingness to be vulnerable because the more vulnerable you are, the more confidence, you gain,

Adam Liette
which counteracts that impostor syndrome. Wow. And I've noticed leading people, some of my greatest breakthroughs as a leader, when I've had that employee that's like, they're, they're doing fine. But you know, you just want to get, you want to improve their performance that little bit. And I've noticed, when I opened myself up a little bit, and what allowed myself to be vulnerable, often through like a story or something that I overcame it, it showed, like a certain, like human side to us. And, and it was weird at first, to open up like that. But I think that's something that you spoke about as well is that, you know, you are sharing sharing our lessons and sharing our life story. And the things that we've done can be just so powerful as a leader in the people that are following us. It's really, I, we can do a whole podcast on storytelling, and I have done a couple of them because storytelling is amazing. But I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, and how it all starts to make this, like circular connection back around again.

Sha Sparks
So I love that we're talking about this because at Well, first of all, everything that we've talked about is such my favorite subjects. But one of the things I love about storytelling, and for me is you say storytelling, I say using your voice, right? So for me, this is kind of what happens, we hit that obstacle. So whatever the obstacle is, could be the imposter syndrome, it could be a loss of a job could be a loss of a friend, it could be something right. And then we go through a path. And at some point, most of the time we find ourselves on the other side of that path could be a divorce, right? We're on the other side of that path. And then we really look back and we realize, Oh my gosh, I learned this about myself, I learned this along the way, I learned this, maybe I studied and became like, Oh, I got fired from my job. So then I invested in myself and went to school, or got a degree or got a coaching certificate or did something else, right. And now I learned these certain skills. So now what happens is we gained knowledge, right? And knowledge is so powerful. And then the student when the student is ready, the teacher appears. And now you're the teacher, the student appears. And then and when you share that knowledge is when it becomes wisdom. And that is why it's important to use your voice.

Adam Liette
Wow. I mean, this is an audio podcast. He didn't see it. But when she said that, I did like I did like fist bumps in the air. This is one of my favorite quotes, you know? Because I felt that as a person like I wasn't ready for this and wasn't ready for this was ready for this then the moment I was ready was like the teacher was right there. Waiting for me. They had been there all along. Yeah, but my I was finally looking for them. You know what I mean?

Sha Sparks
Well, I don't even know if you're looking for them. But you were open. You had like all of a sudden go Oh, right. I'm in my own way. And you were open and then the teachers like oh, yeah, I've been here all along. And as you said that I got chills. I know. I'm like yep. I know exactly where you're at in your story. Yes, yes. So I love that.

Adam Liette
And I think as as leaders ourselves, it's it's humbling for me. And it's taken me a lot to realize. Yes, this is about business. This is about growing companies. Yeah, great. Ha wonderful. Go sell it someone else. We're all in the people business first. And I promise all of you everyone and I will profess this till the day I die. If you treat people correctly if you treat them with compassion, love respect, sometimes it's tough love you will always be rewarded for it. And so I think I just think as leaders now we're in this unique situation where there are so many broken cycles or cycle me rephrase that so many negative cycles that we can help break yes and be and be the light and how now now I want to explore my voice Samar. One thing I do a lot is I I forget who taught it to me. But they said like document. I think it was Russell Brunson who talks about like, document your stories and have your origin stories and which isn't just one you have like 20 or 40 of them. And so I may or may not have a bunch of dots in my phone of me just telling stories. Totally do So how do we go about like, finding our stories? What are some things that you have found? To help us? Find our voice?

