The Quiet Warrior Podcast with Serena Low

63. Embracing Sensitivity as Your Superpower with Lillian Powell

• Serena Low, Introvert Coach for Quiet Achievers and Quiet Warriors

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Key Topics Covered:

  • The Journey of Self-Discovery:

    Lillian recounts her path of recognizing her HSP and empath traits, her transformative "aha moments" and how these realizations empowered her to embrace who she is without apology.

  • What it Means to Be an HSP and Empath:

    Traits associated with being an HSP, including sensitivity to sound, light, and others' emotions. The importance of setting boundaries as an empath, learning to "observe, not absorb."

  • Challenges in Childhood and the Role of Support:

    Reflecting on her childhood, Lillian talks about how she struggled to fit in and how she now helps children embrace their sensitivity. Both Serena and Lillian agree on the need for support systems in schools to help sensitive children feel validated and understood.

  • Tools for Thriving as a Sensitive Person:

    Practical strategies for managing sensitivity in the workplace, such as preparing thoughts ahead of time and finding comfortable ways to engage with colleagues.

  • Breaking the Cycle in Parenting:

    Serena and Lillian touch on the power of self-awareness in breaking generational cycles of trauma and building resilience in children, and the importance of giving children—and their parents—the knowledge to understand and embrace sensitivity.

Notable Quotes:

  • "Observe, don’t absorb." – Lillian Powell
  • "It’s important to look past labels and embrace our evolving identities." – Lillian Powell

Resources Mentioned:

Connect with Us:

This episode was edited by Aura House Productions

Speaker 1:

Hi, I'm Serena Loh. If you're used to hearing that introverts are shy, anxious, antisocial and lack good communication and leadership skills, then this podcast is for you. You're about to fall in love with the calm, introspective and profound person that you are. Discover what's fun, unique and powerful about being an introvert, and how to make the elegant transition from quiet achiever to quiet warrior in your life and work anytime you want, in more ways than you imagined possible. Welcome, welcome to another episode of the Quiet Warrior podcast. Today, we delve into the topic of what it means to be a highly sensitive person, and it's also what it means to be an empath and an ambivert, and I'm very pleased that I've met one person who embodies all these three qualities. Her name is Lillian Powell from Generativity Coaching. Thank you, lillian, for joining me today.

Speaker 2:

Oh, my pleasure, Serena. Thank you for having me, lillian.

Speaker 1:

I would love for you to share a little bit about your background story, of how you came to do the work that you do and why you think this work matters.

Speaker 2:

Well, when I was growing up in the 60s, there wasn't a whole lot known about highly sensitives, empaths, introverts. The labels that I was given at that time were shyness, you're too shy, you need to get out there, you need what's wrong with you, and I didn't have any understanding as a child either, and there weren't people around me, like there are now, such as you and myself, that can help these people understand and become more self-aware and then eventually to embrace it. So, having lived my life, raised children, I got to a point where I started working with kids in the schools as a school-based counselor and I started learning more about behavior human behavior, which I've always been a student of anyway. But things started clicking for me as I'm starting to learn more about this HSP thing. Elaine Aron had this book that came out and I started reading it and it just started firing for me. So naturally, I've got to go down that path to figure this all out, and so many aha moments came out. This is why I've gotten to where I am. This is who I am. This is why I struggled as a child, making friends or being more outgoing, because that's what I was told to do, but it wasn't natural for me. It didn't feel right. So better late than never.

Speaker 2:

I started learning more about empaths and introverts and I always thought I was, or I tried to be, an extrovert because that was what was expected of us way back when. But then I started honoring it and I started seeing that there was nothing wrong with me at all. It's just who I was. And then it made me start thinking about people that have this trait and know nothing about it and that struggle in life. So fast forward.

Speaker 2:

Working into the schools as a school-based counselor, I had this information, I had this knowledge that I could go in there and I could start to learn who might have this trait, especially as kids.

