In this episode of Leading with Health, I explore why turning inward increases our ability to understand ourselves and connect with others.

Highlights include:

2:20 – JM: “I feel like we’re being asked to go inward.”

2:45 – JM: “Our society has such a focus on excitement and stimulation versus real connection with one another.”

6:20 – JM: “COVID-19 represents this bizarre but amazing opportunity to re-prioritize.”

8:40 – JM: “It’s like the whole universe is saying go inward. Stay home. You’ve lost sight of what’s important and you have to go inward to find it.”

9:20 – JM: “You can only make big changes in society if individuals first make big changes inside themselves.”

9:55 – JM: “We disconnect from our environment and we disconnect from one another because we are disconnected from ourselves. And we are not taught that there’s a different way.”

10:45 – JM: “It’s a time to slow down and try to process what this feels like and what we really want to be. Who we are. If we do that, we can come out stronger on the other side because we will have re-prioritized. We’ll know better who we are, what we want – and what we don’t want.”

11:35 – JM: “What makes us feel delicious and alive?”

12:20 – JM: “What really makes us human?”

12:40 – JM: “We don’t have time to slow down and connect with ourselves. There’s no time allowed to be who you are and do the things that make you you, and just be with the people you love.”

14:45 – JM: “Trying to feel ‘at peace’ all the time really plays out as being numb.”

14:57 – JM: “The goal is – and what is needed to change the world into what we want and to be the people we want to be – is to be real about what we feel. Once we start feeling the things that we are actually feeling, that’s where we find both relief from personal pains and growth.”

15:40 – JM: “Being real with what you are actually feeling is more healing than trying to calm it down or meditate it away.”

16:05 – JM: “The environment is just a reflection of how we feel inside ourselves. And our environment can’t take any more.”

16:35 – JM: “Why can’t we just be who we are and have that be good enough? And not try to constantly have to do more to count as ‘good enough’?”

Leading with Health is the podcast where women dive into societal change through the lens of healthcare. Host Jennifer Michelle has a Master’s in Public Health and Epidemiology and is a certified EMT. As President of Michelle Marketing Strategies, Jennifer specializes in healthcare marketing. Jennifer is available to speak at conferences and also provides free marketing consultations. Contact her here.

Photo by Hans Veth on Unsplash