Sha Sparks
Yeah. So first of all, kudos to you for documenting your story, because I realized the power of journaling, for me, was so beneficial. And most people are like, whatever, what is writing stuff down gonna help? And I'm like, no, let me tell you, there's something in your brain, that literally the the neural pathways open up and you gain more, that's where that confidence comes in, because you're doing something completely different out of your comfort zone. But when you're writing, and physical writing, not just typing on your phone or your device, when you're physically writing, there's something in your brain goes down your shoulder, down your arm into the pen onto the paper that releases. So I started journaling many 2020 Well, I had to in school, that was one of our things, or our teacher made us do our English teacher, and I hated it. Oh, I thought it was awful. But then, many years later passed. And I one day, I just had this strong desire to start writing. And I did in that first time I sat down to write, I realized how much I was going. I had panic attacks and anxiety attacks in school. But we didn't call them that back then. Right. So I had no idea that that's what was happening. Until now. I'm in my 20s At this point, when I first you know, journal for the first time, and I was like, wow, that's what that was, I had no idea. So it means it wasn't true. So that's what happens when we start your journal, the power of journaling is being able to take those stories that we've always thought about ourselves, get them out, and then take a new fresh eyes, and from our adult perspective, and go Oh, my God, that wasn't even me at all. That was Billy Bob down the street or you know, Sue at the whatever the cafeteria like that had nothing to do with me. Wow. But as it that's why our childhood experiences shape our adult decisions. Because sometimes just being bullied in the schoolyard literally changes our trajectory of our life. But when you look at it from adult perspective, then you're like, wow, that's what it is. So I had started journaling for many years. And then I started writing chapters, I was like, Okay, I'm gonna write chapters, because I know at some point, I'm going to write a book. And I started writing all these chapters, and just they were just stories. That's kind of what I was doing just collecting my story's right. And one day, I just felt this whisper, which I believe in the Holy Spirit and intuition being the same and God and, and so I felt this whisper say to me, this is not your first book. So put it down. And so I did, I put it down, and I walked away. And I ended up and that timeframe ended up taking care of my mom from terminal cancer until she passed away. And about two months after she passed away, I felt this really big urge. I was writing, working with a coach to work on my coaching website. And he was like, You need to write this. You need to make your copy for your website. And I was like, that's why I hired you, isn't it? But okay, and so I just felt this really strong desire to be like, Okay, today is the day, I felt this whisper like, go now go now. And so I went, and I open up the Google Doc and the enter the internet wasn't working. And so I just opened up a Word document and I'm like, Okay, what am I supposed to write? And six hours later, I sit back and I'm like, Oh, my God, I think I just wrote a book. And then it was, Oh, my God, I think I just wrote my first book.

Adam Liette
What? Yeah, download it, downloaded

Sha Sparks
it, download it totally downloaded. And what it is, is actually journal prompts. And it's six of the journal prompts that I went through that I feel like God gave me and during my healing process. So now, what's so crazy and so amazing, and I love how God weaves in and out my life. The certain things of you start here, you go here, and then you go, you know, go on to the next thing. And what ended up happening is now I have a co author book, a compilation book, where co authors come together under the umbrella of firestarters book project, and we take a theme. Instead of like Chicken Soup for the Soul used to pinpoint like, military wives or nurses or you know, teachers. We take a theme and show how everyone underneath is the same. No matter what the background is that we've all experienced some sort of same. And so the first book that came out was how to be a spark of hope in the midst of change. And that was literally in the middle. I'm not even middle, I would say in the very beginning of the pandemic, when everything kind of was dark and gloomy. And, you know, maybe it still is, but dark and gloomy and really, like people had no hope. Right? So I was like, no, no, let's share stories about what being a spark of hope really means. And so now, two years later, our second one, we're still looking for co authors, for foreign is how to rekindle your kindness. Because we've seen the pivot now of the chaos, and how we need to rekindle the kindness not just for others, because of everything that's happened in our lives in the last year, two years, three years, but for ourselves. And what really kindness means to us. Remember when I said, you know, it goes back to that being triggered? And then you go to these fear reactions of beating ourselves up? Well, what if you were kinder to yourself? Right? How would that then shift your life? How would that shift the trajectory of where you're going, rather than that inner negative credit. So for me, that is all about using your voice. And then using your voice on being able to take what you have learned. And being able to coach that from people who are behind you, and share that from a coaching perspective as what wisdom.

Adam Liette
And I love that. It's about like you hit it kept hitting on that, it's like being kind to yourself, like, we are so critical of ourselves, and we're telling ourselves, these other stories. Like, we're all doing it in one way or another. Yeah, for sure. When we start being kind to ourselves, then what that ends up getting is kindness outward, right?

Sha Sparks
It's an overflow, right? love and kindness, oh, my place of overflow. So my whole premise of my podcast, the power of investing in people is how you've invested in yourself, when you've hit that obstacle. And then it naturally overflows onto your family, your business, your community. So kindness, love compassion, that all is a place from overflow, it has to begin from just like when they say on the airplane, put the mask on you first, before you help someone else. It comes from that place of overflow.

Adam Liette
Wow. So if anyone's listening out there, and they have a team, they're they're running operations, or their chief excitement officer for their home company. I'm personally like super passionate about creating a really amazing positive environment for my people, because I know the results that I get from them, and they get for themselves, and it just becomes this. This thing of like, energy just bouncing off of each other in this really fun way. What are some things that you've seen from your clients or from your own work that we can do as leaders to just create that culture within our organizations?