Speaker 2:

They don't know, they're not developed enough, their developmental adolescence is one of the toughest times to go through and that's where HSP introvert, empath really can hit. So working with these kids that would come to me who wouldn't participate in class or got really emotional or were bullied or were bullying I got to work with these kids and find out what made them tick, and just finding out are some of these HSPs I have. Actually, my middle granddaughter is what I would consider an HSP and, blessed of all, her parents are amazing. They've gotten the knowledge about her trait, they've worked with her on it and it's just amazing how she's starting to blossom now. And then I look back and I think where was that person when I was growing up? But what I can do now is I can take that knowledge and help these young people understand it, become aware of it, embrace it and then look at it as a superpower.

Speaker 1:

I love how you know, in a very full circle kind of way, you found a way to be that person that you didn't have when you were growing up.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yes, and unapologetically. Once, I think, once you get to know what the trade is and how it affects you, because everybody's different, everybody's unique in their levels of HSP, in how they want to approach it and how they want to deal with it. So in coaching, that's what I do with clients is I just let them unfold it, I support them in unfolding it and then seeing where they want to go with it.

Speaker 1:

Are you able to backtrack a little bit and explain for the benefit of listeners who are not familiar with HSP? What does that look like? What does that?

Speaker 2:

mean Serena, it, like I said, it can be a wide spectrum of things for different people. Um, for me, I I realized all of a sudden I was always startled really easily by sounds, by loud sounds or by sudden sounds. Somebody can come up behind me and I know they're there, but they could just do this and I would jump three feet. So the sensitivity to sounds I never liked crowds and whenever we would go somewhere as a child I would be kind of dragged along, you know, not feeling comfortable but not understanding why. It could be lights, it could be bright lights, the sun I've always worn sunglasses, bright lights. But it also is being in tune to people's energies and other people's emotions. We could cross over into empath there too, because that's very similar for an empath, but just this sensitivity to everything, to the way people talk, and just observing and always being interested in that.

Speaker 2:

Why do people do what they do? And then, just side note, as a kid I used to struggle with my parents because it was always well, just do what I say. It doesn't matter what the reason is, just do what I say. And I would take that as a child and I would analyze it and analyze it and think but it doesn't make sense. Well, at that time, you know, I didn't have the skills to to dispute anything.

Speaker 2:

So sensitivity to a lot of things in your environment and the need maybe for me anyway to want to process all of that, so for me that's what sensitivity is highly sensitive, um, but I found it to be something that I've embraced and I respect now and I also am I'm happy to be an HSP because it gives you insight into other people so that you can deal with them maybe more effectively, or you can embrace them and you can give them that safe space, like in coaching, to share and to be comfortable in doing so, to coming into their selves and their identity. You can help them develop that. So it's a good thing For me it is anyway.

Speaker 1:

For me. You've reminded me that when I was a child, I loved Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, and maybe part of that was about being the detective, finding out why things are solving mysteries, and this was a part of that, although at the time I probably didn't have the words for it. But I was always curious about human behavior, why I think this way, why somebody else thinks a different way, what does that mean? Why do people say the things they do and behave the way they do? And I was really curious about that. So I think that is something we both share.

Speaker 1:

You know that sensitivity which also makes us noticers and observers and curious yes, very curious. Yes, very curious. But I noticed that the word sensitive, at least when I was growing up, there was another side to it and you know, when an adult said you were sensitive, what they really meant for me was that they wanted me to have a thicker skin. They were saying that I was too thin-skinned, I was too sensitive, as in you know, startle easily. You know cry easily, get emotional easily, get upset easily, and they wanted me to be tougher, to be somehow perhaps more resilient. What are your thoughts on that?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely Misinformation.

Speaker 2:

Yes, over-generalization, and yeah, here too, over generalization, and yeah, here too, and what that did to me was cause me to dampen down my emotions and to lose touch with my emotions, because I was seen as being weak and you had to toughen up, like you said.

Speaker 2:

Well, how do you do that when I have all these feelings coming at me and all these these things that I have to process, know in my environment on a constant basis? But now I try to look forward now to all the knowledge that we have now, the wisdom, the information, the neuropsychology of the trait. That's really getting interesting out there. So I agree with you, though, and I think that that can still happen now, and I think that that's where my work with the kids in the schools, the students in the schools, can be very beneficial, because they could be sent mixed messages, and that's where we need to get that to say no, it's okay, and accept them and validate them, and then brings a little bit of understanding here and there, whatever they're developmentally able to comprehend, but just making it okay to be sensitive and to have those emotions.

Speaker 1:

I wish I'd had someone like you when I was at school and feeling all those sorts of feelings of being somehow not fitting in or not quite the same as other people. I really wanted to be like other people and, you know, just have an easier time of it, get along more easily with people, have less you know those difficulties or difficult emotions and feel like I fit in, like I belonged. And ultimately I think that is what all children want and all adults as well. We just want to fit in and be accepted as who we are and to be able to get along with everybody.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and sometimes that acceptance has to come from within your self-acceptance, your self-compassion, that connection with yourself and the connection with others. And the more you know about the trait, the easier it is, I feel is to seek out like-minded people where you make that deeper connection, maybe with another HSP or an introvert or an empath. But yeah, starting in the schools and our school system unfortunately isn't really geared towards, you know, our highly sensitive children yet, but it's getting there. It's getting there. The teachers, a lot of teachers, especially in the younger grades, are starting to become more aware of it and able to help those kids within the classroom to speak up or to participate more, which enriches their lives. So it's coming.

Speaker 1:

It may take a while, but it's coming, and I'm so glad that you and I get to participate and contribute to that as well. And I'm thinking you know, when you said self-acceptance and that it has to come from within. I'm looking at that picture of the tree with the deep roots in your background and I'm reminded that each of us is like that tree. We have to put down our own roots, we have to find a way to blossom and thrive where we are, and that includes, you know, reaching out, like those roots, reaching out and making connections with others. Like you said, you know other kindred spirits, people who share those values, share those aspirations, and then we can be stronger collectively.

Speaker 2:

Yes, great insight. I agree completely.

Speaker 1:

So tell me more about being an empath. How is that different from being a HSP?

Speaker 2:

You know that they overlap, as you know, quite a bit, and so, being an empath, I've had to learn to create boundaries and to protect myself, Observe, don't absorb and when I found that, I thought well, that's common sense right there. That makes a whole bunch of sense. That makes a whole bunch of sense, but it's not always easy, because if you start looking at the neuropsychology of empaths, there's this thing called mirrored neurons and all this good stuff that I'm just starting to delve into, so I don't have a whole lot of protect my energy, maybe moving away from people. That might not be the most positive for me. I know that I can't watch TV shows where people get hurt, especially animals, elderly children, that type of thing. Too much feeling going on for me there, even telling myself that this is Hollywood. You know, there's a camera behind this. Right now, it still affects me, but I'm learning, and that's the beauty of this is I'm learning what to move towards and what to move away from.

Speaker 2:

So the other thing about empaths, though, is that we can be quite the nurturers. Empaths so is that we can be quite the nurturers, and in our work in coaching, we can understand people where they're at and help guide them to, maybe, where they want to go. So that's the beauty of it. There's that drawback of the extreme. You know the negativity, the, the hurt, the sorrow, the sadness and that type of thing. But once you become aware of it you start to kind of I don't know if protection would be the right word but I think you find ways to handle it and, like I said, you become more discerning with where you put your time and your efforts and your energy.

Speaker 1:

So that's where I'm at right now, and still learning new ways, new knowledge coming out, and that's the beautiful thing that there is always new knowledge, new wisdom that we discover, and so the learning is never done, which means there's always something to look forward to. But at the same time, based on where we are now and what we've learned so far, we can do so much for ourselves and others. And I love the work you're doing with children because that's where it all begins. Every time I talk to a client and we try and trace the root cause of what's caused them to be the way they are, where they feel stuck and frustrated or held back.