Sha Sparks
I love that you asked me this, because the thing that I am so adamant about and so passionate about is the power of ask. And so many times leaders are like, I have this amazing idea. Let's do it. Let's go. Let's hit the ground running. And that's awesome. I mean, I love that you're passionate about it. And what if you asked your team so if you want to know how to get your team excited and passionate and already fired up about their tasks to do you ask them when you ask them, what will make you what will excite you about this, this project? What will get you fired up about going forward with this? What are you what will get you fired up about staying with our company because as we know, there's so many places to go here and there and everywhere, right? So what will keep you here? What excites you? What do you need more of what do you want more of what would be supportive to you? And people forget to ask those questions. And it all comes from you. Brilliant idea, ask, you can do even do it in a Google Doc or a Survey Monkey or whatever and get, you know, anonymous feedback. But that's the power of ask.

Adam Liette
You know, it's funny, there's something I've been doing in my own business, and I teach my students as well. I have certain frameworks I teach on how to get I call them feedback loops in my program, where you as the leader you need to get, you need to create feedback loops and have them be purposeful, your employees won't use them. They won't feel like they're invited to. And now like it's put together now why I do that, I didn't realize how big of an impact that actually I knew it made an impact. But I didn't realize why it did until just now. And that's great job,

Sha Sparks
great job. Keep doing it, keep asking. Because here's the thing from a perspective of a team player. I'm doing my job, head down doing my job, bla bla bla bla bla, feeling disconnected. But as soon as you come over and invite me to the conversation, which is what an open ended question is. Right? Then all of a sudden, I feel like my presence here at this company matters.

Adam Liette
Hmm. Okay. You have my attention.

Sha Sparks
All right. Wow. Like, oh, so you don't really just care that I'm punching numbers all day long. Because let's be honest, your job is one thing, your environment and your culture is another. So if you're asking and you have a company culture to ask, then they are going to be able to reciprocate and say, knock on your door and go, Hey, you know what? I know you gave me this task. But I have some questions about it. And they you just by you asking them for first you just open the door for them to be what vulnerable and being willing to ask because they were afraid that you're gonna think they were stupid if they had asked before?

Adam Liette
Oh, my gosh. It's, it's it. I mean, these feel like little things. But that's I think that's the beauty. And all of this is that we're not talking about moving mountains, we're not talking about creating a whole new operating system or making the new Tesla we're talking about really simple frameworks that just have a Yeah, monumental effect on ourselves on everyone around us on the culture of our organization on the mental health of our organization, and just the positive feedback you get from that, and the positive results that you end up getting even like monetarily can't be measured. Well, they probably can't be if we if we go deep enough down that rabbit hole, but it I've never seen it work the other way, like, oh, well, we've really concentrated on our team culture and mental health and then the business went bankrupt. Nope, that I've never heard that happening. It's always the other way. Oh, this has been I'm gonna have to do some journaling myself. And I'm guilty. I also put together why I did audio journaling, because I was doing journaling by typing into one of those fancy fancy journal apps ethical and I never felt connected to it. And now I have a whole stack of these wonderful yellow legal pads, legal pads that I think I'm gonna have to start a new and recapping some of this, especially some of my recent stories. I got a couple that just from the last fall months I think, by if I document them it's going to release in this really beautiful way absent and then allow me to share and help more people because that's what we're here for. Absolutely. Shay, I have had an absolute ball geeking out with you. We could do this for a while but we both have busy schedules today. Where can the listeners find out more about you and and continue their work down this path? Yeah, absolutely.

Sha Sparks
Adam thank you so much for having me. This was this has been a joy I love this is what I do. So I love talking about it. You can find me at che sparks.com That's sh A S P AR K s.com. You can contact me through there or you can go to on all social media is che sparks. And Instagram is I am che sparks. I'm on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, feel free to read reach out to me if you have a question or if you're in need of support. If you're in a talk around toxic people, we'll put it that way. And you can find my podcasts on every every applied for podcast platform. And Shay sparks podcast.com and it is called the power of investing in people podcast

Adam Liette
said you having up the title. It's one of the best podcast titles I've ever heard. I love it. Thank you. Oh, fantastic. Che Thank you. Thank you so much, not only for being here today, but for doing what you're doing in the world. It's i i am continuously humbled by what this podcasting journey has, has brought my network to be surrounded by amazing people, which I think goes right back to the opening topic that we started with, which is like building a network of people that are supportive or positive and help we help each other and I look forward to staying in touch so much and helping you in any way that I can. So thank you and have a great day and we'll speak soon.

Sha Sparks
Okay, thank you and the feeling is mutual.