Speaker 1:

So many times it starts from childhood, from something someone said and from a story they made up about something that happened to them, or even where the thing that really happened to them was sufficiently serious. It also depends on the individual child, because everyone processes differently, like you say, and some people, you know, it doesn't even leave a mark on them, it's almost like it never happened, but with some others they can see it as something that changes them permanently. That was the point where you know they started to develop a different way of thinking, a different kind of behavior, an adaptive response to survive at that time, and so I find that curious and, you know, fascinating, and that there's always something to explore when we really seek to understand why we are the way we are.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, and what I'm hearing from what you're saying too, I think of the word resilience. You know, building that resilience, especially in children, that they can carry that into adulthood, where it's going to really help them a lot, especially in our world today. So, you know, just giving them that respect, listening to them, validating their feelings and maybe incorporating some tools within that, some skills that they can develop, moving forward, that they can carry with them lifelong, and then hoping that they become lifelong learners, like you and I are. You know to keep learning and to keep improving and to keep feeling better about ourselves and our identities. So, yeah, very much.

Speaker 1:

To people that work with HSP children, youth, adults. What would you say to them are the strengths of a highly sensitive person.

Speaker 2:

I think a lot of highly sensitive people who have kind of done the work, so to speak, about learning about the trait and how it affects them.

Speaker 2:

I think there's a whole lot of self-awareness that comes through and at my age you know, I'm in the third of life right now I guess you might want to call it and hoping to give back some of that learning that I've encountered, but I think it's just, it's knowledge, it's learn, learn, learn, learn, learn all you can about it and then connect with like-minded people. I follow you on Instagram. I get an amazing amount of knowledge from you, things that I haven't even heard of. So naturally, I'm veering towards you more and more, but that information is out there and it can be found. So I think, just getting that self-awareness, learning about it and I think once you start learning about it, you start having these moments where it starts clicking and that self-compassion comes through. When you know better, you do better. There's a saying, and I think that anything in the past that I might have missed out on because of my introversion or my empathic nature or HSP, has to be in the past and now moving forward, like in coaching.

Speaker 1:

Now I can start addressing that and maybe bring it back into my life, if that's something that I'm interested in now so what you're saying is now that we have the knowledge and the wisdom, we have options, we have choices, we can decide what to do from here on yes, thank you very much so.

Speaker 2:

But I think that how do you get these young people so? They're adolescents, they're not fully developed yet. You know, the prefrontal isn't quite all there yet, up until about they're 25. So I think that it would do well for the schools to bring in some of this knowledge, the social emotional learning pieces, and I know a lot of schools do the social emotional learning pieces and I know a lot of schools do. I'm up in a rural area up here in Montana and it's not as prevalent up here. So what I'm trying to do is trying to bring that into the schools here so that we can give access to people that may not have that access, you know, typically to help them.

Speaker 2:

So I think, just getting the more education, serena, that's a tough one, that's a tough one. How do you get people to even acknowledge that this could be something, that first step? I guess that's what I'm trying to say. How do you promote that first step into the curiosity of okay, what is this? Maybe this is who I am? I think that we would do well in trying to find that first. How do we get it out there?

Speaker 1:

more. You could be planting the seeds of a collaboration of some kind here, Lillian, because this is something that requires a whole village.

Speaker 2:

Yes, it does.

Speaker 1:

It does require school leadership to be on board with that, to be sufficiently curious and to think it's even beyond the KPIs that they have to meet that this is actually.

Speaker 1:

You then bring it into the children's lives in a way that it becomes very natural to talk about differences and how we are different.

Speaker 1:

Maybe you know through books that are written for children, especially introducing the idea of you know that this is a kind of power, a superpower as well, that know this kind of difference is actually really positive, that there are different ways to contribute to the classroom or to friendships. There are different kinds of people, and you know how to look out for each other more. And also getting the parents on board, because you know a lot of parents would be busy surviving, dealing with cost of living crises. Not all parents have the capacity to be sitting down and having those sorts of conversations with, and you know, even in the same family, children can be so different. And then how do you cater to the different needs of each child and help them understand, on top of the mental load that the parents are going through, you know, with work and starting businesses and all the other things that parents do. So I think this really requires a village pulling together.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, serena, that's a really good point. And going into the parents, hsp and, like I said, I'm not really versed on genetics, hsp and, like I said, I'm not really versed on genetics, but I'm going to say it can be hereditary. And so a lot of times in my work with youth and students in the school, when I've met parents, parents have said oh, oh, that's me or that's my husband, and so once you bring that knowledge into the home and to the parents or the caregivers, it opens up, it just kind of explodes from there. Hopefully, if they're open and they have, like you said, they have the resources, they have the time, the bandwidth to get this going.

Speaker 2:

But once that seed is planted, I think it grows. It may grow a little slower for some families, but it does tend to grow. So that's a really good point. Yeah, getting the parents involved, and I think at that point too is important for the parent to also understand self-regulation, because I think as children are growing up, especially in the toddler, the meltdowns you know, the being overly stimulated I think it's important for the parent to be able to self-regulate at that point too, because a lot, you know, it might be a trigger where the parent explodes, and that has repercussions for the child, so I think that that's a good point too, as far as families and parents go.

Speaker 1:

That's one of the topics that I love exploring, actually the effect of early childhood trauma on how adults grow up to be, and when we remember that every person is a by-product of their times and the different contexts that affect how somebody's personality develops, and then we realize that at every point we are meeting someone who is in their own process of healing, if they are even aware that they need healing. And if they are not aware, then they are continually unconsciously perpetuating and projecting whatever they have been through. So it becomes intergenerational, doesn't it? And in that sense it becomes hereditary as well, because whatever they have absorbed into themselves in their minds and bodies, they are recreating that with the children.

Speaker 1:

So if we are not self-regulated as you pointed out so wisely, as you pointed out so wisely if I'm not well regulated and I'm not aware that I am repeating a pattern and I just lash out at my child because maybe I've got low blood sugar, or I'm feeling particularly fatigued today, or I've had a really bad night's sleep, or something that has, or somebody said something that triggered a childhood memory that was not a positive memory, and all those things could be factors that cause me to lash out. And if I'm not aware and I'm not doing my own healing and clearing, then I'm passing that on to my child. So it's made me very, very conscious, as a parent with two daughters, one of whom is a HSP as well, that I need to be the cycle breaker for my generation so that I'm not perpetuating the trauma.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yes, absolutely, and that's where so much work can be done too for generations to come. And that's what's so exciting Generativity is giving back to the generations that are coming up. And so that's really exciting for me too is knowing that it's kind of a top-down effect too for kids, and, I got to tell you, most of the parents that I've worked with have been very receptive, were not aware of it. Once they became aware of it, life got a little better because they were able to do their learning on it and therefore have different approaches to their child. So, um, elaine Aaron has the highly sensitive what is it now? The highly sensitive parent? She has that book out, um, and, yeah, a treasure trove of wisdom for parents who suspect that their children might be highly sensitive. And on that same note, I think it's worth mentioning that you know, parents should also possibly seek help should they feel the need to do that with their children. So just throwing that out there.

Speaker 1:

Yes, we don't have to do it alone, we don't have to feel that we need to have all the answers or we need to know everything, because the world is a lot more complex now than when we were growing up. For instance, I knew that after the lockdowns, or even during the lockdowns, one of my children had needed to see a psychologist. And you know, it was her own comment, her own self-awareness, that she needed help, she needed professional help. And so we got that organized and I was just so glad that we have the resources and that we have a system that supports mental health for young people, for adults, and so there is that ability for her to be seen, to express whatever concerns she has. And you're right To ask for that.

Speaker 1:

Help takes courage as well, it takes self-awareness and it takes a system that supports it. So, again, on many fronts, you know there has to be all those things in place and so, yes, I agree with you. I would encourage parents, you know, for themselves or for their children, if they feel that they need that extra help, that professional help, that non-judgmental space where someone will listen to them and mirror back to them and validate their concerns and just hear them out, you know, so that we feel. I think it's so important for every person to feel heard. When we're able to articulate you know what's on our hearts, it really takes away so much of the stress Be able to form those words and have someone sit there and not judge you, but actually listen and empathize and show compassion. I think that is essential. That is what health and well-being needs to look like for each person.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and that's, you know, that keeps me going, that motivates me going in my work with people is to see that, you know, to see people benefit from that. A lot of people come in so unaware that this can even happen, and that's really fulfilling, you know, when you bring that to them. And now they have this awareness that I can be respected, I can be understood, I can be listened to and then supported in finding my own way through these things.

Speaker 1:

So what would your advice be? For, you know, when we're working with colleagues who might be highly sensitive or introverted. What do you advise you know in the workplace, how do we look after our colleagues better when we see that they are quieter, more reserved, don't really want to talk much in meetings and we see that they are quieter, more reserved, don't really want to talk much in meetings.

Speaker 2:

Well, I can speak to that because I was in the corporate world for many decades and it just wasn't a good fit and I couldn't figure it out. I did well enough, but it just it wasn't a good fit, and only until I got out of that environment and started to kind of have to reinvent myself and then got into substitute teaching, got into the schools, got into the school based counseling and then went in this, this new path for me, and found this to be much more fulfilling because it spoke to my own growing up and being misunderstood and all that. But I think in the workplace I deal with some clients who have trouble being more visible and I think in the corporate world that's a key ingredient. To do well in the corporate world is to be more visible. But there's lots of ways to do that that are more comfortable for HSPs and I think one of the ways is to prepare ahead of time. Or like, say, for instance, in meetings a lot of people hesitate to speak up because they don't want to be seen as wrong, or maybe they've been talked over in the past. There's lots of reasons why we don't want to offer that, but there's ways to, maybe, after the meeting, sending an email and saying you know, on that point, abc. Here's a couple more thoughts that I had become more comfortable in the corporate world and as far as colleagues, I think colleagues need to have that self-awareness to begin with, and I think if you're an HSP then, yes, you can see that, and what I would do is I would reach out to that person, you know.

Speaker 2:

But I think there needs to be more awareness for people that are non-HSPs to maybe, you know, in dealing with HSPs, yeah, that's kind of a tricky one. I think that we're just kind of just starting to figure that out too. Because of our society, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. The extroverts are rewarded, you know, for speaking up and for tooting their own horn in meetings and things like that. But that's in the past, though, serena. It's starting to be different, because HSP employees bring a lot of insight, bring a lot of awareness. I think they can be very creative, very detail-oriented, because they're aware of their surroundings and they process things. It might take them a little bit more to process things, but I think you can learn to respect that and find ways to still do that and present it. So yeah, it's a different world, I think, for HSPs in the corporate world. I almost wish I could try it again, knowing what I know now, but I'm on the path I need to be on now, so I'll work with HSPs in the corporate world instead.

Speaker 1:

Yes, that is interesting and fascinating to ask. If we could turn back time, knowing what we know now, and we went back and repeated the corporate experience, how different would that be for us and for other people? I imagine we would be much more proactive knowing what we know now and feeling that these are superpowers and strengths rather than liabilities, and then we would carry ourselves differently. And because our energy is different, other people might react differently to us too. And perhaps, who knows, in a multiverse.

Speaker 1:

Perhaps we will find out, perhaps, yeah. So I remember you mentioned also in your LinkedIn profile about being an ambivert. Could you quickly explain what that means to those of us who are not familiar with that word?

Speaker 2:

I used to think I was an introvert. I used to think, you know, just give me a book, leave me alone, I'll live in a cave, you know the rest of my life and I'll be fine. But I need some connection with people, and so I've learned that I can be extroverted in certain situations. So if I'm with family say it's a holiday and I'm with family, I can be very extroverted. I can be talking to people and just as comfortable as can be, or an environment where I'm familiar with, like say, in the schools as a substitute teacher. At first it was hard for me, but now I've become comfortable with it. So I think understanding your surroundings, becoming comfortable with your surroundings, is a game changer for me. I can be extroverted in the classroom if it's a class that I've been with maybe once or twice already, and I would encourage people to also try to become a little more comfortable in environments.

Speaker 2:

Push yourself, grow, coming here to talk to you. I was like this and I'm doing breathing exercises, right, because this isn't comfortable, but I push myself to do this. I feel like I've grown. I've gotten amazing insight from you and information and wisdom. So I pulled out my extrovert here and it has served me very well. So yeah, I think it's just an interchangeable type of thing. I think age also helps me. As I get older, the small things get smaller and the people's perception, the perceptions of me, my inner critic, they all kind of start to quiet down. You know really, what was I so worried about? So yeah, you could have both sides.

Speaker 1:

I love the wisdom of what you just shared there, lillian, and the idea of adapting to the environment. Therefore, that requires us to be sensitive, to be observant, to be reading the room, to be scanning the environment for clues, to see what's the best way I can respond and be in this moment, based on the people that are here and the energy that is here, and so that calls us to bring out our best to every situation, which is something we are already good at doing by being very present, by being in there in the moment and being alert to those cues that other people are putting out, but they may not be so aware, and so that is our superpower at work of being a HSP. Yes, it is Wow, thank you for the reminder.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for articulating and bringing that to light so beautifully. So what is one last thing you would like the listeners today to take away from this conversation?

Speaker 2:

I think, to be careful that you don't just tend to focus on your HSP trait empath or introvert. I think that we're all made up of so many different variables and I think that you have to keep that in mind and that things change as you get older, they change with knowledge and just always be open to that change and to your shifting identity. So, yeah, labels labels are kind of tricky sometimes, you know you have to be open to the fact that they still can change and you have the power to change that. You have the choices, serena, as you said earlier. So use those choices, get out there and get that knowledge, learn, learn, learn, learn and then, if you knowledge, learn, learn, learn, learn and then if you're able to help others to learn so beautifully summarized.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much.

Speaker 2:

And how can people find you and connect with you? Generativitycoachingcom, and on Instagram, LinkedIn. I'm there, but I do tend to kind of. I don't put out a whole lot of energy into social media. It's more for me to just pass on things that I think may be beneficial to other people. So, but my website is where you'll get a good idea of who I am and the clients that I work with.

Speaker 1:

So Beautiful. That's fantastic. So we'll make sure to put your website link in the show notes for everyone. And I think also you mentioned dr elaine aaron and her books, so I think we would put some links there too for the benefit of those who are interested in looking more into the hsb side of things, just for themselves and for their children.

Speaker 1:

And I think you are right, you know, every time we gain some new knowledge that can add, add to that storehouse of wisdom that we can then turn to like a library whenever we need to. You know, for ourselves, for our children, for our co-workers, and just alerting us and opening our eyes to the different personalities, different iterations, different behaviors. You know the variety on the spectrum and how amazing it is that you know we all inhabit this one little planet with all these variations of personalities and we're all existing at the same time and also different and yet also similar in some ways. Thank you for that reminder to look past the label as well. I know that sometimes, you know, we can get very attached to our labels. It becomes part of our identity, it gives us certainty. But also we don't want to be constrained by the label because, like you say, we're constantly evolving, constantly changing, and we can make choices healthy choices about who we are and who we want to be. So thank you so much, lillian, for joining me today and for this inspiring conversation.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, serena, I appreciate being here.

Speaker 1:

And that was another episode of the Quiet Warrior podcast. If you have enjoyed today's conversation with Lillian Powell, make sure to look at her website Link is in the show notes for you and also to like this episode and to give it a five-star rating. Subscribe to it, recommend it to your friends and your fellow workers. Thank you so much for joining us and I'll see you on the next episode of the Quiet Warrior podcast. I'm so grateful that you're here today. If you found this content valuable, please share it on your social media channels and subscribe to the show on your favorite listening platform. Together, we can help more introverts thrive. To receive more uplifting content like this, connect with me on Instagram at Serena Lo Quiet Warrior Coach. Thank you for sharing your time and your energy with me. See you on the next episode.